Now that Manhattan’s become one giant shopping mall, it’s worth pausing for a moment to smell the daisies and see what real live artists are creating to express themselves and subvert the new world order. Printed Matter, the non-profit bookstore founded by artist Sol Lewitt and located in Chelsea’s gallery district, is celebrating its 30th anniversary by sponsoring the New York Art Book Fair. In a 20,000 square foot space, over 70 major distributors, indie self-publishers and antiquarian dealers hailing anywhere from Reykjavik to Brooklyn, Toronto to Tokyo will be showing and selling original artwork including books, zines, prints, CDs and DVDs. Apart from quirky and eye-opening gems from the dudes who doodle, the fair features a book-making workshop for image junkies and photocopier fetishists, book-signings by luminaries like lounge lizard John Lurie, artist installations, non-boring talks and even a few musical performances. The Nov. 16 opening night features a benefit preview (6 p.m.-9 p.m.) with ticket editions created especially for the show by Richard Prince, Chris Johanson and Matthew Brannon costing from $20 to $7,500. You, too, can collect printed art for anywhere from 50 cents to $10,000. The fair’s totally free, so even starving artists can freely mingle with the yuppies.
Nov. 17-19 New York Art Book Fair, 548 W. 22 St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-925-0325; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., free.
