The Artists Wanted booth is made of win.

I’m standing at the VIP preview for Scope Art Fair, the hip, more affordable sister of the the contemporary art megalopolis Armory.  The entire fair is one of those white warehouses on the Hudson that it takes a very cold, windy walk to reach.

But the Artists Wanted booth made it worth it.  In the sea of the aloof, formal work that often characterizes The Good Stuff, Artists Wanted has splashed out the colour.  Their walls are pink and gold baroque, their floor is checkerboard, and an albino satyr is giving me some sausage slices.  Then I look up.  In the center of the booth is a throne- a gold Boschian nightmare- a Carravagio come to life.  On top, another satyr is throwing meat into a grinder.  Which is being slowly crapped out from cow corpse into sausages.  Which is being devoured by artsnobs.  Including me.

We’re eating the sausage.  We are the sausage.  We’re watching it being made.

Artists Wanted had thrown a contest earlier this year, and given the winner ten thousand dollars and an entire booth at Scope.  They made this.

At the other end of the fair, sculptor Ziwon Wang was exhibiting his cyborg buddhas.  Their peaceful faces contrast with moving, razor sharp lotus leaves and dozens of motion sensative arms.

At the Contemporary by Angela Li Booth, the Hong Kong Gallery exhibited photographs by Chen Jiagang.  Chen creates haunting large scale photographs of China on the precipice of industrial devastation.  “Bridge in Water” is ghostly multiple exposures, while “Neighbors”  is set in a decrepit but lovely slum courtyard.  In both, stunning Chinese women stare in direct confrontation at the viewers.

At the door of Scope there is a giant sculpture, titled “Fountain”, of skulls vomiting rainbows of crushed paint cans.  It’s the perfect metaphor and goodbye for the week.

Words and photos by Molly Crabapple