As we move into the new year, in advance of the arrival of Artscope’s January/February 2020 issue, which will include her review of the highlights of Art Basel Miami Beach and Art Week Miami 2019, Artscope’s national correspondent Nancy Nesvet shares her Ins and Outs in the Art World predictions for 2020: Selfies are out. Artemisia Gentileschi self-portraits are in (at London's National Gallery). Gallery walls are out. Paintings found behind the walls are in. Paintings are out. Drawings found under paintings are in. Eating bananas is out. Eating gourmet at museums is in. Paying for museums is out. Getting in for free is in (starting with Boston's new MassArt Museum, which opens in February). New Museum is out. MassArt's new museum is in. Glenstone is out. Miami private … [Read more...] about NANCY NESVET’S ART WORLD PREDICTIONS FOR 2020
Nancy Nesvet
FACE IT: DAY THREE MIAMI BEACH: ART MIAMI AND CONTEXT
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 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
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
Day Two: Venice Biennale 2017 Continues
By Nancy Nesvet My second day at the 2017 Venice Biennale finds me attentive to Venice Biennale President Paolo Baratta’s assessment of the humanism and ability ofartists to “avoid being dominated by the powers governing world affairs” and their “resistance of liberation and of generosity” in his introduction to the Viva Arte Short Guide. Curator Christine Macel has judiciously assigned themes within the exhibition of artists’ work she has chosen; at the Giardini; Pavilion of Artists and Books, Pavilion of Joys and Fears and Pavilion of Time and Infinity (part 2). The Arsenale site includes Pavilion of the Common; Earth Pavilion; Pavilion of Traditions; Pavilion of Shamans; Dionysian Pavilion; Pavilion of Colors and Pavilion of Time and Infinity, part 1. Intentionally amorphous separations of the Pavilions without blatant markings allow unhampered flow. In her statement in the … [Read more...] about Day Two: Venice Biennale 2017 Continues