Fair and Fair Alike: 2009. The Pretenders

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:

. Art Miami
. Red Dot
. NADA
. Scope
. Aqua Art
. Pulse
. The Big One, Art Basel Miami Beach
. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs
. Art Bloggers at Art Miami
. Are We Out of the Woods?
. A Little Gossip
. Art? Or Not Art?
. Nosing Around

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This is the part I like best: connecting the dots. There's so much to see that the work almost starts assembling itself as I'm seeing it. The rest gets done as I go through the images when I get back. Here's the first of my curated posts: the hommages, appropriations and knockoffs of iconic images.

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We start with the last image of the previous post: Leslie Holt's lineup of miniature fakes at David Lusk Gallery, from Piero della Francesca to Warhol, each leavened with a Hello Kitty

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The real deal at Aquavella, at ABMB (the wall label gives you a sense of scale); Holt's tiny variation

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The real deal on a ceramic vessel, above, at Galerie Krugier ert Cie, at ABMB; Russ Warren painting at Les Yeux du Monde, Aqua Art
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The real deal: Richard Pettibone's iconic miniature reproductions from the 1960s of the iconic big works of the era. I saw them at Art Miami and got so engrossed I forgot to record the gallery
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The "Albers" wall at NADA
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Albers on a wall at Galerie Thomas, Munich, at ABMA
Below, Homage to the Square. Spring Tide

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Robert Indiana at Paul Kasmin Gallery, at ABMB
(The artist also produced "hope" in the same format, not sure which gallery)
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Below, Gavin Turk at Sean Kelly
(Image filched from the Fallon and Rosof Art Blog, whose post also shows a knockoff version, "Porn")
I'm thinking of one myself:
EN
UF
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You knew the soup can wouldn't be far behind.
Andy, above, at Gagosian Gallery; at ABMB
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Below, Jonathan Stein at Olivia Fine Arts, London; at Art Miami
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The crowd pleaser: Enrique Chagoya,Pyramid Scheme, at Lisa Sette, Scottsdale; at Art Miami

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Detail below

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Knockoff magazine and book covers from Alex Rodriguez at Galeria Christopher Paschall, Bogota; at Scope

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Below, closeup of the subject of out next riff:
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Huang Binyan's cloissonne urinal, at Lisa Sette Gallery
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The ultimate knockoff of a knockoff: the logo for Fountain art fair

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Lucio Fontana? Ma, no. Taras Polataiko at Priska Juschka Fine Art; at Pulse

The slits are painted. Ah, the trompe l'oeil homage

Closeup view below
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Next up: JM's Art Cabinet: Mano a Mano

Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Art Miami

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:

. Red Dot

. NADA

. Scope

. Aqua Art

. Pulse

. The Big One, Art Basel Miami Beach

. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs

. Art Bloggers at Art Miami

. Are We Out of the Woods?

. A Little Gossip

. Art? Or Not Art?

. Nosing Around

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Pulling up to the fair first thing in the morning

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Art Miami is the other big fair in town, and so I’ve saved it for the end as a kind of bookend to ABMB. While the new kid from Basel may have put the Miami fair scene on the map, Art Miami is the hometown favorite, an event of 20 years’ standing. Formerly a January event at the Convention Center, it relocated to Wynwood and rescheduled itself a few years ago to be part of what fellow blogger C-Monster calls "The Basel Frazzle." That sense of transition and permanence is manifest by the new venue, which features a tent over a poured concrete floor.
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I spent the entire day at Art Miami on Saturday. After the Blogger Panel ended at 1:00, I had lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the fair. That’s what was needed, too, because the venue held close to 100 exhibitors.
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Following is a selection of what I saw and liked--or simply found curious. One of the things I look forward to at this fair are the Latin American galleries with their inventory of classic geometric abstraction. I was not disappointed. Here’s an overview.
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View from the mezzanine, which houses the VIP lounge. (Admission: I pulled this from press materials. I never did get around to taking my own shot from this vantage point)

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Blue chip at Scott White Contemporary, San Diego:

Norman Bluhm in the foreground; Yves Klein in the middle distance (and below); and is that a Leger on the far wall?

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When the rain came down in thundering torrents againt the tent's roof in midafternoon, I wondered how all the museum-quality stuff would fair. Fine, it turns out.
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Below, Yves Klein, La Venus d'Alexandrie (Venus Bleue), 1962; pigment, synthetic resin on plaster, ed. 174 of 300. Right, Tim Bavington paintings

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Love this! Thomas Downing, 1962, magna on canvas, Gary Snyder Project Space, New York
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Foreground, Harald Schmitz-Smelzer, Diskos 8, resin on plywood; at Lausberg Contemporary, Toronto and Dusseldorf
(If anyone knows who made the undulating sculpture in the distance, or what booth it was at, please let me know)
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Anna Joelsdottir painting, acrylic, ink and colored pencil on panel; at Stefan Stux, New York
And that's the dealer looking all Miami-ish in the white linen suit
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Karin Davie oil on linen; at Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm
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A ubiquitous presence at the two big fairs: Gunter Forg. Here, Untitled, acrylic and oil on canvas; at Zane Bennett Contemporary, Santa Fe
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Little geometries: Charles Arnoldi paintings, oil on aluminum; at Eckert Fine Art, Kent, Connecticut

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Richard Purdy geometry, encaustic on panel, app 59 x 37; at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, New York

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Greely Myatt geometry, reminscent of a quilt but pieced from aluminum signs; at David Lusk Gallery, Memphis

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A quirky use of materials continues with Duncan Johnson's pieced construction of repurposed wood. What you can't see: a fine surface grid of pencil lines and nail heads; at David Findlay Gallery, New York.
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Two spatial geometries:

Above, Sarah Amos, Meandering Deviation, etching on paper on panel; at Cynthia Reeves, New York

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Below, Will Insley, Hinge Space, Fragment No. 93.11, acrylic and pencil on masonite, 80 x 80 inches; at Westwood Gallery, New York
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Paintings by John Griefen and Tad Wiley, respectively, at Gary Snyder Project Space, New York
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Another ubiquitous fair presence: Yayoi Kusama. Here at Piece Unique, Paris
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Joe Fyfe, I Primi, various fabrics; at James Graham, New York

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Also at Graham: Mary McConnell, ink and mixed media on Japanese paper

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Closer view, below

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Cherubic and creepy: Jose Cobo, Galeria Ferran Cano, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona
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Curious: Reena Saini Kallat, Synonym F, portrait made from acrylic on rubber stamps

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Back view, below
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Latin American abstraction: It wouldn't be Art Miami if there weren't a good selection. And it wouldn't be a good selection if Jesus Rafael Soto were not represented
Here, a selection of Soto at Art Nouveau Galeria, Maracaibo, Venezuela
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Cesar Paternosto paintings at Durban Segnini Gallery, Miami

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Below, a curious Soto; also at Durban Segnini

(More curious: another gallery had one just like it)

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Think I was kidding about the trees? Here are a few more, photographs this time:

Above and below, Shai Kremer, Shooting Defense Wall, Jerusalem, C-print; at Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco

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Detail, below
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Robert Voit, views of South Africa, Great Britain, Italy; at Amador Gallery, New York
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Doug and Mike Starn, Structure of Thought, inkjet print on mulbery paper with wax and encaustic; at HackelBury Fine Art, London
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Leslie Holt's fabulous little "forgeries" at David Lusk Gallery, Memphis.

They're a taste of what's to come in the next post

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Next up: The Pretenders

Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Red Dot

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:
. NADA
. Scope
. Aqua Art
. Pulse
. The Big One, Art Basel Miami Beach
. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs
. Art Bloggers at Art Miami
. Are We Out of the Woods?
. A Little Gossip
. Art? Or Not Art?
. Nosing Around
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I visited Red Dot on Saturday at the end of a long day at Art Miami (post coming next), which encompassed the Blogger Panel in the morning and fair viewing all afternoon. It had rained during the hot and humid day, but by the time I crossed the street to Red Dot, the weather was dry and cool. Ah, my kind of weather.

I wish I could say that Red Dot was my kind of fair. A couple of years ago it was. Then it was located in the South Seas Hotel on Collins Avenue, across from the Flow Fair at the Catalina and just up the street from the Aqua Hotel, site of Aqua Art. ABMB was a couple of blocks inland. The strip was jumping. Sure, the hotel-room location made for crowded viewing at times, but Red Dot had a great lineup of galleries, each with varied and interesting work. I was personally delighted to be part of it in 2007.

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Inset, the view from the street; above, entering the Red Dot tent

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The move across the causeway has not been kind to this fair. Now under a large, spacious tent with a welcoming entryway, it’s got plenty of space—but those same terrific galleries have migrated elsewhere. In their place are smaller galleries with a lot of wares.

Still I did find a few galleries whose work I was drawn to, and another had a great painting that I put into the Tree post. Take a look:
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George Dunbar's shimmering geometry, platinum-gilded on a clay ground, at Myers Contemporary, Annapolis
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Lisa Nankivil's chromatic painting, one of several strong works from this artist, also at Myers Contemporary
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Detail below
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Tim Tate's video bell jars at Mayer Fine Art, Norfolk, Virginia

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Showing you Tim's work gives me a chance to provide a link to Lenny Campello's blog, Daily Campello Art News. Lenny, an artist who is also a dealer, was running the gallery that had Tim's work. His comments provide something of a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at a fair from a dealer's point of view--the boredom, the sales, the folks who stop by (scroll down, you'll get to it, but it may take you a while because Lenny is a good storyteller--and take a look at his work, too, which a nice political edge).

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Vivian Wolovitz, Red Dirt, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches, at Projects Gallery, Philadelphia . (The gallery also has Ross Bonfanti's endearing, and surprisingly heavy "concreatures," which I showed you last year, and which you can see here.)
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Next up: Art Miami

Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. NADA

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:

. Scope

. Aqua Art

. Pulse

. The Big One, Art Basel Miami Beach

. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs

. Art Bloggers at Art Miami

. Are We Out of the Woods?

. A Little Gossip

. Art? Or Not Art?

. Nosing Around

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With venues already divided between the beach and the mainland, triangulating the geography with yet another distant location seemed absurd. I thus arrived at the Deauville Beach Resort, this year’s location for NADA— via taxi since the shuttle was nowhere in evidence—with a chip on my shoulder. But a big comfy lobby and sweeping views of the beach nudged the chip off by the time I reached the ballroom.
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Yes, you heard me: ballroom. In what has to be the oddest coupling of art and venue, the event took place in the chandeliered-with-a-capital-C ballroom, subdivided into a warren of booths. NADA, as I'm sure you know, stands for the New Art Dealers Alliance.

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The odd pairing of art and venue: NADA in the ballroom of the Deauville Beach Resort

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There was a variety of work, but if I had to categorize it, I would say Crafty. There was a lot of consciously handcrafted work constructed--or reconstructed, or deconstructed--from recycled materials. There were also a lot of small works, all the better for intimate viewing; some strong geometries (I’ll give you a peek here, saving other images for a big Geometry post coming up); and, oddly, a couple of stacked sculptures involving beer cans and malt liquor.

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Cut and stitched: Larissa Nowicki at Man & Eve, London

Detail below:

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Hilary Berseth, Programmed Hive #10; at Eleven Rivington, New York
The artist/beekeeper set an armalture into his hive and let the bees do the rest. There's a big element of chance, but the results are oddly spectacular. I saw work from this series last year in the Lower East Side gallery, where the sculptural hives were shown without the plexi cover

Closer view, below

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Dianna Molzan's deconstucted paintings; at Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles
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Cardboard? Or paintings of cardboard? Both. Marti Cormans, Untitled (cardboard), oil on cardboard; at Jose Bienvenu Gallery, New York
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Reconstructed: Dario Escobar, Obverse and Reverse, leather soccer balls; also at Bienvenu
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Below, a quick pic to show you the scale
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The craft table: George Herms, Ida Ekblad; at The Journal, Brooklyn
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Plain geometry: Michael Rey; at Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles
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Below, a quick pic to show you the scale
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One of the pleasures of viewing a lot of art in a concentrated space is seeing how currents cross and merge. Within just a few paces, I saw the work of a young painter, Ben Berlow, in two galleries. I liked the little geometries, modestly--almost naively--painted on scraps of cardboard or torn-out book pages. In one gallery they were affixed directly to the wall; in the other, they were framed. In both, they were all sold (the prices were in the low three figures).

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Berlow at Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco (with Erwin Wurm's resin-cast gherkin; sorry a detail of the little sculpture is too blurry to show you)

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Below, detail of Barlow's painting

Same artist, different booth. Here Berlow's work is framed. It loses its immediacy but none of its playfulness; at Callicoon Fine Arts, Callicoon, New York (wherever that is)

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In situ, below

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Misa Inaoka sculpture; at Johansson Projects, San Francisco

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Closeup below
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Two's a coincidence: beer sculptures. (Add the two at the Rubell Collection--the Budweiser room and a curtain of cans'n'six-pack plastic rings--and I guess you have a trend).

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Above, Henry Taylor; at Galerie Carlos Cardenas, Paris

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Below, Tony Matelli; at Leo Koenig, New York
(See the "weeds" in the background? I wrote about them here)

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Another section of the fair featured solo-artist presentations

.Views above and below

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A separate wing held the galleries that devoted their booths to a single artist. There was no theme here, but a lot of good stuff. A couple of galleries sold out, leaving the dealers to go through the motions of being interested and involved when, I’m sure what they really wanted to do was be at the beach.

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As I mentioned in the other posts, some of the work from NADA will find its way into thematic posts, which will follow as soon as I’ve reported on Red Dot, Art Miami, and the Rubell Collection.
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Malevich meets Gee's Bend: Sarah Crowner's pieced-and-stitched geometries, framed as paintings; at Nicelle Beauchene, New York
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Op, aught style: Geoffrey Todd Smith, Eroticize Your Eyes, oil on panel; at Western Exhibition, Chicago
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Sandra Vasquez de la Horra was featured at ABMB. Here she has a solo at Galerie Rupert Pfab, Dusseldorf
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All the work is pencil on paper dipped in wax.

Below, one work
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Brendan Fowler installation; at Rental Gallery, New York
According to The Art Newspaper, which published a Miami daily edition during he run of the fairs, the entire booth sold out
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Fairgoers were the only visitors to Miami who got to the beach and turned west.

Here, for a moment, looking east
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If you want to see some live-action from NADA, click here for a two-minute report from Lindsay Pollock, via her Art Market Views blog.
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Next up: Red Dot

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Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Scope

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:
. Aqua Art
. Pulse
. The Big One, Art Basel Miami Beach
. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs
. Art Bloggers at Art Miami
. Are We Out of the Woods?
. A Little Gossip
. Art? Or Not Art?
. Nosing Around
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The view when you enter Scope

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From Aqua I went to Scope. Last year Scope was pretty good. This year, not so much. Part of this surely had to do with the economy. I mean knitting machines and fingerpainting wouldn't normally get within a mile of the joint, and here they were each tucked into a booth.
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I realize it's expensive for promoters to undertake an event like this, and for dealers to take a booth, select artists, pack and ship the work, set up the space, sit there for endless hours, and then strike the booth and do the whole process in reverse. The succesful galleries left Miami with a lighter load and a heavier wallet. The others left with a heavy debt. I have no idea how Scope and its participants did did financially, but let’s just say that on a scale of 1 to 10, ten being the best, I found this fair to be somewhere south of five. The catalog looks good, though.

Here are a few overview images of the fair plus a couple of pics of what I liked--plus a new feature, the WFT Department: .

Wider aisles and more spacious setup than in last year's space

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Below, I spied the work of my buddy Max Carlos Martinez, visible in the center of the picture, in the Christopher Henry Gallery, which had one of the more interesting booths at the fair.

(I wrote about Max's solo show recently here)
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Another view of the fair, which was sparsely attended when I was there
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Loved these paintings: John Brown oils, heavily built up and scraped back; at the Wilde Gallery, Berlin
Below: closer view of the three smaller paintings
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Loved this, too: Coming across F.J. Valdez's installation of large-format photographs of carpets splayed this way and that, like finding myself in a virtual souk; at the Jacob Karpio Galeria, San Jose, Costa Rica
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.Amusing the first time you see it: Franceska Kirke's Mona-to-Marilyn transformation, at Galeria Bastejas, Riga, Latvia
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WTF Dept.
Above, the knitting booth; at Amf Projects, Miami
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Below, the fingerpainting booth
You know every person who walked by nudge-nudged their companion and said,
"Fingerpainting? My five-year-old could do this."

.Morten Viskum at Son Espace Gallery, Papafrugell, Spain
. .Below, uh, the artist showing how he does it.

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Next up: NADA

Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Aqua Art

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:
. Pulse
. The Big One, Art Basel Miami Beach
. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs
. Art Bloggers at Art Miami
. Are We Out of the Woods?
. A Little Gossip
. Art? Or Not Art?
. Nosing Around
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Arriving at Aqua

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From Pulse I made my way up North Miami Avenue to Aqua Art. Aqua made a splash five years ago with a small hotel fair on Collins Avenue near the mothership. The fair was conceived as an opportunity for galleries from the Northwest, and their artists, to get a toehold in Miami. Everyone responded to the intimacy, the openness—the rooms were small but they all flowed onto a balcony or courtyard—the interesting work and the great vibe. It was the little fair that could and did.
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Two years ago, fair organizers Jaq Chartier and Dirk Park, artists themselves, opened a second location in Wynwood. I thought it was too much--two fairs?!--but what did I know? Turns out it was the perfect move. When the owner of the Aqua hotel tried to create his own fair in the hotel location this year, Aqua Art was comfortably ensconced in this second location pretty much in the middle of things. The fair has broadened geographically, but you'll still find a number of galleries from Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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Above, the entrance to the fair
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Below, the wide-open entry (doorway is to the right), with a view to the Bridgette Mayer booth and the sculpture of Steve Tobin
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With 43 good exhibitors and a shady courtyard for visitors, Aqua Art offered the perfect mix of art and relaxation. As with my Pulse coverage, I’m going to show you some general views followed by peeks into specific booths and individual artworks. One thing that stood out was the number of small works, not surprising given the economy. What I liked was the way they were curatorially composed: installations that allowed for the big picture as well as up-close viewing. I’ve tried to show you some of that here.
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Adventurous fairgoers could take advantage of the proximity of Zones and Fountain, two nearby fairs with work by emerging artists. I popped my head in but have nothing to report.

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These are the highlights of my visit to Aqua:
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Steve Tobin sculpture, Steel Root, and a small painting by Kenneth Noland; at Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia
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Seth Koen sculpture and Barbara Takanaga painting
Below, Barbara Takenaga painting; both at Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco
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Elemental: Anne Appleby relief prints on handmade kozo paper; at Wildwood Press, St. Louis
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Atmospheric: Julian Jackson paintings at Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York
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Small works at Kathryn Markel. Clockwise from bottom left: Diane Ayott, Melinda Hackett, Ayott, Jason Rolfe. Landscape artist unknown to me
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Below, closer view of Melinda Hacket paintings

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Love this installation--like a cabinet of curiosities.

The most curious? The "toast" sculptures made of painted, cast beeswax by Tibi Tibi Neuspiel; at Narwhal Art Projects, Toronto (Thanks, Brandy)

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Below, Neuspiel's Darwin. Talk about wonder bread

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Natasha Duwin, Andar a Lavar los Platos (Going to Wash the Dishes), made and assembled objects; at Artformz, Miami
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David Peterson sculptural geometries in mixed media; at Krause Gallery, Atlanta
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A trove of interesting work at George Lawson Gallery, aka Room for Painting Room for Paper, San Francisco: two intensely pigmented paintings by Alan Ebnother to the left of the chevron gouaches by Stephen Westfall. Visible in the corner . . .

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. . . and clearly below, paintings by my friend (and lapsed Two Artists Talking blog buddy) Chris Ashley

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One of the (many) things that makes exhibiting at an art fair different from at a gallery is that the work is in rotation, sometimes throughout the day, or more likely from day to day. Small works may sell right off the wall. If that's the case, the dealer hase new work at the ready. Other times, sale or not, work is alternated to keep the booth fresh

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Below, I'm delighted we have the opportunity to see Chris's work work on display. From left: Judith Belzer (six panels), Michael David, Chris' Ashley (two paintings), Marie Thibeault
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More from George Lawson Gallery (I told you it was a trove): Masaru Korose, transparent abstractions in oil on vinyl

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Jaq Chartier is not only a founder of Aqua, she's an accomplished painter

Above and below, you see an installation of her paintings, in acrylic and stain on panel, at William Baczek Fine Arts, Northampton, Mass.

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Seeing the work below reminds me of a little story. With tax time looming, a few weeks ago I went into Staples to purchase some ledger paper. "Uh, what's that?" asked the 19-year-old on duty.

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"My son, in the days before Quicken, the ancients kept track of their finances by writing in ink on green lined paper," I replied. I could see his iPod/Twittered/Facebooked brain click on as his face brightened: "Oh. That's what 'ledger' means. I wondered what that green paper was for. Follow me. "

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Below, Jill Sylvia has put ledger paper to another use entirely. I. Love. This. Work.

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Jill Sylvia, hand-cut ledger paper; at Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco

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Detail below

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Above, two by Jane Hambleton: diver, foreground, and swimmer, rear, both in graphite on paper; at Michael Rosenthal Gallery, San Francisco
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Also in graphite: Paul Wackers, End of the Rainbow; at Eleanor Harwood Gallery
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Above and below: Geometries in thread on canvas by Megan Whitmarsh; at Michael Rosenthal, San Francisco

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David DiMichele, lightjet print; at Randall Scott Gallery, Brooklyn. (Small painting to left by Robert Kingston)

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I like the geometry of DiMichele's work. But I hope he won't mind if I make a suggestion: Show it to the directors of the impossible-to-navigate Art Basel Miami Beach. It would be a perfect logo for the fair.

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Next up: Scope

Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Pulse

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:
. The Big One, Art Basel Miami Beach

. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs

. Art Bloggers @ Art Miami

. Are We Out of the Woods?

. A Little Gossip

. Art? Or Not Art?

. Nosing Around

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The day after I spent five hours at the big fair, I took the Pulse shuttle across the MacArthur Causeway to Wynwood in Midtown Miami to visit some of the smaller fairs: Pulse, Aqua and Scope. That’s the path these next few reports will take, too. I like the rhythm of breaking up the big with the small.

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Pulse took place this year at The Ice Palace, a huge location used for film and video production and fashion shoots. (The Miami season of Bravo’s Top Chef was produced here.) Pulse moved in after NADA moved over to the the Deauville Resort in Miami Beach. Scope then moved into the space vacated by Pulse. Are you following me?

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Above, the entrance

Below, hammocks outside a second building in the complex

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Pulse and Aqua, as well as NADA and Scope, are the anti ABMB—smaller, tighter, more down to earth. I like them for precisely those reasons, and because the work is consistently strong and interesting. While there are some emerging artists showing in emerging galleries, these fairs are not just about new and young. There are a number of well established midlevel galleries with great rosters who like the atmosphere and conviviality of these venues. (And, let’s be honest, they have a greater chance of getting in, and the entry fee is several limbs fewer than for the big fair.)

With about 100 galleries in modestly sized booths and a pretty straightforward layout, Pulse was a fair I could view in one go-around, stop for coffee, go around again and feel satisfied that I’d seen it all. Here I’ll show you something of the space—the aisles and a peek into various booths—in addition to the art. I’m planning subsequent thematic posts, so you’ll see more from Pulse.

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Will do. Mads Lynnerup; at Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin

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Two views of the fair, above and below: Scale is more modest and thus more manageable

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Above, view of Conner Contemporary, Washington, D.C., with a Leo Villareal light sculpture that cast an ever-changing warm-toned glow on a whole section of the venue

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Above, Henrique Oliveira painting at Baro Cruz, Sao Paolo
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Below, Portia Munson's fabulous trash turned treasure, overseen by her digital scans of flowers arranged in church-window-like compositions; at PPOW, New York


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Two views of Thatcher Projects' booth: Above, Omar Chacon painting, left, and Robert Sagerman painting, right
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Below, Venske and Spanle undulating marble columns and Bill Thompson pillowlike resin sculptures

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Patrick Wilson's reductive geometry at Marx & Zavattero, San Francisco
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Cordy Ryman at Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica
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Below, a closer view of his V9, a handyman special made with paint, staples and Velcro on wood
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A booth of work by Cody Hudson at Andrew Rafacz, Chicago

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Linda Besemer paintings at Galerie Jean-Luc & Takako Richard Gallery, Paris
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Below, a closer view of one of the paintings


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David Poppie starburst, Big Bang, constructed from colored pencils split lengthwise; at Pavel Zoubok, New York
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E Pluribus Unum: Mark Wagner's Liberty, collaged from elements cut from dollar bills; also at Zoubok
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Detail below:

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Paul Villinski's evocative installation, constructed largly from repurposed materials, at Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York
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Detail of Rory Donaldson plexi-mounted C-print; at Winkleman Gallery, New York
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Full view below
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Josephine Taylor mural-size drawings; at Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco
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Shirley Kaneda paintings on canvas, left, and David Ryan painted contructions on MDF; at Galerie Jean-Luc & Takako Richard, Paris
(This was the first time I had seen this gallery, and I liked everything in the booth)
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More of the tree-and-branch theme that ran so strongly through the fairs:

Above, Carolyn Ottmers cast stainless steel plant forms. To get a sense of the scale, know that each of these sculptures was suspended from a rod at the top of the booth and hung down to a couple of feet above the floor; at Carrie Sechrist Gallery, Chicago
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Below, Sarah Anne Johnson, Poison Branch, cast bronze and twigs; at Julie Saul Gallery, New York
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Lots of activity in the Schroeder Romero booth
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Above and below, the handmade bodega from Arthouse, Austin, with handmade groceries and stuff to buy inside

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Wishful thinking? All about buy and sell at the Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles

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Next up: Aqua

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Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. The Big One, Art Basel Miami Beach

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:

. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs

. Art Bloggers at Art Miami

. Are We Out of the Woods?

. A Little Gossip

. Art? Or Not Art?

. Nosing Around

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The crowd gathered on Sunday morning to enter at noon. (Cost of ticket for the day: $35. Cost for three days: $75. Press pass: Priceless)

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Art Basel Miami Beach, ABMB for short, is many things to many people: a mecca for over-the-top consumerism; an object of derision by those who either can’t get in or who genuinely disdain its values (or both); and something like the current issues, in real-time and space, of Art Forum, Art in America, Modern Painters, Art& Auction and Art News, replete with the art, the ads, and the top 200 collectors in the world.

If you can step outside the politics of the thing, it’s an opportunity to see, in one place, what you could never see in a dedicated year of looking. I love it (even though I don’t love everything in it).

This year, the eighth incarnation of the event, was the largest ever. The Miami Beach Convention Center, a hangar of a space, allotted 502,848 square feet of space—about the distance between 24th and 26th Streets between 10th and 11th Avenues—for 271 booths. Looking at the fair map you think you’ll be able to cover it in an orderly way, but no. The booths have multiple entrances, and if you follow your eye or stop to talk with friends, it’s easy to get disoriented. I spent at least eight hours in three visits, and I still don’t think I saw it all.

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One example: On Sunday morning I ran into Ron Warren, director of the Mary Boone Gallery, taking in a bit of the fair before the doors opened for business. “You’re here!,” I said. I hadn’t seen the booth in the two previous visits. “We’re in D32. Come and see us.” Even with the map in front of me, it took 15 minutes to find it. The plan looks open, but the construction has walls where you don’t expect them. In other words, a maze. (I did get to see the booth, where I saw . . . trees.)

Looks easily to navigate, right? It's not

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But there is a logic to the setup, as you can see from the map above. The blue-chips and big moderns are on the left; the big contemporaries are on the right. The pink inner ring contains smaller galleries, like ones from the Lower East Side, typically with lower-priced work or large experimental pieces. In aqua on the right are equally small spaces. In a venue where triple-wide booths can go for the mid-five figures, these smaller spaces allow modest galleries with interesting programs to be part of the action. The whole thing is reversed if you enter from the other direction, as at least 50% of the fairgoers did, so it's very easy to become disoriented before you even start.

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From the mezzanine walkway you can peer down to the expanse of galleries on the floor. (This is the second year the shades were drawn; before that you could look down over the entire venue

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Below, the down-to-earth view of the same booth, Galerie Luisa Strina, Sao Paolo
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You’ll see my favorite favorites in dedicated upcoming posts, along with the work that relates to themes of home, craft and, of course, geometric abstraction. Here I want to show you something of the size of the venue and of what the booths looked like as you peer down the broad aisles. I got in early on Sunday—god bless the press pass—to shoot when no one but the dealers were there. There are some great installations, like the ones at McKee, Mathes, GreenbergVanDoren, and Pace Wildenstein. Not only did I like just about everything at Pace, I loved being able to photograph it; they’re rigid in their no-photo policy in New York.

What you’ll see here is what I perceive to be the range: blue-chip dealers selling primary and secondary-market work, to solid contemporary painting and sculpture, all the way over to modestly sized work on paper from galleries whose actual spaces are not much larger than the booths they were in.

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What you won't see: There’s no video because, frankly, I’m just not interested in it. I didn't photograph Kehinde Wiley’s monumental painting of Michael Jackson in Napoleonic uniform astride a steed--with cherubim overhead, no less--but you can see it here. And if you still have any interest in Sunday painter Sylvester Stallone, you can see the award he received here, with appropriate commentary.

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OK, let's hit a few booths.

The view as I walked down the B aisle

Below, at Van de Weghe Fine Art you know the lineup: Stella, Warhol, Haring, Hanson. I assume the irony of placement of Duane Hanson's worn-out waitress near Warhol's big-ass dollar sign was not lost on fairgoers

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Corner lot: Jorge Pardo's installation--you could enter--at Neugerreimschneider, Berlin
Below, blue chips at Knoedler, New York

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Anne Truitt, The Sea, The Sea, at Matthew Marks, New York. This columnar scuplture was hard to see amid the sea of people and columns. I would have liked to see it in a quieter spot

Below, a corner in the booth of McKee Gallery, New York: Martin Puryear sculpture, foreground; and from left, a bit of Philip Guston, Susana Solano wire sculpture, and Harvey Quaytman painting


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Robert Mangold, John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin, Sol Lewitt; at Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York.

Below, the Zenlike space with paintings by John McLaughlin; at Greenberg VanDoren, New York

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In the previous post I told you Chamberlain sculptures were everywhere

Above, with Elizabeth Murray; at Pace Wildenstein, New York
Below, with Gerhard Richter and Sam Francis; at Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, New York


Below: Gerhard Richter, seen on the wall in the photo above




A monumental oil-on-canvas painting on four panels, from 1956-57, by Alfred Leslie; at Allan Stone Gallery, New York
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Detail below


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There was no ignoring this cyclopean stare: Fred Tomaselli at James Cohan Gallery, New York
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Detail below


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Gunter Forg's color-sploched fields were shown by four galleries. This painting was in the combined booth of Nagel/Grasslin of Cologne, Berlin, Frankfurt and Milan

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Tara Donovan at Pace Wildenstein, New York. The pairing was perfect: a painting whose circles are defined by pinheads, and the small sculpture made from gathered and folded Mylar

Two from the combined CapitanPetzel booth, Colone and New York:

Above, Joyce Pensato (I'm not a fan of her imagery, but the woman knows how to handle paint)
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Below, Wade Guyton inkjet print on linen, installed in segments


.. Not all the paintings are large
Here, two by James Siena and one by Thomas Nozkowski; at Pace Wildenstein
Below, Nozkowski's Untitled (8-119)




Within the fair are a selection of Art Kabinets, small spaces in which usually a single artist is showcased. Here's it's Sandra Vasquez de la Horra, with an installation of wax-dipped drawings on paper; at Kewenig Galerie, Cologne
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Below, single image. Note the modest hanging method


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More small: a wall of constructions and objects by Fergus Feehily; at Green On Red Gallery, Dublin

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Below, an individual work made with modest materials

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Sara Greenberg Rafferty watercolors; at Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York

I saw this artist's show on the Lower East Side recently. The gallery is modest, as are the work and its prices
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The last word at ABMB goes to Mel Bochner, whose commentary was seen in a number of venues; here at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago. And--move over Elvis--it's oil on velvet

Next up: Pulse

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Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:

Art Bloggers @Art Miami

Are We Out of the Woods?

A Little Gossip

Art? Or Not Art?

Nosing Around

A big surprise at Art Basel Miami Beach

Having gone through some 4000 images of the fairs at least three times (thoroughness: a blessing and a curse) and posted a few preliminary reports, I now know how I’m going to proceed: I’ll write a brief overview of each fair, posting more or less every day for the next week. I’m going to try to give you a sense of what they were like—size and sabor, the scope and flava of each—because they’re all quite different from one another.

Then I’m going to connect the dots. “Curating” my reports is the part I like best, showing you what turned up from fair to fair. Whether blue chip or hole-in-the-wall, the galleries seem to have tapped into the zeitgeist for a number of themes. Trees were the most obvious, but there was a strong showing of textiles in a variety of incarnations; a D.I.Y. craftiness that involved constuction materials like cardboard and a recycling or repurposing of all kinds of castoffs; and the recurring image of house and home, not a surprise given the way things went this past year. Often these elements overlapped.

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Big statement for the big fair: At ABMB, the two-ton rag rug (no exaggeration) by Michael Beutler at Galleria Franco Soffiantino, Torino

Below, Pulse: Portia Munson's green vitrine; at P.P.O.W., New York

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Scope: the D.I.Y. approach in Elena Monzo's cardboard-framed drawings, with detail below; at Bonelli Arte Contemporanea, Mantova

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ABMB: Jose Davila; at Travesia Cuatro, Madrid .

ABMB: Delson Ochoa's painting, made like an early-American floorcloth and hung like a tapestry; at Galeria Luciana Brito, Sao Paolo .


Aqua: Plenty of trends here--small , often tiny, work; a homemade esthetic; even the home; at La Familia Gallery, Seattle

Even for the big fairs, there were a lot of small paintings and drawings. But of course the big names were out in force. It wouldn’t be a big fair without John Chamberlain’s metal sculptures (almost always paired with Albers or a minimalist work) and one of my favorites, Louise Bourgeois. And there are always surprises. Last year it was Carolee Schneeman at Carolina Nitsch. This year: Hannah Wilke at Alison Jacques Gallery. (I’ve got a post coming on Wilke, Bourgeois and Benglis.)

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Art Miami: Blue-chip offerings from Scott White Contemporary Art, San Diego. Here, Donald Judd and John Chamberlain
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ABMB: Louise Bourgeois and Jenny Holzer
Blue chip with a little less testosterone from Cheim & Read, New York
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As always, geometry was much in evidence: modernist offerings from the blue chips, contemporary abstraction from all levels at all the fairs, and plenty that tapped the Latin American tradition. While there was no getting away from ostentation at the big fairs, the amount of glittery shininess was toned down. (I’m guessing this means that even the most over-the-top collectors were flying a little closer to the ground this year.)

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Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol were everywhere—and everywhere imitated. There’s a post coming on that, too. I laughed at a typo I made. I wrote "Any Warhol." But maybe the fingers had it right. .
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ABMB: Sarah Cain's fabulous geometries; at Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York

Art Miami, below: Carlos Evangelista; Kreisler Galerie de Arte, Madrid


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.. ABMB: A little less glimmer and glitz this year. Even the disco ball is painted black. Kendall Geers sculpture; at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
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The Ubiquity Award goes to Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol
Left, Warhol at Gagosian

Right, Robert Indiana at Paul Kasmin; both at ABMB

“Deals were being made,” said a gallerist friend who wasn’t showing but went to see what was going on. I wasn’t tuned into the commercial transactions--especially at the big fair, where no one puts red dots on anything --but the relaxed faces of the dealers said it all. I did see a lot of showing and pondering. And at the smaller fairs, I saw a number of people walking out with bubble-wrapped packages. (Too bad they had such a hard time getting a taxi.)

Showing (and selling?):
Above, at Aqua: Daniel Diaz-Tai; at Cancio Contemporary, Miami
Below, at ABMB, Galleri Bo Bierggard, Copenhagen

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The fairs were widely scattered. Too widely scattered. NADA, at the renovated Deauville Resort, was 50 traffic-clogged blocks north of the Convention Center, which held the big fair. The Viceroy Fair was some 20 blocks south of the Convenion Center. The distance from NADA to Viceroy? Some six or seven miles. (And me, without a subway.)

The Wynwood section of Miami proper, across the causeway from the barrier island that is Miami Beach, was home to everything else, so there was much back-and-forthing by some 40,000 fair goers. Sure, there were shuttles, but their schedules were erratic and the small vehicles were often packed. I spent $228.50 on taxis. Don't be surprised if I start soliciting donations via Pay Pal.

A lot of ground (and water) to cover: From NADA on Collins at 67th Street--by the "1" in the upper right; to Viceroy at the very tip of South Beach--about where the "12" is; and across the three causeways--Julia Tuttle, Venetian, and MacArthur--to Wynwood, where venues were located in the 20s and 30s on and around N. Miami Avenue. Image from the Internet

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The nominal iconoclast: Taking a stand--but hitting the fairs anyway

Late tomorrow: Art Basel Miami Beach

Meanwhile, take a look at the four Miami editions of The Art Newspaper, which are viewable and printable via PDF

Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Art Bloggers @ Art Miami, December 5

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:

Are We Out of the Woods?
A Little Gossip
Art? Or Not Art?
Nosing Around

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The blogosphere has flattened the hierarchy. As an artist you’re fairly powerless; in the blogosphere artists have the power not only to join the discussion but to lead it.

—Sharon Butler

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From left: Hrag Vartanian, Sharon Butler, Thomas Hollingworth, Libby Rosof, Roberta Fallon, Paddy Johnson, Joanne Mattera. Photo: Elena De La Ville

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I put most of most of my focus on the content. Professionals will find you if you are saying interesting things.

--Paddy Johnson

At the invitation of Art Miami, Art Bloggers @ convened a panel on Saturday, December 5, during fair week. While the rain fell in buckets outside, popping loudly at times on the enormous tarp that covered the roof, we stayed dry and audible in a specially constructed lecture room. Scheduled for 90 minutes the panel continued, with questions from the audience, for close to two hours.

Topic: Beyond Basic Blogging: Carving Our Niche in the Blogosphere
The premise of this panel, the third organized by Art Bloggers @, is that art bloggers have developed a greater sophistication in what we cover and how we cover it. We’re specializing—sharpening our focus, breaking stories, offering news and service features—and typically publishing more material, often faster, than conventional print publications. In an art world chronically short on coverage, we’re not just filling in the blanks, we’re breaking new ground.

Panelists: Sharon Butler, Two Coats of Paint; Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof, Fallon and Rosof Artblog; Thomas Hollingworth, Art Lurker; Paddy Johnson, Art Fag City; Hrag Vartanian, Hyperallergic; Joanne Mattera, Joanne Mattera Art Blog, moderator

What follows are highlights of the panel (and what I could read of my notes):

Q: Did you carve your niche over time, or did you create your blog because you saw a niche you could fill?
• Fallon and Rosof started their Artblog in 2003 when there was, said Fallon, “a huge vacuum of art writing in Philadelphia.” Products of the city’s “huge DIY culture,” the two artists said, “let’s do it ourselves.”
Added Rosof, “We wanted to steer the discussion in Philly.” Their goal was to cover huge swaths of the art scene that were ignored by conventional print media: young artists, minorities, women. “We wanted to cover all the people who were underserved.”
• Thomas Hollingworth originally conceived Art Lurker as as a personal portfolio. "It quicklyevolved to be a community forum when my efforts got the writing ball rolling in Miami,” he said.
• Sharon Butler saw Two Coats of Paint as a tool for “building a community among painters” by posting reviews and links from a “curated selection” of articles from other publications.
• Hrag Vartanian recently launched the “blogazine” Hyperallergic while continuing to post to his eponymous blog. He sees Hyperallergic, for which he has a business plan and accepts ads, as a platform for people to discuss what bothers them (tagline: Sensitive To Art and Its Discontents). The new venture offers another benefit, said Vartanian: “I’m sick of having to write for other people.”
• Joanne Mattera: "When I started my blog in June 2006, I didn’t have a clue. But by that December, when I wrote about the art fairs in Miami, I knew what I wanted to do with the blog: report on the art I was seeing in New York and elsewhere. I’ve been doing that ever since.

Q: Have critics-turned-bloggers changed the quality of discourse in the blogosphere? Has their participation in the more democratic arena of cyberspace change the relationship between critic and reader, or critic and artist? Has the discourse of largely unsalaried bloggers changed how paid critics are approaching criticism—in terms of subject matter or length—in print or online? How are bloggers continuing to push the envelope online, thereby changing what and how everyone writes?

Not everyone responded to every part of this question. It’s also worth noting that just about everyone has written for print media. Here’s a sampling of what they said:

. Paddy Johnson: “[The accessibility] lets people bother you quicker.” She also acknowledged that the same accessibility gives her faster access as well.
. Fallon: “Having critics blog expands the discussion.” In terms of length and content, she noted that writing for print requires a more conventional journalistic approach (she is the critic for Philadelphia Weekly), while on a blog “you can write about what you want.“ She pointed out that when a publication operates in both mediums, “a truncated version often appears in print; the full version on line.”
. Rosof: Whether she’s writing for print or on line, Rosof focuses on what interests her, what she likes. “We don’t take much time writing about what’s bad.”

Read the rest of the post here . . .

I’m sick of writing for free. I’m sick of culture being a grant charity case.

–Hrag Vartanian

It’s a blog, not a job.

–Thomas Hollingworth

We’re thinking of going nonprofit.

–Fallon and Rosof

Thanks to Art Miami; Dan Schwartz of Susan Grant Lewin Associates; and Pamela Cohen, Perminak Consulting, for the invitation to panelize and for setting up the facility so well. Thanks, too, to Elena De La Ville for taking photographs.

Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Are We Out of the Woods?

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:

A Little Gossip

Art? Or Not Art?

Nosing Around

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ABMB: Pierre Malphettes, Un Arbre Blanc, 2009, wood and neon; at Kamel Mannour, Paris

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Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll post reports from the various fairs, but for this post I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the most recurring image and object in evidence throughout all the fairs was . . . trees!

As I walked through Art Basel Miami Beach, the big fair at the Convention Center, on Wednesday when I arrived, I saw trunks, branches, twigs and roots—a theme that would be repeated over and over at the various other venues. (And a theme that I covered recently here, here and here.)

Trees are a big part of landscape painting, of course, but landscape painting is not typically a big part of the visual agenda at the fairs. So what’s in the zeitgeist that accounts for such a strong arboreal presence? (The eight-pound catalog only hinted at the bosky abundance the fair had in store.) Since most exhibited work is new—made in the past year—I assume it’s a reaction, conscious or not, to an economy that was violently uprooted. Trees can reach up only because they have a root system as expansive as their branches. A metaphor for stability, perhaps?

ABMB: Roxy Paine, Containment 1, 2009, stainless steel; at James Cohan Gallery, New York

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Are we out of the woods? It’s significant that the trees are, for the most part, isolated, not part of a grove or forest. Or is it that we can’t see the forest for the trees? I’m looking to metaphor and free association because I think these object and images spring creatively from that need-to-make place, rather than as a result of offering formal issues to explore. Then again, maybe artists are just thinking green.

In terms of symbols, the roots go deeper. The Tree of Life, common in all cultures from earliest times, unites heaven and earth—wholeness—and its fruits sustain life. Kabbalah is depicted as a tree. Wood is the primary material of the universe in Vedic philosophy. And, thanks to the Druids, this time of year Christians and commercialized enterprises throught the Western world are decorating a you-know-what.

Above, ABMB: Ernesto Caivano, Untitled, 2009, oil on linen; at Mary Boone Gallery, New York

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Below, Pulse: A peek at the booth of Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, where all the work had a sylvan theme

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The director of a blue-chip New York gallery showing at ABMB raised his eyebrows when I mentioned the trend and noted that his gallery was showing two such works. “We didn’t plan to show trees,” he said, “but that’s what our artists gave us.” At Pulse, on the other hand, San Francisco’s Rena Bransten Gallery created an entire booth around the theme.

Thinking about the tenuousness of the economy: A tree is that thing money doesn't grow on. But while no one was plucking bills from any branches, there were plenty of deals being made.

Here, take a look. A lot of images follow. What do you make of this trend?

The use of humble materials, often repurposed, was another recurring element in all the fairs

Above, ABMB: A lovely recycling of furniture back into a tree by Gelitin, a Viennese collaborative; at Greene Naftali Gallery, New York

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Below: Whitney Lynn, Untitled, 2009, wood, wire and army blankets; at Patricia Sweetow, San Francisco

Above, ABMB: Giuseppe Pennone, Foglie de Zucche, 1982, bronze, with detail right; at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York

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Below, ABMB: The trunk that occupies the whole booth; at Galerie Enrique Guerrero, Mexico

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ABMB: Ai Wei Wei, Map of China, with detail below; at Mary Boon Gallery, New York

ABMB: The seating arrangement at Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris

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ABMB: Lawrence Weiner; at Marian Goodman, New York
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Below, ABMB: Installation at Leslie Tonkonow Artworks and Projects, New York; with Kunie Sugiura, Winter Branches, right

ABMB: Jorge Mayet; at Galerie Horrach Moya, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Aqua: Steve Tobin, Bronze Root; at Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia

ABMB: Yayoi Kusama, Prisoner's Door, 1994, mixed media; at Victoria Miro Gallery, London

Pulse: Evelyn Hellenschmidt, Leben im Baum, 2009, bronze and brass; right, Xavi Munoz, 21 Drawings; at Galeria Raquel Ponce, Madrid

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Hellenschmidt detail below:

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Pulse: Igor Eskinja, Albero, C-print on plexi; at Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco

Scope: Park Ji-Hyun, Winter, 2008, mixed media; at Gana Art, New York

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Art Miami: Doug and Mike Starn, Structure of Thought #10, inkjet print on mulbery paper with wax, encaustic and varnish; at Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm

Art Miami: Daisy Craddock; at David Lusk Gallery, Memphis

Aqua: Jake Longstreth; at Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco

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Pulse: David Huffman, Tree Huggers; at Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco

Red Dot: Lana Shuttleworth, Cone Grove 1, for Klimt, 2008, safety cones, shoe polish, wax, nails; at George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles

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Detail below

ABMB: Sean Landers, Plank Boy Hurt, 2009, oil on linen; at Capitan Petzel, Cologne

Pulse: Marci Washington, Escape Into the Woods, 2009, watercolor and gouache; at Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco

Pulse: Gabrielle Basch, Taunus, 2009, spray paint on cutout; at Galleri Thomassen, Sweden

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I responded to a number of small works, a few paintings but mostly work on paper, that explored the theme. If blog space (and personal time) had allowed, I would have included at least two dozen additional images.

ABMB: Benjamin Butler, Untitled Tree (Green), app. 16 x 20 inches; at Galeri Martin Janda, Vienna

Pulse: Sabine Finkenauer, Space, 2009, work on paper; at MasArt Galeria, Barcelona

ABMB: Jorge Macchi, one of six framed works in an installation; gallery unknown

Scope: Eko Nugroho, Studi, Figur, Fantasi, acrylic on canvas, app, 14 x 12 inches; at Ark Galeri, Jakarta

Pulse: Amy Wilson, watercolor (?) on paper; framed app 16 x 14 inches; at Bravin Lee, New York

Pulse: Neil Farber; at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London

Aqua: Paul Wackers, Slow Light, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 28 inches; at Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco

Art Miami: The grandaddy of tree painters, Wolf Kahn, Tones of Yellow and Green, 2009, oil on canvas, 68 x 80 inches; at Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton
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Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. A Little Gossip

Fair and Fair Alike Coverage so Far:
. Nosing Around
. Art? Or Not Art?
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MIAMI--Yeah, yeah. You're gonna get serious coverage. I'm working on it. But indulge me as I have a little Page Six moment.
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The Miami press was abuzz with the news that Sly Stallone, of the Philadelphia Stallones, had paintings on exhibition at Art Basel Miami Beach (his first gallery show), at the Gmurzynska Gallery booth--paintings that were selling in the mid-five figures to the likes of well-known art connoisseur Steve Wynn, of the Las Vegas Wynns.
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Stallone is said to have admitted he was feeling "intimidated" to have his work displayed in the company of "the masters." D'ya think? The Daily Mail has the story, and I cribbed the picture, above left, from it.
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I didn't see the actor or his painting--nor was I looking for them--but I did run into that walking performance piece known as Eva and Adele.
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Eve and Adele: I'm not sure who's who.
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The ambiguously sexual duo, artists who are dressed identically from shaved head to platformed toe, turn up at all the art fairs and at the openings in Chelsea. They spoke to no one as they took in the fair. Well, they weren't speaking to me. I asked them to pose. They ignored me. Like a good paparazza, I photographed them anyway.

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More soon.
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Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Art? Or Not Art?

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Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:

Nosing Around

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MIAMI—I won't begin the serious writing until I get home. I expect to start posting by Tuesday. But in the meantime I have a little quiz to get your eyeballs in shape. I'm calling it Art? Or Not Art?

The images are identified by number at the bottom of the post.

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1. A weed growing against painted wall on N. Miami Avenue in the 20s

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2. At NADA: Tony Matelli, Abandon, 2008, bronze and vinyl paint, at the Leo Koenig Gallery booth

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3. At Aqua Art: Installation at Overthrow Gallery, Miami

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4. At Art Basel Miami Beach: The cardboard recycling boxes
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5. Flattened corrugated on N. Miami Avenue

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6. At Art Basel Miami Beach: Ruben Ochoa at Suzanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles

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Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Nosing Around

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Showing Shane Hope's plexi-mounted digital prints at the Winkleman Gallery booth at Pulse

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MIAMI—Oh, there is something in the air here. Despite the humidity there's a freshness. A sweetness, even. This is a marked change from last year.

If 2008’s fair week had been a perfume, it might have been called Despair. Its top notes of uncertainty wafted away quickly, as the full middle notes—panic, anguish and nervous perspiration—asserted themselves over the course of the week. By Sunday only the bottom note lingered: resignation.

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This year the aroma is lighter. Let’s call it Vert. As in a springlike rebirth. As in the color of money. Perhaps carried away on the breezes of the rising Dow, a top note of apprehension has dispersed, leaving the robust middle tones of optimism, new currency, and a soupcon of plastic swiped discreetly. The bottom note, the underlying scent that lingers hours after application, is cautious relief. Can you smell it?

There are other aromas here in Miami: the salty beach air, a gentle reminder of what you won’t be seeing unless you have an ocean-view room, and car fumes. This year's crop of events is geographically widespread, and whether you're taking the shuttle bus, a taxi or your own rental car, you're gonna get stuck in traffc.

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The smoke that wafted through Wynwood last night was from the guerrilla grill-athon known as Art Burn. Nothing was for sale. Several dozen works of art were exhibited and then tossed into the flames. Call it the anti-fair, carried out under the radar and past your nose. For a couple of hours it was the hottest game in town.

El Celso, left, Art Burn instigator and griller in chief. The event took place in the parking lot of Las Tias, a resale store across the street from the Rubell Collection and around the corner from Art Miami

Reminder: Art Bloggers at Art Miami takes place Saturday 11:30 am to 1:00. We'll be there at 11:00. Look for the signs.

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Off to Miami

Update in red below

Camera? Check. Laptop? Check. Netbook? Check. Comfortable shoes? Check. Toe donuts and bandaids? Checkety check. Boyd Level Miami Guide? Wouldn't leave home without it (see below). Bathing suit? Why bother? With a dozen fairs on my must-see list, a blogger panel to moderate, and at least one guerrilla event (see below), the only full immersion I'll have is in the art.

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My multi-part installment this year is titled Fair and Fair Alike. You'll hear from me occasionally over the next few days, but the bulk of my writing and posting will be done after I return. No Twitter-style updates from me; I'm going for substance. (If history is any measure, I'll be coming back with some 2500 images. I'll need time to edit and Photoshop the pictures and figure out what to tell you about this larger-than-life event. So make that substance abuse.)

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If you're in Miami, stop by these events and say Hi:

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. Art Burn 2009 on Thursday: Artist, curator and self-proclaimed "master griller" El Celso promises a red-hot time as he "displays and flambees" some three dozen works of art. (I've contributed a small work for the show-and-glow.)

Location: The parking lot of Las Tias, 2834 N. Miami Avenue

Time: 1:00-5:00 pm

Read more here, here , here and here

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. The blogger panel on Saturday at Art Miami. Sharon Butler, Roberta Fallon, Thomas Hollingworth, Paddy Johnson, Libby Rosof, Hrag Vartanian and I will convene at 11:00 am, and our panel will run from 11:30 to 1:00. Our topic: Carving Our Niche in the Blogosphere.

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And just in case you're wondering where exactly I'm off to, check out this double-sided, foldable guide to, well, everything else in Miami worth seeing over the next few days.