Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Miami Art Weekend: Scope and Spectrum

I'm back in cold DC after a short two-day stint in (beautiful and warm) Miami. I managed to attend two fairs, Scope and Spectrum. Here's my short overview:

In terms of overall quality, Scope was at a somewhat higher level than Spectrum (for those not in the know: Scope is one of the Miami Beach fairs, in a tent literally right on the beach. Spectrum is one of a cluster of fairs just north of downtown Miami that includes Art Miami and Context). Spectrum admits individual artists to participate, whereas Scope is only open to galleries. As always at these fairs, among vast amounts of truly awful to merely bad to mediocre work, there are always pearls to be discovered: Here are the respective highlights:
Scope: As expected, Mark Hachem's gallery (Paris) did not disappoint, presenting innovative, high-quality work by their international stable of artists. The highlight of their stand was a piece by the young Argentine artist Mariana Villafane - a wall-mounted series of interconnected circles and semicircles made of a transparent plastic, yet painted as well, which, while having both a graphic and organic feel, shattered the boundaries between painting and sculpture - stunning! This is a young artist to watch (for full disclosure: I collect her work).
Another discovery at Scope was the young Austrian artist Jochen HoellerMario Mauroner Contemporary Art Vienna presented two of his gorgeous collages, a circle of guns and a Marilyn Monroe interspersed with text - two pieces that powerfully emanated both artistic and intellectual intelligence. This artist merits further research on my part. (none of the other artists presented by Marion Mauroner came even close to his level).
Joseph Gross Gallery of New York presented several fine abstract works, which, though not innovative or breaking any new art-historical ground, stood out through their sheer quality. I am thinking in particular of two works on paper by Alison Mosshart, lead singer for the indie rock band "The Kills." She obviously has loads of artistic talent as well - it will be interesting to see how her work develops (it amazes me that someone could have such a double talent).
Galerie Magenta of Antwerp restricted itself to showing the work of a single artist, Jan Jansen. These were all pattern paintings consisting of only two colors, always shades of red, some of which were placed in antique gold frames lovingly restored by the artist. At their best (there were a couple of show stoppers), they were a reminder of the potential power of simplicity and basic organic forms, of how much can be achieved with very little (I'm still trying to decide whether those gold frames worked, the best pieces were without them).
Nunc Contemporary, also of Antwerp, exhibited landscape photographs (among others) by the British photographer Jonathan Smith. These were stunning views of a dark river meandering through a snow-white arctic landscape - they were both stark and romantic, while also evoking abstract painting. In short, they made me wish I had an unlimited budget for purchasing abstract art.
At every fair I encounter work that raises the question: "Yes, that's very cool, but is it good art?" The best example this weekend was probably the work by the Austrian Robert Schoberl, presented by Kashya Hildebrand of London. The artist specializes in painting circles on square canvasses. The perfect circle in each painting is built up over months of painstaking work with hundreds of layers of acrylic paint (so I was told). The paintings shimmer accordingly, and the color hues changes with the viewing angle. Yes, very cool - but to me, these works do not engender the emotional reaction that I expect great art to generate - they don't have mystery, and there is no sense of a hidden level of meaning here (but I would be interested in others' reactions to this artist's work).
Just before leaving the fair, I made a wonderful discovery. The American photographer Mark Hartman photographed shredded billboards he saw in Panama. What resulted were pictures of great beauty that look like abstract paintings, fantastically rich in form and color. It's hard to believe such beauty and seeming order could be the result of randomness and destruction. This is a young photographer whom the serious art and/or photography collector needs to be aware of. His work was presented by Luster Fine Art Prints of Brooklyn.
Spectrum: Thanks to Ford Fine Art of Delray Beach, a gallery specializing in modern and contemporary Latin American art, I was introduced to the work of Armando Morales (1927-2011). I have to admit I did not know of this painter - who is an underrated modern master! He was a realist painter with a unique style and vision of great expressive power - I recommend to anyone interested in art to get to know his work.
Corinna Button (represented by 33 Contemporary in Chicago) is a contemporary British artist who also resides in Chicago. She is a gifted figurative painter with an abstract slant. One of her portraits (in hues of blue) was a work of unusual beauty and power - proof that originality in portraiture is still possible.
A gallery of note was Marcano Maldonado of Miami. They feature a diverse stable of artists, ranging from (mostly) Latin America to Saudi Arabia. Two abstract paintings by Puerto Rican painter Jose Peyo Vazquez caught my attention - beautiful works that seamlessly integrated abstract marks with letters and numbers (one characteristic of many a successful painting: bringing together opposites one would think would be too different to juxtapose in one painting). I fell in love with a mixed-media-on-paper sculpture by Columbian artist Juan Gerlain, which was joyful, whimsical, humorous and just plain damn good! Also deserving mention were two striking dot-based paintings straddling the genres of landscape and abstraction by the Puerto Rican painter Romaguera.
Let's be honest: Real talent is very rare - which is why it can really bowl me over when I see it: This was the case when I first glimpsed the boxing paintings of Argentinian painter Ezequiel Rosenfeldt - think of German expressionism with a dose of George Bellowes, raw, bold, real bravura work that knocked my socks off. It made me think that once can do great work without being original - of course, a uniqueness of voice and individual style is still necessary.
So there's my take on Scope and Spectrum. I look forward to comments and feedback. You can follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mgfr2005. My Web site is: www.marcelgrichter.com