The SPRING/BREAK Art Show is a different breed of art fair than the rest of the lineup opening during Armory Week. Instead of building the show around galleries, SPRING/BREAK picks one theme and then lets curators work their magic on different rooms of the Old School, a former schoolhouse in New York.
This year's theme is PUBLICPRIVATE, and 40 curators have gathered the work of more than 100 contemporary artists to explore "how the high visibility of the self in the 21st century everyday—via social network, selfie ubiquity, jealous vacation landscape, video-game avatar, and surveillance M.O.—activates and disinhibits the artistic practice, and that contrary or complimentary production of self which is the artist process," reads the press release. Needless to say, SPRING/BREAK doesn't have the blockbuster feel of the Armory Show, and that's a good thing. From blood painting projected on walls to a drive-in movie experience, this fair invigorates Armory Week with innovation and artistic risk. Here are 10 Curated Rooms You Can't Miss at the SPRING/BREAK Art Show.
The SPRING/BREAK Art Show is open to the public from March 6 to March 9, 2014. The fair's online auction is taking place on Paddle 8.
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Jordan Eagles
Group Show
Azikiwe Mohammed
Fall on Your Sword (Will Bates and Sarah Bereza)
Rin Johnson and Michael Valinsky
Bruno Pogacnik Wukodrakula
Scott Avery
Curator: Amani Olu
Room: 22
Scott Avery's performance piece is only for the brave of heart. Participants are hooked up to an antique lie detector and filmed answering questions that would make anyone squirm like, "Have you ever slept with someone to get ahead in your career?" and, "Do you think Spike Lee is racist?" in front of a crowd of strangers. For $100, you can purchase your test results, but the true work is in the act of truth-telling itself.
Ramon Silva
Curator: Larry Ossei-Mensah
Room: 27
Ramon Silva has brought Beyonce to Armory Week. His work consists of images of Queen Bey and videos of the music star dancing with wild graphics and her signature songs. The work is playful, high energy, and celebrates our obsession with Beyonce and her latest "visual album" with artistic beauty.
Group Show
Group Show
Curators: Tracy Causey-Jeffery and Amy Kisch
Room: 38
One of the biggest and most diverse rooms in SPRING/BREAK is the group show curated by Tracy Cause-Jeffery and Amy Kisch. The most striking work is an installation that deals with the Woody Allen sexual abuse scandal called Allegation (Third Rail) by Michael Tharp. The powerful work consists of clips from Woody Allen's films projected across a room above a toy train in the, referencing Dylan Farrow's "Open Letter" to the New York Times. Besides this darkly moving piece, the room is filled with paintings, photographs, and tapestries made from the lids of paint cans by Steven Dobbin.