Check my PULSE in a couple of hours.

30 March 2008

Well as far as I'm concerned, the verdict is in. I'm not going to whine about the predictability of the Armory or this aspect or another of SCOPE (which I thought, on the whole, was pretty successful); but of all the fairs this year, PULSE is by far the best. Not that everything was especially fresh or unpredictable (e.g., Freight & Volume (NY) showing Kim Dorland (but at his most trenchant, brilliant), or Galerie Stefan Ropke (Cologne) showing Sigmar Polke (nothing EVER wrong with that), but as is more or less self-evident, where novelty was occasionally lacking, quality was not. Barbara Stanwyck -- I mean Monya Rowe -- was here with some fresh Angela Dufresnes (always welcome); so was Rosamund Felsen, with an especially superb Steve Hurd, among other choice selections. Funny coincidence to run into Cindy Sherman on the other side of Rosamund's booth inspecting the -- what else? -- Morton Bartletts in Julie Saul's space. (She collects them apparently -- why are we not surprised?) Before I go any further, though, let me just say that I STILL don't know who won this year's PULSE prize (bestowed by Malgorzata Romanska). But my pick for the best gallery booth was that of Galerie Ernst Hilger (Vienna) -- with an amazing installation of video works (Irwin-esque yet something altogether different) by Timothy White-Sobieski, among other gorgeous specimens. Gotta jet. Check back in a couple of hours -- assuming I'm still breathing.

Ezrha Jean Black, New York