NY ART BOOK FAIR @MoMAPS1

J.Morrison, Homo Cats: Search for Intelligent Life, 2011

Thursday evening, I went to the Preview opening for the NY Art Book Fair currently being held at MoMA PS1. The fair sponsored by Printed Matter Inc. is in its sixth year and features more then 200 exhibitors. Many various publishers are present as well as artists, contemporary art magazines and distributors alike. I made my first two purchases before even exiting the large white tent installed in the pebble filled courtyard of the museum.

I met J.Morrison last year after he curated a group exhibition at Splatterpool which I then wrote about. The exhibit titled My Spring Fling featured various artists including J who is an artist, curator and performer. I happened upon him sitting in a crowded room and couldn’t help but notice he was covered in gold glitter dust. This immediately caught my attention and then I couldn’t help but look at his product and glad I did! His art books are lovely. They are made with various papers and have screen printed drawings on each page. Flipping through, Hairy Amputee was my immediate favorite and I realized that even if a small contribution, the book had to be mine.

Sitting only two short tables away from J is artist Scott Hug. The last time I wrote about Scott here was when he curated the exhibition Take Out at Andrew Edlin Gallery this past July. He has currently embarked on an artist book project called T I D E (edit spelled backwards) The series consists of original collage from National Geographic magazine. Sans text, he specifically seeks out images that can be combined, abstractly forming compositional relationships. Each book is sealed in a plastic envelope and marked with the artists name and the number from the series.

My two small artist books in hand, I ventured into the museum and to the second and third floors consecutively. I spotted Greg Miller of Gregory Miller & Co. contemporary art publishers who released Lyle Ashton Harris’ most recent monograph Excessive Exposure, featuring large-scale Polaroids of the artist’s friends and acquaintances currently on-view at the Studio Museum Harlem. Passing their table after saying hello, I arrived at Electronic Arts Intermix and spotting a DVD of Whisper Pines Vol. 1 by Shana Moulton, I knew my night was complete. I saw Shana’s work for the first time at Moving Image and then as part of Art21’s artist talks via Cabinet Magazine, who are represented at the fair.

While on the 3rd floor I ran into art critic power couple Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith and on the way downstairs I bumped into Paul Mpagi Sepuya who recently completed a residency at the Studio Museum Harlem. Finally in the museum lobby I introduced myself to AA Bronson who was director of Printed Matter Inc. from 2004-2010 as well founder of the NY Art Book Fair and then passed by MoMA PS1 director Klauss Biesenbach along with artist Terence Koh.