Hasta La Ideas

Pasta boxes become microscopic museums

A collection of dioramas by artist Kenji Sugiyama, “Institute of Intimate Museums” proved to be one of the most engaging displays at Scope Basel 2012. Spanning the artist’s output from 1999 to 2008, the works serve as clever variations on traditional diorama art—cramped consumer boxes containing lilliputian scenes of museum-goers standing in halls of shrunken art. Within the setting of the fair, Sugiyama’s museums forced attendees to reflect on the nature of observance and perspective in the contemporary art scene.

The “Institute of Intimate Museums” filled the entire booth held by Japanese gallery Standing Pine Cube. Sugiyama’s impeccably detailed interiors are head-scratching for their complexity, and his choice of packaging—that of a post-consumer food containers—likewise had viewers guessing. The most visually complex piece involved an angled mirror doubled the miniature world when viewed correctly. The artist went to great lengths when remaking the art world’s hallowed halls, covering them in everything from inlaid wood to dated wallpaper.

Scope Basel 2012 marked one the few times that the full spectrum of Sugiyama’s dioramas has been on display, and the collection provided us the opportunity to see his experimentation over time with voyeurism and the spectator’s role in art.

See more images of the “Institute of Intimate Museums” in our slideshow.

Images by Josh Rubin

Our collection of the most beautifully detailed and maniacally constructed works from the Miami fairs

In our third selection of the goods from Art Basel and the surrounding Miami fairs, we focus on the meticulously detailed and painstaking work of artists who tend to get romanced by the details. Below you’ll encounter precise and repetitive line drawings, lottery ticket collages and sticker-composed Hindu deities that explore the complicated inner-workings of the creative mind.

This aerial of an imaginary golf community from Clay Ketter reminded us of a bit of a Rorschach test in its creative use of symmetry. Dubbed “Spider Woods” 2010, this piece comes from the Wetterling Gallery in Stockholm.

Tom Friedman displayed “Untitled (Broadway Boogie)” 2011, a complex circuitry of colors and lines from Luhring Augustine, New York. Meanwhile, the Kashya Hildebrand gallery at Art Asia presented Aghighi Bakhshayeshi’s “Untitled” 2011, a dazzling calligraphic composition that had viewers in a trance.

“Veil From Oceanus” 2011 is part of Sam Messenger‘s “Six Veils” series, a set of ink-on-paper pieces that accomplish rich monochromatic textures through razor-thin intersecting lines. This piece came from the Davidson Contemporary gallery.

Also from the Davidson Contemporary gallery, Ghost of a Dream‘s “5 Times Daily” 2011 takes discarded lottery tickets and rearranges them on a panel to make geometric patterns reminiscent of Navajo tapestries.

Seen at Pulse, Joan Linder‘s hyper-detailed drawing “Purple Weed (71st Street D Line MTA left and right)” 2011 uses old school quill-and-ink techniques to record a fascinating natural subject—shown by Mixed Greens.

Adam Fowler cut and layered graphite renderings to create “Drawing One (trilogy)” 2010, which we caught at Pulse through Margaret Thatcher Projects.

We loved the radial design of Dean Smith‘s “Untitled (a18)” 2011, a work of graphite on paper on view through Gallery Joe. His short, slender marks create hypnotic movement that belies the static medium.

This fun and colorful take on ritual Hindu iconography uses a multitude of stickers to compose a distinct take on a timeless image. Called “A World of Joy” 2009-11, we were lucky enough to catch this piece by Ye Hongxing at Art Asia.

Building off of the minute fragments of broken LCD displays, Josepha Gasch-Muche’s “17.2.2011” is a luminous piece that combines ethereal abstraction with gritty construction. Seen through the Heller Gallery at Art Miami.

Marco Maggi’s “Graph” 2011 is a graphite-on-graphite drawing from Nara Roesler at Art Nova. The industrial geometric forms are endlessly complicated and multidirectional, giving the piece many distinct points of interest.

Sticking nickel-plated pins into gatorboard, Tara Donovan’s “Drawing (Pins)” 2011 further develops the artist’s dedication to simple compositions rife with tactile innovation. The Stephen Friedman Gallery exhibited this famed American’s work last week.

Contributions by Josh Rubin, Jonah Samson and Karen Day

Our look at the illusory works found at Art Basel and the surrounding fairs

Many themes emerged from the various galleries converged in Miami for Art Basel and the surrounding fairs this year, but unsurprisingly the one that stood out the loudest among the crew from Cool Hunting was work that played visual tricks on the viewer. Whether eluding us with clever technology techniques or purely an abstract form of painting, below are the pieces that grabbed our attention through some element of subterfuge.

Hans Kotter‘s 2011 “Tunnel View” series features LED lights between plexiglass, which are amplified by a metal mirror. The two mind-bending works featured here were on view through Priveekollektie at Art Miami.

Anish Kapoor dazzled the crowd with his stainless steel “Untitled” 2011 work, on view through Lisson Gallery at Art Basel.

“Lover’s Quarrel” is the work of media artist James Clar. At first glance the piece appears to only say the word “leave” but further inspection reveals the subliminal “don’t” behind it. The playful lighting installation was on view at Blythe Projects at Pulse.

Two different 2011 works that are less smoke-and-mirrors but equally entrancing are Michael Eastman‘s “M1” (at Barry Friedman at Art Miami) and Karen Gunderson‘s “Divergent Sea” (at Waterhouse & Dodd at Scope).

Eastman used simply a wide-angle lens and pushed the depth of field to create this image, which seems like it would have physical depth but is really just a trick of the eye. Gunderson’s paintings of water also challenge the eye’s understanding of space, but through her detailed brush strokes. Depending on the position of the viewer and the angle of the light refraction, the water seemingly moves like nature intended.

Also on view through Waterhouse & Dodd, Patrick Hughes‘ 2008 work called “Sea City” is arguably the most staggeringly trippy piece we saw. This oil and photographic collage toys with the mind through “reverspective”—a concept he created in which the portion of the picture that appears furthest away is physically the nearest, painted on protruding blocks.

Have a look at our rough cut video above for a full realization of how delightfully confusing his works really are.

Known for his unusual approach to currency, Mark Wagner‘s 2011 work “Gale Bills” puts real money on wood panels. Twisted to a perfectly odd degree, the latest from Wagner was on view through Pavel Zoubok Gallery at Pulse.

Julian Opie‘s computer animated sculptures were on view at a few galleries, but we first took notice of these optical illusions at Scope, where the various works of people walking took us by surprise as we moved around the corner where they were hung at Gallery Biba.

Mia Rosenthal exhibited several new pieces that demonstrate her adept talent for sneaking graphic design symbols into her fine art works. The Philadelphia-based artist aptly showed through Gallery Joe, on view at Pulse.

Contributions from Josh Rubin, karen Day and Jonah Samson

Artist-designed digital wallpaper installations bring innovative beauty to interiors

New York interior textile supplier Maharam recently continued its foray into digital design with the newest edition of Maharam Digital Projects opening last month to coincide with Art Basel. The digitally-printed wallpaper patterns are installed at Weil am Rhein, Germany’s VitraHaus, where they are on display to the general public throughout the rest of the summer.

VitraHaus, Swiss contemporary furniture company Vitra’s stunning Herzog & de Meuron-designed flagship, provides a fitting backdrop for the seven Maharam designs. Spanning all four floors, each UV-resistant wall covering is the product of a different emerging or established artist (Cecilia Edefalk, Jacob Hashimoto, Maira Kalman, Harmen Liemburg, Karel Martens, Sarah Morris and Francesco Simeti) and is expertly styled with Vitra furnishings.

These tableaus show how the collection introduces a more affordable large-scale alternative than artwork or other pricey wall treatments into the home and office. As such, the wallpapers sell onsite at Vitrahaus, as well as through Maharam online.

Each design functions as a self-contained aesthetic while also exemplifying a conceptual reality. “Dutch Clouds” by Karel Martens (above) plays on perspective with a composition of artist-designed symbols which together form an image of the sky over Holland on the day of his grandson’s birth.

“Coastal Plants” (above) chronicles a three-year period in which artist Cecelia Edefalk traveled the European seaboard and contains over 200 watercolors expressing her interest in the painted image.

Maira Kalman’s “On This Day” (above) shows the illustrator’s recordings of modern daily life’s quirks and absurdities.

Francesco Simeti mixes hunting decoys and toy birds into his piece “New World” to playfully change up traditional nature-themed wallpaper.

Also on Cool Hunting: CH Editions: Maharam and Nike Sportswear and Maharam