Round 3
Greetings from chilly North Beach!
Nicole Eisenman at Leo Koenig booth
We braved the rainy morning and cloudy afternoon, and pernicious hangover to travel north to the NADA fair at the Deauville Resort.
(l-r) Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Conrad Ruiz, Jessica Silverman
Kiss the Sky: Conrad Ruiz with his painting (SOLD!) at Silverman Gallery
It’s a much different vibe than previous NADAs at the Ice Palace. Smiling beauties at the front desk welcomed us and directed us to savory Cuban sandwiches and empanadas just outside. Delicious!
Kirk Hayes at Sunday L.E.S.
Much ado about NADA. The fair looks great. Opposed to the shimmering gloss at the big fair, NADA warms our cold hearts with handcrafted sculptures and paintings, cardboard and wood grain, tattered edges, glue gun assembly, and folked-up, Johansonfied brushwork. The Zeitgeist was apparent, and crystal clear at some of the fair’s best booths. Sunday L.E.S. kicked ass with trompe l’oeil paintings on panel by Texas-based artist Kirk Hayes, all sold. While the paintings appear scrappy, layered, and held together by masking tape, they are oil all the way down and meticulously drafted and crafted.
George Herms, Ida Ekblad at The Journal
And Brooklyn’s The Journal gallery offers table-top assemblage pieces by L.A. legend George Herms. Jack Hanley’s booth was full of playful, tiny paintings. I loved David Scanavino’s ABC (Already Been Chewed) copies of the Financial Times at Klaus von Nichtssagend, also in Brooklyn.
Pickles by Erwin Wurm at Jack Hanley
The director from a big gallery at the Big Fair was inquiring about the Scanavino work, which has begun to sell, even though the individual pieces themselves can’t actually be removed (nor sold).
Simon Watson and the Invisible-Exports family
Art advisor and curator Simon Watson cheered this year’s fair action as the best since 2003. “The attitude is much different, much more joyful” he says. “The work looks much better and everyone is ‘over grumpy.’” Word on the street is he scored a two-million dollar sale, which would make me less grumpy, too. Not that I’m really that grumpy here.
John Connelly with Scott Hug work at NADA
IMAGES: Michael Bilsborough
Tags: Conrad Ruiz, Daniel Scanavino, Erwin Wurm, George Herms, Ida Ekblad, Jack Hanley, Jessica SIlverman, John Connelly, Kirk Hayes, Nicole Eisenman, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Scott Hug, Simon Watson, Sunday L.E.S., The Journal