Last Wednesday, we made our way back to the Bowery. Our destination: New Inc. Behind a heavy door attached to the New Museum and several keycard checkpoints exists the home of the New Museum led collaborative incubator. New Inc’s goals includes a creating a think-space to generate ideas and encourage the New York creative community. The feel of the space is very New Museum/Google start-up, all glass rooms and shiny white furniture and Mac computers and a work-space bar with accompanying stools.

There we met up with Bennington alum Lindsay Howard, who like our internet-art thesis friend from the previous week, is very interested in the digital art world and creating a feasible market for it. Can you buy digital art, an otherwise non-tangible media? Can you own a website as art? How about a Youtube video?

The answer is yes.

The art market has adapted to encompass this new wonderful part of it. It’s also an interesting way for artists to have more control over their artwork. It doesn’t just go to the buyer to never be seen again until it shows up at an auction. It can still be seen by the public and still generate more value, some simply by the increasing number of views. It’s incredible to think about.

Artists set their own terms in what the buyer owning the art actually means. Some gift the buyer with a physical object such as a customized flash drive. Others add the owner’s name to the web address bar. While it will continue to exist online, the buyer owns the art.

Though digital art certainly still has its critics, it’s not going anywhere and the market for it is certainly growing.

Artists Alliance/Cuchifritos Gallery/Essex Market

Artists Alliance is a non-profit dedicated to supporting emerging contemporary artists. The organization offers studio space, residencies, and also runs a gallery, Cuchifritos, located Essex Market. It has also initiated a cool project where artists take over empty stalls in the market and implement some kind of pop-up art exhibition.

The Artist Alliance space is located in what used to be a school. It’s creaking floors and ragged walls are now dedicated to creative work: artist studios, a gallery, theaters, and the remnants of past art exhibitions.

Cuchifritos in Essex Market

Down the street from Artists Alliance is Essex Market. Inside of Essex Market is Cuchifritos Gallery. Located at the end of the gallery behind glass doors  is Jules Gimbrone’s exhibition for Threshing Floors.

The moving soundtrack beneath and around the installed pieces. A bench that you can feel free to sit on. It's very tactile tease of the senses.

Essex Market Inside of Essex Mart is proof that art does exist in the everyday world and that an exhibition/gallery space can certainly be a food stall. The idea of a gallery space existing alongside of tea and cookies and canned beans is pretty awesome.

The artists exhibiting in the stalls were prompted to create something that people would not take. One artist presented lots of things glued down. Another offered just a peek inside a curtained out space held apart by a couple of large bricks.

It shows that art doesn't have to be this huge, deep meaningful thing but something simple enough to exist in between the stalls of a market but complex enough to draw a few minutes attention away from grocery shopping.

Two weeks ago we met with Bennington alum, Erik recently graduated from MICA with a masters in critical studies. His thesis on internet art sounds pretty interesting, but that could be because I spend way too much time viewing art and not-art online.

Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Then we headed to Lehmann Maupin’s Chrystie Street location for a bit of behind the scenes action with one of the sales associates. Most of the lighting had been muted in order for a photographer to take some media photos. Opening that night was Tony Oursler’s exhibition. His use of facial recognition in his work reminds me of that one app that can turn you into a virtual avatar. Being able to see the cuts of the work, the circuitry and wiring and bolts really opened up his pieces.

Along with our quick peek of the work, our gallery guide left us aspiring art world workers with some good words. Having been to many galleries and talked to a lot of people, it was nice to see how different aspects of the same world can still have differing ideas of the same thing.

After Lehmann Maupin, it was off to see more gallery spaces. One place in particular, exhibiting work by Carolee Schneemann work, really stood out. One: The walls weren’t painted white. Two: the gallery person talked to us. Gushed to us. (She also knew where Bennington is so check-plus).

Bitforms

Bitforms had one of the strangest video art pieces I’d ever seen. Jonathan Monaghan’s Escape Pod has forever been burned into my memory. Though I’m not sure if I like the art; I wouldn’t buy it for sure, it was definitely captivating. In standing there staring at the two video works, which were edging on that line between tasteful and racy, I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

I really wondered about the placement of that one tv though. I wanted it mounted on a wall, especially since slightly slumping with my gaze averted downward for twenty minutes did not help my already terrible posture. But maybe that's a point for the strange but oh-so captivating video art. I kept watching through my discomfort.

LMCC: Erica Magrey

Dressed as if she’s been transported in a time machine from the ’90’s, Erica Magrey gave us some time to talk and a tour around the LMCC artist residency 2014-2015 space. It used to be an FBI evidence storage facility. One the door leading into the space, only the B and I remain of the old FBI sign. Though the storage bins where the evidence was kept are gone, left behind is a huge open space that meanders its way across the building floor. The ceilings and flooring are unfinished, ductwork and piping revealing itself in much of the space. All of the artists have carved out their own studios, some adding couches and carpeting or changing their lighting. LMCC takes on writers as well as artists, a few of whom sat on their comfy seating typing away throughout our visit.

I am immediately in love with her work.The pastels Magrey employs in her most of her work reminds me of a couch my parents had when I was a kid. Nostalgia for the days of youth is one her themes. In one piece, commissioned for the New Hive site, Magrey created interactive webpages with videos of women presenting objects as if advertising them. It’s funky and playful and oh-so-hard to look away from.

Magrey obviously enjoys what she does and her ability to connect her artwork with her past leaves a universal nostalgia for lives passed and unlived.  Whether I’m transported to the land of Teen Vogue and ‘90s clothing from Goodwill or to self-directed character building, Erica Magrey’s work displays a playful depth, one that reaches beyond the shades of pastel.

Artist Space: Hito Steyerl

Steyerl’s work is strangely captivating. Though certain scenes when isolated from their surrounding content might be mundane and boring, all together they provide an exciting look into how Steyerl works. (It must be the editing.) I honestly could have sat and watched each video for much long than we actually stayed. Each work had its own curated space. A video work focused on a plane, Free Fall, had several luxury first-class plane seats for seating. Another video work about the water, Liquidity Inc, offer cushions one a half-pipe wave looking structure. All the videos were visually engaging in a way that I didn’t get tired sitting for ten to fifteen minutes watching them.

Storm King: Upstate’s Very Own Outdoor Sculpture Amusement Park

On our way back from Bennington, we made a stop at Storm King Art Center. Set up very much like an outdoor sculpture amusement park, the Art Center lies in the shadow of Storm King Mountain. The day we went was a bit dreary; the skies gray and a chilly bite to the wind. Instead of trekking out on foot across the sprawling 500 acres, we opted for a voice-guided tram ride.

Once seated, off we went through the vehicle accessible parts of the park. Most of the visible landscape was dotted with Mark di Suvero’s towering sculptures in iron, earth and red. Their placement left all to bask in their own presence rather than overwhelming each other or other surrounding pieces.

Another amazing piece was Andy Goldsworthy’s One Wall which snaked its way across the fields and then dipped into the pond and continued into the treelike on the other side. Set in the style of old English walls, it added an eery old world charm to the area it surrounded.

One of my favorite pieces, George Cutts’s Sea Change, gives the illusion of swaying gently in the wind or perhaps waves tossed by the sea. Upon closer inspection, the rhythmic movement is more evident of a hidden motor, but the graceful illusion remains the same.

Storm King is a place of wonder, hidden in the hills of upstate New York. It’s certainly a place that requires hours a time, good weather, and strong walking feet. I’ll definitely be back with a hope of having all three.

The Storefront for Art and Architecture 

The Storefront for Art and Architecture has now inserted itself on my list of favorite surprises discovered on the Lower East Side. Settled across the street from La Esquina on the corner of Kenmare St, The Storefront looks more like a giant grey paneled concrete ship than the opening for an artist gallery. It’s definitely the kind of place that makes itself known that it caters to artists and architects, which means if you haven’t heard about Steven Holl, the architect, then maybe you’ve heard of  Vito Acconci, the artist partnered with him for the awesome building design.

Step into the space and you’re met with something not expected. Projected on a screen in the far corner of the building so as to block out as much light as possible, Amie Siegel’s The Architects provides crisp, roaming images of office environments over the ever present sounds of the street just outside. The play on outside-inside spaces, while it can be an over-played theme, works extremely well in the space. It lends itself to it with its triangle-shaped build.

Step under the bright awning of a towering Sol Lewitt piece and through to the tastefully decorated lobby and you’re there in a place that speaks of old propriety and even older money. Welcome to Christie’s!

On the visit there, the estate of Robert Ellsworth was spread throughout, a collection of thousands of pieces of Asian art dating back centuries. In one room, a bag full of dollar bills invites you to also leave a monetary gift to the gods. Parsing through the items felt more like roaming through a very expensive high-end department store. (Christie’s is certainly a good name for it)

Though Christie’s is open for anyone to come look at the art, it’s obviously not a museum. It could be considered a more buying-aggressive version of a gallery. In the days before an auction, all of the lots to be sold (and more) are spread throughout to check with your own eyes (and possibly hands) the items you want to buy. Only in the instance of the auction house that piece of art is not so much a historical masterpiece as it is “the new bureau for the guest room” or “wouldn’t this table look nice in the foyer?” One could think they were buying a piece of history. And for a million dollar price tag there are certain pieces where you certainly could.

If the buying/auctioning gets a bit tedious, feel free to suspend yourself over the plush couches in the members lounge. Have a cup of tea or coffee or water as you wait for the lot you want, while casually strolling by the pieces of art hanging on the wall. There might be something you like there (for the right price).

And when you do finally find the piece you’ve just got to have, the well-hidden cashier’s chamber is tasteful and private. Any purchases made can stay confidential behind the cleverly placed wall.

The Armory Show

The Armory Art Show is worth going just see the hordes of people roaming through the spectacle built by hundreds of galleries filled with priced art. Separated into Contemporary and Modern, the fair boasts to have something for everyone looking for art from the late 19th century to now.  Do you want to buy a Marco Maggi? How about a Diana Al Hadid? Robert Motherwell? Andy Warhol? Or maybe you just want to catch a glimpse of celebrity? Oh, look there’s Bon Jovi, and Jerry Saltz eating a snack. Or maybe you just want to be able to sip over-priced champagne and watch people peruse art while dodging each other? Well then, step through Piers 92 and 94: the frenzy has begun.

Parsing through the crowded booths on the last day of the fair, it was hard to tell the difference between those just looking and those looking to buy. What separates a collector or potential buyer from the masses? Well, it’s certainly not just the way they look and bank account numbers aren’t affixed to back of people’s jackets. In wading through the crowds, every so often I’d catch a snatch of conversation between the gallery representative and a potential client. One conversation in particular staged a casually-dressed couple and an un-equally well-dressed gallery representative.

The female half of the couple pointed to the photograph, “How much?”

“It’s already sold,” the gallery representative stated with a sympathetic air.

“Yes, but for how much?”

“$80,000,” the gallery representative affirmed.

“Well, it would have looked nice in the living room,” the female half of the couple sighs. Her male counter-part agrees. “Let’s go find something else.”

In seconds they were lost in the crowd, hopefully off to find the piece that would complete their living room.

Why not take down the sold art? Why give others some odd hope that they can too possess this one piece of art? Status symbol? Marketing move? This piece somebody already owns, but how about owning this lovely piece right next to it? This artist has been sold for x amount of dollars, it’s one that you should keep an eye out for, how about buying this one unsold piece? It’s a perhaps manipulative ploy but there are people to be paid.

While everybody seemed to be perusing the fair like it was an art shopping mall, the Armory Show did not seem like a place to look at art. The gallery showings aren’t curated exhibitions. Well except for that most are encouraged to make work just for the fair; work that will sell. Often, especially in the Contemporary pier, I found myself wondering why a certain artist was displayed next to another when the styles and message of the art seemed completely disparate. The booths just seems like a place to house the art until some prospective buyer stumbled along to buy it. That’s not to say all galleries fell short on this. In the Modern pier, each gallery seemed a bit more crafted to exhibition, showcasing similar artists next to each other in another great marketing ploy: if you like the way all of them looked together, why not buy all of them? Maybe it’s because Modern artists have the advantage of a proven track record and stabilized prices, but the Modern section felt less-frenzied. The Pier led a slightly calmer but cooler walk through, while people trotted along taking pictures of well-known artists. There didn’t seem to be much of the question or whether an artist would be sold (as in the Contemporary section) but the question of how much and to whom?