This past week the PULSE Contemporary Art Fair had its event at the
Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City, March 3-6 th. There was enough artwork to keep anyone entertained for a few hours. The place was full of creative people with artistic point of views. It was interesting going around to different gallery booths to talk with owners and directors about the artists’ creations and what made them special.
The
Benrimon Contemporary gallery was one of the first to catch my eye. The display of typography, patterns and bright color palettes brought back memories of why I fell in love with art in the first place. I had to speak with the owner,
Leon Benrimon, to get the inside scoop on what type of art catches his attention and why. The owner loves landscape, abstract and sculptural pieces. One main thing that Benrimon emphasized is his need for variety. In his eyes, variety is not only essential in the artwork, but also in the artist. His gallery supports international talents like
Shay Kun,
Changha
Hwang and also American artist
Trey Speegle ,who created a piece for
Stella
McCartney’s fashion week show in 2009.
As the day progressed I wanted to tap a little deeper into the history of some galleries. Artist turned gallery owner,
Alexandra Fouladi, had a story that stood out from the crowd. In her art school days, she used to showcase her friends’ artwork, which later inspired her to make it her living. In 2000 she and a partner started
Lincart Gallery. About a year and a half ago she and a new partner, Holly, started Fouladi Projects. She is inspired by originality, lifestyle, and a good story. Fouladi believes that art is an important tool that connects people in a positive way and she dedicates her time to promote artists who share that same philosophy.
Director
Leonor Comin of
Zidoun Gallery in Luxembourg is also inspired by a good story, but with a political message.
Cedric Smith’s, “Wild Animal Show” and
Alexis Peskine’s, “Aunted”, gives a little taste of the galleries amazing collection. These two pieces depict the issues of color in society. Smith’s piece depicts a man of color fighting with a kangaroo in a ring to bring light to the false teachings that people of color were and sometimes still are viewed as animals. Peskine’s work portrayed the beauty issues in some women of color. “Aunted,” depicts a girl with the face of Aunt Jemima in her hair. The blonde haired Aunt Jemima figure symbolizes the way some women of color have altered their natural appearance to try to fit into society’s standard of beauty.
The main level didn’t disappoint so I had high expectations for the second level of the fair. This area was referred to as IMPULSE. It showcased multimedia works of upcoming artists like
Desi Santiago and artists climbing to the top like
Andres Basurto. Santiago’s work featured huge vinyl blow ups of himself and a unique sculpture of a human head on what looked like bat wings. One of the representatives of NP Contemporary Art Center informed me that the piece symbolizes the aging of life. Basurto’s piece which featured skulls made out of broken bottles and putty, really caught the public’s eye. His idea was to depict the, “fragility of the human existence.”
If you missed this week’s events don’t worry.
PULSE is coordinating two more events later on this year in Los Angeles and Miami. Check out the website at
Click Here
