HI, It is already April, and the auctions were earlier this month, with some stronger then others. AIPAD, the annual photo show at the Park Avenue Armory was last month. Opening night is always fun, as is the rest of the show, since I enjoy seeing many dealers, friends, and curators who are in NY for the big event. I enjoyed going to a seminar at Hunter College that Steven Kasher moderated with Joe Baio and a collector from Toronto. Both collectors were both very interesting and candid, and explained how they got started, and why they collect what they do.
Went to the Brooklyn Museum for two great events recently. One was at First Saturday, which is the first Saturday of every month, and it is free! They had over 20,000 people that evening, which was a record. There was the Keith Haring Exhibit, Jellybean Benitez iconic DJ who had thousands dancing in the main court, and then Christopher Makos (www.makostudio.com)who gave a lecture about his work. He was a lot of fun, and talked about The Factory and Andy Warhol, and Keith Haring, Bianca Jagger, Liza Minelli, and many more who appear in his photographs.
Also, went to the FIRST AWARDS at the museum, which was sponsored by The Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art, and it was an incredible event. 16 women were chosen, and almost all of them were there including Jessye Norman, Connie Chung, Toni Morrison, Dr. Johnnetta Cole, Susan Stroman, Faye Wattleton and others. I just read about the Nordic Light International Festival of Photography which is happening now in the Norwegian coastal town of Kristiansund, (www.nle.no). It sounds great and there are some important photographers in attendence, including Mary Ellen Mark and Martin Bell, Greg Gorman, Bruce Davidson, and our own Abe Frajndlich and I think Julie Grahame. I hope they give us a presentation at the next meeting so we can all learn about it! More soon… Best, Mary Engel