Hasta La Ideas

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

The lens of a native captures Venice in poetic new form

Italian photographer Renato D’Agostin creates haunting black-and-white portraits that capture a city’s essence in serenely abstract form. The budding lensman began shooting these fragmented narratives in 2001, and has since published two books, “Metropolis” and “Tokyo Untitled,” before taking his approach back to his home town of Venice, the subject of his latest series, “The Beautiful Cliché.”

D’Agostin’s images are emotional without seeming preciously nostalgic and his languid style for “The Beautiful Cliché” draws the viewer in without inciting a longing for a holiday—the tack many photographers take when documenting a city as romantically charged and picturesque as Venice. Instead, D’Agostin shows its raw beauty through distinct snippets of daily life and dissected architecture, creating a scene that feels both familiar and vaguely mysterious.

Using Kodak TRI-X400 film, D’Agostin shot on a Leica M6 and a Nikon F100 to create the set of poetically granular images. Whether capturing one of the city’s quintessential pigeons, moorings in the lagoon or the wake of a boat, the original perspective and artistic production turn Venice into uncharted land.

“A Beautiful Cliché” is both a large-scale book and upcoming exhibition, opening tomorrow at The Chinese Porcelain Company in NYC and running through 15 December 2011. Produced by Venetian Heritage, the book sells for $60 or as a limited edition, which includes an 8×10-inch silver gelatin print for $500. Purchasing information can be found on D’Agostin’s website.

See more images in the slideshow.

Walker Art curator searches far and wide for artistic innovation

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Curatorial savant and innovator Philip Bither exudes an infectious enthusiasm for the performing arts, fueling a passion that has spanned more than 25 years. Commissioning a range of artists from the emerging playwright Young Jean Lee to such stalwarts of the art scene as Laurie Andersen and Philip Glass, Bither has established a name as one of the most progressive curators of the interdisciplinary arts.

Surrounded by a shared love of jazz while growing up—his grandfather was a jazz banjo performer—Bither cites music as a catalyst for his devotion to the arts. After graduating from the University of Illinois, Bither made the great leap to NYC and landed a fortuitous position in the fundraising department of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). “I went to BAM specifically because I was so interested in the large-scale avant-garde theatre, dance and music productions that they were supporting. The producer, Harvey Lichtenstein, was brilliant at making commitments to artists who he loved.”

Equally committed, Bither’s dedication placed him at the forefront of BAM’s hallmark event, The Next Wave Festival, where he served as both associate director and music curator, producing “a lot of music shows that lived somewhere in the in-between land of downtown noise and rock and pop and avant-garde jazz and contemporary classical music.”

Drawn to the dynamism of small venues that think big, Bither became assistant director of the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, a homespun sensation in Burlington, Vermont. “I thought that I could translate some of the ideas and passions around the downtown dance and music scene that I was so involved with in New York into a smaller city and more community-based setting,” explains Bither. Under Bither’s tutelage, the Flynn Center’s burgeoning three-day jazz festival evolved into “one of the great small city jazz festivals in North America,” which continues to run, expanded to a two-week clip.

In 1997, Bither accepted a coveted opportunity to head the Performing Arts Centerof the internationally recognized Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. An amalgamation of art, the Walker Art Center hosts a variety of art events and exhibitions that offer an “intellectual ferment” where attendees “can simultaneously walk and see a French New Wave film, look at current trends in graphic design and watch a postmodern dance movement.” Named one of the nation’s “big five” museums of modern art, The Walker Art Center is dedicated to finding the “newest of the new” in art trends and talent. “We try to stay attuned to the next generation of innovators and artists who are combining art forms in new ways and even changing the whole relationship between audiences and live art,” enthuses Bither. Upholding the museum’s mission to “select works that have an intrigue and freshness,” Bither travels extensively in search of new and, often, international talent.

To showcase its provocative and engaging roster of performers, the Walker Art Center offers a range of unique programs including the annual Out There series, an event that “creates a framework for brand-new hybrid art forms.” Entering its 23rd year, the still-innovative event gets creatively “reinvented” each year. The Walker Art Center further promotes artists with the “SpeakEasy” program, an informal post-performance bar-side chat for audience members. Engendering an environment that both informs and intrigues, Bither hosts an interview series that has amassed “an amazing library of conversations with artists who are now written up in the history books of dance, theater, performance and music.”

Motivated by the diversifying climate of performing arts, Bither and his team are also involved in pioneering an academic initiative to train a new generation of curators. Bither explains, “We’re helping to evolve a half dozen of initiatives or networks, some of which we helped start. The leadership role that the Walker plays is something that spans the visual arts and film. The Walker is very ambitious and inspired to work way beyond its own state lines or national boundaries.”

This story is part of an editorial series sponsored and inspired by Le Meridien. New Perspectives explores fresh ideas and distinct points of view in global art and culture.

A story-centered approach to collaborative retail

Taking the principles learned from NYC-based start-ups, retail consultant Rachel Shechtman quietly unrolled A Startup Store last night in the shadow of the High Line. “A Startup Store has the point of view of a magazine, but it changes like a gallery and it sells things like a store,” she says. Shechtman calls the concept “transactional storytelling,” placing a narrative at the center of a retail venture. The store will be completely reinvented every four to six weeks, with a different theme guiding every detail.

The first story is “Beta.” Shechtman asks, “If a website can be in beta, then why can’t a store be in beta to work out its kinks?” As workers walked around setting up displays and adjusting light fixtures, the first few customers browsed the selection of goods from five NYC startups. Birchbox, a subscription retailer of beauty products, is displaying their monthly collection with a range of items from both couture and grass-roots brands. Also featured is Quirky, an online community that selects products to invent based on user votes.

Shechtman grew up around trade shows and as a girl wanted to shop for a living like the buyers she met. Six years ago, the idea for this new retail concept was born. A simple conversation with Shechtman essentially offers an education in retail, and she sees a clear path for the future of story-driven consumption. “As people have less time, they want more from their experiences,” she says. Dedicated to crafting new business models and forecasting trends, Shechtman wants to create an experience that is as much about the process as the final product.

In a display case near the back of the store is BaubleBar jewelry’s range of original neckwear. Nearby you can check out the goods from Joor, an online professional matchmaker for designers and retailers. The site is a valuable resource for up-and-coming brands as well as bigger businesses looking to reach boutique audiences.

Shechtman plans to launch a complimentary online shop that, with a fixed name and web address, will ironically have a more permanent feel than the polymorphous brick-and-mortar location.

Until recently, the interior was masked by massive eyes plastered by anonymous artist and TED prize-winner JR. Now, the current exhibition is displayed on modular furniture made from 90% recycled paper by Way Basics, and Mark Kusher of Architizer will curate the furniture of each new installation by matching architects to the theme. The back wall of the space holds artwork from Artspace, an online marketplace for affordable pieces from top contemporary artists.

As the store evolves, a permanent name will be attached and graphic designer and typographer Stefan Sagmeister will provide the logo and branding—a rare treat from an artist who rarely does this kind of commercial work. Each upcoming installation will be underwritten by a brand that fits with the overarching theme. The store launches officially in February as a “Love” story.

Consumerist society’s refuge becomes art in the artist’s second solo show at NYC’s Susan Inglett Gallery

As one of the most unique artists to emerge from the anti-establishment movement of the 1960s, George Herms creates unconventional assemblages from a range of refuse materials. By rescuing civilization’s discards to make art, Herms creates two- and three-dimensional works that prove the point of cause and effect—and, more light-heartedly, that old adage about trash and treasure. Back in NYC for his second solo show at the Susan Inglett Gallery, opening 1 December 2011, Herms offers a selection of work spanning sculpture and collage with the familiar foundation of found objects.

For this series of sculptures, Herms has enlisted society’s more dejected physical objects. Although not necessarily imposing in stature, the powerful sculptures do encourage one to consider the economic and environmental impact of a modern “throw-away” mentality.

The accompanying collages—sourced from his recent exhibition “Xenophilia (Love of the Unknown)” at Los Angeles’ MoCA—are constructed entirely of shredded pieces of Madison Avenue “consumerist propaganda.” These seemingly chaotic layered pieces include everything from a “perfect” set of legs to sports cars, referencing society’s classification of wants against needs.

George Herms’ solo show will be run from 1 December 2011 through 21 January 2012, closing for the holidays between 19 December-3 January. For more information on the exhibition and the artist visit the Susan Inglett Gallery online.

All images courtesy of the Susan Inglett Gallery