Armory Week, the annual art deluge in New York is about art Fairs, Art Fans, and Fiddy Dollars, Daddy. While a fair bit of the traffic at the various fairs is about the benjamins, it’s also just about having a good time and getting out to see what your favorite street artist is up to in this milieu. In short – a whole lotta street artists are getting busy this year in the booths, on the walls, and in the streets to show you their stuff.

This year the NYC madness officially opens Thursday March 3rd. Here are some of the things we are looking forward to – you might like them too.

FOUNTAIN

A BSA favorite, Fountain is held in an old maritime vessel docked on the Hudson River on the West Side of Manhattan. Each year, and this is the sixth, the fair promises to rock at least a few boats.

Fountain is an excitedly directed directionless cacophony of hits and odd couple of misses every year. The hits usually are upside your head. We are looking forward to the 100+ feet wall of fresh Street Art as you enter and the Murder Lounge down below. As you wend your way past the bar and the flash bulbs at the Saturday night musical melee with Ninjasonik you will swear you are floating. Because you are.

An interior shot of the The Frying Pan, where Fountain splashes on the Hudson River at 26th Street. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

If you are lost, look for the mast. Fountain is the only water vessel based fair at Armory, baby (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elle does final prep to her wall piece for Fountain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent installing his Fountain piece (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato installing his piece (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ellis G. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Highlights:

Adding to Fountain’s signature overwhelming visual and sensory experience, visitors entering Fountain Art Fair will encounter a 100-foot long street art installation stretching along the entrance and exit—a massive collaborative installation by a number of street artists. It features Chris Stain, Dickchicken!, Faro, Gaia, Shark Toof, Clown Soldier, Love Me, Ellis G, Allesandro Echevarria, Lee Trice, Imminent Disaster, Elle, Hellbent, Joe Iurato, and Anthony Sneed. “The medium and movement referred to as Street Art has played an integral role in Fountain Art Fair’s development,” said David Kesting, Fountain Art Fair Co-Founder.

Location:

Pier 66 Maritime @ 26th Street & 12th Avenue in the Hudson RIver Park

March 3 – 6, 2011
General Public Hours:
March 4–March 6, 12pm–7pm

Special Events:
Thursday March 3, 12am – 5pm – VIP & Press Preview
Friday, March 4, 7pm – 12am – Opening Night Reception – Performance: Gordon Voidwell and Tecla
Saturday, March 5, 7pm – 12am – Performance: Ninjasonik

Go to Fountain official site to see the full list of exhibitors and to learn more details about the special events and full program:

http://fountainexhibit.com/

SCOPE

A mouthwash and an art fair, we’re checking out Scope mainly to see the new collaboration called Contra Projects, put together by brothers Tristan and Matthew Eaton – comprised of some rockin’ Street Artists who will be taking their show on the road around the globe this year. We’ve had a blast watching them put up new work on Brooklyn streets this week, and can’t wait to see the installations at Scope.

TYPOE

Also you will want to check out the sculpture work by Miami graff artist Typoe, whose friend have been saving their caps from spray cans for a minute. He laughs when he talks about graffers mailing them to him too and as a co-founder of Primary Flight, Miami’s original open air museum and street level mural installation, he’s got plenty to work with.

TYPOE | Fountain, 2011| Confetti Death Series
Represented by SPINELLO GALLERY

To see the full list of exhibitors, details of the programs and fees to enter go to the Scope Art Fair site:

http://www.scope-art.com/Index.php/

Location
320 West St (West Side Highway)
Across from Pier 40
New York NY 10014

Opening Schedule
FirstView
(For VIPs and Press
or $100 donation at the door)
Wednesday | March 2 | 3pm-9pm

General Admission Fair Hours
Thursday | March 3 | noon – 8pm
Friday | March 4 | noon – 8pm
Saturday | March 5 | noon – 8pm
Sunday | March 6 | noon – 7pm

VOLTA

California’s Carmichael Gallery is showing new work by Street Art brain jammer Mark Jenkins, whose well-placed human installations in public places cause people to stop and ponder. Apparently, his work has a similar effect on cats.

Mark Jenkins, Family Room

From the press release;

“Mark Jenkins’ installation at VOLTA NY will transform Booth A1 into an unconventionally furnished family room. “I’ve been doing a lot of experimentation with resin and fiberglass,” says the artist of this new series, which includes five and a half life-size sculptures and a range of smaller pieces, “finding more original ways to make hand casts and improving structural solidity through new bracing techniques.” For the first time, Jenkins will present his works within a site-specific environment purposefully created to provide greater contextual authority and definition to his aesthetic and thematic considerations. “An empty space can feel sterile,” he observes, “as if a giant eraser has removed all context. The works become more like pinned butterflies. I have taken a different approach with (the presentation of) Family Room. This time it’s about creating a place for the sculptures to live in, so, in addition to clothes, I’ve been thrift store shopping for plants, drapes, rugs and chairs.” Both individual works and the installation as a whole will propose non-traditional commentaries on the institutions of family and home.”

Booth A1
7 West 34th Street
between 5th and 6th Avenue / 11th floor
New York, NY 10001
USA

To see the full Volta exhibitors list and details of all events please click on Volta’ site:

http://ny.voltashow.com/

To learn more about Carmichael Gallery please click on the gallery’s site:

http://www.carmichaelgallery.com/

PULSE

Brooklyn’s David Ellis at Joshua Liner is one painter/sculptor/film maker always worth checking out. As a founding Barnstormer, Ellis continues to stretch and swerve with painterly illustrations and installation.

VISIT
PULSE Contemporary Art Fair at http://www.pulse-art.com/ or contact by phone at +1 (212) 255-2327.

::ADMISSION TO ALL VERGE ART BROOKLYN
EXHIBITION LOCATIONS IS FREE::

PUBLIC HOURS
Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 3 – 5 March, Noon to 10 pm
Sunday, 6 March, Noon to 6 pm
OPENING NIGHT PARTY
Thursday, 3 March, 2011, 10:00 pm to 4 am

TOMORROW’S ART TODAY: THE INAUGURAL ART BROOKLYN
Coming Thursday, March 3, Verge Art Brooklyn invites you to experience a paradigm shift in art fairs as we know them, a show that recovers the standard of an art fair as a platform for presenting the best work by living artists. Art Brooklyn throws open the doors for attendees to a whole new universe of artists, music, art, and community. Verge Art Brooklyn is proud to announce a list of exhibitors that includes gallery exhibitors, resident DUMBO galleries and Brooklyn Art Now participants for a combined total of over seventy gallery exhibitors at nine locations, nearly forty participants for “Material Issue: Artist’s Projects Spaces” and fifty artists for “Tomorrow Stars: The Art Brooklyn Open Call Exhibition.” Chosen by a distinguished panel of jurors, “Tomorrow Stars” represents the brightest and best Brooklyn has to offer, as selected by Courtney Wendroff of the Brooklyn Arts Council, artist and former president of the NYC chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers Stephen Mallon, blogger and art critic Steve Kaplan, and Danny Simmons, chairman of the NYC chapter of the National Conference of Artists. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to own the work of tomorrow’s stars today!

GALLERY EXHIBITORS
81 Front Street, Ground Floor / One Main Street, Ground Floor ANTIDOTE, Brooklyn, NY, Albrecht Art Enterprise, New York, NY, Art Project International G77 Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY, G2 Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, MoCADA Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Cue Art Foundation, New York, NY, Firecat Projects, Chicago, IL, Stilllife Gallery, New York, NY, Fine Art Consultancy, London, UK, Arch 402, London, UK, A.R.T. Module R, Brooklyn, NY, Mayjune Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, Brooklyn Art Project, Brooklyn, NY, and others TBA.

BROOKLYN ART NOW: 2011 SURVEY EXHIBITION CURATED BY LOREN MUNK/JAMES KALM
111 Front Street, Second Floor, Suites 200, 204 & 222 Tabla Rasa Gallery: selected artist(s) and  work,  Audrey Anastasi,  “Spoken Birch.” BAC Gallery selected artist(s) work, RahulAlexander, “Golden Chamber”, Greg Lindquist, “ntitled.” Like The Spice Gallery selected artist(s) and work, Jenny Morgan and David Mramor, “View Quan Yinha.” Micro Museum: Selected artist(s) and work, Kathleen and William Laziza “THE KISSING INSTALLATION 2.0.” Open Source Gallery: selected artist(s) and work, Peter Feigenbaum, ”02″,  Katerina Marcelja “02.” Camel Art Space: selected artist(s) and work, Rob de Oude, “Hither fro Yonder”, Carl Gunhouse, “Development Nashville, TN.” MoCADA: selected artist(s) and work, Jeff Sims, “Straddle 72.” WORK Gallery:  selected artist(s) and work, Eric Ayotte, “Protest Painting”,  Karin Stothart, “Ileostomy Drainage.” Central Booking: selected artist(s) and work. Despo Magoni, “The Thousand and One Nights series”, Lothar Osterburg, “Zion Homestead.” BRIC Rotunda Gallery: selected artist(s) and work, Jeesoo Lee, “Darkening Blue”,  Pinar Yolaçan, “Untitled (from Mother Goddess series), Lael Marshall, “Compact Florescent.” Famous Accountants: selected artist(s) and work,  Meg Hitchcock, “Nausea, The Sunyatasaptati (Seventy Verses on Emptiness) by Nagarjuna, from Neasea by Jean-Paul Sartre”, Ben Godward, “Shhh! I live here.” Spring Gallery: selected artist(s) and work Charles Lahti, “First Eyes on Jura.” Front Room Gallery: selected artist(s) and work, Tom Broadbent, “Floating Camouflaged Pants” Manhattan Bridge Tunnel proposal, Stephen Mallon, “Virginia Placement”, Patricia Smith, “Mapped Location of Pronounced Situation Density.” Janet Kurnatowski: selected artits(s) and work, Craig Olson, “Murcury in the Philosopher’s Egg (Oh!  Hospitable Jupiter! And the Trust)”, Ben La Rocco, “Minerva’s Pallette.” English Kills Gallery: selected artist(s) and work, Don Pablo Pedro, “jpg #1”, Andrew Hurst, “EOS Digital Rebel ETi.” 440 Gallery: selected artist(s) and work, Tom Bovo, “BOVO_TOM_02”, Richard Eagan “EAGAN_RICHARD_01.” LUMENHOUSE: selected artist(s) and work, Jeremiah Teipen, ” Untitled, digital video with screen and player.” Side Show Gallery: selected artist(s) and work, Shari Mendelson, “Bumpy Blue-Green Vessel”, James O. Clark, “Orestes 2006.” Parker’s Box: selected artist(s) and work, Steven Brower, “Child Astronaut Test Suit 1999-2000”, Joshua Stern, “Untitled V” Patrick Martinez “Jesus video.” In addition, a list of Special Projects for Brooklyn Art Now is forthcoming.

PUBLIC HOURS
Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 3 – 5 March, Noon to 10 pm
Sunday, 6 March, Noon to 6 pm

OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION
Thursday, 3 March, 2011, 10:00 pm to 2 am

To read more details about Verge Art Brooklyn click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynartfair.com/

Non-Art Fair Recommendations

Brice Wolkowitz Gallery Presents: José Parlá “Walls Diaries and Paintings” (Manhattan, NYC)

José Parlá “Order, Pattern, Organization, Form and Relationship”. Image Courtesy of the gallery.

Mint&Serf Present: Well Hung: The Chelsea Chapter at +ART. A Fundraiser for Free Arts NYC