SCOPE-ing the art scene

Chi called this morning, with 2 comp tickets to SCOPE, one of the international art shows in town this weekend.  Had considered the Armory and VOLTA for today, but lines are long and admission prices high.  So, I opted for the freebie and an afternoon with one of my fave New Yorkers.

We started at brunch, with the Recession Special at the local diner and then ambled over to Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center.  Warm spring day but cloudy skies threatening rain.  Good day to be inside the tents. 

Collected our VIP comp tickets and, like Dorothy at the crossroads, we were immediately undecided whether to take the path on the right or the left. 

The sign pointing to 'Cheap Fast & Out of Control' beckoned me to the right so off we went through a dark corridor to what looked like a psychedelic rummage sale, complete with an Indian guy playing the sitar and a woman passing us by every 2-3 minutes with a large circular aluminum tub filled with water on a dolly.  

I'm not a sophisticated art critic; in fact, I'm not particularly skilled at art criticism at all.  I've collected pieces here and there, poked around galleries here in New York and in cities I have visited, even dated a few artists over the years, but aside from the ruboff effect and natural curiosity, I respond to contemporary art much like you do, I imagine.  At times, I feel like Edina Monsoon, whose 'it's all bollocks to me anyway' reaction at the London art gallery in the Death episode sums it up for me from time to time.

Seriously, though, I walk into these expos with as open a mind as I can muster, but am soon navigating down the familiar rivers of disappointment, and this year's SCOPE was, sadly, no exception.  

Chi and I tried to have fun anyway---here we are trying to make sense of it all.

I chatted up a few gallerists, including a 

great guy from Tokyo whose gallery I plan to visit when I next go back. 

The most notable work was from the Wilde Gallery in Berlin, who was presenting EVOL/CT'INK's spraypainted cardboard works 

this weekend.  They are extraordinary for both technique and beauty.  Something original, 

though perhaps not exactly pushing the envelope in the 

contemporary art world.  Take a look.

More often than not, I was

 lost in thought------->

....or simply staring in amazement at .... err ... uh.....hmmm.....

OK, time for a few awards:

                                                                   Best costume

Best animated short subject

Best impression of a serious collector