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It gets late early in Miami

What is art? What isn’t art. Overpasses? Buildings, sounds, thoughts? Can a line be drawn from these things to art? Must art be predetermined to be art in order to be art or is art a feeling drawn out mentally by the artist? To me, art is everywhere. Art is also a multi-billion dollar international business, stressing -international.
I recently took a trip to a place where the art is definitely predetermined to be art. Art Basel Miami Beach. Art Basel and its more than 12 satellite art fairs is an all-you-can-eat visual art buffet that anyone can enjoy. For more than thirty years Art Basel has been an annual event in Basel, Switzerland. An elite art fair of blue chip and contemporary art stars. Then, besides chocolate and neutrality (I think fondue might actually be French), the Swiss offered their third good idea: the world’s biggest art fair in Miami Beach in December, while the rest of civilized world is freezing. Art Basel in Switzerland was traditionally held in January, but has since been moved to June, balancing the art calendar.
We Floridians are lucky to be able to attend this great event for just a short drive, a little planning, and a small bucket of money.
Upon arriving in Miami, I decided to walk down the main drag on Collins Avenue. Miami is a true international city and I enjoyed the scantily clad French girls arguing on their cell phones and the sunburnt Germans in black outfits wearing socks with their sandals.
Chuckling, I looked out on the beach only to see a legion of Roman soldiers storming one end of the beach and a life-sized pink tank, attacking sunbathers on the other. These two groups of artists had the same idea, but manifested the vehicle for the idea differently. What is a Roman legion if not a tank of a different time? Only later did I learn that it was a group of artists from Jacksonville driving the big pink tank around Miami Beach, with its long pink turret twisting in the wind.
The group of artist from Jacksonville included Morrison Pierce, Kurt Polkey, Jay Peele, a person known as S.O.S. and my good friend Mark George. These are Jacksonville artists that have a knack for mobilizing people to achieve their individual visions. Mark, who always marches to his own drum, took some recent work and sold it to some very excited French and German people. I’m sure Morrison and Kurt will present a film shot during this trip. Jay Peele booked and played a show with S.O.S. on Saturday night.
I went to Art Basel to experience the event and target a few galleries in which I could network my art. But mostly I went to check out the art from around the world. Art Basel itself is a huge art fair housed in the Miami Beach Convention Center. This is the place to see blue chip art (art that defies visual value for investment value).
You’ve never seen more Haring, Warhol, Basquiat and Chamberlain (et al) in one place. They were all represented by friendly, albeit stand-offish, overdressed gallery directors crammed into individual cubical “galleries.” The only problem with super-famous artists at the fair was the work; most of the masterpieces and top level work has been long since sold, leaving only second rate prints or off paintings. Contemporary art, on the other hand, was well represented. I had a one sentence conversation with Jeffery Dietch (famous art dealer and the star of the reality television show ARTSTAR), asking him, “Where is the Kristen baker stuff?”
“We took it down yesterday” he replied, lifting his cell phone to his ear.
Small individual galleries, called “Art Kabinets,” offered art by highlighted artists, each getting their own gallery space. “Art Nova” and “Art Super Nova” both focused on emerging artists. Paul McCarthy’s chocolate Santas were a nice diversion from so many paintings. As was a giant steel claw that convulsed by remote control on a specially constructed concrete pad. I enjoyed watching the two funny Euro-dudes that manned the controllers. Because Art Basel runs Wednesday through Sunday, everyone was visibly run down by the Saturday that I arrived.
Art Basel is an experience all by itself, but the real treat is the more than a dozen small art fairs in the surrounding Miami and Miami Beach area. In its third year, Art Basel is much more organized then in past years. Although this was my first trip down, I heard it was, comparatively, an overwhelming assault on the senses. Making a brief itinerary of the trip is good advice. See the things you came to see, then fill the remaining gaps with exploration. So, in the name of exploration, I split a cab with some nice Italian folks across town to check out the “Pulse” and “Geisha” art fairs. I saved some money, made some friends and, as it turned out, my new Italian friend, Corrado Sassi had some connections. His wife’s company was a sponsor of “Pulse” and produced a sweet V.I.P. pass into the show…very cool.
Later at the Miami Art Museum (MAM), I met up with George Kinghorn, curator at MOCA Jacksonville, and several museum friends. They introduced me to John Bailey and Chris Natrop, two well-known Miami artists, both of whom have solo shows coming to MOCA Jax in the spring (not to be missed).
My trip to MAM was definitely a highlight. The installation, audio and film work of Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller was a mind-blowing experience. Known for her “audio tours” of cities or places (the artist creates a new/different history of locations using a 3-D recording device) created a large, room-sized installation with optical treatments that skew the scale, playing tricks on the eye. I loved this work on many different levels. The Main piece “The Killing Machine” is a Kafka-inspired commentary on the death penalty. With moving parts and robotic arms flailing, as well as a pink, fur-covered dentist chair moving back and forth, this piece was truly affective.
The next evening I attended a tour of Dr. Jeff Gelblum’s collection of early Ab-Ex (abstract expressionism) and mid twentieth century art, as well as some very special minimalist pieces – think Donald Judd. It was great to hear stories about the artists and the history behind these particular pieces. I ran into Jeff the next day after he had acquired a Hans Hoffman for his amazing collection.
After days of looking at art, it’s easy to go “Griswold” and just run through the galleries with the Ramones on the iPod. Not this time. Now it was time for something totally non-art. My other passion – food. A couple of friends and I set out for some real Cuban food. We scored some killer rice and chicken (with bones) and sandwiches in a Cuban cafeteria.
Recharged, I’m ready for round three. I head over to a couple more satellite fairs “Flow” and “Aqua,” the latter has two events up. I go to the one at the beach to check out the work of my friend Elizabeth Huey. With crazy imagery and cool concepts, her paintings and collages are always fresh. Exploring the rest of Aqua, I found some pieces by Exene Cervenka, from the classic LA punk band X. I love X and have seen them several times (once when Exene was nine months preggers), but I never knew she was such great artist. Her simple assemblage and collage pieces were reminiscent of a punk rock Ray Johnson. At Flow the amazing work of Marcus Kenny from an Atlanta gallery, Marcia Wood, was both funny and scary at the same time. Everyone at these smaller, more intimate venues was so approachable and friendly. They were happy to have you there, and that was refreshing.
When you immerse yourself in something like art, it makes itself more obvious to you. So, overpasses are art. Grand artwork. Now if we could just get rid of the cars, we could enjoy these beautiful grand sculptures.