UPDATE: Fair paralysis set in this year, and, overwhelmed by the number of things going on (Frieze, NADA, Portal, etc.), I opted to go to a few local events and invite some fair-goers to visit the studio rather than attend the fairs myself. The Kentucky Derby Party and Benefit Auction at Smack Mellon, “Anti-Pro” at New York Studio Residency Program, David Thomas at Minus Space, Jane Swavely’s lovely solo at AIR, the opening reception for MONTH2MONTH, and Thru-Line, the lively Brooklyn College MFA show at Moynihan Station (on view through Tuesday) were all on my itinerary. I’ll have a round up of other publication’s fair coverage later this week.
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Frieze Preview
Frieze New York takes place this week, May 5-8, on Randall’s Island. In addition to seeing a slew of glorious and challenging paintings, I’m looking forward to checking out the special tribute to Daniel Newburg Gallery, an artist-run space in operation 1984-1994. I went to Tufts with Danny back in the day, and when I finally moved to New York after studying painting at MassArt, I stopped by his gallery (Andrea Rosen was working the front desk) to show him my slides. The paintings were dark, emo-minimalist constructions–handstretched canvases combined with shaped wooden panels, stained dark, drippy colors with lots of wood grain. He held the slide sleeve up to the light and suggested I start thinking about images. So funny in retrospect. For the tribute at Frieze, Maurizio Cattelan, whose U.S. debut was Newburg’s last show, will restage Enter at Your Own Risk�Do Not Touch, Do Not Feed, No Smoking, No Photographs, No Dogs, Thank you (1994), an installation that features a bare room, a live donkey, and a baroque chandelier.
[Image at top: Portrait of Maurizio Cattelan, 2007, Photo Pier Paolo Ferrari.]
This year Tom Eccles (Executive Director, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York) and Christy Lange (Frieze Associate Editor and Curator of Public Programming, Berlin) have co-curated the Frieze Talks series, which will consider the intersections of art and the fields of design, technology, music, poetry, activism, and academia. The talks take place each day at 12 and 4 pm.
PICK: On Thursday, May 5, at 4pm, poet, novelist, performer and art journalist Eileen Myles will kick the series off with “What a poet might be doing here,” a keynote presentation that addresses the relationship between poetry and the art world.
PICK: On Saturday, May 7th, at 12pm, art historian and critic Hal Foster & novelist Ben Lerner present “On Hating On …” a discussion of artifice versus reality in recent art and fiction, and their shared hatred of poetry and painting. WTF?! They’ve gotten my attention.
And of course, looking at the roster of participating galleries, there will be plenty of good painting under the tent. Stay tuned for images later this week.
Frieze New York, Randall’s Island, New York, NY. May 5-May 8, 2016. To get there, take the ferry from East 35th Street (every 30 minutes, there in 20) or East 90th Street (every 10 minutes, there in 5 minutes). Tickets are $19 round-trip for the ride and can be used in either direction. The Frieze bus is only $7, and departs every 10 minutes from outside the Guggenheim. Or, you can ride your bike. Buy admission and transportation tickets here.
Related posts:
Regaining relevance: Writing critically about art fair art (2012)
Worst of Frieze: Anselm Reyle @ CFA Berlin (2012)
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