There are plenty of people out there who find the continuing success of the art fair phenomenon, and what they see as the inappropriate commodification of art, a reason for concern, but I’ll put my cards on the table: I managed to get to all of last week’s 11 fairs, and while the experience was exhausting, I also found it genuinely uplifting. When the organizers get it right — and they don’t always, unfortunately — a fair provides fantastic circumstances for looking at art. Each contributing gallerist acts as an individual curator, and they tend to show the stuff they most believe in (or at least the stuff they believe they can most convince other people to believe in). The ARTINFO team filed individual reports from most of the fairs, and from lots of related events, but here’s a highly personal roundup of what I thought was hot and what was just tepid.

My ten-star rating system ranges from the magnificent ********** (10/10) — “Seriously life-enhancing” — all the way down to * (1/10) — “Will they be here next year? And does anyone care?” Comments and scores are directed at the fair organizers, rather than the artists and gallerists participating in the fairs. Here goes, in alphabetical order:

Armory Show

Last year the ADAA Art Show coincided with the Armory Show, and the ADAA organizers got a bit uppity because ARTINFO used the term “Armory Week.” Well, this year offered a compelling reminder that the Armory Show is the New York fair that sets the agenda. None of the other fairs would be happening this week were it not for the Armory’s lead. And I think that this year’s is the best yet. OK, it’s vast, it’s exhausting, it causes traffic chaos on the West Side Highway, you miss stuff, there’s other stuff that you find incomprehensible or trite, but Katelijne de Backer was absolutely right when she told ARTINFO that her fair is a better way of seeing what is happening in contemporary art than the Whitney Biennial. A much better way, actually, as the interests of two young New York–based museum curators seem positively parochial when compared with the passions of scores of gallerists from around the world. Rating: ********* (9/10)

Art Now

For my money, this little sister of Red Dot outshone her older sibling, and partly because the dealers were far more varied. As you made your way from room to room you were never quite sure whether you would find dross or delight. Fortunately there was mostly delight. A most promising debut, and I look forward to seeing how this fair evolves. Rating: ******* (7/10)

Bridge

It was a pleasure to welcome this Miami native to New York City, and to find it in an excellent venue, the so-called “Tunnel” between 11th and 12th Avenues and 27th and 28th Streets. There was something a bit same-y about the booths, unfortunately, which was exacerbated by the organizers’ decision to focus quite unnecessarily on Asian art. (There are too many dealers focusing on it already!) Still, this was a solid first appearance, and I believe we can now regard Bridge as a regular on the New York fair roster. Rating: ****** (6/10)

Dark Fair

An idea apparently hatched after too many pitchers of beer, the Dark Fair might well be the silliest art fair I have ever attended. The fact that almost half of its public hours were turned over to its opening party gives an indication of its organizers’ priorities, and the gothic dungeon vibe, candlelight, and insiders enjoying something I found utterly absurd rendered it more BDSM fetish party than fine-art fair. An amateurish embarrassment, this “fair” is receiving one star only because so many of the people involved looked too young to know any better. Rating: * (1/10)

DiVA

Message to DiVA Central: “Shipping containers on the beach in Miami — not a good idea. Hot, sweaty, sandy, and only suitable for folks desperate to get on the bottom rung of the fair ladder. Shipping containers on the windswept streets of Chelsea in March — disastrous! Cold, noisy, wet, and only suitable for folks against whom you bear some deep-seated grudge. Plus, if you’re going to have a ‘sneak preview’ on the Saturday before the fairs begin, make sure all your exhibitors know about it, and have at least unlocked their containers. And have your catalog ready at the beginning of the fair, not halfway through it.” Rating: ** (2/10)

LA Art

Oh dear. No amount of spin from the fair organizers can compensate for the fact that LA Art is simply too small to generate any excitement, despite the respectable efforts of one or two individual exhibitors [honorable mention: Paul Kopeikin]. If I had a gallery in Los Angeles and discovered that the New York (and international) audience was being given such a dreary an impression of the L.A. scene, I would be seriously pissed. And as for the gallerists consigned to the claustrophobic basement, what on earth could they have done in a former life to deserve that? Rating: *** (3/10)

PooL

The fair that isn’t quite a fair, PooL was a real delight, and perfectly at home in the super-eccentric, romantic labyrinth that is the tawdry Chelsea Hotel. Different unrepresented artists occupied each room, and every one was passionate to tell you about their work, and to hear what you had to say about it. There was some quite excellent work here and — as though to underscore how distant the whole enterprise was from the other fairs — nobody tried to sell me anything. Come back next year, PooL. You’ll be very welcome. Rating ******* (7/10)

PULSE

A major success for PULSE. Only two years ago they were the new kids on the block; this time around, they succeeded in reinventing the fair, and found a great new location as well. In doing so they have changed the Armory Week pecking order, overtaking Scope to become the other fair that you have to see. Rating ********** (10/10)

Red Dot

I’ve always liked Red Dot — though I think it works better in Miami than in New York. It’s modest, and it’s unpressured. But this week I couldn’t help thinking that while other fairs’ efforts — and, ironically, the arrival of Red Dot sister fair Art Now — have raised the bar, Red Dot has just stayed where it was. It’s cozy, it’s a bit old-fashioned, and despite one or two of the gallerists’ efforts to raise the overall standard [honorable mention: Nancy Hoffman] the work can be a bit craft project-y. I never really understood it before when people used the term “hotel fair” disparagingly. I do now. Rating: ***** (5/10)

Scope

Like I said in my review, Scope has really found its groove. It has a wide circle of committed, quality dealers and a team of organizers who are confident and ambitious. It must have come as a bit of a blow to them that while they’ve been doing all that consolidating, PULSE has expanded so successfully that they’ve now passed them on the rails. Rating: ******** (8/10)

Volta

A really successful debut for Volta. I’m not sure we really need a new fair formula (see the Dark Fair, above), but Volta’s one-artist-per-gallerist format works really well — perhaps because it requires genuine commitment on both sides. The fact that Volta is part of the Armory Show brand (or the Merchandise Mart brand, more accurately) and was thus served by a fleet of shuttle buses from the pier didn’t hurt either, but that would have been irrelevant had the work not been as stimulating as it was, or the gallerists’ attitudes less enthusiastic. Congratulations all around. Rating: ******* (7/10)