While SCOPE was not as strong a fair as PULSE, I did see several standout works while visiting the fair.

Ernesto Burgos (at Cynthia Broan) Cross Eyed, 2007, Mixed Media on Paper, 22 x 30 inches. Courtesy Cynthia Broan Gallery.

This artist is getting his MFA at NYU, and had a solo exhibition at the gallery several months ago. Sadly, due to the Chelsea real estate market, Cynthia Broan's lease on her LOT-EK designed space is being bought out so that the building can be knocked down for new condos. She plans to reopen in New Orleans.

I have uploaded my flickr set from the PULSE art fair. Click here if you don't see it below.

I have uploaded my photos from The Armory Show to flickr. The selection was based on a mix of things I liked and ones where I could get a decent photo. Click here if you can't see the slideshow below.

I felt that Pulse started out a little slowly at the beginning, with the exception of the excellent GTA-inspired sculpture by Mark Shetabi. I was surprised to see one gallery near the entrance selling works by Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke, and not in a good way.

Then, I hit the booth of PPOW, featuring a large baroque painting by Julie Heffernan and a couple of happily fluorescent / airbrush works by Mala Iqbal.

While I know many of us had our doubts about Saatchi Online as a participant in the fair, I was pleased to see a semi-abstract painting by Haeri Yoo, some of Amy Stein's photography referencing the conflict of people and animals at the edges of urbanization, and the photographs by Dana Lauren Goldstein.

Cordy Ryman at DCKT Contemporary

Speaking of doubts, I've heard a couple of people say they weren't sure if the inclusion of Parsons MFA students was a good idea, but it was one of my favorite booths, including a hilarious video by Matthew DeLeon in which he poses in front of a projection of straight porn, trying to place his body in the woman's position as she has sex with a hot bodybuilder type.

Morgan Lehman devoted their entire booth to sculptural work by John Salvest, including my favorite, a slice of a door with rubber bands around the doorknobs called (I believe) "Kitchen Fetish."

Envoy featured an installation of paintings / collages by J. Williams III in the back of their booth, and across the aisle was a two-channel video installation by Paul Mpagi Sepuya titled "Christian" and inspired by the photo shoot for the seventh of his "Shoot" zines. At the end of my visit to the fair, Christian happened to be working the coat check when I picked up my coat, allowing me to complement him on his participation in the project.

Monya Rowe's elegantly installed and curated booth included new paintings by Angela Dufresne and Larissa Bates plus a sculpture by Mark Schubert.

DCKT Contemporary celebrated a new acquisition for their artists stable, Cordy Ryman, with several hybrid painting / sculpture works, and featured a combination beer cooler / dune buggy by Ryan Humphrey titled "Drinkin' and Drivin'." I spotted a number of people walking around the fair while drinking Budweiser tallboys from said cooler.

Finally, Nathan Larramendy Gallery deserves kudos for devoting its booth to a politically important rather than feel-good solo exhibition, Richard Ross's "Architecture of Authority."

I would tend to agree with Art Fag City that, with the exception of a few galleries such as Cheim & Read with its all Jenny Holzer installation, the "big deal" New York galleries provided rather boring booths at the fair. Their European counterparts were much more likely to show interesting and challenging work. In the interest of having time to run out to see Pulse and other fairs today, here are some favorites from the fair.

Galleri Magnus Karlsson had one of the best booths for painting, including de Chirico meets Swedish countryside work by Jens Fänge.

Foxy Production had a strong installation with works by Sterling Ruby (a formica sculpture titled "Headless Dick"), Ester Partegas, and Hany Armanious. Marc Foxx also had a great sculpture by Ruby.

We will be posting some recommended events during the art fairs, so I'll start with a couple that involve art bloggers:

Bloggers and Their Impact on the Art World
Sunday, March 30th, 11:00 AM
Red Dot
Park South Hotel
122 E. 28th Street, bet. Park & Lex

There's now more art coverage in the blogosphere than in conventional publications. Do we handle this responsibility with conventional journalistic standards or something that's faster and looser as befits an instantaneous medium? How do we manage the formidable network that has developed around and because of us? Where do we go from here?

Panelists:

• Edward Winkleman
• Carol Diehl, Art Vent
• C-Monster
• Paddy Johnson, Art Fag City
• Sharon Butler, Two Coats of Paint

Joanne Mattera will moderate.

See the Red Dot website for additional panels.

WHITE BOX SPEAKS presents Louise Blouin Media and VideoArtWorld

White Box
525 West 26 Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues

From March 22 - 30, DiVA and WHITE BOX co-organize an exciting forum by leading video arts professionals and scholars. The forum, as part of WHITE BOX SPEAKS, presents collectors, artists, gallerists, curators, critics and other professionals in the field who will provide audiences with their insight on a medium still considered 'outsider' while at the same time steadily gaining critical attention.

WHITE BOX SPEAKS focuses on topics relevant to the origins of video art, opening up a dynamic dialogue on collecting, curating, exhibiting, and the challenges video has been facing throughout its history. Conversations start at 10:30am every day and continue until 3pm, followed by special digital art and video screenings organized by VideoArtWorld.


Louise Blouin Media Digital Art, investigations of Media and Maker: curates a series of daily lectures/discussions that address the challenges and opportunities for artists working in digital art and video, profiling international artists, curators, writers, editors and gallerists.

CURATING TIME-BASED ART: THE FOURTH DIMENSION
Sunday, March 30th, Noon

Organized by VideoArtWorld

Moderator: Blanca de la Torre

Participants: Amanda McDonald Crowley; Natalie Angles; James Wagner; Eric Shiner; Marco Antonini; Heide Hatry; Micaela Giovannotti; Raphaele Shirley; Michelle Handelman

Visit VideoArtWorld for the complete list of events.

ArtCal will begin its coverage of Armory Show Week 2008 tomorrow. Our separate RSS feed for this project may be found here.