2011 December « ArtJetSet

Archive | December, 2011

Miami Art Fairs 2011 : Pulse Art

Pulse is one of my favorite fairs not only because of the consistent high level of quality art and galleries, but also for the gorgeous location and courtyard installations at the Ice Palace.

I loved Blythe Project‘s booth, with these fantastic vibrant abstraction paintings by Mark Schoering and an amazing neon light sculpture hanging in the center of the booth that really pulled together the entire focal motif of the space.

On the theme of layered vibrant coloured paintings, we saw Kristen Schiele at Freight&Volume, Johannes Giradoni at Tominson Kong, and this massive diptych of runway at night by Ingmar Alge at Kuckei&Kuckei.

Jason Gringler painting at Galerie Stefan Ropke, and this interesting hanging sculpture made of hundreds of little plastic planes by Teresa Diehl at Galerie Anita Beckers

Eye catching broad horizon photos, Matthew Brandt at M+B, and Simon Lee at Cristin Tierney.

On the attractive aesthetic side, beautiful drawn portrait at Zemack Contemporary. The video – photo- multimedia works by Nici Jost at Balzer Art Projects, this Swiss artist whose works ring a Pipilotti Rist meets Alice in Wonderland spin on seeing nature from a distorted miniature perspective. On the theme of miniatures, charmingly ironic salt shakers turned sand-timers with little figures inside by Alta Price & Jonah Koppel at Artware Editions.

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Categories Art Fairs, Pulse

Miami Art Fairs 2011 : NADA

4 Dec

NADA - New Art Dealers Alliance – Fair is always such a pleasure to attend. Of all the hotel based fairs, NADA does it right at the gorgeous deco Deauville Beach Resort. As opposed to maze like cubes and harsh fluorescent lights, NADA’s spiraling floor design and the lustrous chandeliers create a flowing path which is the most pleasurable way to navigate through any fair.

The art program is fun and edgy – New Art dealers assemble to bring forward the youngest and brightest new gallerists.

Loved this installation at American Contemporary Gallery, metallic paintings at Studio Voltaire.

Ryan Foerster at Ribordy Contemporary, series of paintings at Recess, Yamini Nayer photos at Thomas Erben Gallery.

Dynamic photo montages at Clifton Benevento by Martin Soto Climent, dark electric photos at Fitzroy Gallery.

John Hiltunen characateur montages at Creative Growth, the narrative book series at MKG127, painting by John Sparagana at Corbett vs Dempsey.

Best curated booths go to Curro & Poncho, and Cumulus Studio‘s installation.

Compellingly strange works at Kate Werble whose booth was wrapped in trash bags, Country Club, and Hole Gallery.

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Categories Art Fairs, NADA - New Art Dealers of America

Miami Art Fairs 2011: Scope

4 Dec

Scope Art Fair celebrated their 11th year anniversary with a logo redesign. Scope brands themselves as a progressive fair who invests heavily in encouraging the careers of emerging artists, exemplified in their initiatives like Artists Wanted (a collaboration to showcase new talent) as well as the in fair programs by Primary Flight (see Taco Stand below). Their new fluid linking logo is emblematic of these elements – motion, collaboration, and progress.

Hands down favorite booth at Scope was Heiner Contemporary with a booth dedicated to the work of artist Avery Lawrence. The narrative of youth, industry, nature and industriousness collide in this warmly domestic space. Lawrence works in a variety of media, including video, painting, self portrait photographer as well as creating this intricate wall paper exploring the disjuncture of contemporary man in constructed outdoor landscapes.

Beautiful landscape photos by Aleix Plademunt of chairs in landscape with the chairs also installed in the booth at Waltman Ortga. Beautiful assemblage of photos highlighting the many renown artists represented at Hamburg Kennedy. Loved these gorgeous little paintings of underwater swimming by Eric Zener offered in conjunction with his book of collected work.

Primary Flight, a Miami based multidisciplinary, multifaceted, experimental project space, presented Kenton Parker’s Taco Shop. This interactive space reminiscent of the shared cultural phenomena of late night street meat.

Kasia Kay Gallery had a great booth of big pop paintings. Patrajdas Contemporary gorgeous exploded sculptures of mythological figures by Kate Macdowell.

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Categories Art Fairs, Scope

Miami Art Fairs 2011 : OHWOW

3 Dec

OHWOW presented It Ain’t Fair: Materialism in a pop up tent in the Wynwood Design district.

OHWOW is collective that hosts events, pop up fairs, runs a magazine and different events representing a creative community of a variety of artists working in a range of media from photos, sculpture, mixed media, drawing and performance.

Amanda Ross-Ho,

Michael Genovese,

Nothing in the space was labeled – giving the whole space a united harmonious kind of feel. I especially liked the works by Michael Genovese, Aaron Young, Amanda Ross-Ho, and Daniel Arsham.

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Categories Alternative Spaces, Art Fairs

Miami Art Fairs 2011 – Verge and Ink Highlights

3 Dec

Ink Art Fair is a unique fair dedicated to contemporary work on paper. Inhabiting the surprisingly lovely Suites of Dorchester, the fair hosted 14 galleries on the ground level of the hotel.

Notable spaces included the installation of the Pace Gallery, and this Sangbim Im piece at Mary Ryan Gallery.

Verge Art Fair is an unconventional fair with a real DIY feel. The small rooms hosted either small galleries or single artists exhibiting their work privately. An exhibiting artist told me that when the Pool Art Fair got shut down due to incorrect permits, Verge took in some of the orphaned galleries. Where Verge loses some points for a marque seemingly made out of construction paper scotch-taped to the front of the building — they definitely gain some big karma points for supporting emerging artists and struggling fairs.

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Categories Art Fairs, Ink, Verge

Miami Art Fairs 2011 : Red Dot

3 Dec

The Red Dot Art Fair is a very decorative fair featuring around 50 different galleries, with a special selection of about a dozen galleries from Korea.

With an approachable variety of mid-ranged priced art works, there is something here to match any interior design tastes. My only complaint is that the shaky plywood floors brought a level of cheapness to the fair which diminished the overall look and value of the gallery booths.

Significant mention goes to Adamar Fine Arts with the wall of Warhol camouflage prints.

Nice variety of works from Art Company Misoolsidae of Seoul (paintings by Saya Da Jung)

Lovely vintage looking photographs at Artion Galleries by Courtney Garrett, and abstracted organic paintings by Suzan Woodruff at George Billis Gallery.

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Categories Art Fairs, Red Dot

Miami Art Fairs 2011: Aqua

3 Dec

As far as the Miami hotel based satellite fairs go, Aqua Miami has the most charm. Atrium was filled with installations and convivial seating area that made attending feel persuasively like an art fair rather than creeping through hotel windows.

Aqua showcased some very interesting West Coast galleries, and some attractive very street looking art.

Highlights included What it is Projects, from Oak Park IL I really liked this wall installation.

Galerie SAS had an amazing space, with a good mix of work especially these murdered ceramic sculptures by Laurent Craste.

Colourfully nostalgic sentimental photographs by Kelli Connell at Gallery 339.

The Pentimenti Gallery had an amazing program, featuring attractive approachable works. Mark Khaisman’s portraits were especially amazing, created with layers of tape on lightboxes.