photos by Youngna Park
The tradeshows of the art world, art fairs can leave even the most avid art enthusiast feeling deflated by day’s end. To help keep everyone in high spirits during the NYC art marathon that started yesterday, Jen Bekman and the team behind her online art initiative 20×200 will be handing out survival kits packed with a Daily Candy city guide, artist Jason Polan‘s clever hand-drawn map, a “Visual Palate Cleansing System” for the visually overstimulated and much more.
Packed in only a portion of the totes, a few lucky fair-goers will randomly receive the “Why You Should Buy Art” limited edition print by William Powhida. Dubbed by NY Magazine critic Jerry Saltz as “the second best thing to happen to the art world in 2009,” Powhida is quickly becoming a loud satirical voice for the independently-minded art community. His “Why You Should Buy Art” piece strongly highlights this sentiment (in large part a response to controversy about the New Museum), which provides reasons such as “How else will you become a trustee?” and “Nothing says culture like a bigass painting.”
To provide attendees with a personal interactive element, 20×200 is holding a Twitter contest for the tote bag. Simply snap a photo of yourself or someone else carrying the survival kit tote and upload it to Twitter or Flickr with the hashtag #20×200 for a five dollar gift card and a chance to win a $200 print from 20×200. They will also give away bonus prints to people spotted carrying the tote at the fairs.
For more information on the NYC art fair festivities, check out The Armory Show website or download the 20×200 map.