artworld ▶ Out and About
Monday, March 8th, 2010

The Independent Show (West 22nd Street) A photo journal

ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER

The neon sign over the door by Paris-based collective Claire Fontaine suggests a Dante-esque Divine Comedy awaits.

“Part consortium, part collective,” is what Independent art fair called itself, as launched by gallerists Elizabeth Dee (X Initiative, N.Y.) and Darren Flook (Hotel, London). Making use of the former Dia Art Foundation’s handsome West 22nd Street building, the free-of-charge venue offered artist projects, public programs and commercial galleries showing artworks without the defining “walls” of traditional booths.

SMELL A RAT?

Rodent courtesy of The Bruce High Quality Foundation
Rodent courtesy of The Bruce High Quality Foundation

Packed in for Thursday’s party-atmosphere opening, viewers were met with a 12-foot-high inflatable rat muttering recorded aphorisms such as: “Only one thing counts in this life/Get them to sign on the line that is dotted.” Responses seemed affable.

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

Murray Moss with Michal Fronek and Jan Nemecek’s, Illuminated Crucifix, 2010, and Thomas Struth’s, Stanze di Raffaelo II, Rome, 1992, behind.

SoHo design store Moss paired with Westreich-Wagner art advisors, in an attempt to create 12 “dialogues” between disparate objects that were “never intended to be together,” in Murray Moss’s words. The results should be “subjective,” he explained, “like the circumstances of our lives.”

CALLING A GHOST TO THE TABLE

Zingmagazine publisher Devon Dikeou mounted this photomural of Leo Castelli’s nameplate at Mezzogiorno restaurant.
Zingmagazine publisher Devon Dikeou mounted this photomural of Leo Castelli’s nameplate at Mezzogiorno restaurant.

DRESSED FOR SUCCESS

Lisa Anne Auerbach’s hanging dresses at Palm Beach’s Gavlak Gallery
Lisa Anne Auerbach’s hanging dresses at Palm Beach’s Gavlak Gallery

“She knits a sweater about political or current event, then wears it around,” explained Nelson Hallonquist, of the Florida gallery. Overheard viewer comment: “It’s like shopping in a mall with small stores.”

SIMPLY RED

Saturated foam accretion paintings by Mexican artist Bosco Sodi at Mestre Projects, of Barcelona and New York.
Saturated foam accretion paintings by Mexican artist Bosco Sodi at Mestre Projects, of Barcelona and New York.

THE NEW PAGANISM

British artist Edward Lipski’s spray-enameled silver walls, pedestals, and sculptural interventions felt fittingly hedonistic, at The Approach, Jake Miller’s gallery of East London.
British artist Edward Lipski’s spray-enameled silver walls, pedestals, and sculptural interventions felt fittingly hedonistic, at The Approach, Jake Miller’s gallery of East London.

DON’T FENCE ME IN

Gallerist Elizabeth Dee appears to be assuring potential collectors that it’s not a “trap,” simply an installation by Ryan Trecartin with his Porch Video behind.
Gallerist Elizabeth Dee appears to be assuring potential collectors that it’s not a “trap,” simply an installation by Ryan Trecartin with his Porch Video behind.

ART CRITICISM FOR SALE

Flash Art magazine’s U.S. Editor Nicola Trezzi sets up shop.
Flash Art magazine’s U.S. Editor Nicola Trezzi sets up shop.

CALLING DR. STRANGELOVE

Eve Sussman and Rufus Corporation, Yuri’s Office, 2009, at Winkleman Gallery.
Eve Sussman and Rufus Corporation, Yuri’s Office, 2009, at Winkleman Gallery.

Known for her motion pictures, Sussman here presents an exact replica of Russian Yuri Gagarin’s office, the first man in space.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Artists Space promotes its screening of Make It New John, a documentary about carmaker John DeLorean by Glasgow-based filmmaker Duncan Campbell.

AN OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE

Ricci Albenda’s painting, No Reason to Say No, 2009, at Andrew Kreps Gallery, conveyed an imperative message.
Ricci Albenda’s painting, No Reason to Say No, 2009, at Andrew Kreps Gallery, conveyed an imperative message.

TILT-A-WHIRL

Jeppe Hein, 360-Degree Illusion, II, 2007, stainless steel, structures, mirror, at Johann Konig, Berlin.
Jeppe Hein, 360-Degree Illusion, II, 2007, stainless steel, structures, mirror, at Johann Konig, Berlin.

Move over Olafur Eliasson and Anish Kapoor. Danish artist Hein did more with less, as his optical contraption beguiled audiences with its dislocation of gravitational reality.

FLASH OF HISTORY

Descent to the street, illuminated by Dan Flavin’s last completed work, untitled, 1996.
Descent to the street, illuminated by Dan Flavin’s last completed work, untitled, 1996.

One couldn’t help but feel the presence of the Dia Art Foundation and its illustrious exhibition history in the building’s earlier incarnation—before there was such a thing as The Chelsea Gallery District, or, for that matter, a contemporary art world driven so ruthlessly by art fair culture.

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