Tag Archive "scope"
Art Miami and Design Miami, 2011
On the way to Art Miami, held this year in the midst of a group of other fairs in Wynwood, across the bay from Miami Beach, I ran into Jason Mussen who was heading off to see a friend at Scope, one block south. Jason had come to Miami to do Hennessy Youngman Presents: His History of Art at the NADA fair on December 1, and commented that the entry price to Art Basel Miami Beach was prohibitive. It was. I mentioned that those of us in Philadelphia wish him well, but also wish his descriptor, living in New York ... More » »
Hits of the week in Miami-Post #1
As you know, the art fairs are overwhelming. We saw six fairs and two collections plus some stuff sprinkled around Miami. Here’s what wowed us. We’re starting with sculpture and 2D favorites. Next post we’ll do some videos. We went down to the fairs looking for trends but couldn’t find them since there are so many being worked on all at once–the economy, politics, love, death, hate, women, survival, ecology and just having fun. Things seemed to be selling well from what we could tell. People were happy but a little lost in all the aisles of art. One trend ... More » »
Near and far at the art fairs
Hiroto Kitigawa, full-size figure of a woman, at Tokyo Gallery + BTAP at Scope. My best New York moment last weekend didn’t have much to do with the art fairs. A street vendor, a purveyor of hummus, baklava, and more, whipped out his prayer rug, tenderly brushed it off with his hand, and bent toward Mecca to pray. I didn’t take a picture. It seemed rude.
Jasper de Beijer’s Heart of Darkness
At the art fairs when I was overloaded by the big, the flashy and the noisy, I found myself seeking the comfort of what I already knew was great: Koto Ezawa, Erwin Wurm, Richard Artschwager, Candida Hofer, Stephan Balkenhol were just some artists whose work made my eyes light up. Even though I didn’t known the work, one photo by Dutch artist Jasper de Beijer at TZR Galerie’s booth (Scope) drew me in like a magnet. Some combination of noirish atmosphere, ambiguity and the suggestion of ruin grabbed me and required that I pay attention. This is the photo I ... More » »
Cool doesn’t look so hot at the art fairs
Two of Bruce Wilhelm’s low-tech-looking videos at ADA Gallery I was definitely stunned by art overload at the fairs last weekend. But here’s my biggest art thought on what’s going on. Videos and technology are in rebellion against high-tech. The chill is gone. On the other hand, paintings are increasingly high tech looking, thanks to the glisten of resins and other shiny media. In fact they’re so thick and object-like that they’re starting to look like sculpture. And sculpture hasn’t really come down on either side, with low-tech cardboard and carving and ceramics and high-tech resins and electronics. It was ... More » »
Superheroes and monsters at the fairs
As Libby told you in her last post, Gabe Martinez‘s wonderful performance installation at Scope blew us away. Sad and sweet, the piece was loaded with the idea of heroes shot down and unable to hold their burdens in the onslaught of the world’s tumults. Martinez who was there and described his own Herculean efforts to deal with the logistics of the piece in the face of some snafus about its placement, made a work whose beauty and scariness was enough for me. I was ready to go home after I saw the changing of the guard — I didn’t ... More » »
Two Philly blasts
Changing of the guard occurred hourly in Gabe Martinez’s big display piece at SCOPE Before I start blabbing about the other art fairs, I want to link to Roberta’s post, with its links to all of our pictures on Flickr. The highlight of our weekend was home-townie Gabe Martinez, who delivered a performance piece that broke my heart (presented by Samson Projects). The biggest surprise was the figure in the piece turned out to be a real human being. Well, two real human beings, taking turns, spelling one another from the torture of lying totally still on the cold, cold ... More » »
Total exhaustion in Miami
Post by Andrea Kirsh Our trusty correspondent Andrea Kirsh reports from Art Basel/Miami Beach, in four installments. Here’s the second.–r&l Miami, December 7 The Chittendens, 2005, by Catherine Sullivan, © The artist I was a bit too ambitious today (and, since ABMB forbade cameras, I made the mistake of leaving mine home today as well). In the morning I headed to the Rubell Family Collection, always an exciting place to visit. It’s 45,000 sq. ft. – that’s right, I didn’t add a zero – of contemporary art in a building just North of Miami’s downtown that was formerly a depository ... More » »
Circus circus at SCOPE
If the Armory was the Bloomingdales of the art fairs (see Roberta’s post) we went to in New York this year, SCOPE was the circus, forever threatening to veer into chaos, with its 80 participating galleries in 30,000 square feet of space. The first hint that the sideshow was in gear was on Thursday, when the press and patrons preview got canceled because of raised levels of carbon monoxide in the exhibition space (apparently caused by a forklift operating inside the building). We got a nice closeup view of firemen and their gear. (In this year of cardboard models, however, ... More » »
Machines
Ryan Wolfe Originally uploaded by libbyrosof. I went to SCOPE by myself, and was struck by the prevalence of machines and robots. This elegant one by Ryan Wolfe, “Fields of Grass,” consists of small sand-filled plexiglas boxes from which a faux blade of grass emerges. The grass blows in response to electrical messages, and the delicate wires strunge from box to box were roots as well as reminders of how intertwined natures systems are. The piece was at Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery (Brooklyn). There’s a Philadelphia connection here–Leah Stuhltrager is from the Philadelphia area, and her family is still in the ... More » »
