Miami Quickie Photos

ARTmostfierce had a few days in Miami to relax after Art Basel. For those who had never visited Miami, here a sample of the many photos, I took mostly at night. I always try to find the best, the funniest and positive about people and places. I love Miami for what it is and not for what people expect from it. Enjoy!

Photos By Ruben Natal-San Miguel

PULSE ART Fair Miami

Yeni Mao
Chukar Chandelier, 2008
galvanized steel bar, brass patinated plate, 110 cast chukar skulls plated with 14 karat gold, heat-resistant Viton cord, electrical hardware
@ ARTWARE Editions

Tea... anyone?
Cindy Sherman
Madame de Pompadour (née Poisson), 1990
porcelain
@>ARTWARE Editions

Car/Vector portraits by Andrew Bush

ARTmostfierce enjoyed touring the PULSE Art Fair in Miami. In my opinion it was one of the strongest art fairs of all.

One of my favorite highlights@ PULSE Fair was coming across the Car /Vector photographic portraits of Andrew Bush.@ The Julie Saul Gallery Booth.They possess such an interesting, voyeuristic and everyday quality interpreted in a very stylish manner. The photos portray the way that most of us behave while behind the wheel or as a passenger and I must tell you they look amazing as a group of three or more. The photos rectangular format suggests motion and enhances coolness. It almost makes me want to drive again!

Recap From Miami Art Basel

Aida Ruilova
A-Z, Quick read
2008

c-print relief
27.56 x 19.69 inches (70 x 50 cm)

Aida Ruilova
A-Z, Legs in the corner
2008

c-print relief
27.56 x 19.69 inches (70 x 50 cm)

Aida Ruilova
A-Z, The passion of Joan
2008

c-print relief
27.56 x 19.69 inches (70 x 50 cm)

edition of 5 + 2 AP

The C-Prints relief photographs of Aida Ruilova @ Salon 94 were one of my favorites and most interesting works at Miami Art Basel . The photographic series from A-Z are done with several reliefs on the photo created by a special unique technique in Italy. You got to see them in person!

It is a very fresh way to communicate contemporary photography.

Here are some thoughts about Miami Art Basel

What do we want from art now? It sums up Art Basel Miami well that one of the best-selling works of the annual extravaganza was finally smart, small, darkly comic — and dirt-cheap. Artists William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton offered a line of art-world condolence cards. They read, over images of moving vans, gravestones, and street signs, "I Am So Sorry for Your Loss of Representation" and, comfortingly, “Chelsea will miss you." At $150 a box, everybody wanted one.

Forget the frenzy — when all the dust settles after Art Basel, it’s all about the art. Who broke through with good work? What sold and who bought it? Six days, four museum shows, and thirteen art fairs later, here’s our take.

Dealers pulled out all the stops to bring some of the best work the ABMB bacchanalia has ever seen. Many, especially at the main fair, hung great photography or classic works by dead artists — Dubuffet, Duchamp, Picasso — rather than risk offering discounts on the works of younger artists. There, 20 percent off might reprice a whole inventory and shake a career. But then, karma from 2007 kicked in. Some of the same dealers who’ve been placing buyers on waiting lists for years — think Gagosian — got put on “hold” themselves by collectors who expressed interest in works but left dealers hanging, and sometimes left town. As one art adviser said, by the glow of hanging lanterns by the Raleigh pool, "Everybody is worried sick."

Lee Schrager, director of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and a longtime art collector, snapped up two Starn brothers photos “at a 13 percent discount” at Photo Miami but then put away his checkbook. He said one dealer explained the Miami climate to him this way: “We did better than we expected — and worse than we had hoped.”

Who was recession proof? Cindy Sherman, breaking through to Warhol territory in cred and cost; Whitney Biennial vet Hernan Bas, whose atmospheric and homoerotic works get a show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art next year; and Mickalene Thomas. Her nifty rhinestone-on-enamel portraits were one of the hits of the much-praised show at the Rubell Collection, "30 Americans." To overgeneralize, pretty, portable art, and video art, was “in” with buyers; large, confrontational, or installation art was “out.”

Buyers included Takashi Murakami, who said he was cutting back his art-collecting but broke his own rule when he spent $100 on a drawing by Jacksonville, Florida, graphic artist Brandon Mata. The scrawny, friendly twentysomething artist, who does geometric portraits on graph paper, said he was “really happy!” as a result. At the main fair, Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah, one of world’s richest men, snapped up one of Karl Lagerfeld’s photos of the Jeff Koons exhibition at Versailles. It shows a Koons vacuum cleaner alongside a portrait of Marie Antoinette and was originally priced at $30,000. “It was controversial [in France] — and I got a deal,” bragged the grinning Sheikh, who added he’d like New York readers to know he’s opening one of his Villa Moda luxury malls in Dubai in March. Real-estate developer Craig Robins went shopping for several works and announced he and partners are building a museum of design in Miami.

Morgans Hotel Group CEO Fred Kleisner, giddily celebrating the coup of luring a surprising slice of celebrities and artists to his new Mondrian Hotel (dubbed "stunning — a decorative wonderland" by Artkrush editor Paul Laster, poolside at the Russell Simmons party), fell hard for some video art in the Lisson booth. It’s "about obsessive-compulsive disorder — my wife says it’s a little like me," said Kleisner. He also picked out one memorable work at Design Miami: a rat encased in a shiny crystal vacuum cleaner with a diamond gleaming in its mouth. "It’s good, it’s so New York," he said — but was still negotiating a discount off the $57,000 price when last we checked.

Dealers who thrived included Francis Nauman, who did a gutsy show of Marcel Duchamps instead of playing it safe with cheaper works. Kenny Schachter had a lot of demand for his Zaha Hadid works, and New York veteran dealer Max Protetch nearly sold out his “recession booth” of works mostly under $50,000 at the Pulse Art Fair. A breakthrough artist there (almost all of his work sold) was New York artist Siebren Versteeg, whose giant iPhone-like touch screen changed its art as the viewer scrolled a finger across it. Korean art also sold strongly and conceptualist and sculptor Hyungkoo Lee was a big hit. Photography sold strongly at Art Miami booths Yancey Richardson, Barry Friedman, and Stux.

One trend we’re sorry about: Collectors often opted to buy works by “famous names” that weren’t priced as high as art by traditional artists: Lagerfeld, Hadid, Marilyn Manson, and Naomi Campbell all had shows. The nicest thing to happen all week: Hopeful images of Obama were everywhere, and the crowd, though smaller, was by far the most racially mixed ever to attend Art Basel Miami. Recession or no, the art world has changed for the better.

Juliana Beasley Holiday Cheer Sale~!

Juliana Beasley
Frieda
18X18" with 14.5 X14.5 image size, edition of 15 with 2aps, Lambda prints

Juliana Beasley
Miss Reingold
18X18" with 14.5 X14.5 image size, edition of 15 with 2aps, Lambda prints

ARTmostfierce promised Juliana during Miami Art Basel to give a shout out of her great limited edition sale. Check it out and if you are not familiar with her, check out her site and try to meet her. She is a lot of fun to be around and hang out with!
More posting later about the fairs...I am exhausted and ready for a new vacation~!

Shop...Shop!
http://www.julianabeasley.com

Critical Mass Photolucida Top 50!

Photo by Jeffries Elliot

ARTmostfierce is thrilled with Critical Mass Photolucida's Top 50!

Still in Miami and so happy because 95% of my votes are listed below!

Yeah!

Congratulations to you all!

Now I am going after your work!

Jeffrey Aaronson
Angela Bacon-Kidwell
Cara Barer
David Paul Bayles
Damion Berger
Rita Bernstein
Pelle Cass
Tom Chambers
Alejandro Chaskielberg
Céline Clanet
Ian van Coller
Livia Corona
Katrina d'Autremont
Matt Eich
Jeffris Elliott
Andy Freeberg
Amanda Friedman
Joy Goldkind
Cig Harvey
Jessica Hines
Thomas Holton
Dave Jordano
Priya Kambli
Jim Kazanjian
Jaime Kowal
Ferit Kuyas
Pablo Lopez Luz
David Leventi
Alison Malone
Rania Matar
Graham Miller
Lucas Oleniuk
Louie Palu
Eric Percher
Cara Phillips
Reiner Riedler
Christina Seely
Brian Shumway
Sarah Small
Tema Stauffer
Will Steacy
Marcela Taboada
Daniel Traub
Antonio Turok
Carlo Van de Roer
Manuel Vazquez
Lori Waselchuk
Lisa Wiltse
Natalie Young
Mi Zhou

Amanda Lepore Fragance Party By ARTWARE Editions

Amanda Lepore

AMANDA the fragrance...

Renee strikes a pose with Amanda

Who's the evil twin?

Amanda Lepore

A good Girl...

Jon Tomilson and Ruben Natal-San Miguel

Renee & Christina

ARTmostfierce and his posse went to party @ Aqua on Allison Island for the launching of Amanda Lepore new fragrance sponsored by ARTWARE Editions. We had a great time with tasty cocktails , chocolate covered strawberries and very hot sexy waiters (mmmm) delivering them.

Special thanks to Jon Tomilson from ARTWARE Editions for his hospitality.Check out the photos !

From there we head out to the Guggenheim Party at the Roof of the Gansevoort Hotel. No photos of those ...sorry I was already intoxicated . You know how birthdays go and by the end of the night I was everybodys friend... 

Happy Birthday!

 At PULSE Art Fair somebody decided to remember and commemorate my birthday with a sold red dot included.

Happy B-day indeed it was.

Special thanks to: 

Kellie McLaughlin

Cristina Caputo

Renee

Amani Olu

Mike Hoeh

John

Leah Oates

Pierre St Jacques

Yeni Mao

Dean

Janet Finkel

 My family

and many others who remembered!

Aqua Fair Wynwood

Paul Jacobsen
The Last Spectacle, 2005
Oil on canvas
62 x 100 inches / 158 x 254 cm
$24,000

Corey Arnold
Icy Bow, 2006
Bering Sea, Alaska
Chromira C-Print
30 x 40 inches / 76 x 112 cm
Edition 2/6
$2400 plus frame

Antistrot
Ich Möchte Fliegen Können, 2008
Frescolithe, gouache and ink on muslin
29.5 x 59 inches
$8500

ARTmostfierce continues the Miami Art Fair burnt-out tour. Here is some selections from the Aqua Fair in Wynwood . Stop by Sara Tecchia Roma Gallery booth  and check it out!

 Don't forget also, to check out the big mural by ANTISTROT @ Aqua Wynwood entrance

More to come later about other fairs shows and ...parties!

Bridge Art Fair, Miami SoBe

Now here is a fierce Gallery Owner that Art Basel wish they would have..
@Damien Montaleiu Gallery

Collective Gallery 173-171

Canal St ,NYC

Artist Leah Oates standing proud in front of one her great light box photo/installations

Pierre St. Jacques in front of his video art installations

The Bridge ART Fair at the Catalina Hotel in Sobe had some great bargains and even 2 artists that got my vote for Fotolucida's Critical Mass 08.

Another find at Aqua South Beach

ARTmostfierce found this one at the Aqua Art Fair.

Ariana Page Russell
Sugarplum
archival inkjet print
26" x 18"
2008

Edition of 5

$800.00 Framed $600.00 Unframed

A bargain!

This body of work series are just fascinating.You need to read about her to understand the process. Sorry, too busy now running around to the next party!

Check out her site!

http://www.arianapagerussell.com/

Miami Art Basel

This is how I felt after 4 minutes at Miami Art Basel and not singing Maddonna's song

Artist Doug Aitken always sets the tone with the right words!

Attention K-Mart shoppers...there are leftovers from 2007 being pedalled in the room for sale!

This how I felt after being at Miami Art Basel for 15 minutes...LIKE A CAGED ANIMAL!

Christina Caputo and Kellie McLaughlin from Aperture Foundation wanted to let you know...

I know ...some of us misbehave when we head South!

ARTmostfierce was a bit disappointed with Miami ART Basel. The mood was sort of desperate, with some buyers more interested of matching the possible artwork purchases with their room decor than being interested on making a good investment and getting to know who is the artist and its mission statement...weird right?

Specially during these current economic times when everybody is watching how they spend money!

This type of interaction was quite predominant throughout the fair. I heard several times and left me in total state of disbelief.

I thought that was kind of interesting some urban signage art and installations kind of set the mood of the fair. So let the photos give you an idea of what the fair (more like a car show) is all about this years.  Off course I will not post photos of many (and I mean a lot !) of art that I saw at Miami Basel 2007 still doing the rounds on 2008 and even adorning the same walls. More about MAB later . Please read article by Art-info below!

Right now, I am partied out !

MIAMI BEACH—Amid dire predictions that the contemporary art market has fallen off a cliff, the opening hours of today’s Art Basel Miami Beach V.I.P. preview showed that collectors are a stubborn bunch set on shopping for bargains.
Forget the jockeying for position, the noontime mini-dramas, and the famous one-hour holds on coveted works of art — they’re all things of the past now. Instead, what was weighing on discerning collectors’ minds in the early moments of the fair was the question of where the market is going.

“I look at this downturn as opportunity time,” said seasoned Miami collector Norman Braman. “I’ve had works of art that have been offered to me that are very exciting, but no one knows how serious the downturn is. As I told one dealer, ‘The problem is, I don’t know what the bottom is, so I don’t know what’s reasonable.’”

And make no mistake, it’s not just the atmosphere and prices that have changed.

“People seem more chained to their desks,” said one blue-chip exhibitor, commenting on the underwhelming preview attendance, “and don’t have the luxury of flying off to an art fair.”

But for those who did show up, that might be a blessing. “We can’t be as rude [to clients] as we’ve been for the past three years,” said another dealer, admitting to a new friendly approach from dealers who, in the art market’s boom days, became used to tough bouts of one-upmanship.

But it felt almost like the old boom times, at least for a minute, at New York’s PaceWildenstein, when an American collector snapped up an Alexander Calder sterling silver necklace from 1941 for $450,000 as soon as she tried it on. “She put it on and owned it right then and there,” said the gallery’s Jennifer Joy.

Is it art or jewelry? Right now, who cares?

While a number of multi-million-dollar works were on view — including Rene Magritte’s Les Graces naturelles, from 1948, for $11.5 million at Montreal’s Landau Fine Art, and Ed Ruscha’s Standard Station on Fire, from 1966, for $8.5 million at New York/London/L.A./Rome’s Gagosian Gallery — commerce was mostly taking place at decidedly more modest levels.

Chicago/New York dealer Richard Gray sold at least three new works by David Hockney in color inkjet print on paper from an edition of 25 for $9,500 apiece. Bearing titles like Rainy Night in Bridlington Promenade and Cardigan Road Bridlington, the works are expressive plein air compositions of the artist’s hometown in Yorkshire.

Palm Beach/Southampton collectors Ted and Ruth Baum were seen busily studying a rare abstract work titled Auge (Eye), (1963–64) by Zero Group member Otto Piene — done in oil, fire, and smoke residue on canvas — at New York’s Adler & Conkright Fine Art before taking the plunge and buying it somewhere below the asking price of $85,000.

“It’s underpriced,” said Ted Baum, delighted with his purchase. “The red is always a premium price, and it’s the right year.”

Ruth soon reminded her husband that they needed to return to New York dealer Barbara Mathes’s booth, which is devoted to works by Joseph Cornell and Yayoi Kusama, to decide on a rare 1981 Kusama box, Sea, and tore around the corner to see it again.

Tagging along with a determined and consummate art-collecting couple for a mini buying spree seemed a reassuring way to pass the time in the sparsely attended preview, so I followed along. In little time, the couple had purchased that piece as well, for a figure in the $100,000 range.

“This one was a little tougher negotiation. It’s really a rare thing,” said Ted. “We have just the right place for it.”

Sounding momentarily contrite about their spending, he added, “Yeah, we’re terrible, but there’s great stuff for our collection here.”

There was also early activity at London/Zurich's Hauser & Wirth, which sold Jason Rhoades’s One-wheel wagon-wheel chandelier (Moot, Overnight Depository, Stuffed Stocking) from 2004 for $250,000, Mary Heilmann’s abstraction Mateo from 1996 for $550,000, and an untitled Wilhelm Sasnal painting from 2008 for €60,000 ($76,000).

f the preview was a mostly sober affair, some signs of the exuberance of Art Basels past were evident. It occurred to me, for instance, that the pricey Ruscha offered at Gagosian for $8.5 million had sold at Christie’s New York in November 2007 for $6,985,000 (est. $4–6 million).

“It’s much, much admired,” a gallery staffer said. “But it is a big price at this moment.”

So, the seven-year-old fair is still ticking. Even better, some announcements made just before the preview point toward its long-term health. Main sponsor UBS has reportedly signed up for a multi-year renewal of its patronage, and, perhaps more important, fair organizer MCH Swiss Exhibition Ltd. has booked another three years at the sprawling Miami Convention Center, wiping out persistent rumors that the southern Florida venue might be jettisoned for one in southern California.

Aqua Fair Miami SOBE

 Davida Nemeroff from the Red Dawn series.

They are each an edition of 5, 20 x 24", framed for $ 1200.

Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects
1086 and 1080 Queen Street W, Toronto Canada

ARTmostfierce checked out the Aqua Fair during its opening party.Cool and cozy party with a of friendly faces Barely any photography but with pretty good works on paper and paintings. What a great surprise was to find AMNO in it .For those who don't know AMNO is the publisher of red hot Zoe Strauss Book,AMERICA.There is a rumor that 'LA DIVINA' Strauss is going to land here tomorrow for a book signing. Also some of her photographs are for sale at the room for a great price .   

 There is  something rather  decadent about blogging right next to an olympic size pool and overlooking at the Aqua Fair. I guess I am finally on vacation!

More to come later!

There is another Aqua Fair in Wynwood ...I will check it out later!

Photolucida Jury Duty is over for me!

Photos by Thomas Alleman one of my favorites!

Artmostfierce is done making final voting decisions as a juror for Photolucida's Critical Mass 2008!

There is some true talent here!

I tried to select in my opinion what was the most daring , fresher, challenging and sometimes in your face work that was done in a true stylistic and sophisticated manner.

Although at times it was hard to say (vote) NO ...it also felt good to vote WOW for some of them. Hoping I can make a difference and open doors for 50 true talented individuals that might bring something new to the photography field .I had about maybe 10 WOWs , 40 Yes and 130 NO's out of the 185 finalists. I will post my choices later after I leave the city and head on to Miami Vice for some ART Basel ,party, sun and FUN!

One of my WOW ones was Thomas Alleman. He has a solo show at Robin Rice Gallery right now!

Ciao for now!

December 1st- World AIDS Day

Today is a day to remember all the friends, acquaintances and even family members that are no longer around due this tragic disease known as AIDS.

 Over the years, I had lost a significant amount of friends that can never be replaced.

 Innocent people that had no idea what the disease really was until in most cases was too late to prevent.

 I still have a few friends that to this day continue to battle this disease and that is why it is so important to continue helping organizations like ACRIA (AIDS Community Research Initiative of America), GMHC ( Gay Men Health Crisis ), AMFAR ( The Foundation for AIDS Research) and Visual AIDS 

Most of these organizations have Art auctions benefits and print programs that in collaboration with emerging and established artists create limited editions available  for sale, all proceeds going to benefit research  and prevention programs. It is a win-win when you can purchase and invest on art and the money helps the AIDS organization.

The Housing Works is committed to ending the twin crises of AIDS and homelessness. They believe that all people have the right to a rich and empowering life.I had been shopping here for over 10 years.The is housing works Thrift Shops locations throughout the city and the clothes , furniture and even artwork can be quite fierce. I remembered once bidding in an auction for a enormous Roy Lichtenstein lithograph against a huge British art dealer. I lost too!

During the month of December, I will be curating a Visual AIDS online exhibit and hope to do my best in memory of my lost but, still loved and remembered friends.

 The photo above is from Gia Carangi (1960-1986) , one of the first Supermodels and also one of the first women and lesbian in America to die from AIDS. To me she represents the face of the ongoing tragedy of this disease. Take a minute of your busy day today to remember all those beautiful souls like Gia, that are no longer around.

Be Safe!

http://giacarangi.org/nevergetsold.html