Picador has just reissued one of my favorite art books of my college days. What was once called "Off the Wall Robert Rauschenberg and the Art World of Our Time" is now called "Off the Wall A Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg". Frankly the new title means nothing - the book is so well written - and written in a way that does not talk down to its audience nor does it assume some secret knowledge of the art world.

I re-read my older version and the read the newer version this week and the book is changed very little (a new chapter is added to the end but it's hardly critical - like bonus tracks on older records released on cd). Tomkins was at the ground floor of RR and Jasper John's early careers - and it shows. There is a full understanding of the art world as a whole at the cross roads of the end of abstract expressionism and what would come next. Granted no artist hold on to the zeitgiest of the art world forever, and in RR's case some of his later work doesn't hold my attention as well as the Combines and Silkscreen images (I do like the box pieces though).

That said, with all the energy revolving around RR right now its a great time to read or reread before heading to new york for the show - you could take the slower train and get a good bit of the book finished before the Met opens.

John Haskell is a performance artist/actor who has written a fantastic series of short stories. I have been threatening to write about this book for a while now and it seems like it's time that I do. There are two stories that resonate with me on a personal level as well as just an emotional level. Lets talk about these stories first; there is a third person dialogue form Liaka the Cosmonaut dog, then there is a story of Topsy the Coney Island elephant who was electrocuted because of his actions after being fed a lit cigarette by a visitor. At the end of the day though these stories are about love and desire. I spent an evening in tears last winter when I read this book - and I'm better for reading it. you should read this as well just for the ability to see the other side of unspoken feelings.

Stories revolve around Jackson Pollack, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Capucine and others.

This book is without a doubt the most important book I read this year.

1. Jaq Chartier paintings at AQUA art fair
2. Eric Doeringer on the Streets of NYC as well as at Art Basel Miami Beach
3. 12 x 12 at ADA Gallery, Richmond VA
4. J.M. Basquiat retrospective, New York
5. The rebirth of Robert Smithson
6. Leigh Bowery, Chelsea, NYC
7. The AQUA art fair
8. Monique Prieto at Scottsdale MOCA
9. MODERN PAINTERS magazine redesign
10. Sean Scully at the Phillips, Washington DC

A bronze statue by Henry Moore has been stolen from the grounds of a museum.

The work is 3.6m long, 2m high by 2m wide and weighs 2.1 tons.

A spokesman for the Henry Moore Foundation said there would now be a reassessment of security in the wake of the theft.

Yes, I guess that a reassesment of security would be needed, when some chav with a crane and a mini drives onto the grounds, picks up a 2.1 ton sculpture and the disappears into the night. It might make one ask if there was any security at all to reassess.

12.16.05 Andy McSmith and Louise Jury report for The Independent that, from next month, any art dealer, gallery, or museum that buys an original work from an artist and resells it for more than €1,000 ($1,200) will have to pay the artist a royalty. In most cases, the royalty will be four percent of the sale price, but will taper downwards on works valued at £50,000 ($88,590) or more, with the maximum payment being £12,500 ($22,147), the UK Patent Office announced yesterday. The decision follows a European directive aimed at protecting artists whose work can rise in value after they have sold it and brings Britain into line with some other countries in Europe where artists already had a resale right.

Read the whole story on the Independent

Lacking the resources to conserve one of the nation's oldest museum collections of video art, the Long Beach Museum of Art will transfer its 3,000-plus tapes to the Getty Research Institute—among them works by Nam June Paik, William Wegman, and Bill Viola—reports Mike Boehm for the Los Angeles Times. Thomas Crow, director of its Research Institute, said, "There are tapes . . . here that don't exist in any other holdings, including some that the artists themselves believed were lost." The deal involves no money and The Getty will provide digital copies of the tapes to the Long Beach Museum

From the LA Times.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that Borf pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of "felony destruction of property", a charge that can lead to a sentance of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $5,000. The judge will hand down his penalty at a sentencing hearing on Feb. 9.

December 5, 2005, 2005, 20 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

The main hall and this includes the art | nova section is incredibly fluid. I was a little bitter by what was for display on Friday feeling that I only saw a small cross section of the art world on display, Saturday that cross section started opening up and by Sunday it was wide open - and the more I think about this the more it makes sense. Your richest collectors are clearly looking for blue chip artists only and really thats the initial market for many. After the dust settles in about 40 hours or so things start getting replaced on the wall and then (for me) it starts to get more interesting. Sunday proved to be no different.

Great Richard Prince's are everywhere. I'm sorry that I never had money in the eighties to buy what I thought was great - the Prince photo I passed up (cowboys) then for $1300 was on sale at one gallery for $795,000. However the other work of his that is available is just terrific, people are clearly going to go home happy from both sides of the sale. I also saw a lot of J M Basquait works, these however are clearly not of the same caliber as the Princes that are available. I remember reading 4 or 5 months ago about how the higher end of the Basquait market was tapped and that collectors were holding on to them tightly - I didn't really think about it then - but its clear to me now.

A surprising great William Wegman is available from Paula Cooper (I think) "Vacationland" is a wry look at US car culture and family vacations across the country - It's practically a map of old and new theme parks and vacation venues. Its big as well - maybe 7 feet tall x 12 wide (I'm guessing). It's densely populated and ambitious I always liked his early video work but never was a big fan of the watercolors - but this is quite the piece.

Barbara Mathes had a great selection of work - "Atmosphere" by Neal Jenney (always a favorite painter of mine) Vik Muniz also was represented with a version of Manet's "Haystacks" done in Pantone color chips.

After thoughts about ABMB: I would go again - the energy around the entire city is just fantastic. ABMB, along with AQUA (a full on success in my book) and ~pulse art (very strong) as well as a million things I did not do makes the art world just crackle with energy and most importantly culturally relevant.

Here are the stats for ABMB:
Museum Groups: more than 100
Journalists: 1000 (bloggers don't count)
UBS Clients at fair: 3000
Attendance at vernissage: 6000
Net Jets: 185
Value of art shown: 2,000,000,000

Last note: I've read a few places that "hold is the new sold" it's clear that with all the excitement that some people hold back on pulling the trigger - I'd love to hear more of this - or will galleries just say how great the show was and leave it at that?

Labels: Art Basel Miami Beach

scope MiamiI was dubious of Scope earlier this month but after my amazing day at AQUA - I thought - what the fuck lets give it a try. I am glad I did. It looks to be about 70 galleries - 3 from DC (Curators Office, Irvine, and Numark) In all fairness to the DC galleries I will leave them alone and focus on the things that were new to me, that I liked.



Lisa Sigal at Frederieke Taylor Gallery - to me easily the best work at SCOPE. These are collage works from her usually site specific work, however they hold the wall so well are are so well defined that it's clear to me that they would scale with no problem. Lots of transparency, lots of clear strong soft color, I expect to see more of this in the future.



Rana Rochat at Fay Gold Gallery - really strong encaustic, really personal feeling abstractions great color and that encaustic feel - I would have paid 10 bucks just to see these today. Two or three of FGG's artists were using wax - I'm sure this is just coincidence, however I thought it was interesting to note.

Annette Davidek at Littlejohn Contemporary these are really interesting layered oil on wood, building organic shapes but still painterly. Lots of layers build up to lots to see but the finished work is still on the thin side - I'm not a huge "thin paint" fan but this works for me. go track her down.



Other interesting work at Scope is: Carlos & Jason Sanchez (above) at Christopher Cutts Gallery, Lisa Kereszi at Yancey Richardson,



One complaint: I've bumped into William Betts work 3 or four times now - with the exception that is smaller in scale it continues to seem like Gene Davis's work - If I'm missing something would someone be so kind as to fill me in? (Gene Davis below)



ABMB
Remember my complaint yesterday about how all the galleries used the same pool of artists? It sure didn't feel that way today. Clearly things got sold and new stuff came out - it was like a brand new art mega fair. Here are my highlights:



Eric Doeringer at Flash Art - OK I bought one. A bootleg On kawara (July 1,1974) in my brief conversation with him I asked how the brush with the law last week went - he said it's the best thing that could ever have happened. I agree in the 15 minutes I had to wait to buy my painting he sold 6 or 7 to the person before me and the gentleman after me wanted to buy 40 of them. Smart move for Flash Art for being so timely. For more info of Eric's brush with the law follow this link



Allen Ruppersberg at Christine Burgin. Isnt this really all I need to say? No? OK, I'm a big AR fan and have been since college. He has a problem with some galleries that he doesnt really do the same thing from year to year - I have no problem with that, but I'm sure he's harder to market that way. CB is showing drawings and sculpture and you should go see them right now.

Stuart Davis at Salander-O'Reilly. They are showing two paintings both of black lines on a cream field of a couple of his best known works. I didn't get a chance to talk to the gallery, but I thought the date was after the paintings I knew - I should do some more sleuthing - but I probably wont. Interesting regardless.

Saw a few really good Robert Ryman's - I was particularly interested one and just for the hell of it asked the price. "It's a 12 x 12 paint on fiberglass of some sort and it cost $195,000 dollars" the lovely gallery assistant said. Oh yeah, thats a direct quote.

Random notes:
Bumped into and spoke with Todd Oldham - A hell of a nice guy barely begins to describe him. What an excellent human being.

Had a nice although brief conversation with Max Protech - we have two degrees of separation since we both worked with Nancy Drysdale. Short but enjoyable - it's nice to be invited to sit and just chat - no "I'm too busy, are you buying?"

Perrier Jouet is the official champagne of ABMB it costs $12 by the glass from the cart ladies.

Labels: Art Basel Miami Beach

By the way, I've been meaning to mention I'm in a show opening tonight in Baltimore - "Off The Clock" at Smith Content. 904 W. 36th Street Baltimore, MD 21211. Opening is tonight till 8PM Catherine is there - go say hi.

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...

Labels: Art Basel Miami Beach