Review

A review of the eighth annual international art fair

Cara Megan Lewis (left), curator for Cara and Cabezas Contemporary, shows works on paper by Linnea Gabriella Spransey and Anne Austin Pearce to a booth visitor at Art Basel Miami 2009. The Kansas City-based gallery (which stems from one in San Francisco) participated in Verge, the part of Basel Miami that focuses on emerging artists. The work they showed, including by Barry Anderson and Kacy Maddux, stood out among the 30 international galleries in the Verge fair (formerly known as "Bridge Art Fair." Art Basel Miami includes more than 2,000 galleries from around the world and is the U.S. sister fair to the original Art Basel in Switzerland. Photo: Jeremy Mikolajczak

Art Basel Miami Beach
Miami and Miami Beach, Florida
December 3-6, 2009

Like last year's hit movie, “The Hangover,” a trip to Art Basel Miami Beach is similar to that of a 96-hour adrenaline-filled bachelor party set on location in a city where inhibitions are released, money is of no object, clothes are minimal, and beauty is eminent. Art Basel Miami Beach 2009 marked my sixth trip to the famed annual art fair that has been happening during the first weekend of December since 2002. Originating from its founding sister fair — Art Basel, located in Basel, Switzerland — Art Basel Miami Beach has grown to become a bevy of star-studded parties, high-profile museum exhibitions, art and design “districts,” live performances, alternative spaces, and more than 15 “satellite” fairs that scale the entire cities of Miami and Miami Beach, Florida.

We've arrived: the Days Inn off Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, decked out for the holidays and for Art Basel, welcomes contemporary artists and art-lovers from around the world. Photo: Jeremy Mikolajczak

Over the past six years, I have experienced amazing art and performances that challenged my sensibilities and questioned my understanding of contemporary art practice and concept. I have also witnessed the ascension and decline of the fair, affected by the ebbs and flow of local and international money markets. In the rise of the early 2000s, the fair was a wealth of opportunity and experimentation: limits were pushed; parties were bigger, better and wilder; and there was an overabundance of events that not even the savviest art monger could navigate.

Art Basel Miami Beach 2009 is one I would prefer to call “Basel Light.” Yes, it did include over 16 fairs, five major exhibitions at art institutions, numerous events, public art displays throughout metro Miami and Miami Beach, and a “car crash,” but it fell short in the objective of why people head there in the first place: art.  Though I must admit I saw some of the best work ever produced at major institutional spaces like the Rubell Family Collection and the Miami Art Museum, the booths at the main and satellite fairs played “market safe" and exhibited work that proved art is/as commodity.

Jennifer Rubell, who hosts an annual breakfast at Art Basel Miami Beach, presented the edible installation, "Old-Fashioned," with 1,521 doughnuts hung in a grid formation on an 8' x 60' wall. Doughnuts of the same name are delivered fresh daily from Dunkin' Donuts so visitors can stop by and consume them at will. Photo: Jeremy Mikolajczak

Walking around, I found myself longing for the unconventional events and exhibitions of galleries like Deitch Projects NYC (although Deitch did present an interesting but “safe” exhibition of work by Francesco Clemente, titled A History of the Heart in Three Rainbows, at the Goldman Warehouse in the Wynwood Arts District), or for seeing the Moore Space in the Design District where art and design merged, or the unconventional Art Positions, the portable shipping containers placed directly on Miami Beach that presented work by emerging and innovative galleries from around the world. (Art Positions continues to exist but has been moved to the interior of the big fair in the Miami Beach Convention Center.)

Still, this is Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, and, recession or not, the party does go on.

Yes, the fair this year might have been scaled down, safe, and a bit dry, but that does not mean it was void of highlights, nights of debauchery — or that it lacked the impressive factor. Because I only had 72 full hours to pack in as much as possible, this year I had to have a well-edited and selected fair/event schedule (Which was made possible thanks to my highly organized friends who also have a car — a must for Art Basel Miami Beach). I don’t know of anyone who has been able to hit every event scheduled during the four-day extravaganza, so pre-planning is a must. Our arriving in the wee hours of Wednesday night meant that Thursday morning was going to start our non-stop trek across the Miami and Miami Beach metro area, where we planned to hit every fair and museum/institution on our list, while trying to soak up as much sun, art, and free champagne as possible.

NADA

Installation view of Humble Arts Foundation, based in New York City. The gallery promotes the work of emerging photo-based artists and was part of the New Art Dealers Alliance fair. Photo: Jeremy Mikolajczak

Beginning at the NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) Fair at the Deauville Beach Resort on Collins Avenue, we found what this proved to be the “happy hour” needed. Grabbing my first champagne (It was 10 a.m., and I was on a sort-of vacation), I set forth with pen and camera also in hand, to begin navigating among the gallery booths and exhibitions. Set up like a traditional trade fair, NADA featured rows and rows of more than 80, 12-by-15-foot “mini galleries.” Representing more than 30 cities worldwide, the work was as diverse from one gallery to the next. Through the “air” to the fair seemed decisively “Booklyn-esque,” there were a few galleries that caught my attention.

Artist Joy Drury Cox, whose work was featured in fall at the Greenlease Gallery at Rockhurst University, poses with Humble Arts Foundation co-founder Amani Olu in the gallery's NADA booth. Photo: Jeremy Mikolajczak

My first stop was Humble Arts Foundation based in New York City. Their guide says, "Founded in 2005 by Amani Olu and Jonathan Feinstein, Humble Arts Foundation is committed to promoting the work of emerging photo-based artists." Call me biased, but the work was exceptionally minimal and conceptually heavy in a sea of “anything goes” aesthetic. Both Joy Drury Cox (whose work I recently included in an exhibition I guest curated at the Greenlease Gallery at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri) and photographer Ann Woo showed work that “challenged the commonly held assumption that aesthetically sparse work falters to recount intensely complex and meaningful narratives.”*

Painting by Tatjana Gerhard, represented by the Rotwand Gallery from Zurich, Switzerland. Image: photo, Jeremy Mikolajczak

Looking overseas to the Rotwand Gallery of Zurich, Switzerland: it stood out by exhibiting the work of Zurich-based painter, Tatjana Gerhard. Subdued, dark, and David Lynch-esque, her paintings of “archaic–looking beings whose expressions, intentions, and origins” are “incomprehensible and enigmatic.”** Using rich oil paint and low-key color palette, Gerhard’s work transported the viewer from the Miami heat and neon to a cold and wet night in a remote village of Eastern Europe.

Verge

Anne Austin Pearce, "Singlet Head," is a newer drawing by the Kansas City-based artist and educator, who also heads up the Greenlease Gallery at Rockhurst University. Image: courtesy of Cara and Cabezas Contemporary gallery

New to Basel Miami this year, Verge is the former Bridge Art Fair, and like Bridge, it focused on emerging art and artists. Verge featured the only Kansas City-based gallery taking part in the entire event, Cara and Cabezas Contemporary, which also has ties to San Francisco. A major standout in the small well-curated fair of only 30 international galleries, Cara and Cabezas featured the work of Kansas City Artists Anne Austin Pearce, Linnea Gabriella Spransy, Kacy Maddux (formerly of KC), and Barry Anderson. Though biased in my opinion, of course, I think that, under the direction of Paulo Cabezas with the keen eye of curator Cara Megan Lewis, this gallery has to potential to become a major contemporary venue within the emerging Midwest scene.

Artist Zach Storm himself (right) was part of the Judi Rotenberg Gallery's booth at Art Basel Miami Beach and hung work in a bedroom-type setting. Photo: Tristan Govignon Photography, courtesy of the gallery

Another notable space featured in the Verge Art Fair is the Boston-based Judi Rotenberg Gallery. Featuring the work of up-and-coming artist Zach Storm, the gallery did something a little unconventional by having the artist hang his small and poignant drawings while fair-goers visited the space. The interaction between artist and viewer created some interesting dialogue about the subject matter of his drawings and his unassuming disposition. (I would like to add a note and say that Director Kristen Dodge had the best “dealer outfit" — an airbrushed T-shirt advertising their artist, Zach Storm. Very Florida.)

Zach Storm was easy to talk to, and visitors to the Judi Rotenberg Gallery booth enjoyed asking him questions about his work. Photo: Tristan Govignon Photography, courtesy of the gallery

The Rubell Family Collection

Work by the late Jason Rhoades was shown at the Rubell Family Collection: Jason Rhoades, "Untitled (Chandelier)," glass, wire, neon, Plexiglas, fabric and plastic, variable dimensions, 2004. Photo: Jeremy Mikolajczak

After a night off to relax and enjoy the company a friends, day two brought us bright and early to the Wynwood Arts District to view the Rubell Family Collection. (If you do not know who Don and Mera Rubell are, and you are a contemporary art aficionado, stop and go immediately to their Web site.) Owning some of the most prominent and influential works of the past 30 years, the Rubells have amassed one of the most important contemporary collections in the world. Since 1996, the Rubells have exhibited their collection in the Wynwood warehouse, which also houses the family research library. Beg Borrow and Steal opened December 2, with a laundry list of artists that include the likes of Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Mike Kelley, Marcel Duchamp, Dan Flavin, Urs Fischer, Jim Lambie, and Jenny Holzer, just to name a few. With more than 260 works from 74 artists, this exhibition looks at “art about art" and 'stolen' imagery [that] has fueled many an artists' production.”***

Scope Miami

The entrance of Scope and Art Asia fairs at Art Basel Miami 2009: where there was good work and plenty of "breathing room." Photo: Jeremy Mikolajczak

Of all the fairs visited, Scope Miami had to be my favorite. With low crowd numbers, well-curated, excellent galleries, and plenty of “breathing room,” Scope Miami featured some of the best emerging art of this time. Featuring more than 60 international galleries, Scope Miami also presented a sculpture garden (with a noteworthy piece by Chicago-based artists Davis/Langlois), film, installations, and multimedia performance. Exhibiting some work of interest were the Bonnelli ArteContemporaneaIrvine Contemporary of Washington, DC.Bonnelli ArteContemporanea (Mantova), which featured a nice collection of Kim Dorland watercolors and works on paper by Elena Monzo, and Irvine Contemporary of Washington, DC.

Art Basel Miami Beach

Going to the “big fair” or Art Basel Miami Beach in the Miami Beach Convention Center can be a daunting and overwhelming adventure. Exhibiting every blue chip gallery from here to Timbuktu, Art Basel evokes big pocketbooks, celebrity fueled paparazzi, and enough “schmoozing and boozing” than you can shake a stick at. One of the most prominent stages in the art world, this year's show did not disappoint or provide any earth-shattering moment. Opting to be part of the night crowd (reduced cost and lower attendance numbers), I found myself with drink in hand wandering the booths among the art elite trying to grasp any sense of what the market and collectors are gravitating toward. From booth to booth, works by Lewitt, Picasso, and Miro flew by, new “market darlings” like painter Kehinde Willey and photographer Massimo Vitali were everywhere, and places of solace where the eye could rest were few and far between. Gallery booths that stood out with an air of installation and defiance from the rest were the presentation of Marilyn Minter’s beauty-obsessed paintings at Salon 94 Freemans, based in New York City, and an installation of new work by Jorge Pardo at Berlin-based Neugerriemschneider. Both altered or manipulated the standard white cube, setting themselves apart from the typical Art Basel booth.

Pulse and Miami Art Museum

Parties are part of the Art Basel Miami experience. One evening found Kansas City-based Jaimie Warren and friend putting their Miami rhythm to work … a Whoop Dee Doo for adults during karaoke hour. Photo: Jeremy Mikolajczak

After a long evening of karaoke and cocktails that began with an invitation from Kansas City’s own famed photographer Jaimie Warren, on Saturday morning I found myself reeling for quiet and a much-needed day on the beach. It was cloudy, a little rainy, and the beach, of course, was “not on the schedule.” Rallying behind my hosts, we proceeded to spend the day at the Pulse Art Fair and the Miami Art Museum. Pulse similar to Scope, is an emerging art fair. Held in Miami’s “Ice Palace,” this year's exhibition featured the likes of more than 75 international galleries. Heavy on photography and two-dimensional works, Pulse bustled with activity of fresh new buyers (locals come on Saturday) and young art students. One single piece drew the attention of almost everyone at the fair, Liberty by Mark Wagner. Represented by Pavel Zoubok Gallery based in New York, Liberty is 16-foot tall collage depicting the Statue of Liberty using cut pieces of one-dollar bills. It is an amazing work of art, and Wagner’s additional works also on view were unbelievably intricate and gorgeous.

Art Basel Miami certainly draws celebrities: Shepard Fairey was represented by galleries at several fairs, but he managed to hit the streets and stop for an interview or two. Well-known even to those outside the art world for his "Hope" poster produced during the 2008 presidential campaign (and for which he has run into legal trouble for its use of an AP photograph of Barack Obama), Fairey has also been arrested at least a dozen times for his guerilla-style posting of artwork in unauthorized locations. Large-scale pieces by him could be seen throughout the Wynwood district; Shepard’s installations in Miami featured political imagery from his 2008 White Walls SF gallery show. Photo: Jeremy Mikolajczak

Coming to close of my journey, I wanted to visit the Miami Art Museum one last time before it relocates from the cultural center in downtown Miami to its new home in the new Museum Park, scheduled to be complete in 2013. There, Everything and Everything (Else) featured works on paper, paintings, and sculptures by Brazilian artist Guillermo Kuitca. A stunning and evocative retrospective of his work, the exhibition spanned his career of 35 years. Co-organized by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Everything and Everything (Else) was the excellent capstone to my Art Basel Miami Beach 2009.

Like in the movie, "The Hangover," the haze of “what was” might not be “what we remember.” Going back over the hundred or so photographs snapped, I find myself asking, “Where was that? Or what am I doing?” Art Basel Miami Beach 2009 did not disappoint, but nor did it help me find any greater clarity on the art world. I did, however, come away knowing three things — 1: No matter how many fairs you have attended, a VIP or press pass is by far your greatest asset; 2: 72 hours is NOT an acceptable amount of time to even come remotely close to seeing all of it; and, 3: At 21 floors up I can assure you, “There’s no jungle cat in the bathroom.”

Notes & quotes:
*Karen Archey, Humble Arts Foundation, 2009.
**Dominique von Burg, Rotwand Gallery, 2009.
***Curatorial Statement, Rubell Family Collection, 2009.

-re-