Armory Show 2011

This show seemed much much smaller than the previous two years. Either I've learned how to efficiently find what I like or it's a really boring year.

$25 prints on dollar bills by Reed Seifer (the artist that presented the "spray to forget" campaign last year). It looks like he has a very close relationship with the fair as a designer and marketer, and always has this little booth to present ad-art projects.

Laura Oldfield Ford is fun, either slightly scrambled or not.  I'm really into word art at the moment - the only opportunity for narrative in a show sparsely populated by representative imagery.

Ron Mandos was raving about his prodigal artist Anthony Goicolea, although only this funny piece got me.

Erwin Wurm at Regina Gallery - Es, Ich, Uber-Ich (Id, Ego, Superego)
There's so much stuff like this.  Rehashed Freudianism thrown at abstraction with a frisson.  shrug.

Everyone liked this series by Gustavo Artigas of pure pigment painted canvases with the health dangers of the pigment, at Mexico City's Caja Blanca.  The show features galleries from a particular geographic region.  Last year it was Berlin, one city.  This year it was Latin America, so, pretty much a quarter of the earth.  Equal wealth?  Probably more.  Stronger showing than Berlin, in fact - they could have limited it to one country.

Xia Xiaowan at Galerie Urs Miele - Human Body.  Drawing on layers of plexi.  Lovely!

Jonathan Schipper at Pierogi, which has moved into the big leagues this year after previously being sort of Brooklyn and Indie.  This was a machine that was dragging these porcelain sculptures up and down, slowly breaking them apart.  The mechanism was repetitive, but of course, the movements change chaotically.  Liked this much.  Also at Pierogi were super-detailed drawings by Daniel Zeller that must have taken infinite patience.

Untitled Gallery seems to always have an unusual setup, in this case tiles made of pennies on the floor and canvas prints with art jokes by Andrew Hahn.

 Erik Thor Sandberg was in Pulse last year, but here's some gorgeous skeeve showing up at the Armory.  Almost soothing, since such classicism was rare this year.

Naaaaaah na na na na na nah naa, na nah na na-na-naahhhhh.  It's like everything you gather on a trip balled together.  Katamari lodged itself firmly in the cultural unconscious like some self metaphor.  "Cheap Magic Is Anticipated", by Ryan Garder.

I may be my usual unobservant self but that's about all the highlights worth sharing.  Tonight: too many openings?  Independent? Pulse?  We'll see!