The
thing one notices immediately about the Miami art fairs as opposed to
NY's (OK, besides the 80 degree weather) is that Miami has alot more
shows spread out over a much wider area (as in nearly $30 cab rides from
the east side shows to the west side shows). Nevertheless, we made said cab ride
over to the west for the Art Miami, Context and Miami Projects previews.
The large tent structures make for a lighter, airier feel as
one peruses the works. There were no major surprises at any of these
shows but quite a bit of solid, quality work by blue chippers (Wayne
Thiebaud painting for over 1 million $) to the unknowns, with plenty in
between. Someone not unknown to me was Wayne White at Marty Walker
Gallery from Dallas. White takes thrift store paintings and paints text
over them, from a single word to phrases. Not simply kitsch, his
rendering of the type is skilled and inviting. Another artist that I
hadn't seen in awhile was Mark Newport. I first saw his work at in NY
years ago and was attracted to it (via my geek side) because
of his use of comic book covers. He takes a section and knits fabric
through it, a style of work that was growing in popularity a few years
ago and it's good to see Newport staying the course. The rep from Greg
Kucera Gallery (Seattle) said Newport's work has been purchased by
several museums as of late.
Donald Baechler had several pieces on view including this delicious one below.
London graffitti artist Banksy had an ironic (intentionally?)
piece of 4 tagged walls at the Context show -- behind velvet ropes!! Yeah yeah the statement says it is "OUT OF
CONTEXT" and that the intent is to show the "debate about the ethics and importance of showing site -specific street art out of its original context" but does putting that in caps make putting a Banksy
graffitti piece behind velvet ropes any less bizarre? teetering on the pretentious?
Two eerie pieces displayed together (don't have gallery info)
were this painting by Zhang Peng of a birthday celebration gone
terribly wrong featuring a young girl brandishing a knife, with goldfish and
a birthday cake. Next to this was a life size mannequin (albeit with
large head) of Fidel Castro in suspended animation inside a Coca-Cola
refrigerator case.
Lyons Weir Gallery(NY) had thread portraits by Cayce Zevaglia, who
I've written about before in this blog. The photos attempt to do some
justice to these amazing pieces and her outstanding technique, patience, and artistry, but to fully grasp them you need to make an effort to see the work in person if possible.
This piece by
Yigal Ozeri at Mike Weiss Gallery (NY), oil on paper, 90x60", had us all
fooled. Pretty amazing stuff in the photorealism genre.
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