art can still captivate...says Economist writer Jessica Gallucci

Art Basel Miami diary
Swoon

Dec 19th 2007
From Economist.com
Even amidst the throngs, art can still captivate

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday

Wednesday

AFTER my evening stroll through a deserted Art Basel, I drove to the Raleigh hotel, where Deitch Projects put on an evening of outdoor performances. A fully-rigged stage had been erected in the sandy beachfront area, flanked by palm trees and tiki torches. A VIP audience was seated at linen-covered tables. I hovered near the entrance, hoping to glimpse a friend who was to perform with The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, a legendary New York-based glam-punk band led by Kembra Pfahler, a performance artist.

When I arrived the stage was empty, and a scratchy, pulsing techno beat was playing over the speakers. The sound quality was horrendous. I was standing near the production tent, so I questioned the man at the controls. He replied that it was purposeful: the music was being played at full volume through the headphone jack of a stereo system. But why, if it sounds so terrible? He shrugged: “Because it's Art Basel.”
by Glowlab Swoon-worthy

Thankfully, a lovely band called CocoRosie soon took the stage, and filled the air with harp music and clear, haunting vocals. Then a group of women, painted head-to-toe in brilliant shades of blue, red, yellow and pink tottered onstage in thigh-high boots and enormous black wigs. These were the Girls of Karen Black. Over the next half-hour, they stomped and shimmied through an elaborately choreographed set during which Ms Pfahler was mauled by an enormous wooden shark, drowned in a cardboard sea and ensnared in an oversized animal trap—all without putting down the microphone. I thought I recognised my friend, in yellow, at stage left, but I couldn't be certain.

Today, somewhat bleary-eyed, I'm visiting the Fountain Art Fair: probably the scrappiest of all the alternative art-fairs in Miami this week. Named after Marcel Duchamp's famous ready-made work of the same title, Fountain is unjuried and unsponsored—just a band of smallish galleries from Brooklyn displaying their wares together. They have set up shop in a decrepit warehouse around the corner from the Rubell Collection, a destination gallery with limousines parked outside. When I visit, a county fire inspector is touring the space, eyeing the ceilings.

In the front room, a motorised bike whirs in place, powering a contraption that spins a rubber chicken in circles, thwacking a human cranium at each rotation. The skull, bobbing laterally, its jaw flapping in time with the squeak of the gears, seems to be laughing. The piece is “The Death Slapper”, by an artist named Jinx.

Around the corner, I'm drawn to Anna Druzcz's composite landscape photographs, which are so luminous that I wonder aloud whether they are mounted on light-boxes. They aren't, according to Marisa Sage, owner of Like The Spice Gallery; the auras come from a new process of digital processing using a LightJet printer. Regular chromatographic prints can't render golds and silvers in quite the same way, she explains.

At Front Room Gallery's space, I admire Philip Simmons’s bright pop-art pieces in glazed foam and aluminium, each with an enticing new-toy shine. Ray Sell’s titillating “Wanna Banana” is the standout at Capla Kesting Fine Art.

And then I stumble upon what to me is the most covetable of all the works of art I've seen so far. “Miss Rockaway Armada” (pictured) is small, at 15.5x19.5”, and monochrome, white ink on white vellum, so I nearly walked right past it. Words can't do it justice: it's a delicate screenprint of bony mermaids surrounded by serpents and dead fish. The artist, Swoon, is something of a cult hero to fans of street art in New York. She made her name plastering fine renderings of local characters—homeless women, buskers, street vendors—onto abandoned buildings in New York using a paste made from wheat.

“Miss Rockaway Armada” is a reference to a group project, backed by 30 artists and performers, with a mission to float on a homemade raft down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to New Orleans, stopping along the way to perform and give workshops. (“We are NOT hippies”, their website insists.) Swoon’s print is number 85, of an edition of 85, and its price is $500.

Deitch Projects, the host of last night's extravaganza at the Raleigh, are also exhibiting Swoon at their centrally-located booth in the Art Basel convention centre. There, her large lithograph on mylar, titled “The Girl From Ranoon Provence”, sold for $18,000. It will be replaced by a new one, “The Construction Worker”, tomorrow.

Here at Fountain, Swoon’s work is carried by Christina Ray of Glowlab, a private gallery that specialises in experimental urban art in the spirit of Guy Debord and the Situationists of the 1950s. “Swoon is engaged in finding places that are in need of attention”, Ms Ray said to me in an interview this summer, “If you come upon one of her pieces, your perception of that space will change”.

And, as I continue my tour of the crumbling warehouse, I realise just how right she is.

Hungry Like The Wolf

We stayed up all night and it was totally worth it. Like The Spice's current show, Deer Art, has us all staring like meerkats.



Running from now until February 3rd, Deer Art is a celebration of all things animal, from owls to eels, and some animals that just got thought up.



There's work here to fit everyone's needs and interests. It's the season to think of other people, after all. And the best gift is something they'll love, but never expect.



Also come by after 5pm to see our video tiger. He's pacing the front door! He's kinda hard to photograph but you can see him from the street as soon as it gets dark and it looks amazing. The neighbors keep telling us how much they like him, and we bet you will too.




Don't be scared, nothing will bite! Come visit us and check out this show. We're absolutely rabid about it.



Also be sure to be there on January 11th for the Castle Critters! They're as comfortable in the subway as the New York Times and they've performed in Central Park and at Hollywood parties. You can't wait to see them, you just don't know it yet.

Home Again

We're back from a very successful Miami trip! Everyone is too tired from unloading the van to tell you any more. Just look at the pretty pictures for now. We'll talk when we wake up.

Fountain Miami Continues To Spray

After an exciting Saturday night we wake up to find some talented bloggers have been giving Brooklyn some props. Here's a taste:

Rhizome:

My inbox is already filled with messages from galleries announcing their special projects. While business-as-usual is the bottom-line, Fountain Miami has a rather distinct agenda. Founded in New York City in March 2006, Fountain is "a guerrilla-style art fair... an effort to leverage support for independent galleries largely overlooked by corporate-sponsored art fairs."

Art Fairs International:

AFI: How did you feel when The Brooklyn Rail dubbed Fountain “a perfect example of avant-energetics”? Did you feel that you’d achieved what you had originally set out to do for the art world?

David Kesting: Yeah. James Kalm wrote that about NY 2006 and then included us in his review of Miami 2006. I cannot tell you how supportive our critics have been... I think the reason for the good press really is due to the relationships galleries and artists develop during the exhibition. I think critics see that and realize the authenticity of what’s happening and they buy into what we are doing in a big way.

Click through the links for the full articles. And thanks both AFI and Rhizome!

"Indie Fairs full of surprises" - Miami Herald

Indie fairs full of surprises
Posted on Thu, Dec. 06, 2007

Fifty-seven galleries exhibited contemporary photography at Photo Miami in a 40,000 square-foot tent in Wynwood.

''It's hard to gauge sales, but we had some folks from the Guggenheim Museum and Santa Barbara Museum of Art come through earlier,'' said Tim Fleming, director of the 2-year-old fair that's gained about 15 galleries since its debut. On Thursday afternoon, the second day of fair, there were just a few red dots on the walls, indicating sold pieces. ''There's no rush. There's plenty of time'' for buying, Fleming said.

Although it has ''photo'' in its name, the fair also include a handful of video and electronic pieces. On the more traditional end was Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, a series of large print images of Iraq war veterans, many with prosthetic limbs, by noted portrait photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. (Greenfield-Sanders' portraits were part of an HBO documentary of the same name.)

Admission to Photo Miami, located at 3101 North Miami Ave., is $15 for access through Sunday. It's open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.

FOUNTAIN MIAMI

Fourteen small and independent galleries, many from Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, showcased young artists' work at Fountain Miami, a 10,000-square-foot warehouse space that purposely has a rough and unfinished feel to it, said organizers.

''What really sets Fountain apart is the camaraderie and friendship between these galleries. We're all within walking distance of each other back home,'' said Christina Ray, founder of Brooklyn-based gallery and performance art space Glowlab.

Although most art pieces were for sale -- many for less than $500 -- Ray said Fountain's purpose was equally about showcasing experimental and developing artists as it was about sales. The red dots that dominate Art Basel and other exclusive sales were nowhere to be seen.

For Fountain's first year in 2007, Glowlabs hosted The Sams, where more than 50 bald performers recruited by the gallery hopped from parties to gallery openings dressed as and impersonating Art Basel Director Samuel Keller, a seemingly omnipresent figure at the fair's numerous events. ''It was fun,'' but don't expect to see that again, said Ray. Fountain Miami is at 2841 NW 2nd Ave., open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. Admission is $2

EDGE ZONES

At Edge Zones, a 12,000-square-foot space in Wynwood, the focus is Latin American artists. Of note were eight large original photos of collaborations by Mexican-American performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña, whose works comment on ethnic and linguistic identity and colonialism, were on display. With price tags as high as $15,000, they had gone unsold. Other artists whose work was display included Miamians José Bedia, Nicolás Leiva and Rubén Torres-Llorca.

Edge Zones, at 2214 N. Miami Ave., is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily (open till 11 p.m. Saturday). Admission is free.

-- JAWEED KALEEM

More press and images to come!
Check back soon!

The Only Bad Publicity Is None At All

Thankfully Hrag Vartanian had nice things to say about our dinner with Jason Bryant and Paloma. We won't spoil it any more than that, zip over and see how many different ways he liked it! And please mention how humble we were.

We Had 99 Problems But DinnerWeren't One

Friday November 30th saw a steady stream of good looking people coming to join artist Jason Bryant for our regular monthly dinner here at Like The Spice. Catered by Paloma, and sponsored by Pernod, the dinner was just as friendly and at ease as you would expect it to be. After all, everyone was so wonderful!


Artist Jason Bryant (seen here with our good friend Mandy) was happy to discuss his gorgeous paintings and the ideas behind his work. Extra napkins were available to wipe up the drool as we stared at the art. Jason's show continues until the 14th of this month, so if you have not already come to see them, please do! You'll understand once you're here and you'll be happy you came.


Also speaking was Chef Camile Becerra from Paloma. With a life that has moved her through all the parties and secrets of Manhattan, including an appearance on Top Chef and being voted New York's Sexiest Chef 2008, Camile had plenty of stories and kept us all laughing. Except when we were eying the food.


Speaking of food, Paloma's menu was easily some of the best we've had. The custom made Pernot chocolates were a big hit, as were the parmesean crusted tilapia and grilled free range chicken. In fact, it was all good. Go here if you'd like to be thrilled by the menu. Heaven knows we were.

Our next dinner is coming up, as is our next show, Deer Art. We hope to see you there! Watch this space!