From Thursday- Sunday there were 11 major art expos around NY. I went to two and I can state I have OD'd on art. I seriously don't get how you can go to all 11 and not be brain dead. The reason for the over abundance is contemporary art prices have more than quadrupled over the past 11 years. The Armory Show sales last year were more than $85 million up 37 percent from the year before. After all prices at the Armory range from a mere $200 to a cool $5 million. To give you an idea here are two paintings and what they cost. The 1st painting shown is Ori Gersht and is an edition of 6 price, $40,000. The second is Bernard Friz. It sells for $70,000. The Armory is the most significant art fair in the US. Much of the art world has been standing on the sidelines waiting to see the results of the Armory. It has been reported that sales were much better than expected. Looks like a lot of European collectors swooped in and took advantage of the suffering dollar. 
The Armory Show represents more than 21 countries and over 150 galleries. I can't wait to see the works by American painter and sculptor Sol LeWitt and Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, who will build a series of four waterfalls on the East River in lower Manhattan this summer, and then will go on sale. Who buys and runs the art world is just as interesting as the art. The buyers, founder of Exis Capital Management Inc, managing partner of London's Auctor Capital Partners Ltd and Lance Armstrong bought a piece at Volta. Artist Jenny Holzer pieces collectively went for $558,500.00. Gursky’s $1.2m, sold at gallery owner Matthew Marks. If Europe, China or Russia seem empty it is because they are here buying, looking and selling. Who runs The Armory? A unit of Vornado Realty Trust, the third-largest U.S. real estate investment trust. They also ran the Volta fair.
Look for more articles on The Armory and The International Bridge Fair, as well as an art auction at Henry Buels for a good cause. Unlike the Whitney this year there was a lot to absorb and I need to sit and think before I write more and that is a F.A.C.T.
As the credit crisis continues to hobble financial markets, collectors are taking a bit longer as they weigh purchases of works by newer artists who've gained fame in the past five years, dealer David Maupin said.
``People are asking themselves: `Is the artist living up to the potential, and are the prices reflecting that?''' Maupin said. ``The Armory will be a big test.''
The Conference Board's consumer confidence survey, which reflects Americans' outlook on the economy, fell in March to a five-year low, the New York-based research group said yesterday. It's the lowest it's been since Richard Nixon was president, from 1969 to 1974.
Chelsea Rival
The Lehmann Maupin gallery is showing a painting by Miami- born Hernan Bas, ``Oedipus and the Sphinx (proper answer to the riddle).'' It's priced at $90,000 to $120,000. The gallery is seeking $200,000 for ``Her soft lips touched mine and everything became hard,'' a neon-light poem by British artist Tracey Emin, whose works tend toward the autobiographical.
The Armory Show, which competes with galleries in New York's Chelsea section, had about 50 more applications this year than in 2007, and no Chelsea galleries dropped out, De Backer said.
Other blue-chip galleries exhibiting at the show include David Zwirner and Matthew Marks from New York; White Cube and Victoria Miro from London, and Thaddaeus Ropac of Paris and Salzburg.
Prices at PaceWildenstein, which has LeWitt's white-wood sculpture, ``Progressive Structure,'' from 1996, run as high as $750,000. Zach Feuer Gallery has three sculptures by Tal R, an Israeli-born artist based in Copenhagen. They're priced at $20,000 to $40,000. The Feuer gallery also has three paintings by German artist Christoph Ruckhaberle priced at $30,000 each.
Tanya Bonakdar is selling a light sculpture by Eliasson and a painting by Germany's Thomas Scheibitz.
The largest modern and contemporary art fairs are Switzerland's Art Basel, which last June estimated sales at more than $500 million, and a spinoff, Art Basel Miami Beach. The Armory Show, focusing more on living artists, resembles London's Frieze Art Fair, which suspended sale reports after reaching almost $57 million in 2005.
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