Chelsea Gallerista

I CONFESS that a week ago, I didn't give much thought to collecting photographs. Perhaps due to the push-button instant gratification of the camera, it always seemed the "easy way out" compared to artfully splashing about layers of paint or fashioning grand canyons out of core ten steel (a la Richard Serra). I've since done a 180-degree about face, partly due to a friend's recent purchase of a vintage photo that led me to "real deal" photo gallerista Deborah Bell , enthusiastic art consultant Brian Appel , and a fascinating series of mini-talks entitled "511: Holiday Focus on Photography"  this past weekend. The 20-minute talks by the seven galleries were excellent but scheduled a bit too tightly, leaving no room to browse before you had to beat it to the elevator to see the next. (A 30-40 minute window, leaving time to ponder the just-discussed work, would have made more sense). One thing I noticed was how affable and friendly this b...

One of Bennett's many works featuring his famous "knit stitch". "What's a Oregon painting doing in the blog of Chelsea Gallerista, New York City? Well, it's my blog, so I'll finagle the GPS if I want to ... Sticks and Stones" by Paul Alan Bennett is sitting on a friend's wall in Eugene, Oregon, waiting to emigrate to the Coast where I am currently loitering with intent.  It may well have heralded the end of my wandering days as a solo bicycle adventurette. The print, one of an edition of 250, is about as big as the biggest flat screen TV turned sideways. It's framed - not the sort of thing you should be buying if you're in the move!  I'm still trying to decide if I should just gift it to him - the shipping of this very large painting will probably warrant just buying it again ($275) and re-framing it.  Something captivated me about this picture, when I saw it in a flyer on a notice board. Probably because it'...

"Bird Void", a still from Chris Doyle's video installation Waste_Generation Andrew Edlin gallery, "the middle one" of the 10th Ave trio of Lori Bookstein, Andrew Edlin and Alexander & Bonin is currently showing a captivating multimedia work by Chris Doyle , an artist famous for working with projected images in public spaces. Here's my favorite work in the exhibition -  a duotrans movie still called "Bird Void" from his trippy floor-to-ceiling video projection screening in an adjacent room. Illuminated as a lightbox, it features a kaleidoscopic digital backdrop overlayed with smokestacks reminiscent of the artist's hometown Brooklyn, surrealistically etched by the negative silhouettes of menacing crows. Though the artist demurs that this is a save-the-planet message or political message, that's the overarching sentiment. It's best summed up by the Edlin team on the gallery's site: ... In it a dump site for outmoded to...

While not technically in Chelsea - more like Midtown - I just attended the massive adult toy ( G-rated) extravaganza, Comic-Con, at the Javitz center. Read about it on my Galfromdownunder Upover blog . It's worth it - there's a movie!

Back in February I blogged about the amazing seed-beaded Munny dolls by Jan Huling . Popping by Lyons Weir Gallery recently I spotted her latest effort - a violin. It struck me that this would make the most wonderful prize for a student violin competition - it's Stradivarius on steroids! To remind you of Janet's original bead-breaking work, here's also a new item in her catalog - a beaded Kewpie doll. I'm just waiting for her to do a beaded Smartcar, then for someone to actually drive it ... or perhaps a beaded bicycle? Read my original post about Jan Huling

Shroomie by Scott Scheidly Twenty years ago, when I was a youngish yuppie of sorts, I bought a couple of paintings by Aussie artist Basil Hadley  for about $2500 each. That was the last time I bought a piece of "original" art and they are now gracing the walls of my ex's home in Sydney.  Admittedly they were, shall we say, "decorative" - unchallenging modern landscapes setting off my black leather sofa and seaweed green carpet beautifully. Since then, pursuing a largely traveling life, I've not been able to collect anything so unportable as art, apart from a very unportable print entitled  Sticks and Stones by (Sisters, Oregon) artist Paul Alan Bennett -  currently parked on the wall of a previous beau in Eugene, Oregon! What is this I have with ex's and art I wonder? But just recently, thanks to the affordable "free look" night at   The Affordable Art Fair in NYC , I bought my first piece of original art, a tiny painting called...

While strolling around Chelsea on an off-gallery night, I noticed a panel of light coming from under a darkened alcove. There, I discovered Michael Albert , a self-styled post Warhol artist who calls himself a "Cerealist". The joy he takes in doing his art, a love of igniting the imagination of children, and his astute business acumen and juice business make him one artsy entrepreneur whose enthusiasm is infectious .... Watch the movie ... Cerealism , according to Albert, is the name he gives to his collages, largely made from cut out letters and images from cereal boxes. The letters are painstakingly arranged into large works "spelling out" manifestos like the Constitution, the Gettysburg address, the streets of Manhattan, the states of Connecticut ...  the latter two geographically correct too. Each collage takes several months to finish, and the exhibition represented over 10 years of hard cut and paste. And curiously absorbing they are, once yo...