Pulse’s new director, Cornell DeWitt has worked as an advisor, gallery owner and as the director of Yvon Lambert. He stepped into his new role with Pulse Miami this past December, replacing the fair’s founding director, Helen Allen. With the new Pulse LA on the horizon, Cornell is taking steps to grow the fair and its brand. He sat down with us to discuss the ins-and-outs of leading one of the hottest art fairs in town.

Liz Kabler: Congratulations on your position as the Director of Pulse.  After the huge success of Miami- I still have my Pulse silly bands- how is your first NYC fair going?

Cornell DeWitt: Perfect that you would lead off the question with a mention of that – the silly bands were an idea from one of the staff at PULSE. The point being that I have an amazing staff, pretty much all of whom have more experience running an art fair than I do.  I know it’s clichéd, but they really make my job easy.  Beyond the logistics, they’re such different fairs.  Miami is a much bigger fair, but really, Miami is so much fun, and the whole fair week down there is fun, and you’re in Miami in December – what could be better?!  Then you have New York, where our venue is four blocks from our office, and about a third of our galleries are right there.  It’s also the most important art market in the world – the stakes are much higher. The galleries have higher expectations, they’re stressed out, so the fair has to be dynamite.

Liz: Do you have any plans to change things up?

Cornell: You mean anything big? Like maybe adding another fair?  Maybe in Los Angeles….?!  Well, besides that, of course I have plans for the fair!  But my predecessor – the founder of the fair, Helen Allen – did an incredible job building an amazing brand.  Any further changes are going to be more evolutionary, rather than revolutionary.

Liz: You have mentioned before that the spatial and social flow of the art fair is important to ensuring that all booths get seen.  How do you feel the new NYC space enhances the experience for the viewers?

Liz: Tell me a little bit about your decision to do Pulse L.A.  What is it about the current moment that feels conducive to the L.A. expansion?

Cornell: It just really felt right.  It’s not just a top-down decision, like we decided “we’re going to go do a fair in LA!” or that even MMPI made the same decision.  It is a groundswell that is enormously California-based.  That is critical.  And now everyone else around the world seems be sitting up, taking notice, and wondering, “Wow – what in the world is going on in California?!  I better go check it out.”  California is ready to prove itself, and the rest of the world is ready to check it out.

Liz: How would you describe the Art Fair World?  Is there a tribal element?

Cornell: It’s surprisingly congenial.  Or maybe that’s just because I’m sitting pretty near the top and the view’s pretty damn good…But seriously, I’m a big believer in the Golden Rule – it’s important to me to earn the respect of my colleagues and to treat everyone else with respect.  The rest is just a lot of hard work.

Photographs by Tara Israel

David Ellis’ exhibition at (Le) Poisson Rouge is a misnomer. It consists of a handful of sculptures wrought from records (and their sleeves) that are neat bits of ornamental design but that don’t invite any kind of reflection. The same is true of his “movement sculpture”, which comes off like a sneaker commercial. Perhaps noticing this, someone tacked on a looped playback of Ellis’ collaboration with Italian street artist Blu.

The opening was followed by a show with performances by Prefuse 73, Jon Hopkins and  MIXHELL. Not much happened. The high point turned out to be a set of horror-inspired stuff from Jon Hopkins, in which he used the venue’s cavernous interior and well-spread speaker system to creepy and then chest-rattling effect. Prefuse 73 played a rambling, messy set that was disappointing coming from such royalty. One sequence, a sustained sampling of guitar solos (including some Hendrix), was smart if totally undanceable. He was probably just drunk, or bored, as were we.

Tomorrow night, to celebrate the opening of Recollect, NY-based artist David Ellis‘ show at (Le) Poisson Rouge, the gallery and club is hosting a free party featuring performances by Prefuse 73, Jon Hopkins and DJ duo MIXHELL from Sao Paulo. Doors open at 8pm.  Recollect will be at (Le) Poisson Rouge until February 12th.