Paper Planes
March 2, 2009 at 8:52 am | Posted in 1, Artists, Deep thoughts, Miami Art Basel, Music, Life, Art, News, news, vlog | Leave a commentTags: Art, Art Basel Miami Beach, Art News, Art Scene, Artists, Cartoon Art, Drawing, Fine Art, Florida, Graphic Art, Illustration, Miami, Miami Art Basel, Miami Beach, paper, pen and ink, Pencil Drawings, Shows, South Beath
Considering that, among the podcasters I follow, there is one that is making a comeback after three years. Having been off the job through the new years, macworld, and a whole boat load of craziness that has transpired since then. Its been quiet, literally! When I started the daily blog for the SEA SHOW back in November 2008, <it is combined with an archived personal blog> I opted for as they happen alerts on breaking news stories, in a number of different topics, art and otherwise, that interest me.
Needless to say, I was sifting across a number of links in earnest, trying to lower the growing total of unread messages in my inbox. I have an art vlog, and two to three other video projects, being a daily blogger is no joke but I’ve tried to give it a good run. :->
Since some of the unread mail is some left over Art Basel coverge from December that I had to sort through, there were some cool blog posts with a lot of photos. I really enjoy blogs with lots of photos, and of course if you’re going to critque art at least make a semi-rational and thought-out argument. I read a lot of “reviews” that don’t give me anything, but the ones I do find I enjoy, so I like to include them for you to peruse.
Maybe its because I am playing more games, love colorful things or objects that don’t appear to be art upon initial inspection, but a series of images with paper and art made themselves noticable to me in the process of skimming over articles, deciding which were from art websites worth keeping in my bookmarks or simply something strange on a blog will stand out to me, even if its somewhere you wouldn’t expect to find it, like a blog that may be based on something other than modern art – but may still yet be very interesting to look at. Others I visit, and just happened to be entranced by a particular image or a pleasant feeling I enjoy while I am exploring a cool new art website.
I found this image above in one of the articles that was tagged ‘basel’ and sent to my inbox. Its a bunch of pictures of art show and gallery parties in South Beach, definitely the sort of Miami Art Basel coverage I am interested! I’ve been keeping somewhat of any eye on things despite the lapse in my daily musings, and Art Basel is slowly making its way into the news. It seems like its an item of interest all year round! I could use
Either way, it was really good to get back into the groove at things in the art world, coming and going. Keep it tuned, and we’ll try to do our best walking on the edges of art. In the future, I’ll try to do more daily posts.
They won’t be as extensive as they used to be, but I’ll continue to do what you enjoy the most, learning and commenting on contemporary art, and this is the place you will come to learn about quirky tidbits like the a strange new niche I have blogged about previously that just keeps coming up, that being Obama Art. Try a search on the SEA SHOW blog and see what you come up with when you search for Obama!
Cover Me : Wrapup of Art Basel Miami Beach 2008
December 10, 2008 at 2:01 pm | Posted in Miami Art Basel, Music, Life, Art, News | Leave a commentTags: 2006 to 2007 Blog, Art, Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, art blog, art bloggers, art blogging, art blogs, Art News, Art Show, Artist, Artists, Arts, Artwalk, bloggers, blogging, commentary, contemporary, Contemporary Art, Daily, Events, Exhibit, Gallery, Life, Miami, Miami Art, Miami Art Basel, Miami Art Basel 2008, Modern, Modern Art, Palm Beach, Palm Beach Collector, Palm Beach Contemporary Art Fair, Palm Beach Gallery, personal, Public Art, SEA SHOW, Seattle, society, Thoughts, video log, vlog
I hope that I attract a wide variety of art lovers with many differing tastes, who all find enjoyment in the semi-coherent chatter I publish daily. I know a lot of you read or have visited many of the majoy art sites, I hope I can give you something new in the little goodies I find on the web. I don’t remember if I was doing a google image search or what, but this site was kinda cool. I’m not sure what the criteria is to make it on this virtual map, but it might be useful to some. You click on the little tags and it will tell you about current shows that are going on all over the US. I have heard about the Eventful website in the past, but I was surprised when one of my image searches led me to this website, which listed a lot of current art events in and around Miami and Palm Beach, which I just discovered is home to yet another sumptuous art gathering, the Palm Beach Contemporary Art Fair.
Google Earth Image of Palm Beach
In the past, I have known people who have been proponents on culling the less than intelligent portion of the population. Such an attitude is not going to win you followers! Better yet, lets raise the bar for readers and other art bloggers. Out of left field, came one of the most comprehensive and meaningful bits of writing about the week at Art Basel came across my virtual desk. While I had to wonder what might have motivated this well-thought out piece of writing, I had to appreciate it. I am blogging on a subject that is relatively new to me so I enjoyed this as I would a fresh Braeburn apple, and I savored every bite. Either I am not searching in the right places, because there are some art bloggers are offering us something more substantial than tasty but unfulfilling art hors d’oeuvres. Your humble host included. :-p Who know that men.style.com would have one the best blog entries on art basel miami beach I have read all week. This guy doesn’t mince any words, and his entry is humorous and well-written. Loved it.
In my wanderings along the shore, I overturned a stone and discovered this contemporary art blog. Another facet, how interesting. This person is a speculative collector, and unfortunately, he only updates his blog once a month. I’d like to see more. Art as Authority is another obscure blog that caught my attention, but sadly, this one isn’t updated much either. Looks funky, check it out.
I stumbled upon Wynnwood Art Magazine today, it offered a neutral rundown of events, decorated with praise for this annual fair. I learned something else new today. Having lived in San Francisco for six years, I remember seeing a lot of guerilla marketing. When I was younger I didn’t know how to discern between public art and advertising, I guess you won’t know unless you know who created the images. I saw a lot of stickers and spray painting in random places of an image inside a star, and one word: OBEY. He likes to party down with SuperTouch Art. Slowly, the peices of the puzzle are coming together. Digging around for images of the OBEY public art, I stumbled upon this pretty cool blog on public/street art with tons of cool photos – Global Graphica. GraffHead is of a similar vein, but this blog covers other topics, like fashion and music. Hey, this is fun!
This blog and foray into art has been a learning process, and I’ve blogged a few times about Street Art, because its the sort of emerging art form we enjoy. This entry didn’t clarify anything about the subject for me, so I’ll have to keep my eyes and ears open. In my image searches I find pretty cool things too that were related to Art Basel Miami Beach, like this photojournalist’s blog, Digital Light. There is something very immediately engaging about his pictures. I wonder if he ever attended Miami Art Basel. Check out his blog.
Photo from GraffHead
During the week, the daily blog is a bit of a production, it can take an hour and that’s if I’m not distracted by 20 different things and even more alerts that come in as I write. I’ll be sitting there doing my daily blog, and my blackberry will start buzzing, and 3 out of 5 times its some news alert that has to do with art or basel or contemporary something or other. Or as in the case tonight, I am capturing video for my next vlog and I’m trying not to get off track. This will be a 2 blog day, since the vlog is the hot new thing. And we’re hot, so of course we will vlog.
Meaningfully. On things other than Miami Art Basel. In the next post.
So yes, I’ve been sick as a dog for three days straight and have blogged daily. Being hungover/tired is no excuse either. I am dedicated! :-> Now this new post on the Soul of Miami website has an event that might offer up some more substantial fare. Then I read the tag words “high-profile”, “VIP”, and “Exclusive” on its website as it describes it attendees and events, and I fear this is just a tiny art predator in the making. The Palm Beach fair has been around 12 years, and this is the first I’ve heard of it. I learn something new every day! This fair focuses primarily on Miami and New York collectors and artists, as well as some international exhibitors. I only saw two galleries from Santa Fe, a a few from California even represented in their list. The Northwest did not make it onto their radar. Perhaps we can help remedy that!
Before you mistake me, and wonder why I am championing the cause of art in the west, let me say that while I have spent the majority of my life on the east coast, I focus on artists on the west as a theme for pioneering, and now expand that to any coastal city near water or a beach. SEA SHOW is about the confluence of art & life, art & the myriad things that form modern life, and the beauty that ensues when those elements combine. It contributes to my happiness immensely!
Day 4 : Green Basel
December 7, 2008 at 4:45 pm | Posted in 1, Art Exchange, Miami Art Basel, Music, Life, Art, News, Travel Updates, Upcoming Events | Leave a commentTags: 2006 to 2007 Blog, Art, Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, art commentary, art criticism, Art News, Art Show, article, Artist, Artists, Arts, Artwalk, commentary, contemporary, Contemporary Art, Daily, Events, Life, Miami Art Basel, Miami Art Basel 2008, Modern Art, Murakami, museum, news, painting, paintings, personal, public, Public Art, SEA SHOW, society, Thoughts, writer, writing
So its been exciting for me since starting this daily blog that some of these stories that I pick up on pop up in my alert box, sometimes the very next day!
This is a great article with a great rundown of the fair- its straightforward and portrays the event in an accurate light. There’s plenty of read and its useful info, please enjoy.
If you’ve managed to fight off the hangover, get over to the new Frost Museum and indulge with breakfast in the sculpture garden Sunday morning. Artchival is a website that I just came across. In late October, they posted a run-down of events to enjoy. Definitely one to check out! Since the fair started, we’ve had celebrity sightings all over Miami, with Pam Anderson got in on the action and was spotted enjoying some art yesterday, too.
A particular article from Murakami jumped out at me since he was in the news recently, so I paid a visit to a blog called the Pursuit Aesthetic which comments on fashion and culture, and had mentioned this event with this artist. Ther and linked to this website, which had a link to an event stranger website on fashion and footwear, that also had pics from the the artist’s night in a costume.
I will give Art Basel some props for its eco friendly efforts. I hope the Paint the Town Green party that went on Friday to celebrate the Green was also green.
I just reported on CasaLin yesterday for the first time, since I am intrigued by Public Art and stuff outside the norm. I was reading through my daily posts when I scanned an article with this gorgeous image of what looked like an entrance to Narnia. It was the public art display that I commented on yesterday. Pretty cool!
This website, Arrested Motion, had tons of photos from the Pulse Miami fair. It prompted me to do a comparison with some of the art I saw at the artwalk since they looked so similar. If Seattle artists with no gallery representation can create art objects that are so similar to the same art that sells every year at Art Basel Miami Beach, it really puts it into perspective. The Salon was slow to accept artists who were working outside the norm, and it was a catalyst for the early impressionist and post-impressionists.
This competition underscored the disdain for experimentation. Master Art will always do well at auction, because of its universal appeal. The emerging/Contemporary artist is always one step ahead, but becayse of this he or she has to push past accepted boundaries. If one day some of these other artists and art experiences were to make thier way to Miami Beach during Art Basel, then I feel like the art world would experience an incredible amount of excitement, and the event can really be worthy of something besides being seen as something which it is now, the fair and its related commentary completely focused on parties and sales and established players, but what I feel is very little on intellectual progress for the art world to enjoy and benefit from; broad discussions and genre exploration.
LEFT IMAGES : Miami Art Basel 2008 Gallery Peices – December 2008 RIGHT IMAGES: Seattle Artwalk at 619 Western Artists’ Loft – December 2008
As I was drafting this latest post, a flurry of strange alerts and notices made themselves known to me. One article felt on the need to insist that there is more to Art Basel than the art fair itself. Why yes, that’s true, but there wouldn’t be any crowds if it weren’t for the main fare. I think it will be a long time, if it ever happens, that Art Basel will begin to be known for the variety of art experiences that you won’t find on any elegant satin finish card. Heck, we could even find a way to integrate and benefit talented young local artists who study the craft. Being in the proximity of Art Basel Miami Beach is not going to get these art students any closer to the Contemporary Art world, for reasons that were clear to me early on. I give Art Center Sarasota a gold star for hosting an opening of political art this fall. Those guys are fighting the good fight.
Art & Absinthe is a cool looking site that I found good information and not so good images of another one of the satellite art events. So Sunday is the last day, I’m sure it will be a flurry of more last minute buying and feverish sales, so it should be pretty interesting to write about; this is fun!
Day Three: Art Basel Miami Vice
December 6, 2008 at 12:42 pm | Posted in Miami Art Basel, Music, Life, Art, News, Upcoming Events | Leave a commentTags: 2006 to 2007 Blog, Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, Art News, Art Show, Artist, Artists, Arts, Artwalk, blogging, commentary, contemporary, Contemporary Art, Modern, Modern Art, news, Opinion, personal, Public Art, society
There was not as much Art Basel action for you, maybe all the private parties start now, and there will be less public events, or everyone is too hungover to keep up with the reporting while they’re enjoying the week at Miami Art Basel.
Art Observed is a sleek art blog that got my attention today with its clean commentary and pics. Another New York site is getting my notice as well for its nice photos and tasteful coverage. I am assuming my discerning art readers know or visit most of the links I include.
Contemporary Art is often colorful, and I like virtually strolling through the galleries with nice slideshows of the event I happen to stumble onto.
Despite gloomy predications, this article on ArtInfo gives the impression that sales are steady at Art Basel Miami Beach. Why anyone would be surprised that die hard collectors would be the last to pass on this opportunity to get valuable art with fewer buyers to drive up the price is beyond me. Even if you don’t follow art news, its no secret that art is still a solid investment. On the other hand, an entry in the Miami Herald downplays the brou haha and one of its articles focuses on the subdued sales at Art Basel Miami Beach 2008.
Like so many arts, the events and news are open to interpretation, and the week isn’t over yet. I can’t say that I have a ton of experience with reporting on large art fairs, but I try my best. I can only pray that my wit and charm carry me through it gracefully.
I’ve been seeing and hearing a lot in the press about design and Art. If you’re in the hip locale of Dubai, then you will want to visit this opening. Fans of Hans Jean Arp that can make it to France this month can enjoy the opening of his work in Strausberg, which will have over 180 peices on display.
Art by Hans Jean Arp
Pakistan has got an artist whose work I really enjoy, Mashkoor Raza reminds me of an artist who explores similar concepts like power and whose art work also has a lot of nudes, Seattle’s own Dr. JohnnyWOW!. In China, the alarm is more pronounced, and the situation for contemporary art looks bleak, at least for the bad artists, according to this article.
It might be a week-long hangover for many attendees, but its important to get around, talk to people, and really try to make something out of the week. Tomorrow is the mid-point, so it’ll be interesting to read and report on the commentary at days’ end.
I would be most impressed if one day the art world hosted a roundtable, for dealing with all the uncertainty, questions, and disputes in the art world. Drama is definitely good, but to what point? Maybe some like to end their year with a kick. I for one, wish for nothing more than quietude during this time of year. I want to experience nature and absorb everything that’s happening. I’ve split my time between two states for over a year and sometimes I just wish the world would slow down for me. My growth depends on reflection and thought, not just action. I want to enjoy art, not just mechanilly produce it. I love this project, and some of the most blissful moments I have had, we doing just this. Living the Arte Vivant, full of vigor and a open vision of a bright future, optimistic for the future of art, and the importance of the supporting deserving artists.
Like so many random artists I find and think would be perfect for the show, PosterBoy is your odd pick of the day. Pretty cool public/underground art.
Art by Poster Boy
It seems like there’s always a new twist in the discussion over the fate of MOCA, a Contemporary Art museum whose fate and challenges are the concern of one of the largest metropolitan communities in the nation, that of Los Angeles.
I will have to report on the art show I took part in/filmed Thursday at the Seattle Artwalk in another post since this is devoted to one of the biggest events in the American Art scene, Art Basel Miami Beach. If you can’t make it to Miami this year, but happen to be in Quebec, you can check out this exhibit at an opening of Contemporary Art.
Day Two : Basel Pulse
December 5, 2008 at 2:37 pm | Posted in Miami Art Basel, Music, Life, Art, News, Travel Updates, Upcoming Events | Leave a commentTags: 2006 to 2007 Blog, Art, Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, Art News, Art Show, Artist, Artists, Arts, Artwalk, Blog, commentary, contemporary, Contemporary Art, Exhibit, Gallery, Life, Miami Art, Miami Art Basel, Miami Art Basel 2008, Modern Art, Music, news, painter, paintings, personal, Public Art, SEA SHOW, Seattle, society
Interestingly, so many of the references I find in my as-it-breaks art alert are taking me to financial sites, I end up reading strange documents about the long-term viability of Turkish Painting as an investment, or the strange hotel industry web sites that are reporting on the secondary effects felt on the tourism industry when an event like Miami Art Basel manages to avoid straining its already wide financial girth. Its no secret that wherever Art Basel goes, collectors and their whimsy will follow. Gridskipper is a travel site but has a nice Art Basel guide with maps and tons of info, a nice refreshing treatment of the events.
I’d been coming across articles about the new Frost Museum more than once in the past week, but its popped up enough times that I have to mention it once more. If you want to go see the new museum along with all the other strange shiny things to enjoy in Miami during Art Basel 2008, check out this article on Examiner.com for info on the events and how you can get there via shuttles this week. Her partner at the Examiner is also covering the event.
This photo could be something out of Miami Art Basel. These colorful characters were on hand last night at 619 Western, where SEA SHOW artist Dr. JohnnyWOW! was showing, as were scores of other attractive young art zombies. It was a good time, so I’ll be sure to blog about it very soon! There are a lot of good looking people, but sometimes I wonder if the Art Basel Miami Beach is like the artwalk, lots of traffic, little substance. Some of us here in Seattle are fighting the good fight, perhaps its not a bleak as it seems.
Photo by Tim V.
With so much conflicting information about the Contemporary Art World, I’m afraid your humble host can be of no help. I can only offer you information that seems to discredit other forecasts and impressions of the market for Contemporary Art. Like the record sale of a Suerat, conflicting with the latest statistics from Sotheby’s about sales trends in the Contemporary Art market.
Those that have the means will undoubtedly make the trip to Miami to be a part of a year of flux for an Contemporary Art market which seems just as incomprehensible as some of its visions. Its a smart time to travel, especially from Europe, so smart collectors undoubtedly factored all these elements in and likely decided to attend the Miami Art Basel.
Smart collectors know that there will be some great art on hand. If they have the time and opportunity, they will come here to seek that art and be a part of a scene that repeats itself year after year. Its like all my tech friends and MacWorld, they can’t resist.
The sheer variety of links I see daily really make the who blogging process pretty fun and easy! I’m committed to it, so its a matter of deciding what amuses or interests me the most, and passing it onto you! That’s right, you too can experience the shimmering effulgence. This is an art blog, so I can be a little creative, right?
Everyone is reporting on Art Basel, from news about the parties, to celebrities that were seen out and about, the buyers attitudes, you can practically blog about a dozen or more topics related to this event and not cover it all. The possibilities are endless.
Art by Naoto Hattori
This week we want some structure, so its going to be all Art Basel, all the time, but for just this week. See it through the eyes of a visitor of who revels in the convergence of art and luxury in his blog. I am not promoting any particular links or sites or events, just trying to give you a variety of information, choices, and pretty pictures for your delight.
I really like the SuperTouch site, so much that I have to restrain myself from including links all the time. I like the art in this show, because its fun and colorful and so am I, but for some reason the pics are grainy. That’s no fun. Check out another cool blog with info on the paintings Marilyn Manson is displaying.
While I normally think an artist is no longer undiscovered when the local media picks up on it, I am nontheless intrigued by this CasaLin, which is a private property that has a portion designated as an art gallery.
As I had mentioned before, anything that involves forging into new art territory, melding forms, blurring lines, that’s where I want to be. This won’t be the last time you hear one of my many mantras. One of my other is simply, Support the Arts! Which of course we love to do. Which also leads to the fringe artist feeling of fascination and revulsion at what the art world is today, its essence personified in Miami Art Basel. Granted, this is an international event which I have never attended in any continent, so admire me for my guileless efforts, or illuminate me so that I can offer more concise rambles.
Let me assure you, my intentions are honorable and my blogs are far from scathing. If you’re as smart as I know you are, you’ll understand and hopefully be invoked to think or act about art! :->
So surely the investors have been doing their work today and are aware of or attended the art sales held at Sotheby’s, they know that there are still big sales being made but that this is a pivotal year for Contemporary Art, so this only adds to the intrigue that is fermented at this event.
If the radio and blog updates just aren’t giving you enough of what you need, thing being art basel, you can check out some video. This is an oft-visited site I’m sure, but its new to me, and on my radar. Looks interesting.
Aside from a usual run down of events going on this weekend, I must say I am surprised to find out that some think that my daily coverage of Art Basel is from first hand experience?
Yes, some kind souls reached out to me after hearing my anguished words of truth. Karma, in an ocean of joy. I will definitely to keep an eye on other reporters from Seattle in their adventures in Art Basel Miami Beach 2008! SlamHype is an art & music blog I’ve noticed recently, they like SuperTouch too but I like the diverse effort on this site, it has random goodies about Art Basel and links to music. Again, not a lot of time to check out a ton of the links, but it looked good from what I saw.
From when I heard about this event, I wanted it for artists that have opened their art to our organization, and my blog this week is my way of touching the event on behalf of those awesome artists I work with. I hate to disappoint my readers, but your jet-setting author does not have Miami Art Basel on her social calendar this week. I do have up to the moment updates on articles related to the event and modern art that I see throughout the day, so I hope I have my finger on a current that is helpful and interesting to my readers and artists I work with.
Let me briefly diverge from Art Basel to give you an update on an ongoing saga that the art world in America has been watching closely. We had news of an announcement a week ago about the bailout, and ever since then the art world has been waiting for news about the fate of Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. The stalemate in a descision to accept the gift has prompted the donor of the gift to try to reassure the museum. As we wait for other potential donors to step forward, you can be sure that however this art drama resolves, it will be interesting.
What do you think about our Art Basel coverage? Am I onto something? Are you bored yet? The blog overall? Email the author, and tell us how you feel, or give us a hi-5 with an encouraging comment! We like you too.
My next post will have some images and video from my night at artwalk.
Basel Forecast
December 2, 2008 at 9:37 am | Posted in 1, Miami Art Basel | Leave a commentTags: Art, Art Basel, Art Basel Miami, Art Basel Miami Beach 2008, Art sales, auction, bid, Contemporary Art, Exhibit, Gallery, museum, Public Art
So while I do very much enjoy my daily musings, it has its challenges and minor frustrations. Yesterday, when I completed my post, a bunch of interesting items started popping up in my alerts. I like to read them on my phone because it forces me to look at them, but then I see all this cool stuff and I want to write about it right away! Its good to wait sometimes.
I’m really into unorthodox art forms, so I was surprised that a very odd method of painting made it in Miami Art Basel. These Croatian reverse glass painting. The image is created in reverse, and will be shown for the first time next week. I checked out some of these and they’re pretty cool, it makes you wonder if the rarity of this type of art will add value to these paintings for collectors in the long term.
This is another strange intersection of eastern europe and art, that I thought was a weird but interesting find. Children making disaster art. I like cartoons, Contemporary Art and bright colors on my blog so I couldn’t resist.
ArtInfo is another goodie I found. They speculate about the pace of buying, basing their perception on recent art fairs, where buyer’s attitudes reflected the changing economic market. There will no doubt be some amazing bargains, like the Croatian glass paintings, so the smart collectors will take the most advantage of this opportunity.
An artist whose public installation involves ink and a fountain if causing some concern, since white is a popular color to wear in hot weather while you’re wandering between galleries during Miami Art Basel. He is sorting it out still.
Fad website is a funky little gem I stumbled across in my pile of art notices on my virtual desk.Although there is speculation that art sales won’t be as active this year, the short film that director/filmmaker David Lynch is designing, Entitled “Diamonds, Gold and Dreams” is true to the opulent gleam of overall show and related events.
The details included in this nigget on the Fad website are interesting to read about, like what David did to get inspired to create the piece for the Cartier display dome.
One last thing, this is one link related to Basel some might find interesting. Its a link to a Art Basel Miami Beach radio station of some sort. I’ll have to tune in when I’m not editing. Let me know what you find if you listen to it! Leave us comments, we want to know your opinion. Leave us a comment and tell us what you like and what you think could be improved.
Yours,
SEA SHOW
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Unauthorized Art
December 23, 2008 at 3:24 pm | Posted in Graffiti, Miami Art Basel, Music, Life, Art, News, Public Art, Travel Updates, Upcoming Events | Leave a commentTags: 2006 to 2007 Blog, Art, Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, art blog, art bloggers, art blogging, Art News, Art Show, Artists, Arts, Artwalk, Blog, blogging, California, California Art, commentary, contemporary, Contemporary Art, Daily, Events, Exhibit, Graffiti, Life, Los Angeles Art, Los Angeles MOCA, Los Angles, MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Music, news, Opinion, Palm Desert, personal, Public Art, San Jose, Santa Barbara, SEA SHOW, society, Thoughts, West Coast Art
We’ve been blasted with winter snow for the past five days and its been a busy month as I prepare to travel yet again. I always come back with trips with even more on my plate than I already have, so I’ve been distracted for a few days as I try to wrap up some projects before my business trip. This is my first lapse since my daily efforts about a month ago. I started a new blog, am sleeping odd hours, and have a twitch in my left eyelid.
Photo on Dec 22, 2008 from the deck
The word Basel is associated with banking and a city in Europe close to the border of France, Switzerland, and Germany. I’ve seen the long trail of news articles and blog entries with this word in it comes across my desk, and some of them are rather interesting. Between the mid-summer event in June in Europe and its Miami counterpart, bloggers can feed on the continual supply on art news. Since I am intrigued with this event because my interest is Contemporary Art and Beyond , its been the subject of many blog entries.
Recent news has shifted westwards since the end of Miami Art Basel in Early December to the west. It looks like the MOCA stalemate has finally ended. I just discovered that the fellow who offered a bailout for the beleagured MOCA (Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art) is one of the founders, and the latest news is that this morning (Tuesday, December 23rd) the museum will release news about its financial plan and new officers. You can be sure there will be a flurry of commentary after this, in fact it has already begun.
A very innovative use or incorporation of art into a public space is this library in San Jose that is using illuminated cell glass art that should be a model for public buildings. Tree Hugger also has an article on this new library. Artists exist and work regardless of whether or not there is a venue for them, but when it becomes available, as in the case of a property owner in Palm Desert who paid an artist to decorate signal boxes that belong to the city.
If I had attended Miami Art Basel, the stuff going on over at the so called Wall of Fame would have been ground zero for me, I always am interested and pursue awesome artists who resort to interesting measures to get their art seen. Its the future. Fecal Face is an awesome site has its finger on the pulse, with a ton of pictures of the gorgeous graffiti art that went on display by this core group of artists during Art Basel Miami Beach.
The city has moved to regulate any future artist who choose to do the same. I went to an alternative public high school, so I was interested to read about a new public art school in Los Angeles for high school students that is supposed to open in 9 months. Hopefully it will represent a broad spectrum of students from all across Los Angeles. The San Jose Mercury chimed in on the ongoing debate about public art with its own commentary about the need for art in public spaces, adding richness to the experience of city living. The city of Santa Barbara is setting a great example in its work to recycle used items that would otherwise become trash and educating youngsters in the process. I guess my main gripe with events like Art Basel Miami Beach and the traditional Gallery/Museum scene is that there is very little of this interchange with the public.
Its really sad that the artists in Miami work tediously in the hope that they will have an audience for their art, but the community has no way to benefit from these art events and fairs. There is so much richness and excitement in the artists who I work with who are on the fringe and half of their work as an artist is just finding an artist or struggling to pay for materials. It is a touching experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I’ve often compared Seattle to a third world city in its rampant building. I was over in the Eastlake neighborhood, and I counted no less than nine cranes in my frame of view. Public Art is actually one of our initiatives that we are working on here in Seattle, in regard to the non-stop building that is going on, since our real estate market does better than most of the country. New Dehli is taking command of its public spaces for contemporary art. The push by local artists to create and preserve public art is a model for cities like Seattle whose face is being changed in a way that the common citizen has little or no control of.
I like the Visuals and concept of the slow painting website. Its got links to other art history website and blogs, and you can read about an exhibit on Greek Vase Painting in Manhattan in this recent post. Moco Loco is another cool art blog that I just discovered. I haven’t gotten in depth yet so I don’t know quite what its approach is, but its a modern and contemporary art blog with a clean design and colorful and cartoony art that I enjoy so much in today’s entry.