Thursday January 10, 2008
A great set of photos from Art Basel. (via Provocateur)
Wednesday December 26, 2007
As requested, the Boyz of Bazel. There were 11×17 glossies of this floating around. Nice work, gentlemen. (via freegums, unless (update) somebody has a link to a larger version of this file??)
Wednesday December 19, 2007
Anne Tschida asks the musical question, ‘Is Art Basel is, or is Art Basel ain’t Miami’s baby after 2010?’ Caution: this article is replete with words like “nascent.”
Wednesday December 12, 2007
Miami Fever’s photos from Photo Miami. (I just got dizzy typing that sentence.) Also, did you know that MF has a video stream? Here is a nice one of a South Beach club line.
Monday December 10, 2007
Aqua, Wynwood, more Pulse, Geisai, Photo Miami, Aipad, Casa Lin, Art Miami
Shana Lutker’s Hear It Here, at Art Perform, was a bit of a dud, at least from the little bit I saw. Maybe it got cooking later, but for me it confirmed a long standing suspicion that performance art is much easier to pull off in a small enclosed space.
Wynwood: This piece is officially the best thing all week. A kid from Dash high school made it, and promised to send me his information, and of course didn’t hasn’t yet. But and so yes, they were offering to take people’s pictures, right there on the street. This skewers more things that deserve skewering in one stroke then most people manage in a career, and it brings to new heights to the “But is it art?” issue for dessert. Rock over London, rock over Miami, Mission Accomplished. Update: Ilan Wilson-Soler. Thanks to everyone who helped track him down, and thanks Ilan for the kick-ass piece. Let’s have more like this.
At Twenty Twenty, Jen Stark’s How to Become a Millionaire in 100 Days (answer: make 10,000 pieces of paper a day, which is exactly how this piece came about).
Did you hear of a fair called Fountain? Me neither, but I stumbled across it, and was pretty impressed. Here’s one of a few of David Opdyke’s great little sculptures.
William Lamson’s Vital Capacity. A guy is in a vertical chamber, encased in a box up to his neck, his face covered with up-facing spikes. Balloons get dropped on him, and he must keep them up as long as possible by blowing, because, imagine a constant barage of balloons popping right in front of your face. Great use of a vertical LCD.
Bob and Roberta Smith (what is up with those names?), 26.05.07 Never Trust an Hippie. I hope you can read this (and btw it’s over 100 inches wide).
It’s always a treat to see one of Robin Griffiths’ pieces.
Brandon Opalka’s mural covers the entire side of Dorsch. (It’s going to have to be a “to-see,” because my photo here just really isn’t doing it any justice.) Do we have a candidate for Largest Artwork in Miami?
THIS IS AN EXCERPT — CLICK BELOW FOR THE REST!!
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Moore space, Design Miami, Scope, Pulse
Wow… lots and lots to get through here. And I’m leaving out lots more great stuff. Tonight is the party in the Design District/Wynwood, otherwise try to make it to the Positions party — I have photos from last night which I’ll post later, but it was wacked out. OK, here’s yesterday:
Moore Space: Claire Fontaine, Instructions for the Sharing of Private Property. An actual, unabashed, lockpicking how-to.
Loris Greaud, Illusion is a Revolutionary Weapon, M46 paint ball gun with IKB (International Klein Blue) paint balls. Can you imagine?
Design Miami: DM takes itself very very seriously, but that’s not to say there isn’t great stuff to see, both from a practical/beautiful and a spectacle perspective. Lodged firmly in the latter, Demisch Danant’s concrete chair.
“Designer of the Year” Tokujin Yoshioka’s Chair that disappears in the rain. Much more about Yoshioka’s gorgeous installation here.
Scope: As always, Scope rocked. To boot, at least 6 Miami Galleries (7?) have set up shop there. Here’s Shang Hui’s fiberglass Mermaid. She has a temple on her head.
Didn’t catch the artist or gallery (shame on me), but here’s a ~4 foot paper airplane carved from marble. Shocking craftsmanship.
Li Wei, Bright Apex.
IN THE INTEREST OF SPACE I’M HIDING THE REST OF THESE AFTER A BREAK.
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Wednesday December 5, 2007
Art Basel day 1
The gates open at noon sharp on Wednesday for the uber-elite guests. Here they are moments before, crowded into the convention center’s lobby. The regular-elite get in at 2 pm, the merely special go to the Vernissage at 5 pm, and the riff raff gets in starting Thursday.
I bring this one up because my man Wolfgang Tillmans is one of the big photographers at the fair. I saw Nice work by Candida Hoffer and Gursky as always, but Tillmans was all over the place. The far wall in this picture shows one of his quintessential photo arrangements, albeit all in frames. The still-lives absolutely slay. (neuger-riemschneider gallery)
The usual suspects at White Cube were rounded out by a huge nazi/horror movie diorama by Jake & Dinos Chapman.
Two magnetized cubes suspended in a corner. Jeppe Hein, 303 Gallery NY.
At von Senger, a concrete-drawing robot. Not a very smart roboy (they had to re-position him once in a while), but he makes up in art brawn what he lacks in brains, yes?
Lara Favaretto. Yes, she wrote that on a wall with a marker and called it art. What are you going to do about it? (“Dimensions variable,” of course.) This is at Galleria Franco Noero, where I also very highly recommend Simon Starling’s “Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty Five,” A projection of a film made by a motion-control camera panning around an exquisite chair, and accompanying diagram. Don’t take my word for that one — check it out.
Last one from Noero — Andrew Dadson’s flowers in black water. Do try this at home.
Arshile Gorky (from 1946) at Matthew Marks Gallery.
At De Carlo gallery, they are probably hating having installed this fake ATM with abandoned baby in silicone. Not to disapoint, attendees kept trying to use the ATM, and ignored the baby in a basket. Hey! How are you so sure that one’s real and that one’s fake!?
George Herold’s paining, Acrylic and bricks on canvas (with, I’m assuming, some sort of Herculean frame and substructure). Aizpuru, which also had more of that rockin’ Wolfgang Tillmans.
At maccarone, an installation dedicated to the Mass MoCA / Christoph Büchel fiasco, mostly framed court documents, e-mails, and a printout from NYTimes.com.
Also there: huge chocolate Santas with dildos butt plugs. also available in a convenient 1’ size. Yawn.
New this year: Art Supernova, a separate little section where each gallery’s art is separated from their storage and office areas, resulting in supposedly a more museum-like atmosphere. Well, slightly. Anyway, here’s a guy who’ll be performing hair sculptures all week. Stop by for a trim.
Nina Katchadourian’s Continuum of Cute. You’re not seeing the whole thing, but it goes from left to right and from top to bottom. Not sure if you can rearrange them to your liking.
A couple of Felipe Barbosa’s soccer ball sculptures. Too many people to get a good photo of his great wall-hanging.
ShanghART never disappoints. This year: Xu Zhen’s reconstruction of an Asian market. Far as I can tell, stocked with real groceries.
Update: Rather then do a new post, here are pictures from later in the day, NADA and the Stooges show:
Note: this is an animation! Three of these in a row, with discretely concealed projectors, at Vacio 9. Very nice.
This spaceman was part of an interesting installation at Ballroom Marfa.
Wilfredo Prieto’s El Tiempo es Oro/Time is God, at Martin Van Zomeren — this watch, suspended from the ceiling by a very long chain, in an otherwise empty and gray-painted booth. Appears to be accurate.
Gnarly balsa-wood sculptures at Roebling Hall. Yes, it’s about cutting wood, but it’s also about the 16 oz. beer can.
Yuken Teruya.
Blow de la Barra’s radiant booth.
Latest from Ian Burns. If you’re not familiar, it’s live video that’s generated by contraptions made from household objects. This one is a jet (Air Force One!) flying through a storm. It involves a tiny camera, live feed, a toy airplane, spinning background, haze effects (a spinning plastic cup between the camera and airplane, and several motors to make the whole thing shake and jostle for effect. Mesmerizing.
Graham Hudson’s Five Tools, which requires no explanation except that the tape measure at the bottom is about a quarter inch from the ground.
André Ethier, at Derek Eller Gallery.
I was required to post something from this gallery because it’s Czech: Jan Kotik, Coat of Arms of Le Sievr de la Mothe Cadillac (1658-1730), Hunt Kastner.
Yes, it’s the Stooges. They were really great, and it’s difficult to imagine Iggy ever in his life having less energy then he had last night. Another thing I learned — lots of kids are into the Stooges way more then I am. They were psyched.
Some well-orchestrated “mayhem.” Folks were invited onstage for one number, then invited back off before the show continued. Still not bad, and people were rowdy! I got hit in the head with a stray flying bottle, which some kid promptly dove for and threw back in the direction of the stage. Also: I think the Stooges played ‘I wanna be your dog’ like three times.
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Tuesday December 4, 2007
Art Basel the links
Installing something impressive in the Botanical Gardens across from the Convention Center.
OK folks, you know the drill. I’ll be delivering coverage from the show all week, more comprehensive information, and sometime Thursday or Friday, the “Art Basel guide for normal people.” For now, let’s get started with some links, of to which I will be adding later:
- The Herald’s disappointing special section, with a couple of semi-relevant articles, an impossible to use events database, a stupid “art quiz,” a prominent link to itself, and a semi-useful interactive map, which frankly just doesn’t do very much. A couple of interesting bits here, though.
- That’s right: 20 art fairs (plus a couple of things that don’t really count). Of note: Art Miami bit the bullet and changed its calendar to coincide with this week. Moved to a tent, too. High expectations for Scope, which rocked last year. Photo Miami moves to a tent (AIPAD moves into its old space).
- Miami Provocateur has links to all the big ones, and a few more notes.
- Plum TV, on the other hand, is running around getting good coverage. Overview, the elusive comprehensive list of Satellite Fairs (23 listed, not counting AB).
- NYTimes tribute to Sam Keller& (and click around — the whole weird little applet seems full of interesting stuff).
- Art Basel: the Superbowl of art, the Lollapalooza of international art fairs, an art Costco for billionaires
- The tribes of Art Basel Miami silliness.
- Art Basel the official site, which has a big events PDF for you to download.
- And note: (IGGY AND) THE STOOGES free concert on the beach (at Positions) TOMORROW 10 pm!!!!
Updates:
- An overview of Art Basel and the Miami art scene at Smithsonian.com.
- A collection of articles at Haute Living.
- Something comprehensive-looking at MA2Dweek, including, like, hotel availability ($6,000 per-night suite available at the Setai, if you’re wondering).
- Duran’s an idiot’s guide to Art Basel for locals looking for a good time.
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Monday December 3, 2007
Hey everybody it’s art fair week. Local galleries in Basel: Emmanuel Perrotin, Kevin Bruk (in Nova), Gavlak (West Palm Beach, in Positions). Snitzer is autoselected since he’s the selection committee’s resident Florida expert.
Wednesday October 17, 2007
Miami Contemporary Artists the book! By Julie Davidow and Paul Clemence, with a forward by Elisa Turner. Over 100 artists, including Hernan Bas, Jose Bedia, Teresita Fernandez, Naomi Fisher, Luis Gispert, Daniel Arsham, Susan Lee Chun, Cristina Lei Rodriguez, and TM Sisters. Book launch events around Art Basel, but looks like you can get a copy now.
Thursday May 17, 2007
Alfredo Triff has posted his opening remarks regarding Art Basel from the panel discussion at Snitzer last Thursday. This is an edited version. The “Blogs are dead!” comment, which elicited such a gasp from the audience (oh, was that just me?), has been softened to “The local blog sphere, so effervescent three years ago, is now dead.” Seriously though, Triff rocks: “Artists can co-sponsor public events, alternative shows, public lectures and alternative art presentations. Art needs to go back to the street. Let’s give the market a different kind of spectacle by turning the spectacle on its head!” Listen to the panel at MAeX. Then, for those who were there (or listened to it), any particular impressions?? Let’s get into it . . .
What Art Basel really means for Miami
Plenty. Duh: the Basel engine brings important art folks to town, increases Miami’s prominence as a global art hub, and draws the attention of our ordinary citizens to art. But it’s also often pointed out that these benefits are not transitory — they accrue each time Art Basel is here. If Basel goes away, all the good effects it’s brought thus far stay. “Art Basel has planted and irrigated the seeds for the development of the art community in Miami,” says Mariangela Capuzzo.
But there’s another important piece to this puzzle. It’s not just about what Basel does for Miami; it’s about what Miami does for Basel. Where, in 2001, was an ambitious art fair from Switzerland to set up a satellite event? City size is a secondary factor, as is (let’s face it) the strength of the local art scene. What they were looking for was a city (a) as far from Basel as possible, and (b) with a certain cachet.
Let’s consider how the Basel folks might have thought this one through. They’re obviously looking for a city in North or South America. It has to be considered cool. Let’s say they start with São Paulo, maybe the hippest city in South America. Two problems: (1) how convenient is it for US collectors to travel there, plus the fact that (2) the big German festival Documenta has already sort of beaten them to the punch. The former concern applies to all South American Cities, and as tempted as the Swiss must have been by, say Bogota, at some point they must have realized that it would be easier to tempt S. American collectors to the US then to tempt US collectors to go international. Americans are lazy, we all know that. On the other hand — wait a second isn’t there a city that’s technically in the US, but that’s generally considered to be a part of South/Central America in spirit? You see where I’m going with this?
I grant that, having made the decision to go USA, the Swiss folks might have made lots of choices. New York comes to mind. But I think they were specifically looking for a place to call their own: one that didn’t have a strong established reputation on the international art scene, particularly the fair scene. And since their fair is in the Summer, they needed a spot that’d be comfortable in the Winter — i.e., well south of the Mason-Dixon line. Now your choices are down to a few (admittedly hip) spots in Texas, New Orleans, and maybe Atlanta. With everything we’ve considered, do any of these places hold a candle to Miami? Consider the presumable appeal to rich South Americans. Consider the reputation, within the USA, as a resort/vacation destination. Consider the sheer fucking spectacularness of the place.
What’s Basel doing for Miami? Not an unfair question. But I think we should be thinking