salvatorereda’s posterous

Sal,

I've read recently that the art fairs are being abandoned. Matthew Marks is not doing the Armory Show, for example. They have four gallery spaces that stretch nearly an entire NYC block, and when the recession is over they will have more space most likely, since they are rich and will be able to buy the now much cheaper buildings. People without money will not be able to do this no matter how cool or smart they are. Most of the top LA galleries are not doing any NYC fair next month, and LA Art in NYC is canceled for this year, yet the Armory Show is going to be bigger than ever this year, with a full second Pier for Modernism galleries. Yet I've also read about a handful of new galleries in NYC being opened by wealthy people, and then of course there is the 9 story gallery being built in the Bowery, that will have moveable floors to adjust to different gallery heights. There is also the world's first all glass condo being built in downtown NYC right now. And their are now over two dozen Japanese noodle bars in the East Village. No where else could support such playful experiences.

If I look back to 1997, when China Art Objects was the best young gallery in LA, I remember both their endless publicity and their great success, even after Giovanni passed away. Yet I also remember when Peres Projects opened in Chinatown. Peres had much deeper and far greater connections than CAO, and since he was rich and had been to Basel since he was a child, he knew the whole artworld without having to go to art school. His family sold Picasso's in Spain as well as other old masterworks, so he could easily have moved from being a lawyer to being a secondary market dealer. What has happened since PP arrived in LA is that he has created a tremendous global brand, which gets international press coverage, none of it coming out of LA. His artists are not better than CAO's, but he has unbelievable resources and has positioned his galleries in LA, NYC, Berlin and Athens to deal directly with collectors who will place the works in museum collections. CAO still has one space. Only the most powerful galleries are in a position to demand and cause their artists works to be placed in the world's most important contemporary museums and private collections. CAO does this too but is no longer getting much press nowadays whereas PP is the party of the hour of the week and of the month and of the moment. The are the only LA gallery other than Steve Turner Contemporary to cook food and offer good strong drinks at their free bar, the other galleries offer bad beer or nothing at all.

By comparison, in NYC in the Soho 80's, when I was a painting student at Pratt, the rich galleries en mass flew cheese and wine in from Paris, had varieties of beer, food, etc., and we young art students would eat dinner at these places and take a few beers home for the weekend. That has never happened in LA even when times were incredible for art money. Even after NYC completely collapsed after Black Monday in 1987, with the collapse of the art market in 1990, it was NYC that came roaring back and Chelsea alone had far more galleries than all of NYC did during the 80's. The major gallery exhibitions in 1980's Soho were event scenes, with Leo Castelli and Mary Boone galleries being cavernous platforms of total cultural spectacle. 

Since Peres and galleries like PP are still rich, (he could sell one of his family's Picasso's and have more money to play) it will be pretty difficult to catch them even if the market collapses. Yet I do believe like you that there will be some fresh faces out there who will have their day in the sun. 

The other thing that concerns me is travel. Trustafarian artists have always had art parties with their counterparts in Mexico and beyond, which was a way of separating out those who have from those who don't. Far more importantly is the fact that during the 1990's, most of the world's most important museum shows were not in the US, but were reported in US art magazines. This means that most American artists were again reduced to reading about art as versus directly experiencing it. There is no doubt in my mind that this will again be the case for American artists who do not travel frequently to see the current major contemporary shows, whether they be in London, Paris, Berlin or somewhere more far afield. 

You saw the link I sent to you about the Cassandra cinema apartment complex opening in Williamsburg. There is no such showcase anywhere else in the US. 

What has been happening in LA recently are lots of one week and one night shows in non gallery spaces. While this is a form of fun art activity, it does not compare to the Berlin scene, which is taking over warehouses and other buildings and having all night art parties, something that most American artists know nothing of if they are not living in New York. When you add to this the incomparable culture cornucopia that is Berlin, no wonder why even Quentin Tarrantino is holding court in that city.

Whatever happened to the New Art Examiner magazine in Chicago and that city being the alternative to New York?

all for now

Vince