NY Armory Show 2005

reviewed by
James Rosenthal

Is it my imagination, or do artists spend more and more time in liaison with the art world rather than focusing on actual art work? Perhaps this is an age old question, but I am feeling the pressure these days to not only follow the scene with all its art fairs and biennials but be on first name terms with every artist and curator on the planet. It is not that I am uninterested in what others produce, but I have to say I am forever looking for how my ilk fit in.

All this said, I was pleased to have been allowed into the Armory Show warmly on a press pass and that I was au courant with most of what was on display. The Fair is a quick glimpse into what is being made and sold around the world but, more than that, it is a lesson into how these works are made to appreciate monetarily and become topical. The casual observer can gauge trends from years ago and also see things slowly moving towards something else.

Some artists, like Alex Katz, are always around it seems. I can’t explain that but he sort of grows on me and turns up in several booths. The new gothic stuff or whatever you call it was everywhere in lots of different forms. It is certainly appealing, small and collectible, but there is something obnoxious about how the galleries and curators flaunt it like it’s bloody Picasso or something. The mix of trez chic and slacker makes me feel ill. Jeffrey Deitch is a master of this. His gallery people were busily installing their mock bakery with all the cool stickers while the press looked on and waited for free cookies. It’s so jaded, packaging the art/youth attitude, and irritating. Similarly, the Royal Art Lodge has been going strong. Its key figure, Marcel Dzama, must be rich now after having sold thousands of those child like drawings of his. Being prolific is one huge advantage of the cartoon aesthetic. He has just done the cover art for Beck’s latest album. These days there seems to be no amount of overexposure for artists in the insular art world. They get seen everywhere, at every fair in every city in the world. Yoshitomo Nara is another good case. He was cozily represented on a small booth by a Japanese gallery, Tomio Koyama, that carried his very collectible piggy banks for 40 bucks. It may be art but it is also fantastic merchandising. The fact that his work is not demanding is also a worry. Plus, I don’t get the punk rock connection apart from the fact that the images make great illustrative cover art. Popular culture begets more popular culture.

Generally speaking, this is a huge convention and networking is the order of the day. As opposed to the grand scale of the art in Chelsea, just down the road, this stuff is tailored to be portable. Though deal-making may be going on, selling the odd piece to the odd collector is also a priority. The art fairs now are another major way that connections are made between cities, collectors and galleries, world-wide with more and more, like Scope, Frieze, DIVA, and Art LA springing up along with new Biennials. (Even Liverpool has a Biennial!) This trend seems to have begun in the early nineties probably in order to restore the art market from the downturn at the end of the 80s art boom. This show, named after the mythic exhibition of 1913, is the daddy of them all and, filling two massive piers on the Hudson, it deserves the distinction.

But there was a lot else going on that weekend. The Scope show (where Philadelphia's Gallery Joe had a booth) was also open as were many other events including some alternatives in Brooklyn. Attending with my press pass, I felt like I was intruding on the preparations for a huge party that I was not invited to. Alas, the art is there to view and enjoy even if one is extraneous.

The amount of information just to do with the Armory Show is daunting. This year’s publicity is extremely well designed with lovely Jockum Nordstrom images on everything. He is another prolific artist who has produced a different image for each individual art magazine and publicity card. His finely crafted and collaged work, looking like Henry Darger, gets a nice balance of the obscene and the quaint faux outside though it may feel a little too clever by half after such overkill. My favorite piece on the pier -- I told the gallery person I would write about it so here it is -- was by French artist Marcial. His mock stack of Marshall aka “Marcial” amps (get it?) cheered me up no end. This very amusing piece had everything I require: a great pun, a silly half conceptual notion and a music reference. I am now wondering if French heavy metal bands prefer Marshall or Fender amps? Marcial may not be a household name, but he knows that music is the only thing you can outsmart the art crowd with these days. No one ever gets the questions concerning current music on Jeopardy do they?

Continuing with the music theme, I saw several Dave Muller pieces -- I love his large rock album watercolors -- and an album cover painted over by Rodney Graham. Was there any Christian Markley? Brooklyn's Pierogi 2000 featured a performance by two guys playing live electronic music on retro synthesizers of their own design with eight tracks attached. Way cool. The flat files were on display there also -- mais, sans moi!

While it is fairly easy to notice vicissitudes in art generally over time, we rarely focus, except maybe theoretically, on how market forces influence art directly. Oddly enough, though publicity gives air to the market in a global art world, it is still the word of mouth where the sale is made and these transactions are private. This is odd when the marketing is now so up front. The myriad publications maintain this structure and have no reason to criticize it. It means success or failure to them. Curators follow market changes like it was the holy grail. Certainly there is a lot of positioning going on as prices fetched for one artist rise but is it what sells that becomes hip or the reverse? Unfortunately, I think that the time has come when artists now work in the same way -- didn’t Guy Debord warn us about this? -- and art is crafted for that market. Reviews are crafted to back it up further. Galleries advertise in the glossies. It all rolls ahead like a well oiled machine. And it doesn’t matter a jot that the guy on the street doesn’t have a clue.

On leaving, I noticed that someone had written “Measly Art Sold by Sheep,” on a men's room stall, so, thankfully, I’m not as bitter and twisted as some.

© 2005 James Rosenthal and InLiquid.com; image copyright © Luhring Augustine Gallery