ART MIAMI, 2005: Among the Bonbons and White Walls, Some Standouts
Omar Sommereyns
Charles Matton, "Debussy’s Poisson d’Or", 2004, mixed media box construction, 34 1/2 H x 20 1/2 W x 33 1/2 D inches
Large, sweeping art fairs tend to elicit a mixed bag of emotions from Miami’s art viewing miscellany: curiosity from cultured locals eager for the opportunity to see work of a global scale; cynicism from seasoned pundits huffily moaning at the vacuous mechanism of the art market; gluttonous excitement from collectors, well-heeled art honchos and the tourism sector all ravenous for the big cheese spectacle; and, typically, a wise release of sighs from the critics and reporters.
Well, from some at least. It’s the latter sentiment I felt walking into the vast, infinite bazaar of white cubes set up in the Miami Beach Convention Center for Art Miami, the city’s international art fair. Not because of any presumptions about the work on show, but, alas, an art fair is never going to be a massive, eye-opening museum show and rarely has any curatorial ambitions. Instead, it mainly functions as a lucrative, cling-clang money wheel. You can only hope to fall upon those few pieces that indubitably stop you on your toes and make it the whole damn thing worthwhile.
Opening in early January 2005 for its 15th year with more than 120 galleries on view, as one of four annual South Florida art fairs (including Art Palm Beach, Arte America, and Art Basel, the top dog of art fairs in America, which ended in December), the fair is known for showing noteworthy emerging and established Latin American artists, along with some big art historical names (e.g., Wilfredo Lam, Joan Miró and Andy Warhol).
This year especially, much of the work came from Europe and North America and was, overall, rather safe, dipping into mostly figurative and realist territory, or (gasp!) forgettable decoration and, occasionally, ghastly flamboyance (particularly, Peter Anton’s giant, ostentatious mixed media ice cream bars and bonbons at the Russeck Gallery from Palm Beach, Florida).
Ambling through the Currents section of the fair, where galleries showcased younger, up-and-coming talent, the general idea was to scope out something fresh and new. At the Damien B. Contemporary Art Center booth, a notable gallery from Wynwood, Miami’s rising art district, Reeve Schumacher was one of the few that could channel an intuitively gut-felt personal vision into his surrealist, technically-advanced creations. His best work consists of drawings of various figures (often morphing into something else) transferred on acetate (transparency), colored in layers of mixed media, the smallest pieces using Polaroid shots as backgrounds. Disorienting and mind-tripping, Schumacher’s work realizes an unrestrained exploration of dreams and the subconscious.
After walking through another dozen galleries or so, nothing remarkable for a while here until…WAM! Something hit me. It was sublime. An entrance to New York’s’ Salander-O’Reilly booth lead to Ana Maria Pacheco’s Dark Night of the Soul, a dim room filled with the pleasant smell of lime and oak. Inside, 19 life-size and larger wooden statues of human figures with unusually big heads ominously stood, four of which, clad in black-as-night cloaks, surrounding a hooded man on his knees, body pierced by seven fierce arrows. The work is intense and jarring: visitors crowded in, watching with awe and wonder, thankful for a temporary escape from the bland-white, art fair walls. Haunting and bold, Dark Night is the only so-called "Project Space" in the exhibit that actually makes visceral and creative use of the given area.
Priced at $575,000, it hasn’t yet sold, but Susan Pratt of Pratt Contemporary Art in the UK, who act as Pacheco’s "international agents" of sorts and have published collected essays on her work, explained that the "decision to exhibit the work at Art Miami was to introduce it to a wider public and to organize exhibitions in museums and university galleries in the U.S. Its exposure at Art Miami should help achieve this–and place at least one of the installations in a permanent collection."
Ilana Vardy, director of the fair, estimates that, this year, slightly less people came than the last, but affirmed that she was quite happy with the "quality" of attendance, i.e. collectors "who are sophisticated and knowledgeable" and were looking for the type of work showing there. She mentioned that many big Latin American and Midwest buyers turned up, and that several galleries, such as Cernuda Arte, Juan Ruiz and Karpio+Facchini reported to have sold very well, the latter having more success than in the last three years combined.
"First and foremost, it’s a commercial venture," said Vardy, "but the response I got from locals is that they really felt like they were part of the fair and that it’s less intimidating than Basel. There’s also an educational part to it, especially with the panels. I think the public wants to understand how art fairs function and how the artwork enters the market."
One panel, "The Making of the Miami Art Scene," seemed positive about the local outlook, as Tina Spiro, a teacher/artist/gallery owner apparently spearheading the talk, finished with an optimistic nod to a "Miami of the future," beckoning us to "all do it together." Since the early 90s, Miami’s art community has expanded from twenty or so galleries to more than 100–and it’s still booming. Of course, Dennis Scholl and Tony Goldman, the real estate developers/collectors on the panel, were savoring the opportunity to capitalize on all the open space in a relatively new zone–the semi-dilapidated Wynwood Arts District (hopefully, the powers-that-be will pay judicious attention to what happened to SoHo).
Later on, at New York’s Forum Gallery booth, groups of people were observing with utmost curiosity Charles Matton’s exquisitely-built window dioramas. Using mirror tricks to create the illusion of depth within his small, mixed-media box constructions, Matton creates a sculpture studio to minute detail; or a flabby, corpulent woman laid on her side on a couch in The Narcissistic Fat Lady; or he adds a reflected video screen, as in Debussy’s Poisson d’Or, in which a figure, back turned to the viewer, fluidly plays a black grand piano in an empty room.
Matton’s work is precise, skillfully playing with light. While it may teeter the line of mega-craftiness, the work evolves from an intriguing concept–this idea of peeking into miniature worlds only through the perspective of one window, a perspective enhanced by the image-trickery Matton offers. Remarkably precious, these were one of the two most striking highlights at Art Miami (the other being Pacheco’s installation). "They’re unique," said Robert Fishko, director of the gallery, adding with a smile, "but they can appeal to everyone since they require little explanation."
Over the weekend, there weren’t many Art Miami-related parties, but at the "big" one in the Goldman Warehouse (in Wynwood, naturally), the scene was a la-la, glitz-fest garnished with the collection’s über-colorful abstractions–some even glittering–and fashionable photography. On one side of the room, a trophy, crème/brown 1930 Packard was on view, while white-clad servers dished out free vodka at the bar on the other end. Fashionistas (including a giant witch-looking creature in a daunting black wig) mingled and pretended or tried to appreciate the art, while certain locals just mocked it. "This is the epitome of bad taste collecting," I overhead one viewer saying. "This is like buying a Liberace sequined jockstrap on E-Bay, putting it on and throwing a party."
Another run-around the Art Miami fair revealed a few more memorable works, particularly choice paintings by Ignacio Iturria and Claudio Gallina as well as some impressive glass pieces (the more dynamic, sculptural ones, were quite effecting, such as Jon Kuhn’s gleaming laminated glass works).
But even after its 15 years, Art Miami isn’t the city’s biggest or most esteemed fair. Art Basel Miami Beach got the crown when it landed in 2002. However, hopeful newcomer Vardy, who previously has helped to develop Art Chicago, promised plans of getting the fair involved in year-round projects within the local community and raising the bar on quality: "I feel like this year is the beginning and I’d like to keep the quality going as high as possible. Not every gallery that has participated so far has shown as high as I’d want it to be."
"I’ve never seen it as Art Basel versus Art Miami," added Ramon Cernuda, a member of Art Miami’s Selection Committee and director of Cernuda Arte, a reputed Coral Gables gallery. "I perceive them to be two fairs that move in different planes. But both still serve their niche in Miami. With all due respect, Basel is like a Club Med. It has definitely energized this city and put it on the map, but Art Miami is more in tune with the artistic community here."
