If you’re like me, you couldn’t care less about the sterile vault of corporate contemporary that is the Armory show. For a riverside art fair with more grit, the Fountain Art Fair truly delivers. Named after Duchamp’s famous urinal, this one had the piss and vinegar. All manner of odd buoys and ropes were tucked away in the corners, and you could actually feel the river’s swell beneath your feet.
This atmosphere was perfect for the main purpose of my visit: a fund-raiser for Swoon’s next summer voyage. This May, the artist and her 35-strong crew will set out on the Adriatic from Slovenia with a course charted for the Venice Biennale. It will be the fourth such undertaking, following previous excursions on the Mississippi and, last summer, the Hudson. Each of the three vessels is handmade from salvaged materials, looking less like a boat and more like a ramshackle hallucination of a floating city. It’s an expensive undertaking, and Christina Ray of the gallery Glowlab has generously given half her Fountain space to support the project. Items for sale include prints by Chris Uphues, Faile and Elbow-Toe, and Swoon herself.
