Until this weekend, the only art fairs I had ever been to were in New York. When I discovered that I had fortuitously booked a personal trip to Santa Fe during ART Santa Fe, I was very excited to see what I anticipated would be a different tasting menu of art galleries--certainly more exhibitors from the American southwest, perhaps a bit more representation from south of the border. And certainly another question I was eager to challenge pertained to my own New York snobbishness: how does the art scene here compare to that of New York? Will the quality of work hold a candle to one of the most important art hubs in the world?

Upon walking into the art fair, one entered a lobby of sorts, with a few pieces that seemed a promising preamble before entering the fair itself: of note was François Morellet's Untitled neon sculpture, from local Santa Fe gallery Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, as well as Gift (2009), an archival print on Fuji pearl by Kathleen Wilke, represented by Decorazon Gallery (Dallas, TX). But, I found, as I entered the actual exhibition space, the quality of works certainly covered the spectrum.

Before I go any further, perhaps I should explain that I have two essential and perhaps obvious requirements when I behold a work of art: first, the piece must draw me in aesthetically--it must be visually compelling. The formal principles of color, composition, design, size, shape, texture, etc, must be sound. This can be admittedly subjective because I do think it's fairly intuitive: when an art object isn't formally sound, you just know it. Secondly, the work must have some loftier ambitions: after its formal qualities have pulled me in, the work must keep me engaged with some food for thought. It doesn't have to be an overwhelming brain teaser about the state of humanity; often the piece will evoke a certain feeling in me, and I take a moment to ask myself why it has evoked this particular feeling and what that means, why I may like the feeling or dislike it. I also encourage these two very basic principles of art-looking in any collector: your collection is your's, it should start with your personal interaction with the art object, not what some gallerist or consultant tells you about the work of art.

A decent amount of the work I found at ART Santa Fe I found fulfilled step one of my art appreciation process, but was entirely lacking in step two. Some of these pieces often hail from a folk or crafts tradition, which don't aspire to conceptual ends, such as some of the selections from Gallery Ten472 (California). In this sense, you can't exactly say the work of art failed, but personally, this kind of art doesn't do it for me. Some of the pieces at the fair were so generic they very well could have been on display next to Jack Vettriano "Singing Butler" in a framing shop. I hate to be harsh, but there it is.

Jack Vettriano's Singing Butler of 1992, ubiquitous in cheap gallery display windows.

There were also some strong galleries with some compelling work. One of the first pieces I was drawn to were paintings by Robert Sagerman (Galerie Renate Bender, Munich). Abstract Expressionism meets Pointillism in his paintings that assume the dimensionality of relief sculpture (see detail of a painting, below). The title of his paintings come from the number of paint marks he makes to stack them up: a 12 x 12 inch piece is called 2,411 while a 41 x 71 inch painting is 16,710, thereby highlighting the process of the painting as an integral dimension of its meaning. The effect is a very textured and sensuous art work with a robust, living presence.

I also enjoyed the sculpture of David Henderson (William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe), who has exploited the medium of carbon fiber to acrobatic ends. Given the size and texture of the pieces (which evoke polished marble or granite) they seem to have an incredible weight, but at crucial points of structural integrity, the sculpture nearly disappears to thin and delicate core. These balancing acts are achieved because of the very lightness of the carbon fiber (the largest sculpture on view, 70 x 18 x 28 inches, weighed six pounds and could be held in one hand). I should also mention that these pieces attach to the wall in innovative ways, allowing flexibility of installation. The very vulnerability (well, seeming vulnerability--the gallerist mentioned that one of the smaller pieces had been knocked on the floor opening night, rolled down the hallway and still didn't break) and tension of the pieces simultaneously stirs uneasiness and awe in the beholder.

A few more artists sparked my fancy: Chen Long-Bin's busts were quite fascinating (Plum Blossoms Gallery, Hong Kong). Long-Bin enjoys using text based media (magazines, books) and exploring them in new ways--from the raw material of stacked phone books, Long-Bin carves out busts of famous figures, such as legendary U.S. presidents and Buddhas. Just as with a piece of wood or stone, the varied, happenstance patterns of the phone book lend unexpected highlights and beautiful texture to each piece.

Left: Chen Long-Bin's Lincoln

Lastly, David Buckingham's George Carlin RIP was a clever and poignant addition to the art fair. Buckingham's "words" pieces are composed entirely from found scraps of lettering and signage that he salvages around the L.A. area. His George Carlin RIP piece was a string of explicatives, witty and flippant and, like his other work found on his website (buckinghamstudio.com), challenges the loftiness of high art with its humorous pop culture aesthetic and references.

This last work by Buckingham was also one of the few red dots I spotted in the art fair. I chatted with the gallerist representing Buckingham, and he noted that sales were extremely slow. He also added that half has many galleries had registered to exhibit at ART Santa Fe as last year. This did not surprise me--the fair was much smaller than I anticipated. After some relieved reports regarding art fairs earlier this summer (such as Art Basel) I had hoped ART Santa Fe might have some success, but it may be the more homegrown, modest art fairs that are the real casualties of this recession.

The final verdict: am I snob, or a justified critic? I hope the latter--yes, I found much of the art to be second or even third tier, but I also must point out that all of the highlights I have mentioned did not come from New York galleries. I was quite impressed that some of the local Santa Fe galleries do have quite an eye for artistic talent. Overall it was enjoyable to see a non-New York art fair, and now I have my eyes on another destination for comparison: South America perhaps?

I have worked in the art world for several years, and I'm now pursuing my graduate degree in art history. I like to write about art: if you like what you've read, feel free to check out some of my blogs, http://mydayatthemuseum.wordpress.com, http://NYCArtGirl.blogspot.com


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