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

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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

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The paint-stick painting, below

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

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

Closeup below

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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

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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

ABMB: The ever-handy Mike Kelly leads us into the craft portion of this post with his yarn animal, Manly Craft, 1989; at Skarstedt, New York

Image below shows you the scale

Scope: And since we're talking crafty, fingerpainting!

Morten Viskum how-to video and wall of work (which, actually, I like); at Son Espace, Palafrugell, Spain

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Scope: The knitting booth; at a.m.f Projects, Miami. A last minute-entry to fill up booth space, perhaps?

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Next up: The last post, The Wrap-Up Awards