The NY Art Book Fair

One of the best things I ran into in NY was the first NY Art Book Fair which was held in DIA's old Chelsea space and was totally free. I ended up there on Saturday while trying to jam in all kinds of other stuff, including a trip to the open studios at Hunter. Several other bloggers, like AFC and Barry and James have done wonderfull detailed posts on the fair. Most, like me really apreciated the mix of high end booksellers, non profits and all kinds of facinating DYI print projects and alternative press.

Here is a long quote from AFC.

"In a city where you have to pay to sit down, it is refreshing to attend an art fair that offers a few free goodies you might actually want. Pet Book, by artist James Sprez, (and published by Back East Press) is one of many such items that can be found at The New York Art Book Fair, this one packaged in a baggies that encourages attendees to smoke it. It may be that the plastic sleeves on books ranging from free to hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars, make a book seem so precious and alluring that I am rendered blindingly smitten, but I feel safe in saying that it is more than just packaging that has led me to the conclusion that of all the fairs I have attended this year, including The ADAA, The Armory, Scope, Pulse, and The Affordable Art Fair, The New York Art Book Fair is the best. The NY Art Book Fair succeeds because it satisfies the art snob and the art collector while providing a venue for less commercially driven endeavors. "

Another nice thing was that several galleries seemed to have arainged book related shows that connected well with the Fair. The two that I ran into that really worked were, the Dieter Roth show at Josee Bienvenu and Brian Chippendale's installation at D'Amellio Terras, just down the block from the fair.