New York's AIPAD Photography Show, which opened today and runs through the weekend, has its own laid back pace, totally appropriate to its location in the relative calm and cool of the Park Avenue Armory. Despite the hushed atmosphere, sales were already strongly in evidence on the morning of the fair’s opening day, with red spots dotting a wide-ranging selection of work ranging from the powerhouse photojournalism of Tim Hetherington at Yossi Milo to a solo presentation of superstar art photographer Philip Lorca di Corcia’s new work from David Zwirner gallery.
At entrance of the fair, Steven Kasher gallery installed a wall full of black-and-white portraits documenting the crowds of Occupy Wall Street by Accra Shepp. “We wanted to use the position a little more emphatically,” Kasher explained. The photos are selling for $60 in inkjet and $1,500 for silver gelatin prints, and a “major collector” already picked up a full set of the inkjets, the dealer noted. Fifty percent of the print proceeds go to the Occupy movement, a sign informed visitors.
Lawrence Miller gallery had on display a prized photo composite by master photographer Ray K. Metzker for $150,000, while the Aspen, Colorado-based Joel Soroka gallery sold a geometric still-life of rusted metal by underappreciated Swiss abstractionist Beatrice Helg at the fair’s opening for $17,500. The photographer only works in editions of eight, and once purchased, her prints tend to stay bought — “No one wants to let go of them,” Soroka commented. Several others are on display in the booth.
Madison Avenue gallery Higher Pictures is showing a knockout selection of luminous abstract prints from emerging photographer Jessica Eaton, starting at an affordable $4,000. Zwirner featured photos from Lorca di Corcia’s latest “Eden” series, an image capturing a woman in a room in the Standard Hotel, a tornado frozen on a television at her side, attracting particular interest. The prints ranged from $25,000-35,000. AIPAD 2012 is certainly a grab bag of disparate tastes, but the fact that it’s impossible not to find something intriguing bodes well for continued sales in the coming days.
AIPAD 2012 runs at the Park Avenue Armory through April 1. Click on the slide show for a tour of the fair's highlights.