Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Report from the war art front

And nu, so today was hanging day at the Red Dot Art Fair in Miami, and by the time that I got there at 1PM or so, most studious gallerists had already done a lot of hanging so I got a sweet Doris Day parking spot right by the door.

Red Dot is right across the street from Art Miami and nearby to Scope,. Art Miami is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. All three fairs in such a new area of Miami's Wynwood Arts District that the Garmin GPS couldn't find it and I had to find the fair the old school way, which reminded me how scary it is to rely on GPS and then one forgets how to navigate the old fashioned way.

Inside it was a sauna, as the air conditioning won't be turned on until all doors are closed sometime tomorrow.

Anyway, by seven PM or so most of the hanging, wiring, light adjusting, etc. was done, and I walked around the fair to get an early look at what was being displayed. It was a quick look, and certainly more will come later.

The first glance found some really excellent artwork in some galleries and some really questionable work in a small number of booths.

Of early note, I saw some very good Mendives, Fabelos and a great Kcho at Miami's OƱate Fine Art. These were really world class pieces by some of the biggest names in contemporary Cuban art and so far stay in my head as some of the top work at Red Dot.

Tomorrow is press preview at 5PM and VIP party from 6-9PM.