Lets start with Aqua Art Miami.
This is a huge success as far as I”m concerned. It’s casual and comfortable as well inside and outside. It is a hotel show so everyone has to use the space to its best advantage – and most do. 35 dealers from mostly the west coast but there is a good sampling from other parts of the country as well. In a conversation I had with Brett Shaheen (Shaheen Galley, Cleveland, OH) he told me that his show had already paid for itself – and thats a great thing. Let’s get to the art.
My favorite painter of the aqua show is Jaq Chartier. Showing at both Elizabeth Leach and Platform. Chartier’s work is abstract but plays along the edges with science testing -or for that matter pool water testing. layers of color, bloom, bleed and run (but not too much) while sitting on a soft white background.
Susan Dory impressed me quite a bit as well. Represented by Winston Wachter (New York and Seattle), Dory feels like a new moderninst – I mean that in absolutely the best way. Acrylic on board in a mostly horizontal presentation. Thick layers, warm colors – I’m sure these are not approved by the “crappy painting” set – big mistake. Speaking of crappy painting – the new Julian Schnabel paintings just suck (I’ll do more on this at another time).
Some other quick hits at AQUA were – Inman Gallery was showing Darcy Huebler, Gallerie Anne Barrault is showing Eric Nehr, and Howard House is showing Robert Yoder – all worth checking out.
Art Basel Miami Beach
OK, here’s the deal – this is pretty overwhelming on first glance – and I’m only speaking of first glances today. When you start looking at most of the galleries you start to notice that there is definitely a “top ten” of artists being shown. after these ten are shown in about 35 galleries you start to see the next 40 or so artists that make up the bulk of most of the rest of the exhibits. Again please note: I’m not talking about the containers or any of the satellite shows – I’m talking about the main rooms.
All this said I found a couple of interesting things.
Christian Marclay – full disclosure I bought a small edition piece of Marclay’s today. I think he’s great and so should you.
Eric Beltranrepresented by OMR (Mexico City) I will elaborate more later in the week.
Art Papers magazine has a new design
Karl Haendel (Anna Helwing Gallery) has some great ideas.
Erick Beltran (above)
See you tomorrow…