The Verge of Catastrophe: First Brooklyn Art Fair Debuts in Chaos

BROOKLYN— At the labyrinthine Armory Show mega-fair there is a popular nostalgic conversational topic bandied about from booth to booth, along the lines of: "Do you remember when New York art fairs were new and fresh and weird and someone was selling that up-and-coming blue-chip artist's works out of a briefcase in a hotel bathroom?" So when Verge announced that it was taking an edgy risk, branching beyond its traditional edition during Art Basel Miami Beach week to launch Brooklyn's first art fair, some idealists hoped that this market experiment in the land of food co-ops could revive some of that adventurous, questing spirit. Now that it has debuted, will we someday look back on the inaugural Verge Art Brooklyn as a cherished cultural moment? A proud Brooklynite myself, and a fan of such moments, I set off to investigate. - READ MORE - Emma Allen