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Artscope Magazine | November/December 2019

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Visual Arts

Play on a Play: Cattelan does Beckett

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

by Nancy Nesvet

The most talked about installation of the day at Art Basel Miami Beach 2019, was Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comedian” (2019, banana, duct tape, paper with text instructions) tacked to the wall of Galerie Perrotin’s booth with grey duct tape including instructions for installing it. Bought by Sarah Andelman, founder of recently closed Parisian concept store, Colette, it is accompanied by a certificate along with the banana and duct tape, including instructions for installing it. Publications from the print edition of the New York Post to the online Art Daily announced the trail of this new work from exhibition to sale (for $120,000 on December 4, during the private days of Art Basel). With Andelman saying, “It really reflects our time” reported by the New York Times on December 4, she and we neglect to acknowledge that this makes all of us artists, furthering the egalitarianism of a buyer … [Read more...] about Play on a Play: Cattelan does Beckett

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2019 & ART WEEK MIAMI DAY TWO: INSPIRED ARTISTS ADDRESS A THREATENED WORLD

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

by Nancy Nesvet

Our second day dawned bright and early on Miami Beach, the morning chill warming up as the day and the dizzying flow of art as we went from one place to another kept the dynamic duo going. It would also hold our first view of the main event, Art Basel Miami 2019, the lollapalooza of art fairs, during its First Choice VIP Preview. Pace Gallery had some great work on display including Fred Wilson’s “Oh! Monstuosa Culpa,” 2013, constructed of Murano glass and light bulbs, that could have been a ringer for Gerhard Richter’s black chandelier painting; an amazing relief sculpture/painting by Loie Hollowell, “Standing in Water,” 2019, oil, acrylic, medium and high density foam on linen over panel; and Lydia Benglis’ “Calypso,” 2017, cast, pigmented polyurethane, looking like a cracked sun that only added to the gothic and sense of impending climatic doom as Venice stands in water and … [Read more...] about ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2019 & ART WEEK MIAMI DAY TWO: INSPIRED ARTISTS ADDRESS A THREATENED WORLD

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2019 DAY ONE: A SHOW FOR THOUGHT AND CONSIDERATION

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

by NANCY NESVET

Kaveh Mojtabai, Nancy Nesvet and friends escaped the snowy north to land in chilly South Beach for a week of art gazing, talks and shows at Art Basel Miami Beach 2019 and the shows of Miami Art Week 2019. “The Art of Listening: Under Water,” sponsored by Audemars Piquet, maker of fine watches, featured the sound installation of Jana Winderen, a Norwegian environmental artist. In a large circular space, the quiet crowd listened intently for the sounds underneath Arctic Waters, disturbed by the dripping noise of glaciers melting and their gradual cracking. Fish swimming underwater, inundated by crashing ice into the Barents Sea, juxtaposed the sounds of underwater life recorded in the Miami Harbor, underlining the diverse places suffering the effects of climate change. The absence of visual stimuli only led to a more concentrated listening experience never experienced before, and a … [Read more...] about ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2019 DAY ONE: A SHOW FOR THOUGHT AND CONSIDERATION

DENIS O’HARE SHINES IN “AN ILIAD” ON EMERSON MAJESTIC’S ORCHARD STAGE

// Artscope Online, Theatre, Visual Arts

by James Foritano

In a near faultless production, actor and mime Denis O’Hare enacts, in a solo performance, the agony and ecstasy of Homer’s ancient epic of the Trojan War in a modern condensed and critiqued version on the Emerson Paramount Center’s Robert J. Orchard Stage. Homer’s epic poem, a recasting of oral fragments, come down through the ages to be, finally, written in the new Greek alphabet, a celebration and questioning of the fury of war and the heroic tradition that seems to perpetuate war beyond any rational goal. The genius of “An Iliad" lies in its modern focus on the futility of war whereas with Homer both the celebration and the questioning seem about equal. This was, after all, the heroic age of Greece, when the favorite sport of kings and heroes — and Gods, war, could be questioned only so far. O’Hare, though, is a Homer come down through the ages to present-day Boston. He … [Read more...] about DENIS O’HARE SHINES IN “AN ILIAD” ON EMERSON MAJESTIC’S ORCHARD STAGE

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2019 PREVIEW

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

by Nancy Nesvet

Artscope Magazine’s presence at Art Basel Miami Beach 2019 is not the only enterprise growing there this year. Our growth to a booth in the magazine sector mimics that of the international art fair itself. Its latest addition is Meridians, the new sector located in the Grand Ballroom of the Miami Beach Convention Center, Art Basel Miami Beach’s home. With 33 monumental works inside and one outside, Meridians was created to house large-scale installations that Art Basel’s website admits, “can only fit in a museum or art warehouse.” Having reported for Artscope on Art Basels in Miami Beach and Switzerland for the past three years, on the last two Venice Biennales and the Cleveland Biennale, I agree that most collectors do not have room for these large works, so they must go to museums or art warehouses awaiting new owners, governmental or private. Because art collectors and museum … [Read more...] about ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2019 PREVIEW

FLORALISM AT COASTAL CONTEMPORARY GALLERY

// Artscope Online, Current Exhibits, Visual Arts

by Suzanne Volmer

Barbara Owen, Alicia Renadette and Kate Blacklock are the artists included in “Floralism” at Newport’s Coastal Contemporary Gallery. Continuing through December 8, the exhibition is a clever exploration of botanical excess and blooming. Gallerist Shari Wechsler approaches the topic as a feminist platform acknowledging nature’s ability to flourish and prevail. As a whole, the content includes fascinating statement art that is also certainly intimate enough for audiences to take home. For client convenience, Wechsler offers the option of purchasing with Art Money that advertises itself as a vehicle to “buy now, pay later.” Before the exhibition, I made a point to visit Alicia Renadette’s studio at Atlantic Mills in Providence specifically to watch the artist and art dealer select for “Floralism.” It was impossible not to notice the volume of materials organized and ready to be … [Read more...] about FLORALISM AT COASTAL CONTEMPORARY GALLERY