Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Art Fountain Art Fair Changing Venues, Trades Pier for Armory
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 11:21 AM
The Fountain Art Fair, one of the scrappiest Armory Week satellite fairs—staged on the Hudson's Pier 66 and the Frying Pan, the floating bar moored there for the last three of its six New York iterations—is moving up in a big way this year, to the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th streets, the site of the original Armory Show. The expansive, 28,000 square foot space will offer much-needed room for the growing fair and its always-excellent street art projects.
In an announcement about the change of venue yesterday, Fountain co-founder David Kesting—of Bushwick-bound Soho gallery Kesting/Ray—notes:
The opportunity to hold Fountain’s seven year anniversary show in the home of the original 1913 Armory space is a game-changer and a big win for Fountain exhibitors and supporters. [...] The sheer scale of the space in context with the ambitious projects of our exhibitors offers a new opportunity for the growth of the exhibition and its participants.
Beyond the 69 Regiment Armory's haloed place in art history, there's a nice bit of branding synergy behind this move too: the 1913 Armory show afforded American audiences their first taste of the work of Modern art deity Marcel Duchamp, whose iconic readymade sculpture gives the art fair its name and logo. On the other hand, the east side location puts Fountain somewhat off Armory Week's Hudson-adjacent beaten path.
Applications are still open for this year's Fountain Art Fair, which runs from March 9-11, and whose Miami iteration last month featured some 30 exhibitors—including many projects by Brooklyn galleries and artists. Expect a similarly strong turnout given the suddenly ample room afforded by the change of venue. The always-excellent street art installation will also no doubt grow exponentially. Let's just hope Fountain also remains one of the more affordable of the Armory Week fairs.
Follow Benjamin Sutton on Twitter @LMagArt
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