NEW YORK, NY.- PULSE New York 2014, closed on Sunday, May 11th, after four days of welcoming steady sales, dynamic programming, and an engaged audience. Featuring 50 exhibitors and over 100 artists from eleven countries, the fair began on Thursday, May 8th with its Private Preview Brunch, which ignited sales that continued steadily throughout the weekend. Over 8,000 curators, collectors, patrons, and visitors attended the revitalized fair, which continued to make headlines for its elevated offerings and visitor experience under the leadership of Helen Toomer, Director, as it heads into its tenth year.
“The success of this fair is a direct extension of the artists and exhibitors involved. The upbeat energy was felt by the visitors who acquired works, made connections and participated in our programming,” stated Ms. Toomer. “I’d like to thank everyone, from our exhibitors, to those who attended. We will expand upon this positive momentum as we look forward to our ten year anniversary in Miami Beach.”
Ms. Toomer encouraged galleries to bring focused presentations, resulting in over eighty percent of exhibitors showing one to three artist booths. Artist commissions and strong sales reports followed, echoing the enhanced quality of the fair.
First time exhibitors commanded attention: GUSFORD | los angeles’s bold presentation of North African-influenced photo portraits by Hassan Hajjaj prompted swift sales and praise from art world critics; beta pictoris gallery / MAUS CONTEMPORARY nearly sold out of their offerings of Clayton Colvin, Charles Lutz, Leslie Smith III and Travis Somerville, placing most pieces within U.S. and Latin American collections; Station Independent Projects registered continuous activity, conducting sales and fielding inquiries from private, public, and commercial curators; gallery nine5, sold an edition of Jessica Lichtenstein’s oversized FOUR SEASON SERIES C-print on acrylic during the opening hours of the fair; Zadok Gallery’s collection of Pavel Acosta’s detailed yet understated drywall paintings stirred continued excitement; COBURN PROJECTS, sold three hieroglyphic and calligraphy-inspired works on paper by RETNA during the Private Preview alone; and PHALANX, which sold all but one work by solo artist, Keith Allyn Spencer.
Returning galleries expanded upon their histories of success at this season of PULSE New York: Davidson Contemporary presented the stencil-inspired paper-cutouts by Thomas Witte, and sold eight pieces from the series, A Brief History of Anonymity: 1959-1974; Livingstone gallery’s offering of Raquel Maulwurf pieces drew constant attention; CATINCA TABACARU gallery, a previous IMPULSE exhibitor, effortlessly sold Justin Orvis Steimer’s 1960s drone wing, star light star bright, and nine watercolors by the artist; Eric Firestone Gallery sold over ten new edition Henry Chalfant subway prints, nearly as many Tseng Kwong Chi large-scale photographs, and numerous BÄST works; Adah Rose Gallery sold multiple pieces from several Jessica Drenk series, Erosion, Implement and Reading Our Remains; and Black & White Gallery / Project Space’s popular Cynthia Consentino sculptures from the artist’s Birdies series and paintings by Christopher Kochs fared well with collectors.
PULSE Projects appealed to critics and visitors alike, with experiential performances by Samuel Jablon of Freight + Volume; Sean Fader’s continuing #wishingpelt series; live body painting by Shantell Martin; large-scale pieces such as Simón Vega’s The Whitney Museum of Central American Art, A Post-Apocalyptic Dream commissioned by MARTE Contemporary; Zoe Buckman’s PRESENT LIFE; Andy Yoder’s matchstick globe sculpture Early One Morning by Curatorial Research Lab @ Winkleman Gallery; and Tamara Gayer’s transforming window installation, All the World’s Affair.
PULSE Perspectives, the fair’s inaugural daily roundtable discussion series, featured eleven conversations centered around the pointed topic, New Models. Participants included Adarsh Alphons, Founder, ProjectArt; Claire Breukel, Chief Curator, MARTE Contemporary; Kyle DeWoody, Owner and Creative Director, Grey Area; Sherry Dobbin, Director, Times Square Arts; Mark Ellwood, Journalist, Author and Broadcaster; Ann Fensterstock, Collector and Author; Shawn Gallagher, Artist, Placeholder; Ben Hartley, International Managing Director, Auctionata; Saul Ostrow, Independent Curator, Critic, Founder and President of Critical Practices Inc.; Carlos Pomares, Executive Director, Cuban Artists Fund; William Powhida, Artist, Placeholder; Patrick Regan, Private Dealer and Advisor; Sue Stoffel, Collector and Founding Director, Stoffelarts; Renée Vara, Private Advisor and Curator, Vara Art; Simón Vega, Artist; Jake Yuzna, Director of Public Programming, Museum of Arts and Design; amongst others.
On Friday, May 9th, the 2014 PULSE Prize was awarded to Hassan Hajjaj, a self-taught Moroccan-born artist, represented by GUSFORD | los angeles. The winner was selected by this season’s invitational PULSE Jury, consisting of Kathy Battista, Director, Contemporary Art, Sotheby's Institute of Art NY; Paddy Johnson, Founder and Editorial Director, Art F City; Julia Kaganskiy, Director of NEW INC, New Museum; and Alice Gray Stites, Museum Director and Chief Curator, 21c Museum Hotels. 2014 PULSE Prize Finalists included Brea Souders, Uprise Art; Marko Tadić, Ikon Arts Foundation; and Daniel Temkin, TRANSFER.
PULSE Play, the fair’s returning video lounge, was curated by ART21 for this edition, and showed the organization’s newest documentary short format film series, ART21 Artist to Artist.
Cultural Partners of PULSE New York 2014 include The American Folk Art Museum, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Museum of Modern Art’s Junior Associates, The Brooklyn Museum, Children’s Museum of Arts, The Apollo Circle, Young Friends of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, The Museum of Arts and Design, Sculpture Center, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and The Whitney Contemporaries. Sponsors of PULSE New York 2014 include Heineken, Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water, Malin+Goetz, Slow and Low Rye Whiskey.
