A Review of Labeling Techniques at Red Dot

by Art Fag City on March 31, 2008 · 11 comments Events

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Red Dot Fair, photo copyright Red Dot

If locating even a mediocre work of art finds its equivalent in needle in a hay sack similes you can count me out of reporting on that fair. As such Red Dot, a fair characterized by way too much bad art in cramped hotel rooms, won’t receive much in the way of substantive art coverage from me. They did however inspire the following label essay.

The Labels and Art in hotels

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Marie Lannoo at NewZones Gallery, Photo AFC

Virtually any clear sticky label becomes a source of ridicule when affixed to anything other than a wall. Observe the above wall label stuck to the corner of a bed sheet. I know. hilarious.

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Alberto Toscano’s 16 peeling labels identify the same numbered polymer clay pieces above at Raw. I didn’t photograph the slightly wonky hanging pictures above, which was perhaps a mistake, but I’m guessing you can live with it.

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Note the Bermuda triangle of labeling created between the Kohler logo at the back of the toilet, and the captioning information for Peter Scarbo Fawley’s work. Perfectly laid out on the tank above, the gallery labels present an odd sense of doom. Or something.

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Mumford Fine Art puts together a fine spread in the tube, presumably with the intention that viewers would take home the print outs. It didn’t work.

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Daring! Andrea Schwartz displays with no labels! I asked the gallery director the rational for this, and he told me that it “opens up a dialog.” I’m sure all kinds of fruitful conversation has come from Tina Vietmier’s paintings unlabeled art works, but I’m using it to close off the post anyway because its silence tell us something. We’re still working on what that is.

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P.S.  Wilde Gallery displays very stinky flowers. I thought I was smelling really bad perfume or incense before realizing I just don’t like the smell of lilies.

{ 11 comments }

tackad March 31, 2008 at 5:02 pm

I was with you 100 percent until you knocked the clear label on the sheet. Actually that’s pretty cool and a tiny effort at being high clas dispite the situation.
I was kinda stunned that you would think that the wonderful – only in spring (and we ARE looking forward to spring)or funerals – smell of lilies was stinky . . . .

tackad March 31, 2008 at 12:02 pm

I was with you 100 percent until you knocked the clear label on the sheet. Actually that’s pretty cool and a tiny effort at being high clas dispite the situation.
I was kinda stunned that you would think that the wonderful – only in spring (and we ARE looking forward to spring)or funerals – smell of lilies was stinky . . . .

C-Monster March 31, 2008 at 7:44 pm

i think the alberto toscano labels are a piece of art in and of themselves. its a metaphor for death. expect to see them on the walls at the New Museum soon…

C-Monster March 31, 2008 at 7:44 pm

i think the alberto toscano labels are a piece of art in and of themselves. its a metaphor for death. expect to see them on the walls at the New Museum soon…

C-Monster March 31, 2008 at 7:44 pm

i think the alberto toscano labels are a piece of art in and of themselves. its a metaphor for death. expect to see them on the walls at the New Museum soon…

C-Monster March 31, 2008 at 2:44 pm

i think the alberto toscano labels are a piece of art in and of themselves. its a metaphor for death. expect to see them on the walls at the New Museum soon…

Jill Conner April 2, 2008 at 1:24 am

I was trying to make that point the other day to some critics who could not stand the Scope Fair. Having taken a 2 year hiatus, from the time that everyone had been smoked out of the press preview, I claimed that Scope had come a long way. It looks like Red Dot has made that case – no pun intended.

Jill Conner April 1, 2008 at 8:24 pm

I was trying to make that point the other day to some critics who could not stand the Scope Fair. Having taken a 2 year hiatus, from the time that everyone had been smoked out of the press preview, I claimed that Scope had come a long way. It looks like Red Dot has made that case – no pun intended.

Ben April 2, 2008 at 10:19 pm

Alas, I didn’t make it to Red Dot, but I can report that they didn’t have the same problem at its sister exhibit, Art Now. More here: http://benconradcomblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/armory-less.html

Ben April 2, 2008 at 10:19 pm

Alas, I didn’t make it to Red Dot, but I can report that they didn’t have the same problem at its sister exhibit, Art Now. More here: http://benconradcomblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/armory-less.html

Ben April 2, 2008 at 5:19 pm

Alas, I didn’t make it to Red Dot, but I can report that they didn’t have the same problem at its sister exhibit, Art Now. More here: http://benconradcomblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/armory-less.html

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