The second year of the Armory Shows stand-alone "modern" component on Pier 92 has hazy boundaries, with big patches of decidedly contemporary works mixed in with the early- to mid-20th-century pieces. That fuzziness impacts negatively on the overall look and feel of the somewhat streamlined expanse of 80 galleries.

Outstanding examples of bona fide modern works are hard to miss, however, like the small but choice group of Giorgio Morandi paintings at Bologna’s Galleria d’Arte Maggiore, where Natura Morta, a tiny, sublime oil on canvas from 1958, is priced at $1.2 million. Also remarkable is the mini-solo Alexander Calder installation at New York’s Jonathan O’Hara, where a rare and feisty 1927 wire sculpture, John D. Rockefeller, depicting the oil magnate in mid-swing on an imaginary golf course is listed at a bullish $1.8 million. The work was formerly in the collection of the tycoon's son, the late vice president Nelson Rockefeller, who received if from Calder as a birthday present in 1958, according to O’Hara. You can’t beat that provenance with any handicap.

O’Hara also featured a pair of small and rare-to-market untitled Calder paintings from circa 1945 at $110,000 each, and a graceful 1969 mobile in fire-engine red, Two Boomerangs, at $1.95 million.

“What I like best about this fair,” said seasoned gallerist James Goodman, seated on a stool in his booth and looking at the view across the thickly carpeted aisle, “is that I get to look at Morandi’s all day!” In the opening moments of the vernissage, Goodman already had two reserves on works, including a Deborah Butterfield horse in wood from 1980 at $75,000 and a 1994 Sol Lewitt drawing for $28,000. “I put the Lewitt away in the closet at the collector’s request,” said Goodman with a bemused expression. “This is my fifth recession in fifty years of business, and this latest one was world-wide. It’s getting better, but slowly.”

With that mind-the-gap economic overview in mind, there were striking contrasts between modern and contemporary vistas at almost every turn. At Copenhagen and Beijing gallery Faurschou, Pablo Picassos relatively late and definitely brash 1964 self-portrait, Le Peintre et son modele, was priced at $9.5 million, with the back story that it has been in the same private European collection for 38 years.

Dominating another wall is Robert Rauschenbergs gigantic 1997 pastiche of Rauschenbergian images, MirthdayMan, executed in vegetable dye transfer on polylaminate from. Formerly in the artist’s collection and massive at 10 by 15 feet, Jens Faurschou has priced the work at an equally massive $35 million. “I’ve owned it for seven years,” says Faurschou with an admiring glance. “This is an iconic painting, but people don’t know the image.” A hardcover book on Mirthday Man is available as a cheap alternative.

Sticker shock aside, these days one must put things — especially pricing — in perspective, given the recent aberrant setting mark of Alberto Giacomettis Walking Man I bronze as the world’s most expensive art work bought at auction at $104.3 million.

At New York’s Edward Nahem Gallery, the scent of commerce was in the air as an American collector scooped up a modestly scaled and untitled Joan Mitchell diptych from 1982-83 for a price in the $400,000 range. The stand was dominated by a hyper-scaled Sam Francis painting, Blue Balls I, from 1960 and priced at $2.8 million, that Nahem said “has been tucked away in Japan for about 20 years.” The dealer noted that several prominent collectors had already passed by, including the already legendary Chicago couple, Gael Neeson and Stefan Edlis. A few minutes later, Dallas collector Howard Rachofsky, resplendent in an electric shade of pink sport jacket was spotted in the Pier 92 café with his usual retinue, including New York art advisor extraordinaire Allan Schwartzman.

People-spotting aside, early reviews of the modern pier were mixed. Visiting Cologne dealer Alex Lachmann, known for his top-class Russian clientele, noted as he roamed the aisles, “the modern side is second-class and very boring, but the contemporary part is very refreshing.” Miami collector Marty Margulies had another view, describing the two-pronged Armory show as “a terrific fair, and like with most fairs, there’s something for everyone.”
He has a point, at least where it comes to himself: Margulies bought a Michelangelo Pistoletto mirror piece from the Italian gallery Continua on Pier 94 for an undisclosed price. Asked about the date, Margulies smiled and said, “I didn’t look but I think it’s 2009.”

As in every fair, gossip was percolating during the tire-kicking phase of the vernissage. One dealer swore on authority of a higher being that disgraced dealer Larry Salander was about “to cop a plea” for his felony indictment for fraud and other misbehavior in his $80 million plus Ponzi scheme. Salander is also believed to be in poor health, having recently suffered a stroke.

Despite some disappointment with the selection at Pier 92, the perceptible beat of let’s-make-a-deal continued to drum among the booths. There were smiles at Marlborough Gallery as Richard Estes Columbus Circle Looking North, 2009, sold for a six-figure price, and Manolo Valdezs 2010 alabaster sculpture, Infanta Margarita, sold in the $350,000 range. Another early sale was nailed with Steven Charles Problem #1, a color-charged 2010 abstraction in acrylic and yarn on canvas that sold for around $60,000.

And for some people, the mere presence of the occasional first-rate modern-era work was enough to cheer spirits. Spotted in Marlborough's booth, wearing a somewhat faded cotton blazer, Charles, whose studio is on the Upper West Side, rhapsodized about the art fair circuit. “This is the sixth one I’ve been to in a row and I love it," he said. "There’s a Dubuffet over there!"