Joanne Mattera Art Blog: December 2009

So how do you wrap up 22 posts about 11 fairs--plus a private collection and a guerrilla event-- representing some 1000 galleries and well over 10,000 artists? With an Awards post, of course. Here are my 20 picks:

1. Oddest Premise for an Artwork: The Picasso Sandwich

Tibi Tibi Neuspiel's toast of cast and painted wax, Narwhal Art Projects, Toronto; at Aqua

It's worth noting that "Picasso sandwich" for the Spanish painter would likely have been him pressed between his wife and his mistress

2. Most Outrageous Premise for a Miami Art Event: Art Burn

The Wynwood guerilla grill-a-thon presided over by El Celso in the parking lot of Las Tias resale store. There were marshmallows to toast, but given the black smoke coming from some of those art materials, uh, none for me, thanks. And, really, what's more fun than warming yourself by the fire when it's 85 degrees? I think we were all surprised that the varnished frames didn't blow up and that the fire department didn't show up. A good time was had by all. Really.
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3. Oddest Juxtaposition of Art and Venue: NADA

Those chandeliers in the ballroom of the Deauville Hotel are too imposing for irony, too chichi for elegance--a style of decor my late Italian-American father would have called "neo-greaseball." .

4. Most All-over Coverage of an Allotted Exhibition Space

Minimalism be damned.
A tie between the booth at Claudie Groeflin Gallerie at NADA, above, and the booth at Fountain, below
Extra points for the Groeflin Gallerie staff shown here for ignoring everyone who entered their booth
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5. The Tony Manero Award for Best Use of a Disco Shirt Pattern
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And I mean that sincerely. I dig this painting by Geoffrey Todd Smith, at Western Exhibitions, Chicago. Bonus points for the way the carpet matches, um, the drapes.

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6. Best-Ever Use of Castoffs
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Portia Munson's green vitrine at PPOW, Pulse.

Beats a shark in a tank any day
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With special mention to:
Ulla von Brandenberg, left; at Pilar Corrias, London; and Cordy Ryman, DCKT, New York
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And hosannas to the international master, El Anatsui, below, at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; at ABMB

7. Creepiest Painting
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And it's a tie!

Alison Schulnick at Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, left; and artist unknown, at Charlie Smith Gallery, London; both at Pulse

But, hey, you be the judge. Which do you think deserves top honors?
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8. Creepiest Coincidence
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Above, Maria Jose Arjona, Affirmations, at Galerie Anita Beckers; Pulse

It hurt just to look at her. The artist was standing on six glasses, each half filled with water and goldfish. Someone reported that she had been standing on blocks of ice with screws embedded in them, and that as the ice melted the screws dug into the soles of her feet. Now that's positively Opus Dei--and would certainly have made her the clear winner in Marina Abramovic Endurance category
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Below, Maurizio Cattelan, La Rivoluzione Siamo Noi (We Are the Revolution), at the Rubell Collection show, Beg, Borrow and Steal.

That's the diminutive artist hanging by his jacket. Well, it's not actually him. But you knew that

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9. Best Coincidence

Holey, golden and undulating: There's probably an S&M act for that description, but I'm referring to the works here; both at NADA

.Above, Ricardo Rendon's perforated felt sculpture at Mitterand + Sanz, Zurich

Below, Hilary Berseth's engineered beehive at Eleven Rivington, New York

10. The Artwork Most Likely to Induce Seizure

Don't scroll too fast: Your retinas could detach!

Detail above of the painting by Philip Taaffe, at the Rubell's Beg, Borrow and Steal
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Full view, below

Special mention to Garth Weiser, Flying J, left, also at the Rubell Collection; and Caetano de Almeida, Distrito 4, Madrid

11. The Barilla-Buitoni Award for Most Unexpected Use of a Pasta Accessory

Haim Steinbach, Untitled, gallery unknown, at ABMB
(Hey, I have a red one, too. But my untitled is bigger than his untitled.)
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12. Most Gruesomely Creepy

. There's no blood, and the artist is a master with the use of wax, but this is one creepily cadaverous object, views above and below

Berlinde de Brucyker, at Galleria Continua, San Gimignano

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13. Most Poignantly Unironic
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. Unless the batteries on my bullshit detector are dead, this was a touching and honest sentiment in a booth that was otherwise full of amusing illuminated puns and one-liners, at the Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles; NADA
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14. Best Unintentional Review of a Show by an Artwork in It
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.Adam McEwen at the Rubell Collection's, Beg, Borrow and Steal
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Well, I was not not very disappointed,
but I wasn't bowled over by the show, whose theme was appropriated and reused materials.

The concept was spot on, though, as the current that ran through all the fairs, and I've included images of some of the works in several posts, including here. I do appeciate the generosity of Mera and Don Rubell, who opened their doors to the public (for free)
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15. The I'll-Have-15,000-Cups-and-a-Very-Large-Pot-of-Hot-Water-Please Award
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. One of the works I did love at the Rubell collection was Ai Wei Wei's minimalist block...of tea
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16. Best Reason for Going to Verge

Young artist Zach Storm was in residence, drawing his first-time impressions of the fair, at the Judi Rotenberg Gallery, Boston. "In residence" means he was not only working there; he was sleeping there at night
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17. The Build-Me-Up-Tear-Me-Down Award
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Build me up: Maximo Gonzalez, at Galeria Valle Orti, Valencia, Spain; at Pulse .
Tear me down: Twenty Twenty, Miami; at NADA
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Are these really award-worthy installations? Not really, but their odd symmetry deserves visual mention

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18. The OMG Award for the Most Fabulously Obsessive Use of an X-Acto

.I. Love. It.

Jill Sylvia's handcut ledger paper, at Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco; at Aqua

I'm guessing Ponzi schemer Madoff might have considered something similar for his own books

Detail below

19. Joan Mitchell Memorial Plaque for the Best Use of Paint to Cover Graffiti on an Exterior Urban Wall

How fabulous is this? I photographed it just off of N. Miami Avenue as I was walking from Scope to Artburn
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20. Most Likely to Have Been Thrown Out By the Janitors
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An unheard-of four-way tie! All at ABMB
If Joseph Beuys's Fettecke, five pounds of butter applied to a wall, could have been thrown out by an overzealous janitor in 1980s Dusseldorf, it's entirely possible that these trasheriffic pieces could have met the same fate
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Above, Pablo Cabrita Reis, Door as Table as Door, vise and found door; at Galerie Nelson-Freeman, Paris

Below, Ruben Ochoa palettes, at Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles

.Wait: There's more!

Above, Rivane Neuschwander, Involuntary Sculptures, a mixed-media collection of objects made by diffrent people during conversations; at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
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Below, Ryan Gander,
Remnants of Theo and Piet's fall from 1924, through the Avery Coonley playhouse window, during the struggle brought on by an argument over the dynamic aspect of the diagonal line, into this white room, 2009, at Lisson Gallery, London
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Apparently the work crumbled under the weight of its title
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That's it from Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. And now I'm going to take the rest of the year off.

12.29.2009

Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Reused, Recycled, Repurposed, and Just Plain Crafty

Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:
. Pulling a Thread
. Blanc et Noir
. Working the Angles
. A Little Peek at The Geometry of the Next Post
. House and Home
. Bourgeois, Benglis and Wilke
. Mano a Mano
. The Pretenders
. 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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Reused? Recycled? Repurposed? The spirit of Mario Merz and Arte Povera was all over these works like, well, a cheap suit. I wrote about the trend of trolling for trash in my report from the Armory Fair last spring, Salvage Operation, and of course I was neither the first nor the only one to do so. At the various fairs and in the Chelsea galleries there was a lot of junk turned into art, or perhaps just a lot of high-priced junk.

The Rubell Family Collection devoted its entire winter show to the subject, Beg, Borrow and Steal , which included not only art from junk, but art from other art (appropriation was a big theme). I wasn’t particularly impressed by the show, though there were a few pieces that resonated for me, and I’ve borrowed them for several posts, including this one.

Jim Lambie, Tangerine Dream, mattress and paint; at the Rubell Family Collection

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Arte Povera--literally, "poor art," art made from recycled stuff (often by poor artists)-- is nothing new. Especially now, when art school tuition is so high and the economy is still trailing the Dow. Especially for young artists who are sharing studio space and sleeping on futons. Why pay 100 bucks for a gallon of good-quality gesso and several hundred to stretch a decent-size linen canvas (to say nothing of the thousands it cost for a selection of good oils and brushes) when you can spray paint a rug or make a drawing pieced together from the trash you find on the Lower East Side? No value judgment--I like much of what I’m showing you—but it does get its own category here. And since I have no idea the ages of the artists I'm showing you, the povera here most certainly crosses the boundaries of age and financial situation into esthetic. True to the anything-goes theme, I’ve tossed a lot of stuff into this post.

Pulse: M.K. Guth's remade sculpture; at Elizabeth Leech Gallery, Portland
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Pulse: Dinh Q. Le, I Am Large. I Contain Multitudes, 2009, bicycle and mirrors; also at Elizabeth Leech
(Background right, photographs by the artist; left, work by Michael Lazarus)
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ABMB: My eyes said "Kounellis" but the wall label said David Renggli; on the floor, Pierre Ardouvin; at Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris

ABMB: Chris Martin, Immortality, mixed media collage on canvas; at Mitchell-Innes and Nash, New York
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ABMB: Andrew Kerr, Untitled, 2009, wax crayon on foam; at BQ Gallery, Berlin
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Richard Hawkins, work from his Flag series; at The Rubell Family Collection
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Pulse: Portia Munson's junk in a tank; at PPOW, New York
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Pulse: Mark Wagner's reworked dollar bills; at Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York

So is the message about interest rates or a suggestion to give into temptation and buy the piece already? I take back what I said about cheap materials; those one dollar bills add up when they're cut up
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Aqua: Jason Rolfe, painting on mechanic's cloth; at Kathryn Markel, New York
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Pulse: David Poppie, Big Bang, mosaic of colored pencils; at Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York
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Detail below

Pulse: Cordy Ryman had a wall devoted to his witty and modest-size sculptures, all made from what look to be construction-site castoffs; at Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica

The paint-stick painting, below

ABMB: Ulla von Brandenberg, Dieu Exist, 13-part installation; at Pilar Corrias Gallery, London
Detail below

ABMB: One more installation wall. Here, Fergus Feehily's little constructions; at Green on Red Gallery, Dublin

Closeup below

Pulse: Brian Dettmer, Encapsulated Post Script (True Crime), paperback books; at Packer Schopf, Chicago
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Pulse: Paul Villinski's spirited metaphor of flight and ascendancy--a harbinger of the new year, perhaops?--made from found cans and other materials; at Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York

Detail below
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ABMB: Nari Ward's kabobed footwear, skewered on sword and machete; at Lehman Maupin Gallery, New York

Detail below

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Pulse: Miguel Monroy's stacked irons and Alex Ballan's rolled shoes; at Perugi Arte Contemporanea, Padua

NADA: Dario Escobar, Obverse and Reverse, remade soccer balls; at Josee Bienvenu, New York
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Pulse: Terese Diehl's stitched-back-together cabinet; at Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt

Detail below
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NADA: All you Loisaida residents, recognize this? It's a map of the area around Delancy. I assume this is where the materials for its making were picked up (see the little hand-draw map in the upper left?). I think the artist is Tom Fruin

Below: Installation at Y Gallery, New York