FAIR WEATHER: Geometry (Second of Two)

Miami Art Fairs, Art Basel Miami Beach, Aqua, Art Miami, Bridge, Pulse, Red Dot, Scope, Rubell Collection

Already posted:

FAIR WEATHER: Deal or No Deal

FAIR WEATHER: Prologue

FAIR WEATHER: Art Basel

FAIR WEATHER: The Containers

FAIR WEATHER: Art Miami

FAIR WEATHER: Art Imitates Art

FAIR WEATHER: Pulse

FAIR WEATHER: Trends and Coincidences-Animals

FAIR WEATHER: Trends and Coincidences-Cut Paper

FAIR WEATHER: Trends and Coincidences-Looms with a View

FAIR WEATHER: Aqua Hotel

FAIR WEATHER: Aqua Wynwood

FAIR WEATHER: Trends and Coincidences-Stacks and Bales

FAIR WEATHER: Trends and Coincidences-Giants

FAIR WEATHER: Trends and Coincidences-Manual Labor

FAIR WEATHER: Scope

FAIR WEATHER: Red Dot

FAIR WEATHER: Bridge, Both Locations

FAIR WEATHER: Trends and Coincidences-Suspense
FAIR WEATHER: Trends and Coincidences-"We Are the Borg"
FAIR WEATHER: Geometry (First of Two)

ABMB: Sarah Morris at Capitan/Petzel, above,

and at White Cube, London, below

It wouldn't be Art Basel Miami Beach if the crystalline compositons of Sarah Morris were not on exhibition. These are splendid paintings! Made with household gloss on canvas, they are typically shown on an outside wall and they stop you in your tracks.

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With Morris thus setting the scene, there was a range of geometry--not just angles but curves, as flat pattern, or with a suggestion of depth, or with actual dimension. One surprise was the degree of decorative pattern, which I'll talk about more when we get to that section of the post.

ABMB: Heimo Zobernig at Galeria Juana de Aizpuru, Madrid




Scope: Ted Larsen's two- and three-dimensional geometry at Pan American Projects, Dallas and Miami

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Art Miami: Merrill Wagner at Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York and elsewhere

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ABMB: Odili Donald Odita at Jack Shainman, New York

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ABMB: Gert and Uwe Tobias, Team Gallery, New York

. Art Miami: Amy Ellingson at Charles Cowles, New York

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I'm not focusing on materials in these posts because keeping track of the information is more than I can do, but a few mediums stand out. Ellingson's paintings are encaustic, noteworthy because the substantiveness of the medium creates a dimensionality that complements the deep visual space of her compositions.

David Poppie's work, below, is a mosaic made from Prismacolor pencils sliced lengthwise. (His pencil-point mosaic opened the Pulse post.)

Pulse: David Poppie at Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York

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In the fairs this year, there was a whole set of geometric expression that refered directly to pattern and decoration, and to textiles. For instance, Philip Taaffe's paintings, one of which is shown below, channel tie dye, stained glass, and the Alhambra; Delson Uchoa's unstretched painting referenced tapestries, or more specifically, Colonial floorcloths (the poor-person's "carpet"); and several other artists seem to have incorporated Amish quilt patterns. Interestingly, all of this decorative geometry was made by men.

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ABMB: Philip Taaffe at Jablonska Galerie, Berlin

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ABMB: Jorge Pardo at Capitain/Peztel

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Scope: Jacob Ouillette at Dean Project, New York

ABMB: Delson Uchoa at Galeria Brito Cimino, Sao Paolo

Channeling the Amish "pinwheel" pattern: The ubiquitous Heimo Zobernig at Capitain Petzel, above, and Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, below

Aqua Hotel: Matthew Rich at OH+T Gallery, Boston

From textile-referenced patterns, there's an easy flow to geometry in which curvilinear elements prevail, sometimes within the matrix of a grid.

ABMB: Bridget Riley at Pace Wildenstein, New York and elsewhere

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Art Miami: Charles Arnoldi at Modernism, San Francisco

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ABMB: Gabriel Orozco at Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris

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Pulse: Linda Besemer acrylic painting at Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, California

ABMB: Jessica Stockholder sculpture and Chris Martin painting at Mitchell-Innes and Nash, New York
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Pulse: Ronnie Hughes colored-pencil drawings at Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, with one work from the grouping, below:

Red Dot: Julie Gross gouache-on-Mylar paintings at Eo Art Lab, Chester, Connecticut

Pulse: Four views of Leo Villareal's ever-changing light sculpture at Conner Contemporary Art, Washington, D.C.

ABMB: Beatriz Milhazes prints at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London

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