Chelsea Gallerista

Were you a Britannica kid, or a World Book kid? Who didn't love "Return of the Hunters" by Peter Breughel the Elder (lower right)?  I was definitely a WBK. With its glossy paper, very readable text and lots of images, World Book Encyclopedia was my school outside of school. Now and then I'd open a volume of Encyclopedia Britannica in the school library, but quickly close it;  its dense, scholarly text on bible-thin paper, law-book leathery binding and scant illustrations seemed to be talking to a different kid - one who was a lot smarter and didn't need coloredpictures. This is the World Book volume I pulled off the shelf most often - the P volume: I can safely say my obsession with art comes from the PAINTING section in this volume, pages 26 to 77. I'd flip back and forth through this section for hours, poring over the images, reveling in the captions. Years later, on visiting MOMA, there they were, these iconic paintings hanging larger-than-li...

My Cousin Heidi In Her Renaissance Fair Dress, 2006 [VIDEO] ChelseaGallerista meets Chris Verene at Postmasters Gallery, 2010 All photos from ChrisVerene.com except where noted IF you live in a Manhattan studio, one thing you can't collect too much of is books - especially the giant, panoramic, coffee table kind (unless you plan to use them as a coffee table). But I do own a handful: one fifth  Milton Glaser , one fifth a Picasso catalog from the Paris leg of my Damien Hirst Spot Challenge , one fifth Jan Kempenaers' Spomenik  (because you just have to). And two-fifths American documentary photographer, Chris Verene . Chris signing my treasured copies of  "Chris Verene" (2000) and "Family" (2010),  beautifully produced by Twin Palms Publishers. Photo by a friendly bystander.  I met Chris at his show at Postmasters Gallery on the auspicious date of 10/10/10. I already owned two of his books: Chris Verene (2000) and Family (2010). On op...

A fast ride up to the bridge to Randall's Island, host to the giant Frieze tent Like a stream of visiting circuses, full of color and wonder, New York's art fairs - Scope, Pulse, Frieze, NADA, and a bunch of outliers - share one frustrating thing in common: they tend to converge on the same long weekend. This makes it tough for the average art nut like me to do them all justice, even with press passes and a fast folding bike. But this year I decided to gal-up and pay the pricey $46 to attend  Frieze New York , a "first tier" art fair, according to my art dealer friend. Now, there are plenty of highbrow rants about this much vaunted art spectacle, dramatically sited "offshore" on Randall's Island. So what follows is a lowbrow account of what caught my eye in both good and bad ways. A tent fit for an  octomom's  wedding!  I had my first flat tire in ages, stalling my grand entrance. You NEVER find glass on the road when  biking i...