"Free" opened on March 12 ! Pretty busy !

Opening night of Free, the solo by Koen Delaere. Busy night despite the horrible weather. Glad to see folks from Holland come all the way.  It looked like we had a few journalists amoungst the crowd....so looking for a review some time soon !  

Today the Ninth Floor series will be shipped to Rome - Koen Delaere will come to arrange the new show

One of those weeks where we change the exhibition - the Ninth Floor photo series by Jessica Dimmock is heading to Rome where it will be on display at Forma Galleria from March 18 onwards.

Koen is arriving today to arrange the installation of his show "FREE".  Will post some pictures of the 'work in progress'.  Watch this space.

Armory & Volta 2009

Both of high quality ! Armory said to be less daring and offering more affordable art this year....but still top. High end galleries, well organized and consistent presentation and quality.

                                

Free shuttle bus to Volta (10th floor midtown) where we saw ± 40 - 50 solo's ! Three gallery's from Belgium - none from Holland.  Nice chat with Hoet Bekaert. 

                                                                             Worth taking time to visit Volta ! 

      

BRIDGE Art Fair NYC 2009

What a difference a few hours make....Bridge art Fair was a major dissapointment. 

Located close to the Waterfront but difficult to find as the other fairs will not tell you where it is (they know but are not allowed to give you instructions.....(un)healthy competition). First impression is that the cab drops you in front of the entrance but you have to climb over 1 meter high pile of black snow. After that small hurdle, we entered a 'tube' shaped space very full of hip people.  Good first impressions turned nasty after 50 meters (637 inches) when we saw the mixed bag of art. Trying hard to see through the mess, we discovered a few worthwhile works. Body artists at work (tattooing a freshly shaven head) and pushy sales women combined with the very hot air blowing at the crowds made my nauseous. We dutifully worked through the tube until we discovered the coat-check at the other end (who said location-location-location was important). So by than, sweating with coats and shawls & gloves, we decided to head out.  There is no catalog, no oversight and overcrowded booths and lack of space and planning. 

New York - the 2009 Art Fairs - PULSE

Day 3, breakfast in bed and whilst the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are falling to new low levels, we are discussing the findings to-date. Every gallery keeper we spoke was showing a brave face and reporting that 'things are good' ... according to the New York Times & Art Newspaper, at least 45 galleries, some founding members of Armory, did not return this year.  There seems to be a discrepancy..

Yesterday, day 2, VIP brunch at PULSE at the Piers : no big crowds but a good number of people was filling the aisles around 11 AM. Dutch ex-minister / Quote 500 Herman Heynsbroek was spotted and said to have bought some works, a few red dots started to appear. But, ooh horror, all coffee machines were broken - even those in the Collectors' Lounge!    

Overall a very nice set up, well curated with generally high level of art and special commissioned works.   Most booths we liked showed work by German artists .... coincidence ??  Nice meeting with Martine Willekens (Peper Office) and friends.  We liked Bitforms gallery, NYC, ASPN Gallery (Leipzig, DE), Pablo's Birthday, NYC.   Our artists would not be out of place here.  To be continued.