Armory

Barbara Probst's work in the crowd at The Armory Show

So I gave myself two days to digest but I don't know if that's enough time to even begin the process of thinking through this apex of spectral we call the art fair. Let me tell you, this place was ginormous! The fair is such a monolithic, sprawling structure itself that one cannot help but boggle at it’s cultural weigh. Each little read dot on each sold work carries with it not just an insane amount of hard currency, but  a hefty dose of legitimacy and cultural capital as well. astonishingly, piers 92 & 94 are still afloat, hehe dumb joke. 


How is one supposed to take in a show of that scale anyway? It is so astronomically huge that one literally and figuratively does not know where to begin (only complicated by multiple entrances :). It’s kind of purposefully impossible to see the whole thing. and it’s physically, humanly out of the question to see all the pierces’ in the fair. thus some, actually almost all, fall by the way side. its a brutal art world out there, survival of the fittest. or more correctly, survival of the well established and well positioned. 

Olla von Brandenburg

The rampantly capitalist underpinnings of the show are made quite clear for the beginning. The pieces are nicely labeled $$$ half the time and if not, you can just ask the semi-friendly gallerina's for the cost in cold hard cash. I overheard a lot of people (especially in the modern area) asking for prices. One wife was telling her husband "Its only 30,000 for the 3,"he looked green. (note: about the same cost as my education for one year)

Richard Hamilton 

The people watching is actually fairly captivating. They was a great mix : art world old school characters with tortoise shell glasses, yuppie couples with their baby strollers (really guys, you had to bring the baby?), The bridge and tunnel / nuevo riche, the international out of towners including: the beautifully tanned Mediterranean women who kiss checks and might be slightly euro trash and the tall Nordic male models mixed in with a ny scene : cool looking girls who make you wonder whats her life like? and the beautifully scruffy artist boys (my favorite). WE saw Naomi Campbell. she didn’t even pretend to look at the art. But I guess what was I looking at when I was looking at her? wasn't art. 

John Baldesarri 

BUT back to the ART: I got my ticket for free because of my class, but within 30 sec of us entering the fair we were completely on our own. I stuck with my friend Maddie, who is a lovely person to see art with, and we simply SLOOOOWWWWED down. Allowing ourselves to look for a beat, in front of a work that had caught our eyes. This viewing is to me the only human way of witnessing this fair. It felt like just resisting the flow of viewing momentum was a task. The vectors of spectatorship were hard to resist and you felt your self being lulled to one object or another by a cultural undertow. In some way it felt like an act of rebellion to move against the current by slowing my pace, although perhaps in the end our destinations were the same. The works with magnetic / human / visual pull got us all. But it was worth it to break with the manic speed of the carnival. By pausing to taking notes on artists I felt more able to absorb and process the abundance of information being thrown at me. I feel like I am  learning a community. I'm approaching it almost as an anthropologist. De-marking the terrain, the customs, the gestures of meaning.  

Adam McEwen

So we were there for 4 hours until it felt like our eyes were bleeding and we some how crawled our way to the nearest exit. I wish I had some more pictures. I think ideally I would have liked to have two days to see the thing. One day to take part in the hectic walk through. The next to see the work. I hope I don’t come off as VERY cynical about fair. I actually loved the show. I deeply enjoy beginning to see and comprehend parts of this ever-expanding art system. Seeing international work makes me wonder about what Allan McCollum said to art21 about a “universal system of meaning.” Something about the international work  felt opaque to me. Often I feel like I can’t read the social marks as easily, but this frequently makes the work all the more appealing to discover. I'm a an idealist , like Allen McCollum and I hope a skeptical hope for universal communication. I want to make works that  un fold some  of our constructed boundaries. I am not so naive to think that  I will not create my own boundaries, but I won't give up on the aspiration. In the end, I came away eager to make. and take part.  and communicate. I was fundamental, utterly inspired.