Chelsea Galleries Reaction

On our second field trip we explored the menagerie of art galleries in Chelsea. This is the home of the collections of the upcoming and well-known artists. My first encounter with a gallery that day was the Raymond Pettibon collection. I left shocked and somewhat disillusioned towards what kind of artwork I would see the rest of the day. I did not enjoy his apparent carelessness and indifference in presenting the artwork which looked as if it was just taped to the wall.

Eddie Anderson - Phillip-Lorca diCorca

Gerald Hughes (aka. Savage Fantasy) - Phillip-Lorca diCorca

My next stop on the road was in the same David Zwirner gallery as Pettibon, 'Street Hustlers' by Phillip-Lorca diCorca, a renowned photographer whose works sit somewhere between documentary and staged photography. His work really caught my photographic eye. I was especially drawn to two prints, "Gerald Hughes" and "Eddie Anderson". These two men are caught within a place and time and seemed to be a part of the scenery. 
The composition of each subject within their setting seemed to be very asymmetrical, yet at the same time had strong directional forces which kept my eye moving around for a long time. The subjects are scaled in the photograph in such a way that their surroundings seem to be just as important as the people themselves. All of the subjects in this exhibit are street hustlers who accept money to do a variety of entertainment activities for their clients. DiCorca propositioned these men for photographs and agreed to pay them their normal entertainment rate. I feel that this kind of photography is an excellent monetary investment because it includes this type documentary photo-journalism. In addition, diCorca captured the essence of a era, place, and face during a moment in our history which meant to me, a hundred years from now viewers would still have a diverse and colorful window into the past. These original photographic prints sell for $30,000 each and I believe would only increase in price towards the future. This is because each print is very poignant and describe a unique individual, time, and place; which is extremely important towards providing future value. The people of the future would also have to see worth in these images as I do, and I believe they would. These photographs would be hanging on my wall during the years for additional admiration and contemplation of their overall design and composition. Overall this exhibit was wonderful, as a photographer; I greatly admired his work. Each print was compositionally beautiful, with varied and interesting choices of scale, proportion, variety and emphasis.

"This Unfortunate Thing Between Us" - Phil Collins

On the other hand, after a few more stops along the 'gallery road' with my renewed sense of enjoyment towards the work after diCorca, I stumbled upon the Tanya Bonakdar gallery exhibiting work by installation artist Phil Collins. I was immediately impressed with the scale of the installations but was taken by surprise with its content. "This Unfortunate Thing Between Us" was a large installation piece which held two seemingly similar trailer homes. Viewers are asked to walk inside the space and experience what Collins has put forth, a large television screen with a bizarre German television show playing in the background. I was put-off by the plainness of the trailers and the absurdity of the television program. The second piece I came to was on the second floor, titled, "my heart's in my hand, my hand is pierced, and hand's in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught". This piece was also very large, consisting of 6 large booths with turntables and records along the walls. I enjoyed the music, but thinking economically I would not buy these two pieces. The first piece is selling for $50,000 while the second on the third floor is selling for $25,000. I would not invest in buying these two pieces because of their sheer size, price, and the apparent subjectivity of the meaning which I believe future prospective buyers would not grasp and therefore have no demand t purchase it. If I had to buy them, they are extremely large installations and there is no apartment I would dare to buy, big enough to house these pieces, they would have to stay in storage. 

"my heart's in my hand, my hand is pierced, and hand's in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught" - Phil Collins

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery:
Phil Collins
"This Unfortunate Thing Between Us"
2011
$50,000
Two channel video installation presented in caravans, color, sound on 60 min loop

Phil Collins
"my heart's in my hand, my hand is pierced, and hand's in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught"
2013
$25,000
Ten 7 inch vinyl records, listening booths, turntables, amplifiers and speakers

David Zwirner Gallery:
Phillip-Lorca diCorca
"Gerald Hughes (a.k.a. Savage Fantasy)" 
Southern California
1990-92
$30,000
Chromogenic print
30 3/4 x 43 3/8 inches (78.1 x 110.2 cm)

Phillip-Lorca diCorca
"Eddie Anderson" 
Houston, Texas
1990-1992
$30,000
Chromogenic print
23 3/4 x 35 3/8 inches (60.3 x 89.9 cm)