MuseumChick | Danee Gilmartin

Since my apartment is a mere 8 blocks north of Pier 92, I threw on my black beret, multicolored scarf and fuzzy wool coat, grabbed Mr.MuseumChick and risked my life walking across the West Side Hwy to get to the Armory Art Show. So much art, so close together in a relatively un-curated state can get overwhelming- thankfully there was a champagne bar to help with that.

When I’m at art fairs, I try to focus on finding pieces that I find inspiring and passionate, but about 30 minutes in I begin to just get attracted to pieces that would look good in my living room. It’s an art fair paradigm.

Here are three pieces that I would love in my living room:

Jason Martin’s painting-cum-sculpture,  “Untitled 2010″.  Both the white and purple-pink swirling make it hard not to touch the artwork.

Then, I could see this 2011 work by Steven Bindernagel commanding the entire wall above my couch.

After my husband reminded me that we are not buying anything today, we walked the relatively quiet white stalls and had some fun.

Here are some other pieces I found eye-catching:

This piece was so amusing. A small camera above the video screen sensed the viewers’ eyes and created a black puff of smoke over the eyes (similar to a censored smudge). Over time the black smudge raised and created different shapes.  I must have taken about 20 pictures of this piece.

Liquor bottle caps and wire made up this dimensional wall sculpture by El Anatsui. I loved all the movement in this piece.

Ivan Navarro’s giant neon “Armory Fence” from Chelsea art dealer, Paul Kasmin blocked off the whole “booth”.  Some people thought it was gimmicky and I read that booth-neighbor, Peter Blum found it bothersome but I  thought it was intriguing and a rather good introduction to Navarro’s first solo show at the gallery, being held simultaneously.

©2011 Danee Gilmartin All rights reserved

Knowing how much I love dogs, my uncle had the great idea of getting tickets to the Westminster Dog Show this year. Along with the tickets to the show we also got the ability to go backstage to see the dogs getting ready and even pet some of them. Being one of the first official dog competitions, this was Westminster’s 135th year. Although Westminster is older than England’s famous dog competition, Crufts, the idea of dog competitions originated in England with the Kennel Club. The first Westminster show was held on May 8, 1877, making it the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the United States behind only the Kentucky Derby.

Backstage there were a few dog interviews going on. Someone should tell the reporters that the dogs don’t speak English.

Getting the dogs puffed and trimmed was an ongoing job backstage. I barely saw any show-moms put down their comb.

Most of the dogs even looked like they liked all the primping. This one looks like he’s saying, “Hey, you missed a spot!”

Colored wraps kept the spaniels’ ear hair clean and wavy. Look at those tube legs so perfectly beveled!

This is an example of most of the pictures I got backstage. It’s hard to get the dogs to stay still. This one is saying, “No pictures please, no pictures!”

And since the big dogs drool a lot, some of them were wearing these funny bibs.

And like typical canines, these dogs will work for treats…

Hickory the Scottish Deerhound won best in show this year. During the Best in Show competition the announcer made a great statement that I would like to repeat- none of these dogs came from pet stores. If you are looking for a happy and healthy dog please buy from a responsible breeder and not a pet store. Before buying a pet, please do some research and read how you can help bring an end to cruel puppy mills from the Humane Society of the United States.

©2011 Danee Gilmartin All rights reserved