Essex Hotel has been taken over by Verge Art Fair this weekend, and the opening party was a blast. Hotel rooms on the mezzanine and second floor were rented out by artists and collectives (with a competition on who landed the most visible spot) while guests buzzed from room to room to see works from artists from all over the world.
Verge focuses on lesser known artists, most of which are quite young and enthusiastic. Pieces ranged from canvas to performance and everything in between but there was definitely more hung art than installation or sculpture and pricing was quite reasonable (most pieces I saw were between $500 – $1500)
Here are some of the artists that I had a chance to chat with.
Jennifer Louis Martin, an artist out the UK, was showing her paintings of beautiful women not looking so beautiful. The immediacy of her brush strokes makes me feel like I had truly experienced a hard night of drinking with a lovely friend and am now driving her home. (This, of course, has never happened to me.) She looks to fashion photography and models, in particular, though she focuses on the anonymous faces rather than celebrity.
Juno Vaughan was also showing work and this was created entirely from colored pencils.
Mike Reynolds, LA, showcased his collection of regal Biebers. These small oil paintings show remarkable talent and, of course, a wicked sense of humor.
Stay posted — more art to come!
Jeanette Joy Harris 
Hi Jeanette. Thanks for including my work in your blog. Let me know if you want to replace your image with one of my pictures of the same piece.
JONO
I would LOVE to get some images and do a feature on you. Hope Verge was a good fair for you.