PooL Art Fair New York, 2012 - Artist's show their own work.

As a part of PooL Art Fair, Art in America Senior Editor, Richard Vine (second from left), leads a discussion about the challenges independent and unrepresented artists face
by having to be both creator and chief advocate of their art.
Pictured above, left to right: J.B. Wilson (artist), Richard Vine (Art in America), Jean-Denis Retour (artist) and Thierry Alert (PooL Art Fair, Director).

ARMORY

ARTS WEEK

Special Reports

J.W. Wilson's installation (sculpture) speaks to fertility and rebirth.
The blue panel work, on the right, is from his conceptual wallpaper series.
Each pattern has its own social
or political message incorporated into the design.

POOL

Art Fair

NY 2012

At the Flatiron Hotel

26th & Broadway, NYC

PooL Art Fair started its life as Frere Independent Art Fair. PooL is shorter, easier to pronounce and has no competition for the name (Independent). I don't know the reasons behind the name change, a few years back, but there certainly is a large pool of artists in this world without gallery representation! And "that" is the stated mission of PooL NYC, to give the unrepresented artist a shot at the big show in NYC. This fair is connected at the hip to its director, Thierry Alert (who answers to Terry). He has a staff of people helping him, but this is the only show where you know who is in charge. He also produces PooL Art Fairs in Miami, Guadeloupe & Martinique.

Many Art Fairs during Arts Week in NYC were at one time based out of hotels. Even the giant Armory Show started out at the Gramercy Park Hotel. I have been to many hotel art fairs, with a hotel room showing one or two artists. Athough it is always awkward, the format also has a wonderful, Bohemian quality that most larger shows simply cannot claim.

PooL this year features many invited artists from Guadeloupe and Martinque, which added another unique point of view to the New York exhibition. 

Jean-Denis Retour carved his soul (in this mask) and mounted it onto a mirror, in order to see himself completely when he views his reflection. The artist, from Martinique, is focused on only doing what is authentically "his work". All of his work is based on carved wood because his father carved wood and he has always carved wood. In today's over-the-top, self-conscious, created-for-the-market art environment, he may be one of the few artists showing in NYC this week,
simply doing his work and
not "trying so hard" to fit-in.

PooL Art Fair NY at the Flatiron Hotel, Broadway & 26th St.

Artist Erol Gunduz teaches digital media and his 3-D digital outputs prove "digital media" is simply a tool for artists to embrace, not the focus of the discussion about the work. (The final form, for the sculpture pictured, is bronze.)  

"7 Deadly Sins" series. Artist Serge Strosberg says of his paintings, "Every person's life has always incorporated the seven deadly sins, as a part of living. It is all wrapped up in how you interpret the definitions of those sins."

Serge Strosberg's "7 Deadly Sins"

"MOTION" digital animation by Korean artist, Shin, Sang-Ho presented by Artspace KAN.

 

Artist Tony Peralta

Conceptual artist Yoshiya Homma said,
 "These are the show stoppers!"

Yoshiya Homma conceptual artist.

J.B. Wilson's wallpaper commentary.

Krzysztof Mathews's digital recreations of his constructions.

A Krzysztof Mathews construction, created from found objects.

Mel Smothers's paintings are light hearted "conversations" with Andy Warhol. His work reflects the fact he studied under Wayne Thiebaud. 

Joël Zobel photographer from Marinique.

Joël Zobel's photography

Joël Zobel's photography

Fresh, free standing watercolors on unfolded box tops by Valdem from Guadeloupe.

Thierre Alert's painted commentary, on canvas

Monochrome paintings by Aiva

Ceramics by Martine Baker

Artist: Habdaphai

Artist: Habdaphai (Some people are always taking, talking - saying nothing!)

Anne-Marie Cosgrove's acrylic paintings use script to create juicy abstracted images of repeated words.

LIZ n VAL, a team of two conceptual artist showed their site-specific work along with some miniatures. In our conversation they said: "The larger galleries and museums are seldom interested in miniatures, they like the big stuff, that attracts attention."

Tim Roseborough: digital / performance / conceptual artist
pictured with the templates of his "new" alphabet.

Tim Roseborough has created a new way of writing by substituting the Roman Alphabet with the square-puzzle-piece letter forms he calls "Englyph". Each box, above, is a word or puntuation mark. 

Marie Adeline's color block compositions. Even her objective work has a focus on solid flat color.

Marie Adeline

Gustavo Blanco-Uribe's photographs are painted over
and sliced into with an exacto knife.

Artem Mirolevich touted his "Glasses for the Third Eye" project.

Hebru Brantley' drawing style.

Self-taught artist, Hebru Brantley has street art, Japanese anime, comic books, Disney and Pixar all twirling in his head.  He told me how he constructed his 3-D sculptures - it was an amazing story of invention - in the end, turning out a very professional product.

Alas, I cannot show every artist in this show, although they all deserve the exposure and press. Check out the list of participants in our Postscript section and google them.

Richard Vine ended his panel discussion by saying, "Being an artist is not easy, nor is art easy to explain, but we do it because we love it. It is the life we have chosen."

(All art in this issue, is covered under the personal © Copyright of the artists, the fair or the galleries. Most of the photographs in this article are © Copyright Jack A. Atkinson and were taken with permission. For contact information or a correction, visit our website, www.jackatkinson.com. To contact the PooL Art Fair NY 2012 go to PooLArtFair.com.)

Until later,

Jack

Postscript:

Below the list of artists provided by PooL Art Fair New York 2012.

Aïva, Abishag, Marie Adeline, Thierry Alet, Alfredus Martine Baker, Gustavo Blanco–Uribe, Hebru Brantley, Dianne Bowen, Jeannine Calvaire,Olga Chemokhud Doty, Anne-Marie Cosgrove, Peggy Cyphers, Jason Davis, Nicolas Derné Leah Devora, Francis Eck, Géraldine Entiope, Holly Gaboriault, Borinquen Gallo, Samuel, Gelas, Joan Giordano, Katya Grokhovsky, Erol Gundez, Habdaphaï, Norm Hinsey, Yoshiya Homma, Nikki Johnson, Ron Jones,Victoria Kovalenchikova, Yveline Lassus, Nadine Le Jeune, Linda Levit, Liz N Val, Gregg Lefevre, Krzysztof Mathews, Marie-Gé, José Maréchaux, Frédérique Melon, Josh Millis, Cat Mira, Artem Mirolevich, Dore Page, Tony Peralta, Madonna Phillips, Pink Gallery Korea, Jean Denis Retour, Tim Roseborough, Robin Scheines, Dave Sharma, Mel Smothers, S.O.A Life, Anna Stein, Serge Strosberg, Val dem, Stick, Chris Twomey Hélène Valenzuela, Heather Van Uxem, Allen Vandever Mark Wiener, J. B. Wilson, Justin Wood, Philibert Yrius, Joël Zobel.

ARTSnFOOD, All rights reserved. Concept & Original Text © Copyright 2012 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. Images © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.