Originally from Seattle, David moved to New York in 2004. All information presented in "the two percent" is gathered and qualified only through his regular gallery viewing experiences. David is 32 and has no pets.
Acquisition: Susan Hefuna
May 11, 2010
I’m happy to announce the newest (5th) addition to my art collection. I’m currently working on fleshing out the "collecting" section of the blog with the story of each purchase (including the story of this multi-layered drawing on tracing paper that I first saw in Venice), and my collecting experiences in general. I thought now would be a good time to share a small portion of what I’m working on. This excerpt is called "The Rules":
Establishing a list of guidelines has been a huge help to me – it gives me confidence in what I like without depending on other’s opinions and narrows my options considerably (a necessity when working with a small budget). This list is for my very specific collection and therefore should not be viewed as a recommendation for anyone else – I know of several great collections built on different rules or no rules at all. You may find that all of these rules don’t apply to everything in my collection – the list has been modified and amended since I started.
1. The artwork must increase in interest the longer I look at it (over days, not seconds).
2. It must look significantly better in person than in ANY photograph.
3. It must show the hand of the artist – no photos, no outsourced/manufactured objects, no "found" objects, nothing "photo-real" or overly minimalist.
4. It must be original (not an edition)
5. I must want more than one – like it "belongs" with siblings.
6. Must be an under-known artist – either "emerging" or "recently discovered". If my friends have heard of them = no.
7. The artist must be represented by a legitimate gallery with an excellent history of shows.
8. The piece must emphasize/demonstrate what is special/unique about that particular artist.
9. The artist must directly benefit from the purchase (no auctions, secondary galleries, etc)
10. It can not be self referential ("about" art) or punch-line art (see also rule #1)
11. I can’t buy it because it reminds me of another artist, or another work by the same artist – that I can’t afford or obtain.
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Gallery Week Warning
May 9, 2010
Gallery Week is awesome. However (and unfortunately) many galleries are not participating in the event and will therefore likely be closed as usual on Sunday & Monday. Most shows on my "Top Five" are not participating including the Monet show.
Since this is the very first Gallery Week ever, it's hard to know what the "non participating galleries" will be doing. So in the event that they are closed and you still want to go on Monday... here's a quick "Gallery Week Participants Top Five". Hopefully next year everyone will jump on board.
Otto Piene @ Sperone Westwater Gallery
415 W 13th St - Fl 2
Walk to the back for a great low-tech light show with awesome results.
Uta Barth @ Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
521 W 21st St
A great photography show - currently my pick for "best photography"
T.J. Wilcox @ Metro Pictures Gallery
519 W 21st St
Great and entertaining mini-documentaries - my current pick for "best film".
Darren Almond @ Matthew Marks Gallery
523 W 24th St - Fl 2
Odd & dark multi-screen video projections - my current pick for "best installation"
Twenty Five @ Luhring Augustine Gallery
531 W 24th St
Great (loud) group show - the only one from my Top Five that is open today and Monday.
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You're Watching New York One.
May 8, 2010
I’m proud to announce my appearance on NY1 news! I’ve been a fan of NY1 since I first moved to the city, watching the same stories repeat over and over as I sat in the computer lab of the hostel in Chelsea – when I moved here I didn’t have a job, a place to live, or any connections, so I spent a lot of time checking craigslist for an apartment sublet and/or a job. I like the idea that unlike most 24 hour news networks they don’t stretch stories out to fill time – they just retell them every 10 minutes so you can just tune in whenever and get the important stories. Anyway – I’m a fan and glad to have my first TV story with them (no we didn’t have some kind of cross-promotion deal).
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Off the Charts: Soho
May 3, 2010
This weekend I spent some time in Soho. Because it's not a neighborhood currently featured on the site, I wanted to point out a few shows.
Shepard Fairey @ Deitch Projects
I didn't even get to go inside the much anticipated show of the graffiti artist, now more famous for his image of Obama. I saw him hanging out with Jeffrey Deitch inside and there was a line wrapped around the block of poster-holders waiting for a signature. I'll be back this week to take a full (quiet) look. I HAVE seen his new mural on Houston & Bowery a couple times - which is definitely worth a look.
Leon Golub @ The Drawing Center
This show blew me away - mostly because I've seen a lot of Golub paintings (do a google search) and never any of his drawings. The difference is startlingly awesome.
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Gallery Tour
April 12, 2010
This weekend I took Therese (co-worker/friend) and Dan (her brother visiting from China) to a few shows in Chelsea. We explored the idea of “collage” - from cut and assembled pieces of paper to the city-sized sculptural installation at Madison Square Park (pictured above). We saw:
Elliott Hundley & Andrea Rosen Gallery
Janet Cardiff George Bures Miller @ Luhring Augustine Gallery
Barbara Kruger @ Mary Boone Gallery
Antony Gormley @ Sean Kelly Gallery
Daniel Rozin @ Bitforms
And finally, Antony Gormley’s “Event Horizon” at Madison Square Park.
I have invited them to give their thoughts in the comments below.
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Jane's View: Part 1
April 6, 2010
My girlfriend Jane (pictured above on a French poster during her most recent European tour) occasionally joins me for an hour or two of gallery visits. I’ve decided to have her submit blog posts of shows she felt strongly about in a new post category I call “Jane’s View”. Everything we saw is currently on The Top Five.
Here’s Jane:
Elliott Hundley @ Andrea Rosen Gallery
I was inspired by the collages at Andrea Rosen. I'm in the process of creating a look book for some of my own art and this made me want to create something like one of these to put on my wall.... I loved the fact there was no glue,just pins keeping these mini jewel-like pieces of paper attached...think canvas acupuncture meets an adult obsessed Henry Darger...
Barbara Kruger @ Mary Boone Gallery
If i had to sum up Kruger in one word, that word would be assaulting. and If i had five words, it would be assaulting in a good way! i mean how much overstimulation can a person take. at one point i felt like I was in the blair witch project and at other times, i had to struggle to keep up with the rapid fire change of walls that had the projections. my neck started to ache. why do i have to work so hard or is that the point?
Antony Gormley @ Sean Kelly Gallery
I liked Gormley although I felt like I was in the movie "TRON" and I have to admit it is thrilling entering a pitch black room with little or no night vision. in fact, next time I might bring a walking stick to the gallery tour.
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Event Horizon
March 28, 2010
Saturday morning, before hitting the galleries, I stopped by Madison Square Park to see Antony Gormley's "Event Horizon". Though his show at the gallery made The Top Five, the installation at the park blew me away. THE best site-specific work I've ever seen. Yes there are plenty of site-specific works that function in cooperation with nature or within a space, but this is the first I've seen to use the city itself. 31 life-size human sculptures are placed on dozens of building tops around the city - all facing Madison Square Park. I expected to view these as suicide jumpers and feel a degree of concern, but I was only concerned for myself - strangely paranoid. There were easily over 100 people in the park, and it felt like these sculptures (some over 10 blocks away) were only watching me. creepy.. and awesome.
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Two New
March 26, 2010
I am happy to announce the acquisition of a Roy Newell painting! A show of his work at Carolina Nitsch was on The Top Five last month along with an interview with show organizer and friend-of-Newell, Richard Dupont. Normally I feel weird about recommending a show by an artist that I own. I make a very serious effort not to let my collection influence my recommendations. I obviously like what I collect, but just because I believe in an artist doesn’t mean I love every show they do, nor do I believe that everyone needs to see it. Even still, I would rather avoid the “conflict of interest” question all together - that I am somehow trying to increase the value of what I own by influencing the popularity of the work - which is silly at this point on multiple levels, but I’m trying to sort these issues out early on in my collecting and criticism. In this case the show was on The Top Five and the interview was conducted weeks before I made the purchase. What can I say, sometimes you have to take your own recommendation.
AND!!!
I also just purchased a work from the upcoming Susan Hefuna show at Paul Kasmin! More information and an image of the work will be posted soon. I’m extremely excited. She was one of my favorites from the Biennale (see blog post) and I’ve been trying to acquire a work by her ever since.
I have completely cleaned out my bank account (seriously), and am looking forward to saving every penny I can for however long it takes to do this again.
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Thanks Joe.
March 19, 2010
It usually takes me a few days to get through all the gathered and printed press releases I collect on my gallery visits. I don't read anything until I see the work - including press releases and reviews. So I'm reading the press release for the Joe Bradley & Chris Martin show at Mitchell-Iness & Nash (currently my pick for best painting in Chelsea) which includes an excerpt from an interview published in The Journal in Fall 2009.
"There's this Guston quote that I think is brilliant, that when you're in the studio, your friends and family are there and the ghosts of art history are there, your contemporaries are there. If you stay long enough they all leave, and if you're lucky you leave..." - Joe Bradley (quoting Philip Guston)
I wrote a whole review (read here) based on the fact that I literally spent hours looking for this quote (if you're confused, read the paragraphs in the review from bottom to top). As I suspected I had a few key points wrong, like who said it and what they said... though the message is similar. Funny what you find when you're not looking for it.
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After the Armory
March 10, 2010
Rather than recommend things from the Armory that you can't see anymore, I decided to make a chart: I looked at the number of pages of notes I took per show, then compared that to the number of galleries (or booths) at each fair I attended. My "notes" are not necessarily positive, so the chart doesn't reflect how much I LIKED a show, but only now "noteworthy" (or useful) it was. The chart is sorted from most useful to least useful. I'm not sure how "useful" this chart is.. but interesting. p.s. "Independent" wins!.
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