Or: New York in bits.

Yes, I have attended yet another art-world happening and went to New York for the Armory Show, Pulse and Volta Show. I also got to see an exhibition at Exit Art which was a blast. I will probably write three posts in total about New York and starting with this sweet find of street art / sticker art seems absolutely appropriate:

I detected this accidently, while taking a picture of something that was posted just underneath it (see image below). I thought it was funny, anyway. From this moment on, I started to look even more closely at all the stickers and messages scribbled on walls, lampposts etc, but nothing stood out quite as much as this ensemble did.

This was my first visit to New York and I have to admit that it failed to impress me. Having spend an estimated 4.000 hrs worth of movie-time in that city, I found it to be like I had expected it, if a trifle more dirty. The subway is fun for two days, after that it’s just plain annoying if it takes you 1hr to get anywhere. Luckily, Gabi (from Independent Collectors) and me found a nice host. Renata and her flatmates, located in Brooklyn, were so kind and offered us their living room. Renata also recommended the Exit Art exhibition and took us to a fabulous restaurant. Thanks! (And thanks to David Horvitz who established the contact).

Back to art, I found all three fairs equally good. Pulse surprised me by displaying some photography that amazed me, not being too interested in the genre for some reason. Volta had some beautiful pieces and a different atmosphere, while Armory seemed incredibly stiff in comparison.

This is really just a quickie to get the two images off my chest and to get the ball rolling. Next up will be lots of pictures of art. Jippieh!

Or: A movie before I go.

I’m getting ready to head out for the Armory Show in New York and wanted to leave you all with a small videoclip I self recorded and then put together with the help of both Claudi (one of the splendid graphic people behind the Independent Collectors design) and Yvonne (one of the bouncy colleagues who can work after effects).

My First Six Months as Collector

Six months after I had started collecting, we held a dinner to which we had invited members of the platform – a bunch of collectors, in other words. There I reported on my experiences so far, with the aid of a couple of hand painted slides. A few weeks later, I recorded the same speech in one stretch, talking as fast as I could.

And yes, the recording is an appropriation (as we say in the art world) of that old Bob Dylan Music video. Why? Because I sold all my records to be able to buy more art.

Speak to you after NY!