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Artscope Magazine | November/December 2018

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Art Basel Miami Beach

(Clockwise from top left) Keith Haring, “Amphora” (shown at Levy Gorvy); Andy Warhol, “Bald Eagle,” 1983, acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 60” x 60” (shown by Edward Tyler Nahem); Oskar Schlemmer, “Sequence of Figures,” 1936-7 (shown by Galerie Thomas); Kehinde Wiley, “Portrait of Yvonne Osei,” 2018, oil on canvas, 60” x 48” (shown by SeanKellyNY).

A QUIETER CONVERSATION: ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH & MIAMI ART WEEK 2018: DAY TWO

// Art Basel Miami Beach, Artscope Online

by Nancy Nesvet

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

Nikolai and Simon Haas, “Ferngully,” at the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach.

ALTERNATIVE WORLDS AND ALTERNATIVE SPECIES: DAY ONE AT MIAMI ART WEEK AND ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2018

// Art Basel Miami Beach, Artscope Online, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

DECEMBER 4, 2018 --- The first stop on day one in Miami Beach for the art fairs and exhibitions was the Bass Museum of Art, where Los Angeles-based twins Nikolai and Simon Haas presented their installation, “Ferngully.” The environment evoking renewal and rebirth in altered physical states is inspired by the animate 1992 film, “FernGully: The Last Rainforest.” In that film, the fairy Krysta and the lumberjack Zak try to save their rainforest home from nature’s destructive forces. The beasts, Martian-like in their appearance, with antennae and eyes often on stalks, alternatively resemble worms and centipedes covered in sumptuous materials, including fur and beads. Icelandic sheepskin browns and whites, curly cow fur, brown goat fur, carved ebony and cast bronze recall prehistoric Animalia and minerals in these creatures of diverse personalities, sizes, genders and races, both human and … [Read more...] about ALTERNATIVE WORLDS AND ALTERNATIVE SPECIES: DAY ONE AT MIAMI ART WEEK AND ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2018

Alfredo Jaar restaged his A Logo for America, 1987, in New York in 2014. © Alfredo Jaar. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., New York.

Still Relevant: Art Basel Miami Beach Keeps the Pulse

// Art Basel Miami Beach, Issue Articles, November/December 2018

by Nancy Nesvet

Reflecting North and South America’s political and economic turbulence and artists’ domestic and environmental concerns, Art Basel Miami Beach 2018 — its 17th edition — will open to the public December 6 through 9 at the newly renovated Miami Beach Convention Center. Two hundred and sixty eight exhibitors will display work in tried and true sectors: Galleries, where gallerists present their choice of artists and where 12 galleries have moved to from their previous sectors; Nova, where three artists will exhibit in each of the twenty nine gallery-supported booths; Survey, showing 16 works made since 2000; Positions, where emerging galleries will show 14 solo artists, eight for the first time; Kabinett, with themed exhibits; Edition, where 11 galleries show prints; Conversations, where artists, curators and gallerists discuss the work and the art world; and Magazines, the sector where … [Read more...] about Still Relevant: Art Basel Miami Beach Keeps the Pulse

IT DOESN’T HURT TO ASK: MIAMI 2017 SATELLITE FAIRS

// Art Basel Miami Beach, Current Issue, Issue Articles, January/February 2018, Review, Visual Arts

EVENT MIAMI ART WEEK ART MIAMI ARTMIAMI.COM CONTEXT ART MIAMI CONTEXTARTMIAMI. COM RED DOT MIAMI REDDOTMIAMI.COM SCOPE ART SHOW SCOPE-ART.COM SPECTRUM MIAMI ART SHOW SPECTRUM-MIAMI. COM UNTITLED ART FAIR UNTITLEDARTFAIRS. COM by Nancy Nesvet Taking advantage of the huge crowds of art collectors in Miami and Miami Beach for Art Basel Miami 2017, the artwork at satellite fairs — often blatantly political — this year was new, older, relevant, colorful, glitzy and humorous. Work at Art Miami and Context, over the bridge into downtown Miami, was gutsy, with artists using new technology and materials; artists were having fun but asking important questions and expressing opinions in unambiguous language. These were the standout artists and works and the fair in which they were shown: CONTEXT ART MIAMI Represented by the Blink Group Fine Art Gallery, Boston artist … [Read more...] about IT DOESN’T HURT TO ASK: MIAMI 2017 SATELLITE FAIRS

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2017: CHECKING THE ART WORLD’S PULSE

// Art Basel Miami Beach, Current Issue, Exhibits, Issue Articles, January/February 2018, Visual Arts

EVENT ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2017 CONVENTION CENTER SOUTH BEACH, MIAMI, FLORIDA ART BASEL HONG KONG MARCH 29-31, 2018 ART BASEL SWITZERLAND JUNE 14-17, 2018 ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH DECEMBER 6-9, 2018 ARTBASEL.COM by Nancy Nesvet For this writer, Art Basel Miami Beach 2017, the world’s biggest art show — in space, sales, artist and gallery representation — provided a giddy week. The crowded fair, full of technology, dazzle and shine, featured work from the big names in contemporary art. Anish Kapoor’s vertical swoosh of steel, “Non-Object (Door)” (2008, stainless steel, Lisson Gallery), reflected people who posed in front of it admiring their reflection. Barry X Ball’s “Perfect Forms (after Umberto Boccioni)” (2010-14, Connersmith) upped the ante by using 24-karat gold in another aerodynamic, futuristic form. Older paintings and sculptures for sale included Marc … [Read more...] about ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2017: CHECKING THE ART WORLD’S PULSE

FACE IT: DAY THREE MIAMI BEACH: ART MIAMI AND CONTEXT

// Art Basel Miami Beach, Featured, Visual Arts

By Nancy Nesvet Continuing the exploration, the intrepid Artscope Team, national correspondent Nancy Nesvet and publisher Kaveh Mojtabai went over the bridge to downtown Miami to explore the Art Miami and Context Fairs. At both fairs, we found more adventurous, risk-taking work, sometimes gorgeous and well-executed, and sometimes kitchy, maybe intentionally so. We saw a huge number of portraits, both photographic and painted, and figurative sculpture spanning the material spectrum. Perhaps best in the Art Miami show for me were the photographic portraits of Niloufar Banisadr, an Iranian artist now practicing in Paris. With scriptor architectural drawings relating to the image behind the portrait, six photographs including “Mes Voyages, Mona Lisa” (2015) were quietly beautiful. David Yarrow’s 56” x 56” photograph, “The Old Testament, Dinokeng, South Africa” (2017, Holden Luntz … [Read more...] about FACE IT: DAY THREE MIAMI BEACH: ART MIAMI AND CONTEXT