Art fairs energize New York scene - Front Page - Art Show, Armory Show

Art in America, April, 2002 by David Ebony

As in previous years, displays by galleries from London, Paris and Berlin were among the high points of the fair. Berlin's Galerie Eigen Art once again brought arresting new paintings by Neo Rauch, who is long overdue for an in-depth museum show here. Antony Gormley's life-size human figure made of hundreds of small steel bars, Under My Skin II, was a stunner at London's Jay Jopling/White Cube. During the fair, London gallery Victoria Miro conducted a silent auction of a recent Chris Ofili painting to benefit the elephants of the London Zoo. Incorporating the artist's trademark balls of elephant-dung, the work sold for $105,000 at the fair's end.

U.S. galleries were also strong this year. There seemed to be an emphasis on theatricality in some of the booths. A new computerized light sculpture by Olafur Eliasson at Tanya Bonakdar, for instance, consisted of a bank of nine stage spotlights. Aimed at one wall, they projected a slowly shifting geometric pattern in various tones of white.

Visitors to the fair got the first peek at Matthew Barney's new film Cremaster 3. Photo stills from the fantasy epic were on view at Barbara Gladstone's booth. American Fine Arts presented a performance piece by Frank Schroder in which a live female model in an evening gown, seated on a bench, contemplates a painted portrait of herself hanging on a nearby wall. Postmasters featured a gender-bending video by Polish performance artist Katarzyna Kozyra, which shows a group of young men prancing around a gallery wearing loincloths fashioned to resemble vaginas.

Music and movie stars were on the minds of some artists. Inman Gallery from Houston showed Dario Robleto's tribute to the late Who drummer Keith Moon; the finely honed sculpture featured a glass drumstick resting in a wooden case. At L.A.'s Acme, painter Kurt Kauper presented a tongue-in-cheek ode to Hollywood--a nude portrait of Cary Grant leaning against a fireplace.

While video and photography were in abundance, painting and sculpture were also prominent on the piers. Steven Charles's large abstract canvas packed with thousands of vertical lines was a standout at Pierogi's booth, and Harold Stevenson presented one of his monumental male nudes at Mitchell Algus. A large plaster relief sculpture by Martin Honert made a timely and unforgettable appearance at Matthew Marks. This sleek, silvery jet, which almost seemed to soar out of the booth, could help anyone overcome a fear of flying.