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
Art Basel Miami Beach
ART BASEL MIAMI 2017: THE FAIR
By Nancy Nesvet Starting the day in the beautiful Botanic Garden for the press conference before the press and VIP opening for Art Basel Miami Beach 2017, we heard about the number one art event attended by United States collectors, with 180 cultural institutions represented and 70,000+ people expected to attend. The news that a seven-year contract was approved for Art Basel Miami Beach’s stay each year at the Miami Beach Convention Center was announced by the UBS representative sponsoring the fair. Banyan trees, palms and art made the morning. Artscope went on to preview Art Basel Miami 2017, noting a high percentage of work by hot, contemporary artists. We observed that the numbers were reversed with about 60/40 hot younger artists to older, established artists or those no longer practicing, here as opposed to Art Basel 2017 in Switzerland with the 60 percent being older, … [Read more...] about ART BASEL MIAMI 2017: THE FAIR
SMILING AND LOOKING FORWARD: SCOPE AND UNLIMITED FAIRS EARLY HIGHLIGHTS OF MIAMI ART WEEK 2017
By Nancy Nesvet MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, DEC. 5, 2017. Smile and the world smiles with you. In Miami Beach, at the Scope and Unlimited Art Fairs, we are in a happy place, or at least a lot happier than at past fairs and biennales. Maybe it is because we are tired of the depressing state the world is in. But hey, it’s time to come out of the cocoon, especially in this sunny paradise of blue skies and cerulean ocean. So, at the Scope Art Fair, we are seeing lots of manga and comic work; paintings declaring “Life is so Big and Beautiful, Where should we start?” signed Luis XXX, or Francois Bel’s “Warhology Blue Neon Fushia Bubbles” (Virginie Barrou Planquart, Paris). Beauty reigns but so does an infatuation with identity, yours, mine and ours, in Sungchul Hong’s “Perceptual Mirror 0633D,” 2017, of solar LCD units in plexiglass at Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, We are delighted, … [Read more...] about SMILING AND LOOKING FORWARD: SCOPE AND UNLIMITED FAIRS EARLY HIGHLIGHTS OF MIAMI ART WEEK 2017
The Art World returns to Miami; Artscope’s 2017 Art Basel Miami Beach Preview: Part Two
By Nancy Nesvet Miami South Beach, FL - It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhoods of Miami and Miami Beach, with the sun shining, waves mild, murals in Wynwood overwhelming and the Bass Contemporary Art Museum no longer under construction, showing off the Leo Rondicone colors in the totem outside. Striped flag garlands are hung high over Collins Park, marking the territory that Philipp Kaiser, Public’s curator, alludes to. There is a sense of unpredictability that dictates we’d better enjoy the moment because we don’t know what tomorrow or even the next turn in the road will bring. There is also a sense of ominousness, leading to a heightened awareness of all around us. Granted, the artists at Art Basel Miami Beach 2017 are saying something about what they personally see and feel, but the viewer also seems aware of what is around them. Apparently, the hurricanes in Miami and Puerto … [Read more...] about The Art World returns to Miami; Artscope’s 2017 Art Basel Miami Beach Preview: Part Two
The Art World Returns to Miami; Artscope’s 2017 Art Basel Miami Beach Preview: Part One
By Nancy Nesvet I hope you all read Artscope’s preview article of Art Basel Miami Beach 2017 in our November/December 2018 issue. If you didn’t, refer back to it because this Artscope writer was right on the pulse of this Art Basel. Not only is the world of the artist becoming self-and community-centered, but it is now becoming territorial, the buzzword and title of the Public sector. Although outside, territorial is the name and the game, with each installation concerned with its own world, and content within its borders. According to Philip Kaiser, curator of Public, each installation artist lays claim to part of the beach. Whoa! So, we have gone from cooperation between artists in common projects and restaurants at the last Art Basel (in Basel, Switzerland, in June 2017) to demarcation and territorialism. This doesn’t say a lot to dismiss selfishness in the art or greater world. … [Read more...] about The Art World Returns to Miami; Artscope’s 2017 Art Basel Miami Beach Preview: Part One