Little Room at the Inn, Red Dot Fair, NYC

Most gallerists will tell you it would be difficult if not impossible to break even without doing at least one art fair per year; some dealers only do art fairs and have no gallery. As the importance of fairs grows, so grows the list of alternative venues. Red Dot carries on the tradition of art in the hotel room. Although not the best space to exhibit art, it’s efficient and until recently cost-effective: prices are almost equal to the cost of a booth at Scope. Just be sure to put your tooth brush away before your guests arrive.

Some of my picks from Red Dot were Carla Gannis’s manipulated digital prints, at Kasia Kay Art Projects, and Mitchell Gaudet’s cast glass pieces at Perry Nicole (Memphis). Gaudet is a New Orleans-based artist, and this work was submerged in the Katrina flood waters.

Jay Grimm had a small room of Lori Taschler’s paintings, lit with the best natural light. David Ivie’s small, thickly painted works at Elizabeth Harris and self-taught Lucy Fradkin at Denise Barnes Fine Art stood out too.

I really liked Margret Murphy’s beautiful watercolor at Pentimenti Gallery, of a woman in a flowing gown.

On my next post I'll finish with comments on the Pulse fair and try to sum up. As always, visit my Flickr site to see more images.