Freize and Pulse

This past week was all about the art shows.  We went out to the Freize on Saturday and the Pulse on Sunday decided to bag NADA.  The art world has made a few changes over the past decade.  The first is that the art shows are one of the main sources of income for galleries.  Those shows let the consumer see a lot of art in one setting and the gallery owners get to touch a lot of art lovers in a few days. 

There are pros and cons to the whole system.  It is expensive to take out a booth at these fairs.  You also have to have a gallery to have a booth which means that the game has just changed.  You are paying rent for your gallery and a very high price for the rent of the booth.  There are certainly a bunch of websites that are trying to bring the purchasing of art online but I still believe that when someone wants to buy an expensive piece they want to see it in person and build a relationship with the gallery.  You want to make sure the gallery is going to support and nurture that artists career. Yet I do love that the sites that are more accessible in terms of price point making the point that everyone can own art which is a good thing. 

I liked the Frieze more last year.  Who knows why. I will say that the food vendors were incredible.  Robertas, Frankies, Sant Ambreous, Fat Radish and more.  Maybe I wasn't in the mood but I found the works just not as interesting as years past or maybe just not as accessible.  The Pulse I found easier to take in. 

Here are my highlights from the Freize.  Tom Friedman had made these large sculptures that made me laugh.  A pizza.

White Bread.

Running shoes.

Rebecca Morris at Harris Lieberman.

Damien Hirst.

Barbara Kruger.

Do Ho Suh

Streams of black and white ribbon formed into a scultpure and then set inside a glass box.  Janaina Tschape

Pillow Talk by Jonathan Horowitz.  54 pieces of display but the piece is actually 96 pieces. Each piece had the opposite on one side.  Very clever. 

Nickel plated nylon sculpture Antony Gormley

Eroded Payphones, Daniel Arsham

Not sure who this artist was but this sculpture was awesome at the Gagosian Gallery.

The highlights from the Pulse below.

Grocery ladies, Will Kurtz, Mike Weiss Gallery

San Marco People, Jan De Vleigher

Hawaiian Surfer, Nick Carter.

Department Store, Gordon Parks.  LOVE this.

Deep Area Christine Flynn.

We came, we left and we bought nothing.  Will see what sticks in my head over the next few weeks.