Art Addict

Fredric Snitzer Gallery - Miami

I was recently in Miami and stopped in to visit Fredric Snitzer's new 3,500 sq. ft. gallery space in the Wynwood section of downtown Miami - 2247 NW 1st Place. Although off the beaten track (but located near the Rubell Family Art Collection which opens to the public, again, after a major renovation and addition in December, 2004) this is a "must see" gallery if you are in Miami and interested in contemporary art.

Up now is Lock Stock and Barrel a group show of Miami based artists, including Hernan Bas, Jos Bedia, Cooper, Naomi Fisher, Westen Charles, Robert Chambers, Bhakti Baxter, Robert Chambers, Adler Guerrier, Jacin Giordano, Lynne Golob-Gelfman, Jiae Hwang, Maria Martinez-Caas, Gean Moreno, Norberto Rodriguez, and Mette Tommerup. The show runs through June 30. My pick of the show are paintings by Jacin Giordano, priced between $800 - $3,500. Here's one of his gorgeous, textured, and sculpted larger works (roughly 4' x 2'):

Just for fun, and because you know I love them, here's a shot of Fredric Snitzer's very large and accessible "back room":

Socrates Sculpture Park

If the weather in New York next weekend is as beautiful as it was last weekend, why not check out Socrates Sculpture Park? Up now is Field: Science, Technology and Nature, a group show of contemporary sculpture curated by Alyson Baker with works by Mark Dion, Mike Joo, Pam Lins, and more.

The Park is located in Lond Island City, Queens at the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Boulevard. It is open 365 days a year from 10 am to sunset. Admission is free. Field runs from May 16 - August 1.

Jane Fine

Well, I did it! I went in search of one of the artists I discovered at the Brooklyn Museum of Art's Open House: Working in Brooklyn show and have added her to my collection! Here's a detail:

Jane Fine, Untitled (detail), 2001
Acrylic and ink on paper

I fell in love with this work because of the color (I'm going through a pink phase), texture (impossible to see in this photo), and crazy details found throughout. Dr. Seuss on speed! I know that I will find some crazy new detail in this work every time I take a gander at it.

I found Jane's work at Pierogi and picked this one out of their Flat Files for $1,300. Jane's larger paintings are priced between $4,000 and $7,000.

This is fun! Join me in my addiction and hunt, won't you?

G.O.A. - Gallery Openings Anonymous

I am not a fan of gallery openings. It is just my opinion, of course, and by the looks of things, I may be alone in my thinking. Gallery openings, which take place at the beginning of every show, are a social affair. It is the worst time to check out the art mostly because it is so hard to see the art through the crowds. Here is a photo of the Vik Muniz opening at the Brent Sikkema Gallery last Friday night:

Where's Vik?

Notice that no one is looking at the art and instead they are looking at each other. The arrow in this picture is pointing to Vik. He's hidden in the crowd back there. If you are interested in seeing an artist, then gallery openings are for you because the artist most likely won't be back in the gallery during the run of the show. But, in most cases, seeing the artist is all you will be able to do. Talking to the artist is rather difficult because so many are waiting to do the same thing. Your conversation should go something like this...

YOU: "Hi. My name is ________. I am a big fan of your work. Congratulations on your show."

ARTIST: "Thank you."

... and before you can get your next sentence in the artist is turned towards another adoring fan and you are left standing there hoping to get another chance to talk.

Most artists I know aren't particularly wild about their own openings because they can be exhausting for them, but all recognize the importance of having them. They do serve a purpose. It is an opportunity for artists to put "a face" on their art, to reconnect with or meet fans, and, hopefully, art critics.

Not all openings are as populated as Vik's openings. It depends on the artist and gallery's popularity. Many artists, especially emerging artists, need the support of bodies at openings. So, if you're going to go and you aren't working on your own social "sighting" statistics, choose an emerging artist's opening. And, if gallery openings are the only time you enjoy being in galleries, then please, by all means, keeping going!

I don't write this post hoping to get fewer people to attend openings. Despite my negative feelings about them, I go to openings every once in a while to show my support for the artist. I just felt like sharing in case anyone out there felt similarly. Welcome to G.O.A. - Gallery Openings Anonymous.

At the tail end of Vik's opening, two lucky fans, in town from Korea, were able to get their picture taken with their favorite artist. Lucky them!

Vik and fans

Babes in Auctionland

An article in today's New York Times titled Curators From the Cradle shares a "notable auction development." At the recent Sotheby's sale, which sold Picasso's "Boy With Pipe (The Young Apprentice)" for a record $104.1 million dollars, a 13-year-old boy bid on the first lot of a Degas horse drawing. The drawing eventually sold for $300,000 to another bidder.

He is so familiar with the art market, in fact, that his parents (who are also his backers) found it unnecessary to attend [the auction]: they were at the ballet that night, leaving him in the care of a Sotheby's employee. "He might as well have been an adult next to me," said Peggy Race, Sotheby's director of protocol. "He didn't need my guidance."

Guidance, in my opinion, is exactly what this boy needs. Buddy, if you are going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on art, my recommendation would be to get to know the contemporary art market. Primary market, kid. It's where all the great deals are made. Buy low, sell high and all that jazz.

Kidding aside... everything about this incident makes me sick. I don't know what disturbs me more: the fact that the parents of this 13-year-old allowed him to potentially spend hundreds of thousands of dollars or the fact that they were at the ballet.

I'm all for encouraging kids to collect. I really am. The article goes on to describe some pretty normal kids (by New York City standards) and their collections of marbles and pens, as well as some parents who are doing the collecting for their kids. Check it out.

Buying Art at Auction Makes You Smart!

To quote Tyler Green of MAN... "Puh-leeze!"

MAN shares an atrocious comment found in the International Herald Tribune about one definition of an "art connoisseur". The gall! I concur with Tyler on this one. I concur! His post has inspired me to write a post on my feelings about art auctions... Stay tuned.

Gallery Back Rooms

One of my favorite things to do when visiting a gallery is to pop into their "back rooms". All galleries have them. Unfortunately, not all galleries allow you access. One way to get in to see the hidden space is to ask to see works by an artist they represent that is not currently being shown in their front gallery spaces. This doesn't always work, especially if the gallery doesn't know you, but if you mention that you are interested in collecting the artist about which you are inquiring (i.e. spending money), then they just may oblige. Also, it helps if the gallery isn't especially busy during your visit.

Hidden Gems

"Back rooms" are used for storage. Most works will be shelved and wrapped up, as they are in this picture. If you do your homework and play your cards right, the gallerist accompanying you may take the time to unwrap a few works in which you show interest.

Giovanni showing me works in Roebling's back room

I recently visited Roebing Hall in Brooklyn to see the Eve Sussman show. While there, I asked Giovanni Garcia- French (delightful, professional, and accommodating) if they had any works by Christoph Morlinghaus who had a show up in February that I missed seeing. I was delighted to find that they had three large Morlinghaus photographs wrapped up in the back. Seeing works propped up on the floor may not be the ideal way to view work, but for some reason I get a kick out of it. It's feels like Christmas to me to have works unwrapped and revealed as I stand and watch. I'm weird.

Pierogi's "back room"

One of my favorite galleries, Pierogi, has taken the intimidation out of "back room access" by putting it right up front. Pierogi's famous Flat Files, pictured above, are available to every visitor and are the first thing you see when you enter the gallery. With art-handling gloves available to all, you are free to browse thousands (yes, thousands) of artists' files all on your own. Some of my favorite art has come from these very files and I rarely leave the gallery without purchasing something.

With so many artists to browse in the Flat Files, it can be a little daunting. If you go, just start by randomly opening a few files and you will be hooked. They also have available a list of all artists represented in the files so you can browse for familiar names. I hope to one day post about my recommended "files", but have yet to find the time to commit to weeding through the whole lot. Whenever someone asks me where to go to find affordable work or to start their collections, I often refer them to Pierogi's Flat Files. It's fun, not at all intimidating, and a great way to see a lot of artists, both emerging and emerged, in one place.

Happy hunting!

Open House: Working in Brooklyn

Last Friday I was able to visit the Whitney Biennial (finally) and Open House: Working in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I won't comment on the Whitney, although I enjoyed it thoroughly, because so many have said so much about the show already: artnet, Jerry Saltz in The Village Voice, and Tyler Green in the WSJ.

Louise Belcourt, Hedge Painting #3, 2003
Oil on canvas

I do, however, want to share my thoughts on the Open House show. (Up through August 15 @ Brooklyn Museum of Art, 200 Eastern Parkway.) Curated by Charlotta Kotik and Tumelo Mosaka, Curators of Brooklyn Museum's Department of Contemporary Art:

This exhibition celebrates the diversity and energy [of Brooklyn artists and galleries], with more than three hundred works--all of them created since the year 2000--by two hundred artists. It brings together traditional art forms and state-of-the-art digital technologies, encompassing painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, installations, film, and video. The largest in a series of exhibitions devoted to Brooklyn artists that began at the Museum in 1985, "Open House" presents a generation of artists who shaped the art history of the twentieth century alongside emerging artists of the twenty-first century.

If you have not seen this show, PLEASE GO and see it. Having just come from a very crowded Whitney, I was disappointed to see so few people at this show. Granted, it is Brooklyn and only the die-hards make the trek across the East River, and the Whitney gets all of the hoop-la and press, but I felt that most of the art at Open House was on par with (and, in many cases, better than) the works appearing in the Whitney. My one disappointment with Open House was the installation. Too many works hung too tightly together. By the third room of the show, the art tends to blur and you have to make a conscious effort to spend time standing in front of each work to experience it without the noise of surrounding art.

For new collectors, and all collectors interested in emerging art, this show was packed with gems! Selfishly, I was thrilled to see so many of the artists I have been collecting over the years: Xu Bing, Sebastiaan Bremer, Steven Charles, Dawn Clements, Heidi Cody, Christoph Draeger, Leonardo Drew, Luis Gispert, Anthony Goicolea, Rachel Harrison, James Hyde, Robert Lazzarini, Vik Muniz, Roxy Paine, Danica Phelps, Jean Shin, and Danielle Tegeder.

More exciting for me, though, is that I came away with a list of artists to look into collecting now: Louise Belcourt (pictured above), James Esber, Jane Fine, Linda Ganjian, Colin Hunt (no link found), Karl Jensen (no link found), Lynn Koble, Carey Maxon, and Andy Yoder.

Join me in the hunt for great art... go see Open House and make a list of "artists to collect" of your own!

More MFA Thesis Exhibits

Here are a few out-of-town (not New York) MFA shows to check out:

Si Young Rhie, Floating Plankton at Temple Gallery

Penn MFA Exhibit (couldn't find a link), Philadelphia
Temple University, Philadelphia
Both are reviewed by Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof

Clockwise from bottom left: Anastasia Faiella; Andrew Martin; Minh Nguyen; Molly Springfield (photo: Laura Ball); Kirk Stoller; Laura Ball; Amy Harrison (photo: Chris Cobb). Photos by Molly Springfield except where otherwise noted.

Berkeley Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition, from May 21 through August 29, 2004
Reviewed in Art Museum Network News

Art Chicago/The Stray Show

If you are anywhere near Chicago this weekend, pull into the Navy Pier's Festival Hall for Art Chicago 2004, May 7-10. I won't be anywhere near Chicago this weekend, but if I were, these are the galleries I would be sure to see:

Black Dragon Society (Booth AB241) LA
Bodybuiler and Sportsman (B240) Chicago
Rena Bransten Gallery (C211) San Francisco
Stephen Cohen Gallery (A221) LA
Foxy Production (A245) New York
Mixture Contemporary Art (A243) Houston
Daniel Reich Gallery (AB241) New York
Rocket (A237) London
Roebling Hall (A250) New York

Buy, Buy, Buy! The show not to miss for young galleries, art, and artists is The Stray Show located at 1418 North Kingsbury, May 7-9. (Directions are on the website.) If you are a collector, new or seasoned, you MUST check out these exciting spaces:

ATM Gallery New York
Jeff Bailey Gallery New York
Drawing Project Chicago/London
General Store Milwaukee
Oliver Kamm 5BE Gallery New York
sixspace LA
Vox Populi Philadelphia
ZieherSmith New York

Here are some tips of mine to keep in mind during your visit to the shows and some great tips from MAN. If you see Caryn of sixspace, abLA, and ArtWeblog, tell her Art Addict says "Hi!".

UPDATE: For an extremely thorough rundown of both shows, check out iconoduel on Art Chicago 2004 and iconoduel on Art Chicgo Project Spaces. Thanks for the tip Zeke!