Farewell, Hello and Welcome Back... Armory Week 2012

551 West 21st St, Studio 210, works by Mark Wiener

First days of March find us already in a whirlwind, pulling highlights together at Resolve40, still trying to absorb the fresh approach at the Whitney Biennial, and getting ready for the fairs and activities collectively know as Armory Arts Week.

As artists, we are also gearing up for "Chelsea Saturday" - and our participation in the High Line Open Studios (March 10, 12-6), bittersweet this time around. It is our last such event at Studio 210, 551 West 21st is slated to close its doors later this year. We will miss this venerable and storied magnet for art and culture, please join us one last time!

A trek that same evening will bring us to Williamsburg for Brooklyn Armory Night and another look at Sideshow's "Mic:Check" exhibition featuring almost 500 artists, and many other galleries staying open from 7-11.

All week we'll be racing to catch the best shows, which we continue to compile on the home page of Resolve40. Subscribe to our Twitter updates there - it's the only way to get "Listings Live" streaming videos from on the scene!

Passing through midtown at lunchtime of your way up to the Armory or across to the Piers? Make a stop for one of the coolest and tastiest traditions on the New York art scene:

Molly is coming to town with two notable Chelsea art dealers...

Thursday, March 8th: Pavel Zoubok, director of the Pavel Zoubok Gallery specializes in collage and will talk on the history of collage.

Friday, March 9th: Douglas Walla, brilliant author and owner of Kent Fine Art has shown artists Richard Artschwager, Richard Prince, Llyn Foulkes, Mike Cockrill, and DorotheaTanning.

At the Penthouse of the Roger Smith Hotel, N.E. corner of Lexington Avenue and 47th Street in Manhattan. They start at 12:00 noon, but please plan to arrive earlier for a complimentary Brown Bag lunch, lively conversation, and of course, a good seat. If you have any questions, please call the Roger Smith at 212 755-1400. (via Fran Kornfeld - thank you Fran!)

Hungry for novelty and nightlife? Welcome the first edition of the curator-driven fair, Spring Break Art Show -- it runs 'til 9 each evening at Prince & Mott Streets, and you can register for the after-party each night! But do save Friday for a special Armory Show After Party at the Hole, 312 Bowery, co-hosting with The Serve LLC and Art Station -- remember the cool show at Chelsea's Lukoil Station last fall? (deets below)

Also Friday only, Pink Gallery of Seoul, Korea presents a pop-up show by artists Chris Twomey, Nikki Johnson and Linda Levit for the opening of the Pool Art Fair on the mezzanine of the gorgeous new Flatiron Hotel, open to the public from 3-6 pm at 9 W 26th St (corner B'way)

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Was it BANKSY?

On the heels of the resolution of a mystery in the art world with the happy reunion of Colette and her lost canvasses  - view the post "Have You Seen Me?" - and watch for an update soon! - last night presented me with a puzzle of a more personal nature.

My art cards are left on a table outside our studio for visitors to take away with them - but sometime around 9:30 PM, while we were gone for only a short while -  I found my top card looking like this:

Which is quite attractive, except the card image as printed looks like this:

It appears I have a swift and secret collaborator, perhaps the mystery tagger who has struck 551 West 21st Street before, but who knows? There was quite a crowd in the building for an event.

Curiouser and curiouser...

Have a great spring weekend!

Where form meets function...

...and art is the sum of the parts.

Artists Jean Marie and Marthe Simonett are well known if France for their monumental sculptural works, but they have also mastered the art of creating wonderful 3-dimensional pieces on a more intimate scale. Their first New York exhibition focuses on a series of puzzle tables (images above & below)- in the words of curator Renaud Vuaillat, "Conceived for life together, to meet together, to connect, to prolong and combine each other infinitely." -  originally created in 1969 for the apartment of prominent French ad-man Jacques Seguela.

Their first New York exhibition focuses on a series of puzzle tables (images above)- in the words of curator Renaud Vuaillat  "Conceived for life together, to meet together, to connect, to prolong and combine each other infinitely." -  originally created in 1969 for the apartment of prominent French ad-man Jacques Seguela.

Vuaillat, who after fifteen years in Paris as an established furniture dealer opened his New York flagship gallery, Twenty First/Twenty First, in Chelsea., continues:

"The Simonnets create formal alphabets - that is to say, series of modules that are made to be linked, assembled, that have parental links because they are constituted of families of forms...This approach to form, this language, is linked to the technical mode of production, and reproduction: the polyester casting. Unlike other materials like stone or wood, polyester only takes on what is given to it: form, color, matter."

"Chairs"  - 1998,  all images courtesy Twenty First/Twenty First Gallery

See them at the opening reception on Thursday April 8th from 6-8, or during gallery hours April 9th - May 29th on the 3rd floor at 551 West 21st  - website  http://www.21st21st.com/

Because it was naked...

This is personal.  Explicit...

view catalog

Mark Wiener, with whom I live and work, has created a new virtual catalog of his intense abstract paintings and drawings, which he has titled "Explicit," - which refers to the title of his last catalog, "Naked." And while it may seem provocative taken out of context (as I did to create the teaser), it is actually a serious and sincere expression of his process, of an artist's necessary exploration of  the bare elements that comprise the complex work in order to re-energize and recombine them to explore and deepen their expression of life in his paintings.

Click the below the cover to view and read more, or download in Hi-Res here.

A map, an opening, and vintage Pool...

Photo of Emma's Installation by Mark Wiener

This installation (see Thursday's post) has landed at the NE corner of 21st Street & 11th Avenue. See it today when you visit the open studio from 11-6 - it's steps away from our entrance at 551 W. 21st Street.

The hotel-based Pool Art Fair has always held a place in my heart, and one reason is the amazing creative ways artists have found to use the bathrooms! This year was no exception, as demonstrated by Brooklyn artist Jae Hi Ahn's inspired installation, 2 views below:

(Special thanks to Chris Twomey for finding this artist for me, her own video bathroom installation at the Chelsea Hotel a couple of seasons ago is unforgettable.)

But the Gershwin is quite an old building, and what CAN you do with one of those old exposed radiators?
Above is the solution created by artist Cigdem Tankut, and in case you think this lady can't take the heat, you must know that her hat and neckwear are constructed of copper and steel scrubbing pads, and her "delicate" veil is made of repurposed window screen(sharp edges!) Her appearance, like that of the petite and charming artist who works with metal, can be deceiving - hooray for girl power!

See you later at Studio 210 - click on the little map below of all the locations to download the big one for yourself...

The shows at 551 and something I have never seen...

by Jan Gilbert image courtesy 571 Projects

Galleries are vibrant members of our community at 551 West 21st Street, and they will be open Saturday as well.  571 Projects on the second floor is presenting Sur la Ligne/On the Line through March 20th.

On the third floor visit Twenty First/Twenty First for a group exhibition of limited edition objects of furniture and design.

gallery view - Twenty First/Twenty First

At 142 11th Avenue (same building, different frontage) Emma will present an installation from March 4th -7th in homage to the location's former purpose as a notorious "leather bar" beginning in the 1970's. Read more here

Last but not least, the Armory Show preview was packed with patrons devouring a first look at almost too much art in one place to be believed. While the "new" art exhibitions were on the menu for Pier 94, I actually discovered something new to me in the "modern" section of the show on Pier 92.

FREDERIC MEGRET, SUZANNE MUZARD, GEORGES SADOUL

UNTITLED, 1929,Gouache on paper,10 x 6 1/2 inches

courtesy Alan Koppel Gallery

Chicago's Alan Koppel Gallery displayed a group of small works on paper from the early 20th Century that were the results of artist's games of "Exquisite Corpse." I had never seen anything like them and wished for more time to view the art and replay the games in my imagination.

After the Armory, I thought I had all I could ever take of the popular uber-simple style of portrait/landscape painting. Viewing the works of Jorge Pantoja at Scope, where dealer Carol Jazzar devoted her entire booth to the artist, was an engaging surprise - simple works on paper with depth and character.

All the other satellites open or preview today except one, you will have to wait 'til Friday to dive into Pool...all linked in the banner at Resolve40

Art & People

What makes an open studio event such an interesting excursion is that there is no filter on what you are to see, no one taste or theory shaping the presentation - everything genre, size, shape , medium is on display for you to discover something to think about , talk about, or fall in love with.  So on to the art of the portrait with 2 residents of 551 West 21st and a former studio-mate and good friend who invites you to her new studio a short walk away.

The Violinist by Mercedes Nugent-Head, Studio 406

3 small works by John Wells, Studio 203A

Painting by Yu Zhang, 421 West 22nd Street (9th-10th)

Open studio hours for Yu Zhang and the artists of 551 West 21st Street are Saturday March 6th, 11-6. (Sorry to keep repeating but not everyone sees every post)

By the time this appears online I will be over my head in art and sloshing around in the slush between the Armory Show and Scope so I can tell you all about it later!

Monday

While the fairs are finishing their installations, and we prepare for our open studio Saturday, the first show of the week opens tonight: Empire State of Mind at the renowned Chelsea Hotel.

For all the fairs and the open studio event, please play with Resolve40's new banner .

We can't wait to see you at 551 West 21st Street on Saturday, and images form the artists and exhibitions there will be posted here throughout this week. Right is one of Mark's new paintings.


My new pieces too- many farm pears from Fall '09 (remember THAT decade?) like this one..and many more like them in Studio 210.