New York Armory Show week

It was a gloomy day when I arrived to pick up my press passes. Its not the best time of year for New York weather but maybe that better for looking at art indoors?

Yesterday marks day one of New York art fair week. I am taking pictures of the art I find compelling as I stroll through the crowds. I'll start posting later today. Blow are some key listings if you have something to add to this list please email me.

ART FAIRS:

The Armory Show
Piers 92 & 94, Twelfth Avenue at 55th Street
Wednesday, March 3, 5pm Vernissage
Thursday, March 4 - Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-7pm

VOLTANY
7 West 34th Street (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues)
Thursday, March 4, noon-2pm VIP Preview
Thursday, March 4, 2-8pm; Friday, March 5 - Sunday, March 7, 11am-7pm

Scope New York
Pavilion at Lincoln Center Damrosch Park, 62nd Street andamsterdam Avenue
Wednesday, March 3, 3-9pm VIP FirstView ($100)
Thursday, March 4 - Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-7pm

Pulse
330 West Street (corner of West Side Highway @ West Houston)
Thurdsay, March 4, 9am-noon VIP Preview
Thursday, March 4 - Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-5pm

ADAA Art Show at Park Avenue Armory
Park Avenue at 67th Street
Tuesday, March 2, 5:30-9:30pm Gala Preview ($150)
Wednesday, March 3-Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-6pm

Dutch Art Now
The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South
Wednesday, March 3 - Sunday, March 7, 11am-5pm

Fountain New York
Pier 66 at 26th Street and West Side Highway in Hudson River Park
March 4-7, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 11am-7pm VIP Preview benefiting the Museum of Arts & Design ($20)
Friday, March 5 – Sunday, March 7, 11am-7pm
Friday, March 5, 7pm–midnight Public Reception
Saturday, March 6, 7pm-midnight Artlog Live

Independent
548 West 22nd Street
Thursday, March 4, 4-9pm Opening Reception
Friday, March 5 - Saturday, March 6, 11am-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-4pm

Korean Art Show at la.venue
608 West 28th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues
Tuesday, March 2, 3pm Preview, 6pm Reception
Wednesday, March 3 - Sunday, March 7, 11am-7pm; Thursday, March 4, 11am-8pm

PooL
Gershwin Hotel, 27th Street and 5th Avenue
Friday, March 5, 6-10pm Vernissage ($20)
Friday, March 5 - Sunday, March 7, 3-10pm

Verge New York 2010

The Dylan Hotel, 52 East 41st Street (Between Madison and Park Avenues)
Thursday, March 4, noon-6pm Professional Preview, 6pm-10pm Opening Reception
Friday, March 5 - Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-6pm

OPENINGS and EVENTS

Thursday, March 4

Rosson Crow "Bowery Boys"
Deitch Projects
Soho: 18 Wooster street, 6-9pm

Friday, March 5

Gavin Kenyon, Jen Viola, Joe Brittain, Lauren Lavitt, Nicholas Brooks, Nolan Hendrickson
"Accrochage: collision, fender-bender; skirmish, clash; coupling, hitching; (picture) hanging; (boxing) clinch"
Ramiken Crucible
Chinatown/LES: 221 East Broadway, at Clinton street, 6-8pm

Allen Ruppersberg
Greene Naftali Gallery
26 street: 508 W 26 street, floor 8, 7-9pm

Christopher Chiappa "High Fructose Corn Syrup"
Kate Werble Gallery
Soho: 83 Vandam street, at hudson street, 6-8pm

Aubrey Mayer, Billy Childish, Dan Miller, Horst Ademeit, Marcus Werner Hed, Michael Bauer
White Columns
13 street: 320 W 13 street, (entrance on Horatio), 7-10pm

Joseph Beuys "Make the Secrets Productive"
PaceWildenstein
25 street: 534 W 25 street, 10am-6pm

"Vernissage" at PooL Art Fair New York (Gershwin Hotel)
27 street: 7 E 27 street, 6-10pm

Martin Mull "The Four Seasons and Other New Works" inaugural exhibition for new location
Stellan Holm Gallery
79 street: 1018 Madison avenue, 6-8pm

Saturday, March 6

Photography: "31 Women in Art Photography"
curated by Charlotte Cotton, Jon Feinstein
Affirmation Arts
37 street: 523 W 37 street, 6-9pm

On Originality...

Penelope Umbrico, 4,786,139 Suns from Flickr (Partial) 1/14/09 2007-2009 4 x 6 inch machine prints (detail).

Every artist has to grapple with the question: Is your work original? Some say that no artwork is original. This statement is a cop out. Originality still exists and flourishes. A lot of original art grows out of looking at other works and reacting to it. The danger is when the artist finishes a project and knowingly or not comes up with work that is too derivative or even plagiarized from others.

Last week at a talk benefitting the Camera Club of New York, artist Penelope Umbrico talked about her work to a packed house at SVA. Her art is a remixing of photographic media into a dialogue about the larger culture of photographic consumption. For her project, Suns from Flickr, she utilized the abundance of sunset images uploaded to the popular photo sharing site, Flickr. Through a careful cropping and arrangement, she remixed their original purpose, transforming them into a random wallpaper of candy-colored sunsets.

When her exhibited work was uploaded back to Flickr, some viewers were offended by the appropriation (remixing), thus missing the point of the project. Umbrico's Suns has a very different intent from those who uploaded their pictures to Flickr. The art is not simply the imagery; it is the sum of the parts used to illustrate an idea. There might be artistry to mixing a tube of paint, but I have never heard a paint manufacturer claim that an artwork was partly theirs, since they formulated the paint.


Richard Prince, "Untitled (Cowboy)."

Another case is the appropriation of photography by Richard Prince of Cowboy images from Marlboro ads. Recently, A Photo Editor interviewed one of the photographers, Jim Krantz about Richard Prince. If you have not read the interview, check it out here. While I appreciate Jim's work, Prince has appropriated it differently than the work for which Krantz was commissioned. These images began as an advertisement for cigarettes. Marlboro used Krantz's fantastic images of the American cowboy to sell a product that has killed thousands of people. Marlboro combined these images with their logo to sell the idea that smoking their brand of cigarette was a classic American thing to do. The freedom of the American West was equated to the act of smoking. Thus, these images were no longer about anything but the lowest form of propaganda. They were selling death, plain and simple.


Jim Krantz's "Calf Rescue" (1998), taken on assignment for Marlboro.

Richard Prince's re-photography of these advertisements significantly shifts their meaning. In Prince's Cowboys, the work begs the question, What is real? Prince peers into the American veneer of the cowboy and calls it fake. In his new work, the viewer can identify the copied surface in the pattern from the advertisement. Logos have been removed. All that is left is the idea of the American cowboy. His new work is about questioning the authenticity of both the myth of the cowboy and the honesty of that idea.

In A Photo Editor's Interview:

APE: But, that's the irony isn't it. Someone steals a photograph and suddenly your work is important to the art community. That's what it took.

It's amazing to me that the curators at the Guggenheim would bring this work in without acknowledging the source or giving the viewers the opportunity to see what motivates and inspires a person. You need a footnote in a paper but there's no source recognized here.

As a photographer I understand the desire for credit. I have certainly felt the sting from not getting credit for something. But we need to remember there was no byline in the ad. Marlboro paid thoroughly for these ads. It's difficult to feel for the photographer who became part of the cancer stick propaganda machine. He sold out his images literally and complained when they were used as paint for someone else's artistic expression. If anything, Krantz is lucky. His images could have easily been forgotten, lost to the void of time. Because of this controversy he has gained recognition, the chance to make some work express his artistic intentions, and receive a wider audience than he might have received without this experience.

Recently, another controversy over originality has been getting attention. This is a case among fine art photographers. The playing field is a bit different. Jorg Colberg has written a lot about this in his blog, specifically in the posts "On Plagiarism and Similarities" (2006) and recently "When does similar become too similar?" and "Way too similar?" In his last post, he explains the current controversy of David Burdeny and his project "Sacred & Secular." When comparing this project to the work of Elger Esser, and particularly with the work of Sze Tsung Leong's project "Horizons" troubling similarities occur. This story was first discussed in the blog photo muse in this post and recently PDN magazine has posted a story "Copycat or Not? Photographer Challenged Over Look-Alike Work."

This comparison is more direct since we are looking at two photographers. At first, I thought this might simply be a case of two artists working on common themes. A while back, I wrote about artists making images that shared the theme of falling. Each image depicts falling people, but the artists go about making the images from different approaches. The more I look at Burdeny's work, the more I start to think that it is just too close to Sze Tsung Leong. Not only is the subject and angle of the shot similar, but Burdeny also utilizes Leong's method of hanging the show. If I were a curator, I wouldn't want to show art this unoriginal. Even if it doesn't meet the legal definition of plagiarism, it meets the artistic definition of unoriginal.


David Burdeny, Grand Canal II, Venezia Italy, 2009


Sze Tsung Leong, From the Horizons Series, Canale della Giudecca I, Venezia. C-Print 2007


David Burdeny, Sacred & Secular, Installation view


Sze Tsung Leong, Horizons, installation view

As you can see from the above examples the intention of the work is extremely suspect. As a community of artists we need to be aware of others' work and ideas. As an artist brainstorms for new ideas and an interesting thought bubbles up they need to be careful. You can use ideas and art from the past to inform and inspire your work but you always need to be aware of what has been done so that the finished piece is your original concept.

In David Burdeny case, is there something that we are missing from viewing the project on the web only? Because unlike the differences in the first two examples of artists remixing another person's work, Burdeny's similarities include not only the content, but the intent of his art. What do you think? Is it too close?

--
Further reading, Todd Walker, aka Ocular Octopus weighs in on this topic in his post "Plagiarism in Photography Is Impossible"

This will be the topic of this week's #photoartchat Tweetchat. Tomorrow, Tuesday Feb 23rd at 9 pm EST, we will be hosting David Bram, photographer and publisher of Fraction Magazine.

The 15th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition

harlan erskine, 'Bridge III,' 20 x 37 inches, 2008

I am happy to announce that three images from my series Imaginary Wars have been selected for "EXPOSURE: The 15th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition." The show is made up of 12 artists selected from a total of 220 International submissions. The juror was Mia Fineman, Senior Research Associate, Department of Photographs, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.


EXPOSURE:
The 15th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition
Juried by Mia Fineman
April 23 - June 20, 2010
Opening reception, TBA

For this year's exhibition, Fineman selected 12 artists out of a total 220 international submissions.

2010 Selected Artists
Jacqueline Bates (NY)
Joshua Deaner (RI)
Harlan Erskine (NY)
Alexander Harding (MA)
Joseph Holmes (NY)
Stella Johnson (MA)
Bryan Alfred Martello (MA)
Mary Parisi (CA)
Charles Rozier (CT)
Irina Rozovsky (MA)
Cindy Stephens (MA)
Millee Tibbs (RI)

From the Photographic Resource Center (PRC):

Each year, the PRC is pleased to host a juried exhibition with a nationally-renowned juror. This prestigious competition is a great opportunity to view new work as well as see topics in which contemporary minds are engaged. With only about a dozen artists selected from close to 300 entries, the PRC Juried Exhibition is a highly competitive and revered program. All winners exhibit several images each in the PRC gallery.

Guest jurors represent esteemed curators, photographers, and professionals from the region and beyond. As each juror brings a different perspective, the show is unique and fresh every year. Past guest jurors of the PRC Juried Exhibition have included Mia Fineman, Russell Hart, Lesley A. Martin, Jen Bekman, Jeanine Fijol, Alison Devine Nordstrom, Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Chris Enos, Diana Gaston, Deborah Martin Kao, Richard Woodward, and Edward Earle, among others.

In celebration of the PRC's 30th anniversary in 2006, and to reflect the mission and function of our annual photography competition, we changed the name of the PRC Members' Exhibition to EXPOSURE: The Annual PRC Juried Exhibition.

X INITIATIVE: BRING YOUR OWN ART (BYOA)

Yesterday the one year experiment called the X INITIATIVE ended with a marathon 24 hour art show. BRING YOUR OWN ART (BYOA) began at 11 am on February 3rd and continued, doors open until February 4th officially closing at 11 am with all work left in the building would become trash if not picked up. This process reminded me of the closing event for the Miami space The House. They lost their lease to a group of condo developers and for their closing event everyone was asked to put a piece of art up that would be destroyed with the building.

I arrived at after dinner to put up a handful of my Black Sun Project images with a mini project called "10 Suns for 2010." The space was a busy workshop with a mix of artists friends and viewers all roaming around and enjoying the spectacle. The first floor had a rotating open stage where bands and musicians could sign up for time slots. The second and third floors of the space were reserved for artwork.

I had learned of this event via Jerry Saltz and his popular Facebook page. During the evening the New York Magazine art critic roamed the floors of the gallery offering free on the spot critiques. After I walked through the two floors and installed my images I was able to talk with him. We discussed my work and the event itself. He was very approachable in person and you could tell he was enjoying the interaction and the event.

The diversity of work was amazing. It would have been very hard to curate a show like this but this event was more then sum of the work on its walls. It was a show for the ages. This crowd-sourced art / performance / Relational Aesthetic was an experiential tour-de-force.

I placed my Black Sun pictures in spaces next to work that I thought they worked well with. Take a look at the installation pictures below. Also, if your work is in any of the pictures please let me know and I will make a caption and link to your website.



























































Here is the aftermath of the event when I picked up my work:

Tonight, Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - What is photography's role in crises like Haiti?

What is photography's role in crises like Haiti?

For tonight's Art Photo Tweet chat will will be joined my photographer and writer Michael David Murphy aka @whileseated2. Recently, he wrote this piece in foto8 Does Haiti's Crisis Call for a New Photojournalism? This started off a great deal of discussion.

These is also a huge post over on the blog Prison Photography Staring at Death: Photographing Haiti.

Another starting point will be Susan Sontag's classic essay: Looking at War, Photography's view of devastation and death. I will be re-reading that before our chat.

We will be having an open ended chat on how photography interacts with disasters and crisis, using These articles as a starting point. Here are some potential points of discussion:

• What are the moral/ethical issues of creating photography in disaster/crisis areas, help the people in front of you or photograph them?
• What contribution does photography play in helping those in distress
• "artistic vampirism" - making money/fame based on the misfortune
• Why do we love to look at decay. Why can't photographers get enough of Detroit?
• Are photographers adding anything to public knowledge/information?
• What's the value of pro photo vs vernacular (Here Is NY vs Meyerowitz vs Abu Grhaib)

Join in tonight at 9 pm EST.

NOTE: we will be making these tweets a biweekly event now. So Todd and I can better prepare. Maybe in the future if momentum builds more we can move it back to a weekly event. If you liked the weekly version please email / tweet us.

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Tonight, Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - Continuing the conversation: Is Photography is in its death-throes?

Last Week's Tweet chat we discussed photography by starting with a comment left on Amy Stein's Facebook status by New York Art Critic Jerry Saltz:

I do not think that the word "emerging" is the problem; it merely denotes a phase of one's exhibiting career. I think that the lurking problematic term is, ah, "photographer!"

Photography is clearly going through simultaneous death-throes, transformation, rebirth, and other out-of-medium experinces.

That is what you should be thinking about. That's where the real THRILL will be.

This past week he dropped that comment into his own Facebook page and began a flood of over 300 comments. After his reposting Saltz also posed this question

Let's learn. Define the word "Postmodernism" (in art ONLY). Your definition CANNOT BE MORE THAN 2 or 3 SIMPLE sentences.

I responded:

Postmodernism in photography is photography that is meta aware. That is aware of its histories, truths, construction and realities and then communicates through that awareness.

In addition to the artist I mentioned last week I want to add a show I saw this past week "Lunch Break" by Sharon Lockhart at Gladstone Gallery.


Outside AB Tool Crib: Matt, Mike, Carey, Steven, John, Mel and Karl, 2008 Chromogenic print; 49 x 68 1/2 inches (124.7 x 174.2 cm) framed

That's where we will begin again for tonight using that quote as a starting point for our weekly photo art chat.

• where is art photography NOW? dead/alive/rebirth?
• what is transforming, rebirthing into
• how do the practices of documentary live along side the conceptual, constructed, abstract and appropriation?
• art art photographer's artists or art artist art photographers? does it even matter?

Join in tonight at 9 pm EST.

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Tonight, Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - Is Photography is in its death-throes?

A few days ago photographer and blogger, Amy Stein broadcasted via her Facebook status a complaint about the definition of "emerging photographer":

Amy Stein: Can we please come up with a better benchmark for "emerging photographer" than age!?! Unrepresented? No solo exhibitions? Something?

Her status update set off a first storm of over 55 comments from a variety of perspectives. Much of the conversation centered around what the term means and how even today age is used as a factor for eligibility as an "emerging photographer." This is of course a silly factor to weather an artist is coming onto their own. Especially considering the recent New York Times article on a 94 year old painter emerged onto the art scene. Much of the conversation floated between the frustration in the looseness of the "emerging" definition and the problem with age discrimination until New York Art Critic dropped by to add his thoughts:

Jerry Saltz: I do not think that the word "emerging" is the problem; it merely denotes a phase of one's exhibiting career. I think that the lurking problematic term is, ah, "photographer!"

Photography is clearly going through simultaneous death-throes, transformation, rebirth, and other out-of-medium experinces.

That is what you should be thinking about. That's where the real THRILL will be.

That's where we will begin our chat for tonight using that quote as a starting point for our weekly photo art chat.

Ofer Wolberger has an interesting related post on his blog horses think here:

I obviously don't think that photography is dead but it's definitely due for some re-invention and I don't mean the digital kind.

Lately, I've been excited by some photographers who seem to have found a natural way out of the medium. That's not to say that they give up on making photographs. On the contrary, they continue to make photographic work but they are also beginning to engage in other art making practices. The freedom to begin exploring visual ideas through other mediums seems to lead to a re-freshed perspective when it comes back to photography.

Wolberger then points to several photographers who are pushing outside of their photograph to express themselves. His list includes:


Brian Ulrich, City Life, 2008-2009


from Christian Patterson's Out There


submitted jpeg from Jason Lazarus' Try Harder


Sam Falls, Figure Drawing (girls like us), 2009

A few artists I would like to add:


Wolfgang Tillmans and the sculptural photography he loops into his exhibitions.


Simen Johan for mixing in his sculptures with photograph in his series "Until the Kingdom Comes"


Phillip Toledano from his "America the Gift Shop" series.

And recently Alec Soth's web project:

Las Vegas Birthday Slideshow from Little Brown Mushroom on Vimeo.

Alec Soth celebrates his 40th birthday in Las Vegas by making a slideshow.

For more information, go here: http://littlebrownmushroom.wordpress.com/?page_id=894

I'm sure there are many others I will add them as they come up.

So...

• where is art photography NOW? dead/alive/rebirth?
• what is transforming, rebirthing into
• how do the practices of documentary live along side the conceptual, constructed, abstract and appropriation?
• art art photographer's artists or art artist art photographers? does it even matter?

Join in tonight at 9 pm EST.

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, Day 6 - Final Day

The final day of Art Basel I revisited the main show to see what I had missed from the opening night. I love viewing art in person that I have only seen on the internet or in books. One key element to understanding art is seeing the scale and the quality of the production firsthand. Unlike some of the side fairs, the big show in the convention center is filled with consistently well produced art. It is really a pleasure to experience it.

I realize putting 600 pixel wide pictures up here doesn't do them much justice. Hopefully, it serves as a record of what caught my eye. This year's Art Basel was a step up from 2008. As we move toward 2010 I hope this is a positive sign of things to come. Enjoy.


Kehinde Wiley, "Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II," 2009. Oil on canvas: 122.375 x 138.375 inches. at Deitch Projects, New York, NY.


Jon Kessler, "Mob Scene," 2009. Mixed media with motors, cameras and LCD screens. LCD Array: 66.5 x 53 x 24 inches, Mechanism: 84 x 57 x 20 inches. at Deitch Projects, New York, NY.


Kader Attia "Satellite Dishes" 2009. Light Box at Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria.


A pairing of older and newer works from Thomas Struth. The left two are from 1978 when Struth was shooting in New York. The top is "115th Street and 2nd Avenue, New York / Harlem, 1978" and the bottom images is "99th Street at 1st Avenue, New York / Harlem, 1978." They both were printed in 2002. The right large piece is "Museo Del Prado 3, Madrid" 2005. C-print. 80 5/8 x 97 5/8 inches at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY.


Andreas Gursky "Dubai World III" 2008 c-print 93 5/16 x 134 13/16 inches (incl. frame) at White Cube, London, UK.


Just around the corner from there was another Andreas Gursky this one I had seen before in a book is called "Copan" 2002. C-print 81 x 103 inches at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY.


Across from Gursky was a Thomas Demand "Fotoecke / Photobooth" 2009 C-print 70 3/4 x 78 inches at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY.


Robert Longo "Untitled (Men in Cities)" Black and White photos, 1976 - 1982 / 2009 at Metro Pictures, New York, NY.


Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, from top: "Black Cowboys:Bill Pickett Rodeo 09 no.1" and "Black Cowboys:Bill Pickett Rodeo 09 no.2" both 1999 archival ink jet prints at Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY.


Elger Esser, "La Grande Be, France" 2009 C-print 72 1/2 x 78 3/4 inches at Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY.


Bernd and Hilla Becher, "Winding Towers (Anlagen)" 2007 (photographed from 1968-1997) 9 black and white photographs at Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY.


Beate Gutschow "S#2" 2005 Light jet print, 57 3/8 x 49 1/2 inches at Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY.


Mario Garcia Torres "The Improbability of Common Sense" 2009 Acrylicand silkscreen ink on linen.


Kader Attia "Rochers Carres", 2009 at Galeries Christian Nagel, Berlin and Galerie Graesslin, Frankfurt, Germany.


Scott McFarland "Sugar Shack, Caledon Ontario" 2009 Digital C-print 72 x 105 inches at Regen Projects, Los Angeles, CA.


Doug Aitken "Free," 2009 at 303 Gallery, New York, NY.


Florian Maier-Aichen "Untitled (Passo Stelvio) 2009 C-print 70 3/4 x 98 1/4 inches at 303 Gallery, New York, NY.


Yinka Shonibare, MBE "Willy Loman: The Rise and Fall (Paradise)" 2009 C-type print 90 x 70 inches) at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK.


Yoshitomo Nara at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.


Mikhael Subotzky at Goodman Gallery, Capetown, South Africa.


Mikhael Subotzky at Goodman Gallery, Capetown, South Africa.


Ernesto Ballesteros from the series "Covered Light Sources" Permanent black marker on photography, at Galeria Nara Roesler, Sao Paulo, Brasil.


Paul Pfeiffer "Fragment of a Crucifiction (after Francis Bacon)" 1999 at carlier | gebauer, Berlin, Germany.


Robin Rhode "8 Ball," 2007, 16 digital prints at carlier | gebauer, Berlin, Germany.


Quite possibly my favorite piece of the day was this Paul Pfeiffer gold chromed TV in the front left of the booth. "Caryatid (Wrestling)" 2009 at carlier | gebauer, Berlin, Germany.


It seemed like everyone in the media mentioned this Roxy Paine piece, "Maelstrom" 2009 at James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY. I had seen a different version of it on the roof at the Met but I still enjoyed it in the indoor environment. Maybe indoors is a better home than the roof where it competes with the sprawling views of central park.


Duane Hanson, "High School Student," 1990 at Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France.


Ryan McGinley "Wes (Scarlett Split)," 2009 at Team Gallery, New York, NY.


Caio Reisewitz, "Guanabara," 2009 C-print 70.8 x 90.5 inches at Luciana Brito Galeria, Sao Paulo, Brasil.


Mitch Epstein "Recreation: American Photographs 1973-1988" 2004 Dye Transfer 16 x 20 inches at (?)Sikkema Jenkins and Co., New York, NY.


missing info (please email me)


Rineke Dijkstra from Left, "Amy, Liverpool, England, December 22, 2008," and "Beth, Liverpool, England, December 22, 2008" both Archival inkjet prints 2008 at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY.


Final stop of the night was a big group birthday bash for me and my early Sagittarius friends. Which was caped off with the best group birthday cake ever!!! Thanks to master baker and artist Jen Stark.