Alexandra Peers writes Ten Things She Learned at the Chelsea Openings for New York Magazine. Here are three of them:
1. Artwork has shrunk. Lots of artists are doing work they — or their dealers — hope collectors will pick up, cash-and-carry, like candy bars at the supermarket checkout line. Kehinde Wiley, Raoul de Keyser, Kara Walker, and many others showed more-portable art.
2. Sex still sells. Or draws eyeballs, at least. While most viewers gave two seconds to everything before moving on, Moscow painter Dasha Shishkin’s vivid golden sex scenes at Zach Feuer won long gazes and much discussion.
5. Big names sell big names. By Sunday, a trio of the Chris Ofilis at David Zwirner gallery were sold, at $140,000 apiece, and three others had reserves. Mary Boone had red dots on seven works at her salute to gallery director Ron Warren (although we hear sometimes that meant “not for sale”). One of the few younger names to chart a sale was Mika Rottenberg, best known for her barnyard video installation at the last Whitney Biennial.
Ten Things We Learned at Chelsea’s Refreshed Galleries (New York Magazine)