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12.18.2008

FAIR WEATHER: Trends and Coincidences-Suspense

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


While not great in number, the suspended sculptures I saw were varied and interesting. I wish I had seen the installation of Pae White's cascade and Jacob Hashimoto's tiny ammassed parasols. Art is a challenge to make and can be more of a challenge to transport and install.



ABMB: Galleria Francesca Kaufman, Milan, with Pae White's magical cascade
Detail below




Art Miami: Cifo Foundation exhibition in the New Media area, with Madgalena Fernandez's light and video room



ABMB: At Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Miroslaw Balka's, er, soap on a rope
Detail below






ABMB: At Mary Boone Gallery, Jacob Hashimoto's joyous multilevel, multilayer construction with hundreds of tiny parasols suspended between horizontal pegs.
(At first you think of those little things that come with tropical drinks, but the geometry of the elements and the sheer complexity of the structure quickly dispel any connection to the Tiki Tiki Lounge.)


4 comments:

laurencepr said...

I don't know about you but I'm getting sick of all the copycat art I see at different fairs and galleries.
Most prominent is the repetitive object pieces, the Tara Donovan knockoffs.
How much creativity does it take to string bars of soap, or stick little umbrellas on a background or for that matter take a hundred or a thousand of anything and put it together on a background.

Larry Dell

Joanne Mattera said...

Larry,

Your comment reminds me of a story about Barnett Newman (told in the wonderful film about him that accompanied a huge show of his work a few years ago at the Philadelphia Museum). I'm giving you the gist, not the verbatim:

Someone says, "I saw Newman's new paintings. They're all the same."

The friend said, "You mean they're all the same color?"
"Mo"

"Then they're all the same size?"
"No"

"They're all the same proportion?"
"No"

"They're all the same composition?"
"No"

"Well, then I guess they're not all the same."

Choosing which things to amass, how to amass them, how to present them all involve creative decisions. Tara Donovan, while a genius at what she does, is not the first artist to use commonplace materials nor will she be the last.

As for Jacob Hashimoto, the umbrella-sculpture guy, here's a great video of him working: http://www.studiolacitta.it/Assets/Video/Jacob2006/jacob.html

laurencepr said...

Joanne,
Several differences btw what Newman was doing and the trend I mentioned.1-Newman's work evolved within the context of powerful movement, Abstract Expressionism. 2-He was breaking new ground. 3-His work was breaking new ground and stretching the definition of expression painting. The Tara Donovan like work I see, has none of those qualities. A lot of it is young artists looking too many art magazines and doing what's hot.

Larry

Joanne Mattera said...

Larry,

I was responding specifically to your comment about the little umbrellas (re Jacob Hashimoto's work, which I find to be a unique combination of culture, craft and art), and generally to your comment about amassing "a hundred or thousand of anything."

I don't disagree with you about the problem of copycatting. I did a post about it a while back, and it got quite a bit of response--apparently I wasn't alone in my experience.

On the other hand, Donovan doesn't hold the patent on amassing materials. Before she did her undulating floor of cups, Maya Lin did her undulating lawn using the earth itself.

An interesting topic.