The New York Art Book Fair

I like books, and I like art, so it’s no surprise that I had a swell time at the first annual New York Art Book Fair on Sunday in Chelsea. Of the many tomes I thumbed through (there were more than 70 publishers exhibiting), I particularly enjoyed one on Robert Rauchenberg’s Combines (it might have been the catalog produced in conjunction with the Met's exhibit last year) and another on Ellen Harvey’s New York Beautification Project, tiny landscapes she paints inside swirls of graffiti. Also on hand: a booth where you could use erotic stencils to make your own designs on a tote bag. I was all set to do it, but, frankly, the yellow short-shorts sported by the people manning the booth scared me away.