Photography in the 2013 ADAA Art Show

This year's ADAA Art Show wandered the stylistic line that it always does: somewhere between classy and snoozy. Only 12 booths out of a possible 72 had any photography in them, so photo collectors and enthusiasts can expect to travel along decent stretches of real estate without anything to tempt you. That said, each photography find is worthy of a closer look, so treat the whole thing like a treasure hunt and you won't be disappointed.

My notes from the fair are below, organized alphabetically by gallery name. For each booth, a list of photographers has been provided, along with the number of works on display, a highlight image or two, and the prices where appropriate.

Brooke Alexander, Inc. (here): John Baldessari (1 photogravure, $8500)

 

 

Alexander and Bonin (here); This entire booth was devoted to the work of Mona Hatoum, with a mix of photographs and sculptural objects. After expressing my interest in the flattened perspective severed fish head image ($6000), I was given a peek at the lovely cheese grater photograph tucked away in the very tiny closet ($12000).

 

Fraenkel Gallery (here): This booth was a solo showing of Robert Adams images from The New West. A total of 27 prints are on display.

 

 

Marian Goodman Gallery (here): This booth was filled with works by Tacita Dean (15 works, plus 1 glass box of overpainted postcards and 1 set of 3 sculptures). Most were gouaches over various 19th century photographic landscapes, where slivers of paint added a tree, a glacier, or a man perched on a rock outcropping. The work below is a Carleton Watkins Grizzly Giant image overpainted in misty white ($35000).

 

 

Sean Kelly Gallery (here): This booth contained a fine selection of Robbert Mapplethorpe's portraits of artists (20 in all). I enjoyed his image of De Kooning best, which of course was NFS (as was the portrait of Louise Bourgeois).

 

 

Barbara Krakow Gallery (here): This single work by Liliana Porter was the only photographic work in this booth ($10000). Notice the clever conceptual line that extends from the finger, travels across the photograph, jumps up on the mat, and eventually continues along the wall.

 

 

McKee Gallery (here): Two new Richard Learoyd prints were featured in this booth, one a portrait and the other this sculptural, fishing-lined pink flamingo ($65000). A show of Learoyd's new work is scheduled for this coming May.

 

 

Metro Pictures (here): This triptych of Louise Lawler images of a Degas sculpture was the focal point of this booth (there was one smaller Lawler on the outside wall, but that's all that was on display). The three versions have been alternately tinted in RGB (each $150000) and were surprisingly elegant close up. There were also 4 smaller Cindy Shermans hiding in the storage closet.

 

 

Laurence Miller Gallery (here): This booth was filled with Eadweard Muybridge collotypes from Animal Locomotion (a total of 33, individually priced between $3000 and $10000, plus 1 video, the leather case, cover plate, and supporting letter). I have to say that these seemed like an odd choice for this fair; perfectly fine to be sure, but I wonder whether a more contemporary choice might have been more powerful. There was also 1 Ray Metzker composite tucked away on a side wall.

 

 

Yossi Milo Gallery (here):  This booth contained a mix of gallery artists: Matthew Brandt (1), Chris McCaw (5), Sze Tsung Leong (5), and Alison Rossiter (12). These more angular Rossiters were fabulous and likely my favorites in the fair ($6500 each, these four all already sold!).

 

 

Pace/MacGill Gallery (here): This booth was smart mix of large and small prints: Paul Graham (1), William Eggleston (1 of the recent big prints), Richard Misrach (1), Vito Acconci (2 tiny prints), Irving Penn (1 small portrait), Hai Bo (2 huge full length portraits, apparently of his uncle), Andreas Gursky (1), Robert Rauschenberg (1), Harry Callahan (2 small light drawings). The image below is an up-close detail of the tiny colored spots in the Graham work from his Films series ($30000).

 

 

Skarstedt Gallery (here): Fitting that this summary should end with a blockbuster Cindy Sherman centerfold ($1300000), as what is an art fair without a bunch of Cindy Shermans? The booth also contained a Richard Prince cowboy and a large Cindy Sherman film still.

 

 

 

Photography at the 2012 ADAA Art Show

The more art fairs I go to, the more I am coming around to measuring their "success" on just how many times I see something surprising or unexpected, rather than the usual mind numbing parade of work I've seen elsewhere. My overall impression of this year's ADAA Art Show is that there was more interesting/new photography to see than in past years. As usual, the booths were either solo shows or thematic groups of work, displayed with careful editing and meticulous attention to detail.

My notes from the fair are below, arranged alphabetically by gallery name. For each booth, a list of photographers has been provided, with the number of works on display in parentheses. Additional commentary, prices, and pictures of the installation are also included as appropriate.

Cheim & Read (here): Adam Fuss (4). These brand new works are much larger than Fuss' last series of entrail photograms and the colors are much brighter and more psychedelic (generally pink and purple). They're eye poppingly gestural and swirly. (priced at $65000 each).

James Cohan Gallery (here): Yinka Shonibare (1)

CRG Gallery (here): Ori Gersht (7). These exploding florals are huge and enveloping. Apparently, the bouquets are flash frozen so the petals shatter when they are detonated. There were 4 large prints (97x73) and 3 smaller prints (16x12) on view; the large prints were $50000 and the small ones were $8500.

Crown Point Press (here): Darren Almond (5)

Tibor de Nagy Gallery (here): Rudy Burckhardt (27, plus 3 sets of 4 and 1 video showing 8 films). This was an entire booth of Burckhardt's work. One wall was covered with portraits of painters in their studios (De Kooning, Pollock, Mitchell etc.). I enjoyed these two prints best - the starburst dress ($7000) and the dress with circles echoing the circles on the sidewalk ($6000).

Fraenkel Gallery (here): Lee Friedlander (8), paired with paintings by Mel Bochner. I didn't find this pairing to be particularly compelling.

Marian Goodman Gallery (here): Francesca Woodman (20 gelatin silver prints, 2 diazotypes). The Francesca Woodman frenzy has begun, with the Guggenheim retrospective opening up later this week. I'm fascinated by these large diazotype prints (images printed on blueprint paper) which have started to surface; I think their texture and soft tonality make them something special. This print was priced at $200000, but already sold; the standard gelatin silver prints were $32000 each.

Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery (here): Xaviera Simmons (3). I really liked these bodies covered in pictures, fabrics, and all kinds of thematically arranged collaged items; they were both sculptural and rebus-like. (priced at $12000 each).

Michael Kohn Gallery (here): Bruce Conner (1), Charles Brittin (1)

L&M Arts (here): John Baldessari (1 diptych, 1 set of 10, 1 set of 6, 1 set of 8, 1 set of 22). This entire booth was full of mid 1970s Baldessari conceptual works. In the image below, figures walking in various directions are led by overpainted red arrows indicating which way they are going. I thought it was fantastic. (priced at $725000).

Margo Leavin Gallery (here): William Leavitt (2 triptychs)

Lehmann Maupin (here): Mickalene Thomas (12 collaged photos)

Galerie Lelong (here): Catherine Yass (1), Rosemary Laing (1), Ana Mendieta (1 set of 6)

Jeffrey H. Loria & Co. (no website): Robert Mapplethorpe (1)

Luhring Augustine (here): Elad Lassry (5, plus 1 set of 3 and 1 sculpture)

McKee Gallery (here): Richard Learoyd (1)

Metro Pictures (here): Cindy Sherman (8 sets of 3, 1 set of 4, 2 sets of 6). This booth was entitled Cindy Sherman's Murder Mystery and gathered together a series of early cut-out collaged works. This was the kind of work I wanted to see more of in the MoMA retrospective. The little interconnected vignettes are quirky and melodramatic, with Sherman playing all the parts. (the sets of 3, 4, or 6 prints priced between $200000 and $400000).

Laurence Miller Gallery (here): Ray Metzker (15 composites). This booth was filled with an excellent range of Metzker composites (nudes, city/street scenes, abstractions, in various sizes). The image below is from a recent (2007) photogram series of florals, which I had never seen before, using interlocked strips; it was priced at $35000.

PPOW (here): David Wojnarowicz (1 set of 44, plus 3 on the outer wall)

Pace/MacGill Gallery (here): Robert Adams (1), Richard Misrach (2), Diane Arbus (1), Lee Friedlander (2), Paul Graham (1), William Eggleston (1), Alfred Stieglitz (3), Henry Wessel (2), Harry Callahan (1), Susan Paulsen (1), JoAnn Verburg (1). This booth was an ode to clouds.

Regen Projects (here): Elliott Hundley (8)

Skarstedt Gallery (here): Cindy Sherman (2)

Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects (here): Laurel Nakadate (1), Agnes Denes (1 group of 28 mounted together), Kunie Sugiura (1)

Donald Young Gallery (here): Rodney Graham (1), Moyra Davey (4)

Photography at the 2011 ADAA Art Show

As always, this year's ADAA Art Show was characterized by its consistent quality from booth to booth and its extraordinarily high production values. Even though there is a wide spread of work on display in this show, the ratio of wheat to chaff is generally much higher than the other fairs. Once again, many of the exhibitors opted for solo shows or tightly edited groups of work, meticulously hung against colored walls or linen wallpaper. It's a thoroughly sophisticated approach to an art fair; the challenge is that without a few jolts of roughness or energy, this hushed environment can lull you to sleep.

This post is organized by my path through the fair, starting to the left from the entrance, and winding back and forth before returning to the front to exit. Like our Armory posts, for each booth, a list of photographers has been provided, with the number of works on display in parentheses. Additional commentary, prices, and pictures of the installation are also included where specific images stood out.

Marian Goodman Gallery (here): Gabriel Orozco (2)

McKee Gallery (here): Richard Learoyd (1). Learoyd's portraits are growing on me as I see them more. This one was priced at $35000.

Robert Miller Gallery (here): Diane Arbus (11)

Jill Newhouse (here): Anonymous (13). This booth was filled with Rodin sculptures and drawings, as well as quite a few photographs of his sculptures. It wasn't clear who the photographer of record was for these images, as many were signed by Rodin himself. I particularly liked this set of three variant images. In general, the prints were reasonably priced, between $800 and $4500 each.

Zabriskie Gallery (here): Paul Strand (16). This booth was devoted to Strand, and aside from one industrial image and one Taos church, all of the works were from his garden in Orgeval, France. I very much enjoyed these two florals (look for the bees in the second one), both of which were priced at $24000.

Cheim & Read (here): Diane Arbus (1), William Eggleston (2), Walker Evans (1). The contrasts in this Evans were spectacular; however, it wasn't for sale.

CRG Gallery (here): Lyle Ashton Harris (1), Joel-Peter Witkin (1)

Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs (here): Bisson Freres (1), Jean Laurent (2), Felix Teynard (1), Auguste Salzmann (1), Louis-Remy Robert (2), Louis-Emile Durandelle (2), William Henry Fox Talbot (7), James Nasmyth (2), Anna Atkins (2), Louis Pierre Rousseau (1), Dr. Alfred Donne (1), Unknown (2), Edward Steichen (1), JB Greene (2), Andre Adolphe Eugene Disderi (2), James Ross and John Thomson (1), Nevil Story-Maskelyne (1), Duchenne de Boulogne and Adrien Tournachon (1), Circle of Charles Simart (1), Julia Margaret Cameron (1), Charles Marville (2). As usual, Kraus' booth was a smorgasbord of 19th century photographic treasures. I had seen the two Atkins cyanotypes previously, so I was more intrigued by the Robert negative image, with its intersecting lines made by the cart and tools. It was priced at $60000.

Skarstedt Gallery (here): Cindy Sherman (2), Richard Prince (group of 4)

Fraenkel Gallery (here): Carleton Watkins (7), Robert Adams (10). This booth featured a smart pairing of Watkins and Adams, where echoes of land forms (rivers, masses of boulders, horizon lines, etc.) were matched together. I liked the Adams on the top left below, with its jagged shadow contrast and the hidden train track running below. The Adams images were priced between $12000 and $18000; the Watkins images were between $45000 and $190000.

Donald Young Gallery (here): Jeanne Dunning (2), James Welling (5), Rodney Graham (1 + 1 diptych), Mark Wallinger (stills on video screen)

Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): William Klein (20 + 1 video + 4 books). A brash booth full of Klein photographs was a bit of a surprise from Greenberg, which has often opted for a selection of iconic highlights in this kind of fair setting. I thought it was fresh and fantastic.

James Cohan Gallery (here): Katie Patterson (4)

Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects (here): Laurel Nakadate (12)

Pace/MacGill Gallery (here): Irving Penn (20). This booth contained a selection of Penn's innovative corner portraits, where his famous subjects have been pushed into a narrow confining space. I enjoyed the two portraits of Georgia O'Keeffe on the inside wall of the booth, but perhaps my favorite was the Truman Capote on the front wall; I liked the way the space is taken up by the chair and Capote's large coat, and I think the introduction of the vertical line of the wall opens up the strict formula of the composition. The Capote portrait was priced at $95000.

Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery (here): Mika Rottenberg (2), Barney Kulok (1). I liked the jumble of spaces and volumes in this large Kulok image; it was priced at $6000.

Regen Projects (here): Catherine Opie (3). There is certainly an echo of Hiroshi Sugimoto or Renate Aller in these Opie seascapes and sunsets, but there's no denying the serene lushness of the pure blue images. These were priced at $30000 each.

Photography at the 2010 ADAA Art Show

In contrast to the bustling chaotic supermarket of the Armory, the ADAA Art Show was a decidedly more serene affair. Most of the exhibitors opted for solo shows or tightly edited groups of work, meticulously hung against colored walls or linen wallpaper (no hand scrawled wall labels here). The overall mood was much more urbane and serious, the hushed voices appropriately reverent.

The photography displayed in this controlled environment was generally of very high quality; lots of big prices and top names, with a minimum of secondary clutter and distraction. Like our Armory posts, for each booth, a list of photographers has been provided, with the number of works on display in parentheses. Additional commentary, prices, editions, and pictures of the installation are also included where specific images stood out.

Fraenkel Gallery (here): Hiroshi Sugimoto (12). This booth was a sophisticated solo show of Sugimoto's work, with a selection of images from a variety of different projects. There were 5 seascapes (4 small in a grid and 1 large), 2 lightning fields (1 small and 1 large), 2 theaters, 1 mechanical still life, 1 blurry building, and 1 Fox Talbot floral. This was the first time I had seen the lightning fields in person; up close the electricity branches out like the wash of a river, or feathers into delicate traceries. The large lightning field image (see below) was $80000 (and already sold); the small lightning field was $18000.

Weinstein Gallery (here): Alec Soth (14). This booth was a solo show, displaying Soth's Fashion Magazine work from 2007. I have to say it was a totally unexpected and yet thoroughly pleasant (and appropriate) surprise to find Soth's work in this rarefied environment. The work held its own with the rest of the art world elite arrayed nearby, and I imagine there were plenty of well heeled collectors in this crowd who had never heard of Soth but came away suitably impressed. All of the prints were pigmented ink prints, in editions of 7. There were three sizes on display (36x30, 40x48, and 58x48) with three sets of prices ($9000 or $10000, $13000, and $17500 respectively, helpfully printed right on the wall labels). In addition to the fashion project (which included the Chanel runway, Yves Saint Laurent's dog, Sophia Loren, lavish meals and interiors, backstage fussing, and up close portraits), I was also able to see some of Soth's mini-projects and recent commissions in a soft portfolio on the table. These included Goth women from the South, the Most Beautiful Woman in Georgia (the country), and the Loneliest Man in Missouri - there is a particularly poignant/sad image from this last project where the man sits in front of a birthday cake, flanked by a woman straight out of a strip club.

Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): Edward Weston (3), Charles Sheeler (1), Jacques-Henri Lartigue (1), Man Ray (2 rayographs), Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1 photogram), Frantisek Drtikol (1 nude), Edward Steichen (1), Robert Frank (2), Saul Leiter (3 color images, 1 painted diptych), Miroslav Tichy (5), William Klein (1). This booth was a carefully selected group of vintage rarities. The stand out image for me among these astonishing treasures was the Sheeler stairway (priced at $600000, see below); I could have stood and looked at it all day. The elegant Weston still lifes were priced at $475000, $450000, and $190000. The 2 Man Ray rayographs were $390000 and $250000 respectively; the Moholy-Nagy was also $250000. The Drtikol nude was $90000.

Metro Pictures Gallery (here): Cindy Sherman (2), Olaf Breuning (1), Louise Lawler (1). The Sherman history portrait below was priced at $300000.

Skarstedt Gallery (here): Barbara Kruger (1), Richard Prince (1), Cindy Sherman (1). Both the Kruger and the Sherman were priced at $275000 (see below).

Barbara Mathes Gallery (here): Hiroshi Sugimoto (1). This was the single most expensive photograph I saw for sale during the entire week of fairs; it was priced at $650000.

Zabriskie Gallery (here): Alfred Stieglitz (3), Constantin Brancusi (1), Edward Steichen (1), Paul Strand (2). This booth was a tribute to 291, Alfred Stieglitz' famous gallery. Drawings, prints and pages from the various gallery magazines were displayed, along with a selection of photographs. My favorite image was the platinum print of Taos by Strand (priced at $100000, see below).

Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs (here): Edouard-Denis Baldus (1), Frederick Evans (2), Roger Fenton (2), Joseph Vicomte Vigieur (2), Felix Teynard (2), Gustave Le Gray (1), Alvin Langdon Coburn (1), Humphrey Lloyd Hime (2), Louis-Constant De Clercq (1), Carleton Watkins/Eadward Muybridge (1), Charles Negre (1), Erneste Benecke (1), William Henry Fox Talbot (2), Eugene Cuvelier (1), Dr. John Murray (2). This booth was an edited group show called The Horizon in 19th Century Photographs, and included a selection of images bisected by the line of the horizon. The most startling of these works was the print by Humphrey Lloyd Hime, where the land and horizon became solid areas of black and white, the black land decorated by a small skull and bones (priced at $95000 and already sold, see below).

Pace/MacGill Gallery (here): Brassai (1), Diane Arbus (1), Philip-Lorca DiCorcia (1), Paul Graham (1 series), Garry Winogrand (1), Weegee (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Robert Frank (1), Harry Callahan (1), Lucas Samaras (1). This booth was a collection of top tier images. I enjoyed seeing the large Brassai exhibition print out front (priced at $70000, see below) and the Callahan head from the 1950s.

McKee Gallery (here): Richard Learoyd (1)

David Zwirner Gallery (here): Christopher Williams (8). This was a solo booth, filled with Williams' recent conceptual works (2007-2009). There were cut away cameras and lenses, upside down shoes on a large format camera, and socks being put on feet. Each of the prints was priced at $32000, in editions of 10+4.