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"Our
Man in Miami" By
Megan Voellerenlarge Dec. 6-9, Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, artbaselmiamibeach.com. Deon Blackwell: Body of Salt Runs
through Dec. 21. Reception Sat., Dec. 8, 8-11:30 p.m. Undercurrent Arts,
2563 N. Miami Ave., Miami, 305-571-9574, undercurrentarts.com. With the economy sputtering, anticipation surrounding this year's fair is tempered by a wait-and-see attitude. (Will European collectors jet in to take advantage of the weak dollar?) Regardless, Florida artists remain one of the biggest winners in the Miami Basel boom. Cracking the main fair is nearly impossible if you're not represented by a high-end gallery in New York or L.A., but the odds of scoring a show -- individual or group -- in one of the many concurrent satellite fairs or in Miami's up-and-coming gallery district, Wynwood, during Basel aren't too bad. Collectors and curators will be scouring the fringes for bargains and discoveries -- if you've got the right stuff, a star could be born. For my money, Deon Blackwell is an artist with some serious star potential. By the time you read this article, he will have turned 29 (Dec. 4); six months out of USF's MFA program, he's at the very beginning of his career as an artist. But through merit and luck, Blackwell has landed a coveted solo show -- his first in a private gallery -- in Wynwood this week. At Undercurrent Arts, nearly 40 of his crusty, multicolored salt chandeliers will fill a white-walled gallery. Hopefully, someone with the power to jump-start his career will stop by. To me, Blackwell's chandeliers are incarnations of beauty and joy, but for the artist, their roots lie in personal tragedy. After experiencing the deaths of several family members in quick succession (including his father, who committed suicide) Blackwell, who was in graduate school at the time, became fascinated with chemical processes of death and decay. He tried slowly eating a 10-pound bag of salt until his blood pressure shot through the roof and his doctor warned him that his eyesight would go next. Now Blackwell lets salt eat away at the clay bodies of his handcrafted, chandelier-like constructions. After throwing and firing vessels made of clay, he fills them with very salty water; seeking the clay's pores, the salt penetrates the vessel and emerges on the other side as a re-crystalized crust or fur. Adding coats of vibrant pigment or pendulums made of stockings and rock salt, he pieces the salt-coated ceramic forms into uniquely magical creations. Blackwell says making his chandeliers has helped him move beyond the experience of pain and loss; what's left is a stunning body of work and a career waiting to take off. Here are some other highlights to watch for if you're headed down to Miami Basel this weekend. I'll be on site, reporting daily on the sights and sounds -- including Blackwell's exhibit -- at my blog, artsqueeze.com. At Art Basel Miami Beach, ogling the crowd -- from high-rolling collectors to Miami high-school students -- is at least as much fun as checking out the art. Prepare yourself for a football field's worth of galleries from the major art and cultural capitals of the world: New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Buenos Aires, Beijing, etc. If you must limit yourself to an hour or two, be sure to hit the following galleries: 303, Mary Boone, Deitch, Roberts & Tilton, Sikkema Jenkins, Gagosian, Sperone Westwater. ABMB also includes a handful of fairs-within-the-fair; Art Supernova features galleries like New York's Jack Shainman backing emerging artists; Art Kabinett presents curated mini-exhibits; and Art Positions (a few blocks away) situates galleries in shipping containers along the beach. Up and down South Beach's Collins Avenue, look for the smaller satellite fairs where price points are lower, and the art is a treasure trove of lesser-known possibilities. At Bridge Art Fair (bridgeartfair.com), look for Tampa's Bleu Acier to showcase artists Neil Bender and Elisabeth Condon (who recently won a prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant), Marie Yoho Dorsey, Steve McClure and others. Sarasota's Greene Contemporary will feature contemporary works at Bridge and modernist painting and sculpture at Art Miami in the Wynwood gallery district. Head north on Collins to Ink Miami (inkartfair.com), where USF's Graphicstudio will ply its wares for the second year in a row, along with 19 other topnotch print studios from around the country. Stop by Pool Art Fair (poolartfair.com) on Ocean Drive to see drawings and videos by [5]art's Kurt Piazza; stay for Pool's daily absinthe party at 7 p.m. Wynwood is the place to find new artists and edgy artworks, as well as some well-funded independent collections. Don't pass over exhibits at the Rubell Family Collection, MOCA at Goldman Warehouse or the Margulies Collection. Tampa artist Brandon Dunlap joins a group show of psychedelic and pop surrealist art at Harold Golen Gallery (haroldgolengallery.com), and BASK (myspace.com/baskinyourthoughtcrimes) and Sarah Gail Hutcherson serve up a two-person show at a club called Aquabooty Warehouse. Sketchbook Looking for an art fix closer to home this weekend? Try the Atomic Holiday Bazaar, Sun., Dec. 9, from noon to 5 p.m. at Sarasota's deco-licious Municipal Auditorium. The second annual alternative craft show offers "affordable, DIY, edgy craft for the terminally hip," per atomicholidaybazaar.com, where a link to Flickr provides an extensive preview of the show. For $5, peruse the handcrafted goodies of more than 50 vendors, including Tuff Betty Bags, Daisycakes Soap, Owl Movement (graphic T's), melimade (children's apparel) and more. Salt Creek Artworks (1600 Fourth St. S., St. Pete; 727-894-2653) puts a youthful spring in its step this month with a show of emerging artists opening Fri., Dec. 7, 6-9 p.m. The untitled exhibit features Roby MacDougall, Adam Turkel, Noah Howell and Amanda Stiles, who won our Reader's Choice Best of the Bay award for Best Artist earlier this year. Look for expressive, figurative works in the emerging style some call "lowbrow" art or pop surrealism. "Exhibit
Illustrates Power of Maps, Folly with Nature"
Imagination and curiosity are key. As a youngster, your columnist was fascinated by many things, with maps and globes and geography among them. I could spend hours at home, libraries and museums worldwide – studying maps from different cultures and eras. My fingers would trace topographical maps and globes; my eye would pock up the evolution of borders, manmade features and increased awareness. This fascination led to a lifelong commitment to travel, to exploring cultures and culture, and thus to many of the elements of the good life. Later in life, it was fascinating to discover that world maps and globes are not actually terribly accurate and that many have not evolved in the era of satellite technology. The average world map and globe I grew up studying is Euro-centric and mis-portrays the relative size of numerous nations and topographical features. But a discussion of cartography will have to wait for another day. Miami’s Undercurrent Arts is hosting an Opening Reception on September 8 for a fascinating exhibit – “Frank Cole: Violent Local Maps.” The series is made up of Florida map paintings depicting faintly exaggerated, ill-advised, man-made, landscape recovery projects and natural weather events that reflect our fears. The Florida-map image illustrates both the fear of the uncontrollable and man’s folly in trying to dominate or contain the environment in all-advised, arrogant ways. The paintings are oil over acrylic paste on canvas and board, each measuring 2’ by 2’. There are 45-50 of them in the collection in total, some presented in groupings, others as individual works at Undercurrent. Titles are stamped on tags directly on each painting. Cole began the series in 1990 while living and teaching in Florida. The first in the series, “Rogue Wave,” eerily pre-dates the Asian tsunami by 15 years. Cole took time away from the project, but fortunately resumed it in 2004. Artist Cole has vast experience in teaching and in exhibiting his own work around the United States. Also included in the series are paintings of Kent Island, Maryland, where Cole has his studio today. “Frank Cole: Violent Local Maps” perfectly illustrates the potential power and influence of maps. They are far more than utilitarian tools. The exhibit also deeply explores man’s fears of, abuse of and relationship with the natural environment. It promises to be an eye-opening exhibit. The September 8 Opening Reception takes place from 7 to 10:30pm at Undercurrent Arts, 2563 N. Miami Avenue, during the Wynwood Art District’s Second Saturday Gallery Walk. It’s a good opportunity for those who have not yet, to explore the thriving arts scene in Wynwood. The exhibit continues through September 29. For more information, call 305-571-9574 or visit www.undercurrentarts.com. --Your input is welcome at “The Good Life.” Please send all correspondences, comments and announcements to SassFL@aol.com.
...a little bit of culture at the opening of multimedia artist Cat Thompson's solo exhibition Weapons of Mass Consumption; and Other Visions of Ordinary Madness at Undercurrent Arts. While she says her work focuses on "the underbelly of memory and nostalgia," we find it hard to believe that the woman who is the co-creator of World Tiara Day is really that much of a misery chick. The pieces are kind of Barbie-goes-bad, so they'll definitely give you something to talk about after the show when you.... ....end your adventure with a night cap at an area Gen Art favorite, The Lost and Found Saloon. This tiny wine and beer bar is simple but stylish, and easy-on-the-wallet prices will make buying a bottle (or two!) of vino to share with your friends a distinct possibility. Just don't blame us for any hangovers!
Entertainment
News and Views Michael Sasser
This, of course, only makes it more important to identify and support such programming. It is also during this time that one generally sees among the more innovative and interesting works one will see in the visual arts. Undercurrent Arts is preparing for an exhibit, opening February 10, that is definitely one worthy of note – and of supporting. Continuing through March 24, “Out of the Ashes” takes its creative impetus from mythology to reflect on its metaphor and how it is applicable in the hands of several artists, to the human condition. Always a favorite mode of your columnist, “Out of the Ashes” continues the most important discussion art and artists can prompt: an exploration of the human soul.
The image of the phoenix rising from the ashes has long been a symbol of transformation. It is the idea of not only having lived through devastation and destruction, but also being able to rise above it. This exhibition explores tragedies of past and present and asks if we can move beyond them. Jane Fulton Alt’s encaustic covered photographs search for light in the dark recesses of the Nazi concentration camps and the slave forts of Africa; Joy Garnett’s paintings magnify the media’s portrayal of events in the Middle East; Karrie Hovey’s intricate installation commemorates the American casualties in Iraq; and Margaret Kosyk’s sculptures portray struggles of home and abroad. Each artist brings a unique perspective and eye to the endeavor. Jane Fulton Alt – Jane Fulton Alt's photographs explore universal issues of humanity, reflecting an interest in the mysteries of life and the non-material world. Her photographs ask us to consider issues of love, loss, and spirituality, which transcend all notions of race, religion and culture. Alt was born in Chicago in 1951. She attended the University of Michigan (BA, 1973) and the University of Chicago (MA, 1975). She has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. Alt is the recipient of numerous awards and her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Beinecke Library at Yale University, University of Illinois Comer Archive, and Centro Fotografico Alvarez Bravo in Oaxaca, Mexico, among others. In addition to photography she is a licensed clinical social worker, with a practice of over 30 years. Joy Garnett – Joy Garnett appropriates newsworthy and documentary photographs from the Internet and re-invents them as paintings. Her subject is both the content of these found images, and the photograph itself as cultural artifact. She studied painting at L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and received her MFA from The City College of New York. Garnett's work was recently included in Image War, organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Prevailing Climate at Sara Meltzer Gallery, reviewed in The New York Times by Holland Cotter. Her paintings have been reproduced in Cabinet magazine, Harper's, and Perspecta: The Yale School of Architecture Journal. She has received grants from the Anonymous Was a Woman foundation, and the Wellcome Trust (UK), and currently serves as Arts Editor at the scholarly journal Cultural Politics. Karrie Hovey – Karrie Hovey explores issues of perception, perspective, mediation and of obfuscation. Her layering of information is subtle. Every surface is manipulated with multiple systems of mapping, identifying specific places, yet the specifics remain vague and every element communicates coded data to the knowing, while being cryptic to those unknowing. Hovey grew up in a region called the Northeast Kingdom - a rural area in Vermont. She studied Graphic Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York. After working many years as a designer, Hovey returned to school to study sculpture at San Francisco State University where she received her MFA in 2005. Since that time Hovey has maintained a studio at the Headlands Center for the Arts. She currently resides in Mill Valley and works in the Fine Art department at SFSU. Margaret Kosyk – Margaret Kosyk uses current events to inspire her sculpture and installation. She works in a wide variety of mediums and is constantly exploring new techniques. It is almost as if she is creating “portraits” of the events that inspire her, and each portrait follows the form and feel of that event. Kosyk was born and raised in Central Florida. Although she studied fine art at the post–baccalaureate level at Georgia State University between 2000 and 2003, her primary education and work experience has been in design. She earned a degree in industrial design from Auburn University in 1991 where she learned a “form follows function” approach. In addition, she worked for many years as a trade show exhibit designer in Chicago, IL. She is the director and resident artist of Undercurrent Arts. John Zoller – John Zoller has been working on The United States Color & Learn series for six years. This series consists of paintings and drawings based on American educational coloring books. It explores an idealized indoctrinated American vision, as taught to children, and all its implications. He began the series when he moved to Miami from New York in 2001. Zoller has a BFA from School of Visual Arts in New York and has been exhibiting since 1985. Most recently, his work was shown at Scope New York with Red Dot Project. This fine exhibit is featured Feb. 10 – March 24 at Undercurrent Arts, 2563 N. Miami Ave., Miami. For more information, call 305-571-9574 or visit www.undercurrentarts.com. --
Your input is welcome at The Good Life. Please send all correspondences,
comments and announcements to SassFL@aol.com. October 3rd, 2006 Clever Exhibit Opening at Undercurrent Arts Michael
Sasser Undercurrent Arts is a studio/gallery dedicated to creating and exhibiting artwork in a wide variety of mediums that explores and communicates the “undercurrents” of humanity, society, and the globe. The studio is currently occupied by artist, Margaret Law Kosyk. To find out more about her history and artwork, visit her terrific portfolio page at www.marglaw.com. Six unique artists are coming together at Undercurrent to present “The Bad Good Guys and Good Bad Guys” October 14, 2006 to December 16, 2006. There is an Opening Reception on October 14, 2006 at 7 pm. “The Bad Good Guys and Good Bad Guys” seeks to examine history in a most fascinating fashion. According to the gallery, “Looking back in history it always seems easy to determine who the good guys and the bad guys are. However, in the midst of conflict it is nearly impossible to determine who is on the ‘right’ side. Of course, each side thinks it's theirs. Maybe they're both right, maybe their both wrong. This exhibition will explore the good guys and the bad guys, but more than that, the confusing in-betweens.” It’s a particularly interesting theme given the black-and-white way in which many people – Americans in particular – view the world. Either one is a “good guy” or one is a “bad guy.” More often then not, this determination reflects less on the person being evaluated than the person doing the judging. We tend to evaluate people who believe and act similarly to ourselves as being “good guys,” and the exact opposite is true when it comes to “bad guys.” For a more pragmatic view of how this plays out in society, have a look at the political polarization of the nation. Six participating artists contribute and offer interpretations and expressions of this phenomenon in “The Bad Good Guys and Good Bad Guys.” Eddie Alvarez was born in 1979 in Newark, New Jersey. He did however spend the better part of his childhood in Florida. Growing up in Tampa, Miami and Newark, Eddie observed many different lifestyles and cultures. Eddie’s largest body of work is his “night paintings.” Depicted in a painterly and spontaneous fashion in acrylic and epoxy, these paintings are melancholic scenes that deal with alienation and loneliness. Jesus Diaz de Vivar was born in Alicante Spain in 1975, somehow between the Movida and the end of General Franco's dictatorship. After mastering the art of ballet, fashion design and garnering an education in Arts and Visual Communication, one concept began to emerge which Jesus refers to Vanity Case Ou Cas De Vaniite. His concept is to show the vanity that surrounds this debut of the 21st century. Laure Drogoul is a sculptor and installation artist who also works with performance and the Internet. Laure's work often examines the relationship between biology and culture. Her installations and sculptures are participatory and incorporate video and/or sound. She has received many awards including Maryland State and Baltimore City Awards, a Franklin Furnace Award for performance art, and was a recipient of a US/Japan Creative Artist Fellowship in 2004. Miguel Guzmán was born in New York City in 1974. He currently works and lives in Miami, Florida. Miguel has studied at Florida State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, and The Art Institute of Chicago. Although trained in traditional methods and techniques, his works usually involve the use of digital tools in combination with painting, collage, and assemblage. His current body of work is concerned with the moral and ideological issues related to the war in Iraq. The working process starts with enlarging the news images found in printed media. He then outputs the images using wide format digital printers, after which they are mounted onto various substrates, then reworked and altered with a variety of materials. Working in a large format, his intent is to take this now familiar imagery, out of its original context and compel us to step back, look a little longer and reflect on the gravity of the subject matter. Margaret Kosyk was born and raised in Central Florida. Although she studied fine art at the post –baccalaureate level at Georgia State University between 2000 and 2003, her primary education and work experience has been in design. She earned a degree in industrial design from Auburn University in 1991 where she learned a “form follows function” approach. In addition, she worked for many years as a trade show exhibit designer in Chicago, IL. In the summer of 2005 she attended the sculpture and installation residency program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her home and studio are currently in Miami. Kosyk uses current events to inspire her sculpture and installation. She works in a wide variety of mediums and is constantly exploring new techniques. She still follows a “form follows function” approach in the sense that the content of each piece determines the medium, style, and shape. It is almost as if she is creating “portraits” of the events that inspire her, and each portrait follows the form and feel of that event. Although her work often touches on political themes, she does not consider herself a political artist. Instead she uses her perception of global events to get a deeper understanding of personal day-to-day conflicts that in turn give a new insight into each event. Known
for his eclectic combining of media, Brad Olsen-Ecker’s paintings,
Together these artists offer a tremendous variation on the presented theme. It’s an exhibit not to be missed. Undercurrent Arts is located at 2563 N. Miami Ave in Miami. For more information on the gallery, resident artist or this intriguing exhibit, call 305-726-5773 or visit www.undercurrentarts.com.
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