Sales Orgy
There was a near orgy of sales activity at Paris- and Salzburg-based Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, including Tony Cragg’s bronze sculpture, Wild Relative, dated 2005, from a series of five for $145,000; and Antony Gormley’s iconic cast-iron and untitled standing figure from 2005, also executed in a series of five, for $255,000. That was just scratching the acquisitive surface as other sales ranged from a 2000 painting by Georg Baselitz, Zwilling II, for $220,000; and Alex Katz, due for at least an honorable mention as the most frequently exhibited artist at the Armory, with Michelle, a close-up look in oil on linen from 2005 at $180,000. Yet more versions of the fiberglass mushroom sculptures by the chic Sylvie Fleury sold in two different sizes at $78,000 and $90,000 each.

Pulse Sales in Brief
Ernst Hilger of Vienna sold two of Maria Bussman’s small wall installations. The gallery still has for sale a half-dozen or so of these paper, wire and tempera pieces that depict such scenes as swimming pools, wine gardens and mountain ridges. … Toronto's Nicholas Metivier Gallery sold a Shelley Adler portrait of a pale, angry woman for $3,600. … Frankfurt’s Galerie Anita Beckers had nearly sold out of most of the photographs (in editions of five) by a young Argentine artist, Flavia da Rin. The digital images (ranging in price from $3,500 to $6,500) feature cartoonish faces with huge eyes dominating the foreground of the image, blocking most of the view of a pastoral scene behind. Dallas' Dunn and Brown Contemporary sold works by Trenton Doyle Hancock, Vernon Fisher, Sam Reveles and Joe Havel.

WEST SIDE STORY: ARMORY NEWS

Eggs & Oppenheimers
Monday morning, we enjoyed breakfast with Tony and Marti Oppenheimer, the Kansas City philanthropists behind the “acquisitions mania” at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art; also joining us was Bruce Hartman, director of  the institution benefiting from their generosity. Marti and Bruce have toured the Armory Show, Pulse and Scope from the first preview sessions, and Tony joined them Saturday evening. Obviously, the Oppenheimer/Hartman team’s relationship with dealers and artists is a well established one now, and they stressed that they had been talking about forthcoming shows and commissions as much as about actual purchases. In fact, they only bought three pieces at the fairs, including an Aaron Morse from Guild & Greyshkul, and a work on paper and a drawing by Jon Rappleye from Jeff Bailey. But they were also very impressed with the Nadine Robinson rhinestone-studded speaker at Caren Golden and they are commissioning a slightly larger version for the museum and have proposed that Ms. Golden approach Swarovski crystal to sponsor the piece! Similarly, they are “very anxious” to acquire a major Jonathan Lasker and they once again discussed Lasker with John Cheim of Cheim & Read. They will be in town for the remainder of the week and are looking forward to doing more business. As they left breakfast, they were headed for Christie’s.

Veiled Attempt
Two video works by the German performance artist Nezaket Ekici drew quite a crowd at Feigen Contemporary. In Hullabelly, the stern-faced Ekici, wearing traditional Turkish dress, simply swings a hoop round and round her neck. Veil Fight features Ekici repeatedly, violently, lifting and pulling down a heavy black veil. Ekici is currently in a group show at Feigen Contemporary called "Blessed are the Merciful," curated by Jerome Jacobs. "We just really love the piece and wanted to bring it to the Armory," a gallerist said. Three editions of each video have sold at $2,500 a piece.

Cereal Snacks
Cereal Art's booth was tucked away in an odd location at the piers, with its entrance seeming like it would lead to restrooms, not a pleasant little store filled with super-affordable, large-edition works by some of the hottest names in art: Keith Haring coasters ($60 for six, in an edition of 3,000); Marcel Dzama salt-and-pepper shakers ($50, in an edition of 2,500); and work with three-figure price tags from Kehinde Wiley and Elizabeth Peyton.

Mellow Diva
There was a pleasantly mellow vibe on Sunday night at DIVA, the digital and video art fair held at a hotel near the southern tip of Manhattan. While hotel rooms may be on their way out for some of the more general contemporary fairs, the concept works well for a video-focused event: comfy chairs, legal smoking and sound-deadening carpeting. It also helped that at this Embassy Suites, each room has a window looking out on the interior hallway, which meant work could be viewed without having to enter the more crowded rooms. And depending on who you are, there is the slightly discomfiting/oddly alluring feeling that comes with sitting on a bed with a stranger in a dark hotel room while an erotic-themed work plays. The award for the gallery owner most into the work she was displaying goes to Claire Oliver, who was clearly enthralled by the three-screen work by Eva & Adele, hermaphrodite twins of the future, which features them frolicing around a pool and twirling bright-pink umbrellas. While Oliver must have spent hours and hours in front of the work by Sunday night, she still seemed unable to take her eyes off the piece.