Lacking the raw spectacle of the glitzy fairs that draw both celebrities and those that gawk at them, this year's edition of the Association of International Art Photography Dealers's annual Photography Show at the Park Avenue Armory had an air of relaxed, but bustling, commerce today. Most dealers reported sales, though even more noted that at AIPAD visitors generally take a look around, mull it over, and come back over the weekend. Because many photographs are sold in editions, there isn't the same sense of urgency to pounce on opening night to snag the best works.
"This fair is so civilized. People don't need to come on opening day," said Bryce Wolkowitz gallery director Heather Bell. Even so, she reported that sales were brisk. At least one work from every artist featured in the booth was sold by Friday afternoon, with an average selling price of $35,000-45,000. The centerpiece was really Jim Campbell's animated photo piece, "Fundamental Interval Rain," depicting a busy streetcorner with the ghost-like forms of cars moving through the intersection suggested by LED backlights. The installation was created specifically for AIPAD in an edition of three. Two have already sold for $75,000 each.
In addition to Campbell's moving photo installation, one of the more innovative works on display at the fair was Gregory Scott's "Dreams and Delusions" (2012) at Chicago-based Catherine Edelman Gallery. The work, finished just days before opening day, combines photography, painting, and video. The viewer sees a photograph of a museum corner; on one wall, is a replica of a Man Ray work painted onto the photo; on the other wall is a inset window playing a video of the artist himself cavorting amid various Surrealist-inspired imagery. The work is one in an edition of eight. The first is priced at $26,000, with each subsequent edition going up in price as the it sells out, according to Edelman.
New York mega-gallery David Zwirner participated in the fair for the first time, after being nominated to AIPAD last year. The booth was mostly new works from Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Two of his larger works were sold by Friday afternoon — one from his ongoing "East of Eden" series ($25,000) and one from his his "A Storybook of Life" series ($15,000). Several of his Polaroids, which he uses as studies for his larger works, sold for $4,000 each. Zwirner's marketing director Julia Joern noted that one of the reasons the gallery decided to participate — sales aside — was the opportunity to connect to new collectors and museum curators that it had not previously worked with. "We want to re-enforce the fact that the gallery has a strong photo program," said Joern.
London's Eric Franck Fine Art, situated just in front of the door, was showing several vintage Gaspar Gasparian photographs, which are being exhibited for the first time in the United States. The gallery just entered into a partnership with the late photographer's estate and was offering the Brazilian artist's vintage work for $25,000. Early on Friday the gallery was still having more luck with their Henri Cartier-Bresson works. "Queen Charlotte's Ball," a characteristically elegant 1959 photo showing ladies in white dresses and men in tuxedos swirling around a dance floor, sold for $30,000. The gallery also had a bevy of work at an incredibly affordable price point. Fashion photographer Norman Parkinson's work is priced at $3,000, with a dyptich of the front and rear views of a woman in a trench coat available for $4,000.
A surprising find while meandering through the fair's maze was a large, wide-angle photo of an adoring crowd of concert fans. Upon closer inspection, ARTINFO noticed the photo, in the booth of Los Angeles dealer Paul Kopeikin, was taken by Moby. Kopeikin pointed out that Moby has been a photographer longer than he has been a musician (this passion predates his turn as an architecture critic, for the record). "Sweet Apocalypse" (2011) is a rare view into the life of a rock star — few concert photographers can even get a few people in the crowd to look their way, let alone the whole arena.
After chatting for a bit, Kopeikin said that he'd had quite a lot of interest in the Moby photograph ($9,500, fourth in an edition of five), but had yet to close the sale. He had, however, helped the neighboring booth across the way sell some Robert Adams photographs to a collector he knows from Los Angeles. It's just that kind of fair.
AIPAD continues through April 1 at the Park Avenue Armory.
Related: