Ric's adventures in Art Basel - Day 2: Art Basel on Miami Beach (Day) & Wynwood Art District (Night)
Saturday I ended up going to the actual Art Basel event in the Miami Beach Convention Center. It was overwhelming. I've been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which is impressive as well, but Art Basel was so expansive that halfway through my legs started to get sore from walking so much. It was unbelievable.
Unfortunately, they don't allow cameras at the event, so I wasn't able to take pictures, but here is a list of artists work that I saw and was drooling over (my handwriting is close to chicken scratch, so there is a chance that many of these are misspelled, sorry famous artists!):
Wassily Kandinsky
Saul Leiter
Louis Faurer, Bus 7
Alexis Kersey, Man of the Cloth
Takashi Murakami
Joan Miró, Hommage d'amitié
Wassily Kandinsky, Brauer Stahl and Spazieren des Boar
George Grozz, Ein Abad in Berlin
Xander Spronker, Desert Flower II
Fernand Léger, Les danseus aux cles
Peter Saul, Hitler's Brain is Alive
Paul Kelpe, Untitled
Erick Parker
Joan Miró
Duane Hanson
Luis Gispert
Barbara Kruger
Gregory Crewdson, RBS Autmotive
John McLaughling, No. 2 and No. 8
Ed Ruscha, Standard
Richard Serra, Mojo 1999
Dr. Lakra
Ester Partegá
And to think I only made it through half the Convention Center.
I wasn't sure exactly where to mention this, but on Friday night (Day 1), I went to White Room to see Adult.. Adult. is a Detroit based electronic/punk band whose music is quirky, energetic, and incredibly intense. Andrews Lorenza (Spiderpussy) brought them down two years ago, and did the same for this year.
** A quick side note. I've been going to Spiderpussy for so many years now I don't even think I could tell you the first time I went. I know it was at Liquor Lounge on Miami Beach, then I followed it to SoHo, then I followed it to Pawn Shop, and now it's in White Room. Andrews has always kept this party free, he's always been an incredibly cool human being, supported local artists, musicians, and DJs, etc. I give A LOT of respect to this guy for what he's done and persevering through all these years.
Anyway, Adult. was incredible and unfortunately because my camera had died I don't have any pictures of the show.
On Saturday, when I was at Art Basel, I ran into Nicola Kuperus, the lead singer of Adult.. I, of course, was kissing her ass because I always get starstruck with musicians whose music I love and go out of the way to buy, and also because the show the night before was great.
She gave me a flyer and told me that she also had some of her photography on display at a gallery on 20th and NW Miami Court. Coincidentally, another artist that I know, Natalya Laskis, had work on display there too.
What a little jewel this place ended up being! Here are my favorite pieces that I saw there:
Nicola Kuperus
Natalya Laskis
Kristin Beaver
This gallery was off from the main strip of galleries in Wynwood. Seriously, how odd is that. Here is this little gallery, hidden away on 20th and NW Miami Ct, no sign, go upstairs, and look what's there.
Incredible.
After that I went back to the main strip of galleries in Wynwood. I'm just going to post as many images as possible, and I'll explain where necessary. Some things really impressed me, while others were ok. But nonetheless, it is still incredibly impressive to see the area exploding the way it is.
Claude Charlier, Body Language
University of Miami, Wynwood Project Space - Student Art Gallery
Robert Davilla, Waiting
Jeff Larson, Men In Living Rooms No. 405: This picture is INCREDIBLE! So fascinating.
Linda Copeland Studio Gallery
1st & 21st Studios
Alex Vigilante, Sundance
I saw this piece of street art randomly scrolled across the side of a building.
It's things like this that make me really appreciate an area like Wynwood. It feels so wide open that you could do anything you want and people appreciate the beauty and artistic value of it. Could you imagine seeing something like that in Kendall or Coral Gables?
New Images Unisex
Rob Stern Art Glass
Torress Llorca
This was another set of pieces that were incredible. They were these highly detailed images set ontopof torn out pages of a book. I'm sure if I did some researchthe images would fit in with whatever the pages were from.
He also had this sculpture of a dog, that was either papermache made from book pages, or was a sculpture covered in book pages, ontop of a staircase.
Wendy Wischer, Time Cannot Erase
And last, was:
Punk Rock Bourgeoisie
Very interesting concept here of a Haunted House with different little rooms; some traditional looking, one had flesh oozing out of the walls, and one room you had to walk on a mirror (girls in skirts beware!).
Phew! I don't think I could have crammed any more in this post. Again, another amazing night.
If You Enjoyed This Post, You May Also Like:
- Ric's Adventures in Art Basel: Day 3 - Kill Your Idols
- Ric's adventures in Art Basel - Day 1
- REVMiami's Coverage of Art Basel
- Art Center South Florida: blue.print.for.space
- 7 questions with Lauren Wagner from the Bakehouse Art Complex
NOTE FOR COMMENTS: Do not flame or leave obnoxious comments, THEY WILL NOT BE APPROVED. Constructive criticism should always be welcomed by any artist, but don't be a d-bag, show some class. Thanks. - REVMiami Staff
Nice Recap of the event. I regret missing it. Looking good Ric, Keep it up man!
I was so happy to find a mention of Kandisky here. Totally unexpected, which made me even happier.
Enjoyed the Claude Charlier-Body Language portion.
The Asian art entry I found was super interesting.
Gretel, next year you definitely need to come down to the homeland for Art Basel. You would go absolutely crazy for it.
Yay! You found the Punk Rock Burlesque! That was one of the most memorable sites for me. The photos look great and I love the stuff you represented!
um, I mean Bourgeoisie.