With global warming and general chaos due to facts emerging and infrastructure literally falling apart, it is not surprising that artists exhibiting at the Armory Show in New York are acting and reacting by using strong, but not shiny, materials to create work that seems domestic in nature. Escaping the outside world creates an emphasis on the home and the arts and crafts that are created and situated there. On my first day at Armory, I saw this emphasis on domestically influenced art and craft in work by male and female artists. This theme crossed borders of ethnicities and groups, including “Trouble Don’t Last Always.” Jeffrey Gibson’s 2019 acrylic on canvas with glass beads at Kavi Gupta, New York is supported by the North American Arts and Culture to reflect diverse voices. Ali Banisadr’s “Stardust,” oil on linen, 2011, at Blaine Southern (Berlin and London) left behind the glare … [Read more...] about New York Armory Show (PART ONE): Mother Earth
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THE BUSINESS OF ART: ARMORY AND VOLTA SHOW NEWS
It’s been an interesting couple of months in the New York art world, as the Armory Show moves to Pier 90 and 94, cancelling emerging artist show Volta. Due to the unsound structure of Pier 92 on New York’s Hudson River, part of the Armory Show previously to be located on Pier 92, will move to nearby Pier 90, the home of the Volta Art Show. The other half will stay in its original location, Pier 94, which is holding up. It seems the big boys have won the space race as emerging artist fair, Volta, originally located on Pier 90, has been displaced and subsequently announced the postponement of its 2019 New York fair until 2020. In an unusual act of charity, or justice, all exhibitors signed up with Volta were notified that they will be reimbursed for expenses, but less than two weeks before the March 6 VIP and press opening of the fair, costs have been incurred for shipping, framing, … [Read more...] about THE BUSINESS OF ART: ARMORY AND VOLTA SHOW NEWS
Carole Bolsey’s “Hudson River Backwater”
Carole Bolsey is known for her large-scale canvases. So, when VisionArt was looking for an artist to take up their monumental 8’ x 27’ task of creating a piece of art large enough to serve as a “window” to the outdoors, Christina Godfrey (director of contemporary and corporate art at Sunne Savage Gallery) knew just the artist for the job. Bolsey’s “Hudson River Backwater” is a piece commissioned for Hudson Yards Grill, an all-American family restaurant opening to the public March 15 in the new Hudson Yards development, the largest development in New York City since Rockefeller Center. The restaurant has no windows, so the painting will be the patron’s view to the outside. The inspiration for the piece was a painting done by Bolsey back in 2015, titled “Lilies and White Canoe.” The piece is a mere 6’ 1” x 5’ 1” compared to the 7’ 6” x 26’ 10” canvas she just completed. The … [Read more...] about Carole Bolsey’s “Hudson River Backwater”
ART MIAMI — IF YOU CAN, BUY IT NOW: MIAMI ART WEEK 2018: PART FOUR
Wynwood Miami, FL - Art Miami proved an embarrassment of riches. If you always wanted it, now is the time to buy it, because it’s available. Magnificent Fernand Léger paintings, the best of which is “Les trois femmes au bouquet,” 1922, oil on canvas, at Landau Contemporary. Six Henry Moore macquets of bronze, “Two Seats Women and a Child,” 1945, from an edition of seven also at Landau Contemporary, and a full-size, “Mother and Child, Black Seat” (1983-84) at Landau Contemporary of bronze with brown patina literally rounded out this display. That patina is the patina of age and undisputed elegance of line and form. You have seen these in the best museum gardens, and they are available now because we no longer live in mansions with gardens appropriate to accommodate them, so if you can… Clearly, Landau Contemporary had the best work at Art Miami, all on the secondary market. Jean … [Read more...] about ART MIAMI — IF YOU CAN, BUY IT NOW: MIAMI ART WEEK 2018: PART FOUR
GUTSY, SUBTLE WORK ABOUNDED AT SCOPE: MIAMI ART WEEK 2018 PART THREE
Miami Beach, FL - Scope, a satellite show during Miami Art Week showed brighter colors, more direct political messages, but still backgrounded the images with images of flora and fauna. Mirroring the Miami Beach vibe, gold, primary colors, flowers and greens dominated this fair, while the work clearly messaged rules were on hold, and all political bents were represented and questioned. French artist Jacques Bosser’s Argentic photograph on Cibachrome, “Wax Spirit (MOBA)” at Galerie Sebastien Adrien showed images of black Congolese President Kabila with an ivory-white woman between them in Congolese flowered dress and turban. The flower motif continues in French artist Bernard Rancillac’s “Enfer Paradis,” an acrylic on canvas shown by Galerie Sebastien Adrien. A central flower separates the worlds of fascists; Nazis, Osama bin Laden, and a church official consuming a human leg with … [Read more...] about GUTSY, SUBTLE WORK ABOUNDED AT SCOPE: MIAMI ART WEEK 2018 PART THREE
A QUIETER CONVERSATION: ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH & MIAMI ART WEEK 2018: DAY TWO
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2018 --- Day two at Art Basel was tame. You could sense the creativity behind the work. Less bombastic, less polarizing, more neutral in both color and subject. We have learned that there is a backlash to intense pontificating and know that a neutral stance is often required to quell the anger of a crowd or a nation. We saw nature expressed in depictions of animals, flora and fauna, of snow and grass. Tapestries and books reflected those codes. Keith Haring’s glass doors marked with a standing snake-like outline reaching python-like upwards, open mouth and tongue ready to strike. Haring’s work melded seemingly ancient patterns with eight panels of skulls, in muted blues and grays. One of his most interesting pieces was an amphora marked with symbols of technology such as telescopes, amid fish and bird drawings, held up by orange crocodiles. This sculpture, … [Read more...] about A QUIETER CONVERSATION: ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH & MIAMI ART WEEK 2018: DAY TWO