Guest contributor Rebecca Morgan / As the definitive Juggernaut, Art Basel Miami Beach offers a lot to love and loathe. Personally, my love for art fairs far exceeds my disdain for them; without going into particulars as to how and why an artist can feel jaded about art fairs, I couldn’t be happier to experience the froth first hand. I love the surprise discovery of work around a booth corner and social camaraderie, arguing (and bonding) over a particular atrocity or a blockbuster moment. Maybe it’s corny, but I love watching it all go down.
[Image at top: Nicole Cherubini, Baby Blue, 2009, @ Samson. ]
Devin Troy Strother and Dustin Yellin @ Richard Heller Gallery
Never having been to Miami, I had no idea what to expect. I found it
most interesting and humbling (or perhaps the antithesis) to see how
artists, dealers, curators, collectors, bloggers, designers,
celebrities, art handlers, party kids and everyone in between navigates,
cohabitants and descends upon the town. Sipping a drink at the
wonderfully divey “Sandbar” as Jeffery Deitch skulks by with fellow
artist comrades and art handlers maybe drives home the point; buzzy
excitement percolating, amounting to a knowing insiderly giggle.
Similarly to many of the other high highs and low lows of the art world,
I find myself boiling it down to a shoulder shrug and an”if you can’t
beat ’em, join ’em” mentality. I thought the week was absolutely
thrilling. As primarily a figurative artist, some of my selections may
be biased toward the figurative, but…
Day one: UNTITLED
Overall, UNTITLED was provocative and fresh; nearly every booth had a strong showing; the fair was tightly curated and refined. Spatially, the fair felt slick yet unpretentious, visually open and light.
Devin Troy Strother @ Richard Heller Gallery
Devin Troy Strother (detail)
James Ulmer, Selected Works, 2014, acrylic on unprimed canvas, 20 x 16 inches @ Eric Firestone
Philip K. Smith III’s Bent Paralel, 2014 @ Royale Projects was a color-changing selfie monolith.
As a selfie enthusiast, I was happy to assist this fair comrade in selfie technique (point the toe, hand on hip)
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| Caroline Larsen, Ikebana, 2014, oil on canvas. |
Caroline Larsen, Ikebana (detail)
Steven Cox and Denise Kupferschmidt @ Halsey McKay Gallery
Ion Birch, Sun Help, 2013, graphite on paper, 22 x 30 inches @ Zieher Smith & Horton
John Wesley, Woman Removing Panties, 1996, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 36 inches @ Fredericks & Freiser
Zak Smith, I Want More Life, Fucker, 2014, acrylic and ink on paper, 40 x 30.5 inches @ Fredericks & Freiser
Lisa Yuskavage, The Wee Wilderness series, 2013, mixed media, 19 1/8 x 16 3/4 inches each, a@Universal Limited Art Editions
Lisa Yuskavage (detail)
Charlie Roberts and Nina Chanel Abney @ Kravets Wehby
I was thrilled to see that Charlie Roberts was selling hundreds of drawings for $40 each @ Kravets Wehby.
More $40 Charlie Roberts drawings
John Ashbery and Kenneth Goldsmith @ Bravinlee Programs
Josh Reames, Big Break, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 40 inches @ LVL3
My friend Amanda Valdez in front of her paintings @ Denny Gallery
Friend and fellow artist at Asya Geisberg Gallery, Angelina Gualdoni, Screens, 2014, oil and acrylic on canvas, 34 x 28 inches
Shameless plug, Rebecca Morgan, Face Jugs, 2014 at Asya Geisberg Gallery
Day Two: ART BASEL
The scale of this blue-chip fair was unlike anything else that I have experienced in the art world; the sensation of art dealing feeding frenzy was palpable.
Marina Abramovic Selfie
Henry Darger, Untitled (Come we will carry the others for you. Its going to storm), carbon tracing, pencil, watercolor, and collage on paper. 24 x 108.5 inches @ Andrew Edlin Gallery
Henry Darger (detail)
Installation, Mickalene Thomas @ Kavi Gupta. I loved the golden Crocs.
Installation view of ceramic sculptures by Milena Muzquiz and paintings by Sarah Crowner @ Travesia Cuatro
Installation view @ Sadie Coles HQ, Urs Fischer, Small Rain, 2014, oil based primer, stainless steel, nylon filament to make 1,080 raindrops.
Raymond Pettibon, 2014, @ Sadie Coles HQ
Brian Bress, Firemen #2, 2014, High definition three-channel video (color), high definition monitors and players, wall mounts, framed, 3-part 37.75 x 73.5 inches, 16 min., 22 sec., loop @ Cherry and Martin
Brian Bress Firemen #2
Brian Bress Firemen #2
Lisa Yuskavage,Waiting Line, 2012-2013, oil on linen, Diptych, 13 x 33 1/2 x 3/4 inches @ David Zwirner
Lisa Yuskavage, Hippies, 2014, pastel on paper, 64 x 46 x 2 1/4 inches @ David Zwirner
Roy Lichtenstein, Woman II, 1982, oil and magna on canvas, 80 x 56 inches @ Kukje Gallery, Seoul/Tina Kin Gallery
Carol Dunham, In the Flowers (Wednesday) 2012-2014, mixed media on linen, 72 1/8 x 59 1/4 x 1 1/4 inches @ Galerie Eva Presenhuber
John Currin @ Gagosian
Chris Martin, Joshua Tree Morning, 2013-2014, acrylic and glitter on printed cloth on canvas, 64 x 59 inches @ Galerie Rodolphe Janssen
Vanessa Beecroft, Bronze Head (Gold Fingerprints) 2014, Bronze Head (Black Face Gold Hair) 2014, Bronze Head (Gold), 2014, Bronze Head (Black Chips), Bronze Head (Rust) 2014.
Pablo Picasso, Le peintre et son mod�le, 1963, oil on canvas 25 5/8 x 39 3/8 inches @ Marlborough
This Copley cracked me up. William N. Copley, Tomb of the Unknown Whore, 1965, acrylic on canvas, 190 x 285 cm Q Kewenig. Across all of the fairs there were quite a few paintings by Copley.
Will Cotton, Elle with Cupcakes, 2014, oil on linen, 36 x 24 inches @ Mary Boone Gallery. Pace Prints also displayed Cotton’s cake sculptures and drawings.
Peter Saul, Dessert Plate, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 inches @ Mary Boone Gallery
Pablo Picasso, Le peintre e son mod�le dans un paysage, 1963, oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 39 3/8 inches @ Acquavella Gallery
David Hockney The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven), 2011, iPad drawing printed on paper, 139.7 x 105.4 cm @ Annely Juda Fine Art.
David Hockney @ Annely Juda Fine Art
Polly Apfelbaum ceramics @ Galerie nachst St. Stphen Rosemarie Schwarzwalder.
Dan McCarthy, Selection of Facepots, 2014, low fire clay and glazes with lustres @ Anton Kern Gallery
Chris Martin, Eleven (Red and Blue) 2014, Acrylic on canvas, 88 x 77 inches and
Chris Martin, Garden at 11 Munn Street #4, 2014, oil and acrylic on canvas, 88 x 77 inches, Anton Kern Gallery
David Shrigley, Untitled, 2014, acrylic on paper, 35 x 27.5 inches.
David Shrigley (detail)
Ryan McGinley,
Crush, 2014, c-print, 40 x 60 inches @ Team Gallery
Jeff Koons and John Currin a@ Gagosian
David Hockney, Little Left, 2008, Charcoal on Paper, 26 x 40 1/4 inches @ Richard Gray Gallery
Mike Kelley, Missing Time Color Exercise (reversed) No. 5 (Resonating Stone Walls) 2002, thirty-two “sex to Sexty” magazines, acrylic on panel, wood and Plexiglas, 47 x 80 inches @ Skarstedt Gallery.
George Condo The Clown, 2010, oil on linen, 42 x 38 inches @ Skarstedt Gallery
Stay tuned for more fair coverage: Rebecca Morgan’s Part II and additional reports from Heather McPherson.
Related posts:
Two Coats of Paint’s Miami Correspondents: Rebecca Morgan and Heather McPherson (2014)
Mary Addison Hackett’s Report From Miami, Day 1: Basel (2013)
Mary Addison Hackett’s final Miami round-up (2013)
Painter Tatiana Berg’s picks from Art Basel Miami Beach, 2012, Part I (2012)
Tatiana Berg reports from the satellite fairs, Part II (2012)
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