Art Fairs | Frieze at Randall's Island

My six kilometer walk, from the Upper West Side to the Frieze tent

Yesterday the third New York edition of the art fair Frieze opened in its usual —yet unusual in the art fair geography—New York City location: Randall's Island, in the East River. The container of the artwork is visually quite compelling: a snake-shaped bright white tent is an elegant, yet not-competing wrapping for the multitude of different scale and media sculptures, drawings, paintings, and most of all, installations.

   "Arte Povera" can seem an oxymoron for a commercial fair, but is perhaps one of the largest presence in the Frieze. The repertoire ranges from  cardboard sculptures to trash outdoor installation and newspaper pages elegantly presented in series. The dot paintings series by Jonathan Horowitz, presented by the New York gallery Gavin Browse Enterprise is another example of gimmicky yet visually powerful artwork.

GBE stand and the $20 dot canvases

Kader Attia "Twalaaf Halaam"been cans installation at Lehman Maupin stand

Giuseppe Penone, Marian Goodman Gallery

Allyson Viera compressed plastic

Antonio Dias, Galeria Nara Roesler from São Paulo

More traditional formal exploratiosn from Sean Kelly Gallery

Hauser & Wirth

T. J. Wilcox "In the Air" from Gladstone Gallery

Conceptual explorations from the Wilkinson Gallery

Jenny Holzer at Sprüth Magers

 Sound art has a presence, even if weakly curated.

Participatory art is very presence, from the most common mirrored sculptures to more innovative forms, such as the "flux labyrinth".

P.P.P,O. stand

Richard Tuttle from Pace Gallery stand

camminando & vernissages | Chelsea, February 28

Another painfully cold temperature leads my walk from views of the sun setting over the frozen Hudson river to a vibrant art openings night.

Views of the sun setting behind New Jersey skyline, with a frozen Hudson river in the foreground

Alejandro Cesarco "Loyalties and Betrayals" at Murray Guy

Jonathas de Andrade at Alexander and Bonin

"System and Vision" at David Zwirner

"Future Seasons Past" curated by Manuel E. Gonzalez at Lehmann Maupin

vernissages | NYC, Giulio Paolini at Marian Goodman

Of time, space, representing, representation, fragments, geometry, plaster, tautologies, glass, plexiglas, projections, chairs, parts, wholes, transparencies, revealing, signs, de-signs...

Exhibitions | Mike Kelley at MoMA PS1

An outstanding retrospective of Mike Kelley find its perfect home at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City. To be honest I was not completely familiar with vastness of work of this artist who sadly left the planet in 2012, at age 57. The conceptual artist was born in Detroit but based in Los Angeles where he attended the California Institute of the Arts; he worked in almost any medium, including painting, drawing, video, film, photography, sculpture, site specific installation and performance. The retrospective was organized by the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum and presents two hundred works, some originals but the majority are reconstructions of site specific installations. While I was already familiar with his performances and stuffed animals installation I was fascinated by the unexpected spatial explorations and architectural models. Even birdhouse became inspiration for sculptural social commentaries.
On view until February 2 2014 —not to be missed!

"From My Istitutions to Yours" 1987

"Animation" 2007

"Pay for Your Pleasure" 1988

Performances photos and sketches

"Black Out" 2001