Choice New Artist: Hernan Bas

Hernan BAS is a Miami-based artist who had a recent show at the Brooklyn art museum and one of my current favs. Although I missed the show, the 31-year-old artist focuses on homoerotic themes with most paintings featuring shirtless young men. The Times had issues with his recent show at Brooklyn, pointing out his immaturity and also the questionable relationship/interests between the Rubell Family and the Museum. 


Interview from Brooklyn Museum
Review  from the NYT of his recent show at Brooklyn
Link to Artnet 

Bauhaus at MoMA

The top floor of MoMA has an amazing retrospective of the school of Bauhaus. The show is a comprehensive look at some of the ideas and pieces that came out of the 13-year, German-based school.  More info can be found here and here.

Marcel Breuer Children's Table and Chairs 1923

 

Marcel Breuer Cradle 1923

Walter Gropius Newspaper Shelf 1923

 

Marcel Breuer Table and Chairs for Kandinsky

Art Basel Miami Beach - Day Three Pictures and Links

Pictures and links from Art Basel Miami Beach

 

http://www.daisuketakeya.com/

 

 

http://www.bridgettemayergallery.com/

 

http://darya.carbonmade.com/

 

http://www.louise-alexander.com/

http://www.louise-alexander.com/

 

http://www.susaneleyfineart.com/

 

http://www.salustiano.com/

 

http://www.urbanplough.com/

Art Basel Miami Beach - Day Three.... The Last Day

This was it! I had to hit the remaining fairs on the mainland in approximately 5.5 hours. I already knew I was going to miss the fairs near the convention center – Verge and Pool – which was an upsetting compromise. I started the day early as I planed to be at Scope by 11 when it opened. This proved to be the smartest move as the rest of Miami cured the hangover of the night before; we had the whole place to ourselves. The art here was amazing and is probably a close second to Pulse. One of the first highlights was Phillip Toledano’s politically charged everyday items. Based on Guantanamo Bay, majority of pieces (boobleheads, cookie jars and snow globes) were sculptures of hooded, naked prisoners – very disturbing. Another intriguing selection were several cake sculptures, including a giant cake with a massive sword in the middle as well as other cakes with disturbing backwards words like “Murder” that could only be read in a mirror. There were no signs in the space, so I have no idea who the artist was or the gallery representing them. Other Scope highlights were Cara Ober’s small drawings of pop references with inappropriate sayings – figures included Jesus with the words “object of terror and delight” and Mr. Rogers with the words “I wanna feel you sweat. You’re so very wet”. Another highlight was Daisuke Takeya’s beautiful landscape pictures which featured a huge sky and with miniscule landscape.

Next up was Aqua, a smaller fair with some interesting pieces. I’ve come to love the SVA gallery and the work that is coming out of the institution. This year it was Darya Golubina’s paintings that caught my attention (plus the $800 price tag was easy on the eyes) also Gregg Louis’s video piece caught my attention.

LA-based Another Year in LA had great works by Stephen Kaltenbach, a peer of Nauman who seemed to create work that dealt with a lot of the same issues and ideas. The Nursery was another highlight – especially the children of the world. Also at Aqua were two Philadelphia galleries that had great photographs. Edward McHugh had very dreamy photographs that were of the waterfront and seemed like a dreary day void of any human activity. The other gallery had Paul Oberst’s photographs of three men painted in a zebra pattern in different positions. I am not sure why I liked the work but it had a tribal/animalistic vibe that appealed to me, especially since all the men were naked and again you could not tell their race.

At Art Miami I fell in love with Chul-Hyuan Ahn’s sculptures that used light and mirrors to create infinite landscapes both to hang on the wall or as floor sculpture or fabulous, very expensive coffee table. The pieces were in the $10,000 to $30,000 range but were very playful, especially the roller coaster inspired smaller pieces. Oddly, both Ahn and Navarro create similar works, but I don’t believe have ever collaborated. Also, Paris-based Louise Alexander and Ilan Engel Gallery had a great wall sculpture of a battered Jesus-like Superman bleeding gold as well as beautiful, mystical photographs by Salime Pigalle that melted the world or art, fantasy and theater with an animal-like quality; it managed to be hard and soft at the same time – wish I had an extra $9,000 for one of these.

Kim Luttrell’s “Without Confidence, Dollars Are Nothing More Than Green Colored Paper” was a beautiful piece made of free color samples from Home Depot. It had a great texture and spoke to the value of money since the medium is free. Salustiano’s three red pieces stopped me in tracks. The rich, gorgeous bright red reminded me of Walead Beshty’s current photographs at MoMA. These two pieces have enriched my appreciation for pure color. The red sweater on the (fairly sexy) man below made the color pop even more and I just wanted to wrap myself up in it in that delectable, luscious cherry.

Finally, the urban planner in me was pulled into Matthew Moore’s “Rotations: Moore Estates, 5” a large photograph of a mock suburban housing development made from wheat and sorghum. The realism of the plan highlighted the ridiculous patterns in which we design and build our communities.

I wanted to see Jordan Donner at 101/Exhibit and also Photo Miami, but didn’t have time (plus someone at the table next to us at lunch said Photo wasn’t worth it due to its very small size this year). I also am very disappointed I didn’t make to Verge, the new Bridge Art Fair. The parking and traffic seemed to be crazier this year then last and I clearly cannot do it all in three days – next year I will need at least four days. And there definitely will be a next year as I was reminded this is one of the best weekends of the year – the city becomes alive and both an international crowd and the locals are thriving off the energy of the fairs.

Day Two

Day two started late (that’s what happens after you are up for 20 hours). I started at Art Basel at noon when it opened. Where to begin? There were so many amazing new pieces, albeit among played-out yet highly regarded works.  I was looking forward to John Bladessari’s ABC Art. A massive piece (with an equally massive six-figure price tag) that was beautifully and playfully executed. Mixografia, an LA-based gallery, dedicated almost all of their space to John’s work as well as other established LA-based artists.  Speaking of LA, I made a stop by Regen Projects, but wished they had brought better pieces – was dying to see Doug Aitken’s “Start Swimming”, one of my favorite of Aitkens.  One of the other major trends was optical illusions with mirrors, holograms and other 3-D tricks played out on both canvases and in sculpture. Iván Navarro’s piece Ocio (below) was very similar to his “Bed” sculpture at the Venice Biennale. London-based White Cube brought the big guns this year with incredible pieces include one of my other favorites- Andres Gursky’s new Dubai photographs. Another London-based gallery had beautiful large portrait and landscape prints by Daisuke Takeya. 

Still at the main space, Mexican-based Jose Davila had a fantastic Donald Judd- inspired piece. I am not sure if it was a pun or an homage to the artists but it was great to see a classic Judd which is historically made with industrial materials made with reclaimed cardboard boxes. I also loved Jonathan Monk's deflated Koon’s-inspired Rabbit as well as a new Mike Kelley that was a bejeweled mess – consumerism at its worst. I also had to stop by Gemini, which has fantastic Bruce Nauman prints I am dying for (none were part of their show this year). They have newly created Frank Gehry sketches in editions of 35 that were all under $2,000 and are on my Christmas list – especially the Beekman Street tower, now rising in lower Manhattan. Excited to hear the gallery has opened a New York outpost in 980 Madison.

We then rushed to Nada, this year all the way up at 67^th and Collins – totally off the beaten path and if I say so myself a goddamn cluster fuck. The hotel could not handle the influx of international hipster madness descending in this predominantly orthodox neighborhood. The show was just ok, there was a great Diet Coke sculpture by Tony Tasset and some fantastic pictures by Joel Ross – both represented by Chicago-based galleries.  It was great to see the Joel Ross photographs, who makes sculptural signs and then photographs them in landscapes where they don’t belong. It was worth the trip to learn about Ross, but the hassle of getting to and parking for the show was a lot to handle.

That night was “classic” Basel parties and what makes Miami known as the party art fair town.  First we stopped by the Pulse VIP party at the Gansevoort, which was not a good crowd and they were only serving Campari free (which taste horrible), so we rolled down beach to the Wolfsonian party.  This was the best move we made all evening. I was struck by Benny Chan’s massive photographs of Los Angeles freeways clogged with traffic in the main space.  These pictures plus the mixed crowd provided for a great way to get the night started, especially when Leslie and the Ly’s took stage. As I said in an earlier post, the best thing about this party was the crowd – it was the most eclectic party of the weekend, with plenty of cute gay boys in attendance. The show was great, but we couldn’t stay as we had friends to meet at the Viceroy party – which was fun but not worth mentioning. Ended up in Little Havana, which is a whole other story of Latin gay culture. Got to bed at 2am. Day 3/final day coming soon and it was a good one, even in the rain!

Art Basel Recap: Day 1

Day 1: 

For this year’s annual Art Basel in Miami Beach, I allotted approximately three days (to be precise 56 hours) and I felt like I was running the whole time. Besides the main exhibit, I only made it to five other fairs – Pulse, Scope, Aqua, Art Miami and Art Viceroy. The main issue this year was the distance between each venue and also not enough strategic preplanning on my part. Cutting right to the chase – Pulse was by far the best side fair outside the main exhibit, which in itself was also a great show. There were three repeating themes this year – vagina, live fish and receipts.

Let’s start with Pulse; the venue was great with many interesting and exciting pieces. In hindsight, I wish I had spent more time at that show (which I went to twice in one day but still wasn’t enough).  Airan Kang’s amazing illuminated and pixilated stack of books was fresh and enticing. The work was shown both in traditional, horizontal stacks as well as vertical stacks (below). Another great and affordable piece was Jennifer Vasher’s “Prevacid and Friends”, sculptures made from different kinds of pills. This medium is not new in contemporary art, but her smaller sculptures priced at $280 seemed like a steal. Also not a new concept, but still impressive was Cecilia Paredes’ “Art Nouveau” pictures (below) which had painted woman blending into the background of beautiful royal wallpaper.  The pictures brought up a lot of questions about race for me; especially in the picture below where the woman’s race in unclear and also the gold paint on her body brought up references of tribal rituals using body paint to express themselves.  Another highlight was suicidal Mickey, unfortunately I did not get the artist or gallery’s name, so I will research to see who it was. In the middle of the booth hung a smiling Mickey Mouse with a big noose tied around his neck and wrapped around the rafters of the ceiling of the Ice Palace. It had many cultural references for me, especially coming from Vasher’s pill sculptures to this. The sculpture forced me to really focus on the idea of happiness expressed by the cultural icon of Mickey Mouse and Disney. It was the best juxtaposition, especially since the artists left Mickey with a great big smile. 

Next up was a guided tour of the Art Viceroy, an interesting collection of curated-spaces on a residential floor above the Viceroy Hotel.  Getting a guided-tour was great (thank you MoMA Junior Associates) and we got to meet some great artists. Some of the highlights included Jeannie Weissglass’ drawings which were wild and seemed out of control but then would allow for detailed images in the voids including birds and a side human profile. In the same space was beautifully crafted NY Times articles that somehow could be altered by the heat of a human hand. The articles were set in the future and the artist engaged actual Times writers and a psychic to help craft the stories. The spaces themselves were amazing with panoramic views of the city and the bay – quite a distraction from the art. Other great pieces were from Brooklyn-based gallery Hogar Collection who showed Peter Fox’s highly textured paintings that were both chaotic yet very controlled at the same time. Some of the other spaces were a miss, but one of the great finds was Rupert Ravens – who have a huge 30,000 square foot gallery space in Newark. Their space in the Viceroy featured very intriguing artists, including Rich Wislocky, Gae Savannah, Eric Michel, Charles McGill and Adam Brown. There are several other New York-based galleries that are on my short list for after the holidays (pre-Armory Show).

At night we were able to hit Nocturne at Design Miami – a show I always attend, but have not blown away by the past two years. In 2007, the fair seemed to bridge the gap between art and furniture. This year proved to be the same as last – nothing blew me away, not even the Swarovski booth, which was over-the-top but reminded me of an unembellished windshield screen used to block the sun in a parked car.

Also on the first day I mad it to the MAM reception. I was excited to see the museum as I know Herzog & deMeuron are designing the new space for the Miami Art Museum. The show was great. One of the pieces I loved was William Anastai’s “One gallon high-gloss enamel paint, poured”, 2006. It was black paint spilled down the wall to form a puddle on the gallery floor - simple yet elegant. Charles Ray's Ink Box from 1986 was also a nice surprise. The show on the upper level was Guillermo Kuitca’s work, the only pieces I really loved were dark paintings that told even darker stories. It reminded me of Francis Bacon and all the dark, disturbing paintings he created to reflect dark moments in his life.

Day Two to come shortly.

Links –

Airan Kang - http://www.brycewolkowitz.com/www/

Jennifer Vasher - http://www.levygallery.com/

Cecilia Paredes - http://www.ceciliaparedes.com/

Jeannie Weissglass - http://jeannieweissglass.com/

Hogar Collection - http://www.hogarcollection.com/

Ethan Cohen Fine Arts - http://www.ecfa.com/site/main.php

Rupert Ravens- http://www.rupertravens.net/

Miami Museum of Art - http://www.miamiartmuseum.org/

More info on MAM's current exhibition - 
http://www.artlurker.com/2009/11/it%E2%80%99s-about-time-and-space-space-is-medium-at-mam/

Art Basel Miami Beach - Wolfsonian Recap

Needless to say, three days was not enough time to take in all of this year's Art Basel Miami Beach. One of the highlights was outside of the tents. Although I would never admit I go for the parties, the Wolfsonian reception on Friday reminded me that the host city is the reason I love going to Miami Beach every December. Already a lover of the city and having been there numerous times, the city elevates the energy of the fairs and the chaotic scramble to see as much art as possible while driving around this oceanside beauty.  Although some of the events are not as hyped as the press might report, this year's Wolfsonian party was fantastic. The crowd was a great mix of both locals and international tourists and everone was excited when Leslie and the Ly's took stage. Although, I was not familiar with the band, I am so excited I was able to see them. They totally raised the energy of the reception and were a great start to Friday night. More info on the band can be found here and here.

  

Even a jaded New Yorker can appreciate how alive Miami is for this weekend in December. A recap on day 1 is coming shortly.

19 fairs : 3 days

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Sculpture Center, LIC

A Voyage of Growth and Discovery  

http://sculpture-center.org/exhibitionsExhibition.htm?id=60144 

With 30 minutes to spare on Sunday night, I rushed to the Sculpture Center to see Mike Kelley and Michael Smith's video/sculpture installation in the main space as well as In Practice Fall '09 . I didn't have time to stay and absorb the video, which showed Kelley's Baby IKKI at Burning Man. But I was pleasantly surprised to see it was Kelley, who I've been seeing a lot more of and therefore trying to learn more about.  This exhibit, however, left me questioning what the hell was going on as the massive interactive sculpture - including steel, stuffed animals as well as the huge screens on which the video was shown - did fill the overpowering space that is the main floor of Sculpture Center. I felt dissapointed and left wanting more. It wasn't until after I left that I realized how well executed the project was, with its architectural references and Burning Man-mock aesthetic. It closed on Sunday, which is why I rushed there, wish I had more time to see more of the (2.5 hour) film and also to embrace both the drug-induced and playground-like atmosphere of the space. 

When I wondered downstairs (one of the best gallery spaces in all of New York), I found the show on this floor, In Practice Projects, also underwhelming. The only exception was Jason Kraus, who used his piece, "Making a Mold", not only to reference the industrial history of the space but also surprised the viewer with sculpture, noise and video. Seems hard to find any info on Kraus except for this info from a galley in LA.

In hindsight, I am glad I ran in, but sad I did not have more time to experience the Kelley/Smith piece and to spend more time on the lower level. 

Next on the LIC scene is Dean Project's Opening and Holiday Party December 12th - more info can be found here.

 

Choice New Find : Alex DaCorte

This Philadelphia-based artist's current piece at PS 1 "Soda Pop Painting No. 2" caught my attention but it wasn't until I realized it was soda on the floor of the gallery that I became really intrigued. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. The bright and dark colors covered more then half of the gallery floor in a totally random pattern. The thick consistency of the medium (thanks to Vaseline, I think) made me nauseous in a good way and all I could think of was high fructose syrup and cavities. The best color was yellow, which totally threw me, but which I'm now convinced was Mountain Dew - it was great. 

His website only links to 14 of his works - but they leave me wanting more of both his photographs as well as his beautiful, detailed and slightly disturbing sculptures.

His website is  here or you can see a video about his work here.

I Love You So Much It Makes Me Sick, 2007

Birdland, 2009