Ok, I admit I was not expecting much when I want to the Art(212) fair last night at the 68th Regiment Armory on 26th Street and Lexington Ave, NYC.

I can’t even identify half the artists that I saw whom I liked - the show was not organized in a way that makes it easy for Art Writers, like me, to write about it (maybe next time, they can printup cards for each artist in the show with a picture or two and the contact information - that’s my suggestion).

I’m going to just mention what I liked - even if I don’t have the name of the artist - readers, try to figure it out if your interested by going to the Art 212 listing.

The most impressive art in the show was Devorah Sperber’s After van Eyke, and the artist will be having a show next month at the Brooklyn Musuem of Art which ArtNewYorkCity.com will cover as I live in Brooklyn, NY and do go the Brooklyn Museum from time to time.

 

I did collect a packet with Devorah Sperber’s informaiton - the work is 5024 spools of thread arranged to appear like a painting from Van Eyck when you appear in front of it with the crystal ball.  Amazing!

I also talked a woman from the Art Gallery website creator called THEO - Theo Digital Gallery System at www.theodigitalgallery.com ; it’s a web content management system just for galleries.  I asked if it was profitable enough to run something like this and the lady said ….”yes” but she does travel a lot (I guess there are galleries all over).  Anyway, I like the idea of a CMS system for galleries as most Art Gallery sites are awful from the point of view of Search Engines - and I question if any of them do well, in many cases, even on the Artist’s name.  Yes, I’m sure they will work OK for the Gallery name…but few people search that way.  Anyway, if THEO solves an Art Galleries Search needs, all power to them.

I also liked the works of David Kramer who was being shown with the Birch Libralato Gallery located in Toronto (but I think he lives here).

And here’s a couple of extra shots of the show and work (don’t have names, sorry).

An Andy Warhol photo by some famous photographer - I liked it.

I liked the artist - who lives in the midwest, but where it’s warm - it’s a made up scene - but I liked it so that’s why it’s here in ArtNewYorkCity.com.

And here’s the Art(212) show itself. It’s on though the weekend in case anyone lives in NYC and reads this blog.

And now I’m off to paint today. Chow.

I went to the Alfred Jensen opening tonight and was impressed with Jensen’s work - I even bought a $35 dollar catalog of paintings in the show.

Here’s a picture I took at the show

Seth Godin is the smartest marketer alive - and I always read his blog, most of the time commenting in Webmetricsguru.com; today my comment belongs in ArtNewYorkCity.com because Seth talks about why more people don’t go to museums.

a. the curators think the item on display is the whole thing. As a result, they slack off and do less than they should in creating an overall story

b. they assume that visitors are focused, interested and smart. They are rarely any of the three. As a result, the visit tends to be a glossed over one, not a deep one or a transcendent one

c. science museums in particular almost beg people NOT to think.

I can’t remember the last time a museum visit made my cry, made me sad or made me angry (except at the fact that they don’t try hard enough).

Besides, some people have negative associations with museums; my wife was raised in Poland where Museums were considered old, stuffy and boring!  I don’t find Museums boring, but I understand why many do - they don’t engage visitors enough (sounds like Musuems are often like bad websites that don’t work well enough).

“They asked how long it had been since he had been to a museum.  But the group that liked his books spoke up pretty quickly, and first acknowledged that he was trying to needle them, but then said – wait, he is part of our audience, and clearly he has thought this.  And if we are not listening to our audiences, then we may not be doing our jobs well at all.  This was bounced around for a while.  At the end I pulled it back towards Godin’s books and asked what, if anything, they got from the books, felt like they could take back to their museums and use, or share with their bosses.  Even a couple of the Godin-haters mentioned things they got from them.  After the book club, back at the cabin we were staying in, there was a lot of talking around the fireplace about branding and stories, so it was clear the books, and the discussion, made them think.”

Sounds like Seth Godin’s books were examined by museum directors and it got them to think.  If you stop to think, getting people to a museum and keeping them engaged is the same exact problem as getting people to a website and engageing them enough that they stay. 

The solution for a website is usually better content and better design.  In the case of museums, it’s not so much the content as the presentation and activities at the museum that encourage people to want to be there and have a positive experience.

Again, I’m not the person who has a problem with museums - I like them overall, but many don’t like museums and there’s probably a valid reason why.