Miami International Art Fair (Set up day)

The 5 AM cab ride from Potomac to Reagan National was pretty hairy considering that the streets of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County were pretty icy and snowy, and there were more than one ice tail spins along Bells Mill Drive on the way to Seven Locks and Democracy Blvd and the Beltway.

The Beltway was pretty clear of snow and ice, but I am always shocked to discover how many cars are out there at 5 in the morning. Who are all these drivers and where the fuck are they all going at 5 AM?

My cab driver (I always call the same guy, his names is Bones, and he will get you from A to B every time on time. Once you have a dependable cab driver, one must return to the force every time). Bones is reliable, big and strong, a brilliant storyteller and really resembles that huge guy from the Green Mile.

So we get to DCA on time, in spite of a few spin-offs at the George Washington Parkway, and I'm loving Jet Blue because they don't charge a fee for luggage while most of the other airlines scam you out of $50 per round trip if you check in a bag; and because flight 1795 is leaving on time in spite of the ice and snow. But once we're in the plane, by the time we're de-iced it is is almost 90 minutes past departure time, but I'm cool because I am heading to Miami for the second Miami International Art Fair (MIA) at the Miami Beach Convention Center and it is in the 70s in Florida and according to the weather people, Florida is the only state in the union (including Hawaii) which doesn't have snow somewhere on the ground today. WTF happened to global warming?

When we land (it was a Navy landing by the way, because it was clearly the short runway), the tall, skinny flight attendant dude tells us that we've made up 30 minutes from our late departure, which as usual leads me to think: do they fly "faster" if they leave late?

Then I get a rental car, and as always marvel at all the bullshit car rental taxes in Florida that cost almost as much as the actual rental car cost, but I get a free upgrade to a minivan because they're out of "real" cars...

Then I drive to quickly see my parents before stopping over at Casablanca Bakery in Hialeah for the best pastelitos, papa rellena, croquetas, bacalao, yuca rellena, and Cuban bread in the area (and a full breakfast anytime for $3). They put it all in a nice box and I take it to my parents.

From there I drive to Little Havana, where I had left a bunch of my artwork in store at my cousin's house. I get there, load up the minivan and head to Miami Beach to meet Sheila, the hardworking artist and owner/director of Mayer Fine Art to help her set up in booth 105 of the fair.

At the MB Convention Center there's an army of people assembling booths and putting art shows together. This is the same floor, the same place where the "real" Art Basel Miami Beach takes place, and there's a feeling to being here that is quite unique.

Mayer Fine Art actually has two booths at this fair: one for gallery artists and one focus booth for their big selling European superuberartist Alexey Terenin.

Terenin deserves the focus booth (curated by Aldo Castillo).

Terenin... this Russian-born painter is an exceptional master of the marriage of the palette knife with the brush and with intensely psychological scenarios... and he sells like crazy!

For MIA, Sheila has chosen a huge Terenin painting, almost seven feet tall. She has spent over a thousand dollars getting it stretched, framed, crated and shipped to Miami Beach for the spotlight of a focus booth in this show.

When it arrives, it has been damaged in transit by the shipper, who has clearly ignored the DO NOT LAY FLAT markings on the crate. There are two huge gouge holes on the crate, which in turn have worked their way through the protective wood, board and plastic protection around the linen painting to just barely kiss the back of the painting with a sharp steel tooth of a yellow gear transport and bite the linen to leave a mark, almost invisible, on the canvas, and the tiniest of wounds to the paint itself.

Two of them, as if a gigantic snake had brushed the rear of the painting with needle-like teeth. Two tiny pin-like pricks... almost invisible to the eye, but not to the ethics of a decent art dealer.

Within minutes Aldo Castillo has a conservation restorer on the line. He will come tomorrow morning to assess the damage and repair it on site. Sheila's investment in this yet unsold painting continues.

And so does this report from MIA... tomorrow.

Affordable Art Fair New York: Final Report

Home at last, tired (more like exhausted) after five days of hauling artwork up and down to the 11th floor and schlepping it for five days at AAFNYC.

Overall it is my impression that most galleries at this fair sold very well. Perhaps it is an indication that the art economy is taking a tiny advance, or perhaps it is a simple sign of the times where people are looking at affordable art more closely?

In my personal sphere, I sold a lot of my own drawings (around 30 of them), and the gallery showing my work (Mayer Fine Art of Norfolk, Virgina) also did exceptionally well, practically selling out of Sheila Giolitti's paintings on Friday and Saturday, and essentially selling out all 12 of Matt Sesow's paintings that they brought, and had they brought more, they could have probably sold another dozen. I bet Matt's website experiences a "surge" of interest after this fair, as Mayer Fine Art must have given out a couple of hundred business cards with his details to interested buyers.

Sale of a gorgeous Tim Tate audiovisual sculpture to a major San Francisco collector, and a large Cirenaica Moreira photograph to a well-known collection of Cuban art also helped to push MFA's numbers.

Across from us, New York's Emmanuel Fremin Gallery had a slow start, but by Sunday they had quite a few red dots, mostly accomplished by multiple sales of Drew Tal's gorgeous photography.

And Montreal's Arteria continued to do well, with the roster of young Canadian artists whom they represent.

DC area galleries also seemed to do well, and I continued to see folks from Honfleur and Fraser bring works to the wrapping station.

And finally, tear down was not the nightmare that I thought it was going to be. The fair ended on Sunday at 5PM, and by 8PM we were out of there and stuck in the gridlock traffic for the tunnel to New Jersey.

Affordable Art Fair NY day two and three

Day two and three (Thursday and Friday) at AAFNYC went pretty much along the same way as the opening night, with good crowds and (since we are really close to the wrapping station) we can keep an eye on the sales, and the wrapping station was always busy through both days.

Some of the press reviews have come out, and yesterday Robert Ayers discussed his impressions of the fair and had some good things to say about both my former DC art gallery and about Tim Tate's work (showing with Norfolk's Mayer Fine Art). And LoftLife also reviews the fair and picks MFA with the splendid Santeria work of Marta Maria Perez Bravo.

Talking about Mayer Fine Art, its hardworking owner, Sheila Giolitti, is selling like gangbusters and her resin paintings are flying off the wall. Last year she sold out at AAFNYC and this year Giolitti is once again on the way to a sell out.

On the press preview I got into a slight tiff with a journalist.

She looked at Tim Tate's work and stated, "I know this artist."

"Cool," I responded, and I began to start discussing Tate's work with her.

"He shouldn't be here!" she exclaimed in a thick French accent, clearly miffed. The staff at MFA looked a little puzzled.

"Why?" I asked.

"This fair is supposed to be about emerging artists, and Tate is in museums already, so he's certainly not an emerging artist," she added.

It's not easy to throw me for a verbal loop, but this almost did. I started to counter her point about who or what can be at this fair or any other fair, but she kept going, adding more reasons why Tate's work doesn't belong at AAF.

"I disagree," was all that I could come up with.

"Well," she said imperiously as she walked away miffed, "I disagree too!"

In our row, our across the aisle neighbor, Arteria from Montreal, Canada seems to be doing well, and on Friday night they moved a huge wall sized oil by Jonathan Theroux. Also nearby, MAC Art Group from Miami, Florida is selling their riot of tropical colors steadily and works by Cuban painter Vicente Dopico-Lerner is doing well.

DC area galleries seem to be faring positively as well, and I've seen Honfleur's staff at the wrapping line several times and both Fraser and Nevin Kelly seem to be moving work.

Finally, the new location across the street from the Empire State Building is a winner (in my opinion), since the floor plan is much better and there are no "bad spots" for booths. Because it is on the 11th floor, setting and tear down might be a nightmare, but we'll see.

Art of Glass II

Ten years ago, the major arts institutions of the Greater Hampton Roads area in Virginia joined together to put together of the most successful examples of region-wide art partnership events: The Art of Glass.

Across Norfolk and the Greater Tidewater area, through the Art of Glass, they proved that art has the power to be a transcendent force.

In April 2009, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia and the Virginia Arts Festival, as well as many of the Norfolk-area art galleries, will once again collaborate to create a landmark event for Hampton Roads: Art of Glass 2.

Anchored by The Art of Glass II, the Chrysler Museum of Art will have Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass. Held at the Chrysler Museum of Art. This is the first exhibition to thoroughly examine the career and art of Lino Tagliapietra. The exhibition presents 155 works from Tagliapietra’s 40-year career, including pivotal works from the artist’s own collection and collections around the world as well as designs made for industry and objects that have never before been exhibited.

The Chrysler Museum will also have Contemporary Glass Among the Classics, which features glass installations from four contemporary artists: Katherine Gray, Stephen Knapp, Karen LaMonte, and Beth Lipman. Focusing on each artist’s approach to the versatile material of glass, this exhibition will present new works inspired by the Chrysler’s collection. Gray, LaMonte, and Lipman’s works will be featured throughout various galleries alongside objects from the Museum’s collection.

The Contenporary Art Center of Virginia has a wide host of events and exhibitions lined up with Hank Murta Adams, Dante Marioni, and others; see them all here.

Several key DC area artists will be involved in the festivities as Mayer Fine Arts hosts Dialogues in Glass with the usual powerhouse names from the DC area. Click on below image for more details.

Video of Sandra Ramos' opening last weekend

Ramos will be delivering a lecture on contemporary Cuban art at George Mason University on Thursday Oct 28th at 1:30 at the School of Art - Room 2001. The talk and slide lecture will discuss the state of contemporary Cuban art. It is free and open to the public.

Sandra Ramos groundbreaking work in the 1990s was amongst the first to challenge and expose the harsh realities of Cuban life. By addressing forbidden issues such as mass migration, the plight of Cuba’s raft people, racism in Cuban society and the inequalities of Cuban life, Ramos found a voice through her art that has brought her worldwide fame and inclusion in many private and museums' permanent collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Dallas Art Museum, Miami Art Museum, Fuchu Art Museum in Japan, Thyssen Bornemisza in Vienna and regionally at the University of Virginia Art Museum.

Sandra Ramos resides in Havana, Cuba. Her work has also been showcased at Art Basel Switzerland, ARCO Madrid, Art Basel Miami Beach, multiple Biennials and many other worldwide art fairs.

Her second US solo show, "Exodus", showcasing her latest paintings, videos and etchings, opened last Saturday, Oct. 23rd at Norfolk's Mayer Fine Art Gallery. The video at the top is from the opening.

Miami report

Although as usual I'm always stuck at whatever art fair that I'm doing, and seldom have the chance to explore other art fairs, DMVers in Miami for the fairs, as well as fellow dealers are always reporting to me.

I'm at Context Art Miami, which so far has been doing very well for us. We have DMV artists Ric Garcia and Audrey Wilson (and my own brilliant work, of course). Wilson, who will have her first solo show coming up in DC soon (more on that later) has been especially doing well, both in sales and commissions, as well as curatorial attention. The key here is that DC collectors need to buy Audrey Wilson now, as soon as she has that first solo show.

Also at Context are DMV artists Tim Tate, showing with California's Seager Gray Gallery and Mark Jenkins, showing with LA's Fabien Castanier Gallery.

Context is easily the best art fair that I have ever been to - the level of artwork is right up there with the top of the art fairs food chain. There is powerful diversity at Context - both in artwork as well as geographic distribution of the galleries. It's clear to me that this art fair made a powerful debut last year and now has made an even more powerful statement in its second year.

Scope had a great opening night on Monday with strong sales on their previews, but just like Untitled, they are now facing the same challenges as Untitled because Ocean drive in Miami Beach is down to one lane because of constructions. Also the hike between the two was tough (either across the beach or all the way back to Ocean Drive). Scope's VIPs had free rides from Fiats, which was a good coup as they could get rides around; I hear that the Fiat Pop was a delightful car.

DC's Project 4 is showing at Scope. Also at Scope you can find DMV artist JT Kirkland with New York's Blank Space. I am also told that Miami's Emerson Dorsch Gallery in Untitled has an arresting video program that is that highlight of that fair. Victoria Fu's "Belle Captive II" video has been getting rave reviews from some key video collectors that reported to me.

Some think that "Aqua is struggling," in part because "the young, quirky galleries have mostly been replaced by established galleries and replaced by Art Miami galleries," said to me one collector. There is also some sort of "art project" sign hanging near the entrance to Aqua that is causing some consternation to some galleries, as the sign (which again, is an art project) delivers the "impression that Aqua is where one goes to get cheap art for the office." On the other hand, Norfolk's Mayer Fine Art Gallery is reporting booming sales (she's also exhibiting DC's Victoria Gaitan's gorgeous photography). DC's Morton Fine Arts is also showing at Aqua, and some DMV artists, such as Eric Finzi and Barbara Januszkiewicz, are also there with other galleries.

Texas collector Ardis Bartle noted that "Aqua traditionally brought in an University or college art program and the emerging artists out of that program, and as a collector I would always buy one those pieces, and it gave the University (last year it was Atlanta University) a chance to shine."

"This year," she noted, "they curated two emerging artists who looked like the rest of the show: it was somewhat banal." She added: "Bring back the Universities."

Art Basel apparently has added a lot of new, upcoming artists from all over the world, that there seems to be a new wave of newer artists (Claire Morgan's name was mentioned to me) in addition to all the multimillion dollar blue chip artists.

I went to the grand opening of the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) last night, which could now possibly be the most spectacular museum architectural design on the planet -- the video by Yael Bartana that they were playing on the screen at the opening was breathtakingly beautiful and full of raw power.

PAMM's grand opening was packed to the gills - I mean thousands and thousands of people! Everyone and anyone who is someone in the arts world seemed to be there, as well as thousands of people who had previously probably never set foot in a museum... cough, cough...

I'm a little worried about the PAMM's ability to stand a strong hurricane though... there are a lot of wood floors! I wish them the best of luck - it is a spectacular museum at an even more spectacular location.

At Pulse I hear that "it was too crowded! They need to do something about the bathrooms!" Being too crowded if a good thing most of the time. I hear that Sabrina Gschwandtner's quilts of 16mm film are the true find of Pulse - at least two major collectors passed that info to me.

Art Miami across the way from Context is also very impressive - DC's Connersmith is there (they are also at Context).

Ardis Bartle noted that the Zoom In video halls were impressive, but "it's too hot inside those tents during the day to stay in there long!" Good advice from a very intense collector!

More later!

Miami bound... but a note about art fairs

As I write this for later posting here, we're flying to Miami to participate in the annual Art Basel week of art fairs. As I've written many times before, this is the world's "big dance" when it comes to the visual arts; this is the big party and everyone is invited. However, it is a matter of getting here that's the issue.

Art fairs are very expensive. As I've noted before, many galleries risk everything to come to Miami, and I suspect that many are financially destroyed at the end of the week. And yet, many do well and return year after year.

Between my years with the Fraser Gallery and now with AAAP, we've been returning to Miami for many years now. Other DMV and regional galleries that keep coming back are my good buds at Connersmith, Hamiltonian, and Virginia's Mayer Fine Arts. They consistently take the financial risk and venture to Miami (and in some cases all over the US and Europe). Some newer participants are Morton Fine Arts and Adah Rose; both galleries did their first art fairs a year or two ago and both are enthusiastically now doing art fairs all over.

Others have tried a year or two, crashed and burn and never return to the party.

Is there a formula to this? What the the magic that makes this work for some and not for others?

I know of at least two galleries in the Mid Atlantic who have "financial backers" who absorb most or some of the financial risk involved in doing an art fair. Since these sort of galleries are very limited (who wouldn't love to have a financial backer?), they are the "outlayers" in the formula for clicking the right button in the art fair game.

Some non-profiits have the economic stability to play consistently in the art fair game; and to make it easier for them, many art fairs have special, lower pricing for non-profits. So they are also a special case, I think, because in most cases, the financial risk is absorbed by the state of their income-gathering to stay afloat as a non-profit.

It is a mystery to me why not more DMV area non-profits go to the art fairs. Hamiltonian is a notable exception, as is Honfleur Gallery in Anacostia. And the WPA does participate in our own (e)merge.

But I would submit that there are several area non-profits that could, and should participate in Miami and New York art fairs as part of their business model; if a local non-profit can afford to pay $70-$80,000 a year to its executive director (and several DMV non-profits are in that range), then it can certainly afford to budget $12-18K to participate in an art fair outside of the DMV. I think this anyway... As an outsider to the money shell game that running a non profit must be (I tip my hat to them).

I'm not saying that all visual arts non-profits should do this - I am sure that the mission of some of them are strictly focused on "local" only, rather than expanding their artistic presentations outside the capital region.

But that still leaves several key ones that (if I was the DMV art dictator) should be in NYC and Miami during art fair times.

This also applies to some of our large membership-based visual arts organizations and cooperative galleries, such as The Art League.

I'm a big fan of The Art League, and when I lived close to Alexandria I was a member for many years, and I have been honored multiple times by being selected as a juror for them.

And thus I am going to use them as an example, but this example applies to the multiple "other" art leagues, groups, clubs, cooperatives, etc. that exist around our region and which are important and significant components of our cultural tapestry. I could just as easily have picked the Rockville Art League, or the Reston Art League, Gallery West, Touchstone, Fairfax Art League, CHAW, etc.

The money part is always an issue, but when the money part can be divided into several (rather than one) entities, then the financial risk is reduced, because it is spread, rather than concentrated into one (the independent commercial gallery) bank account.

So let's proceed with this possible example using The Art League.

They have several thousand members and run a very successful and important program at their space inside the Torpedo Factory and assorted classrooms all over the area.

So the issue is, how does The Art League (again, you can fill in any of multiple DMV area membership-based art organizations) pick or select the 3-5 artists to take to an art fair?

The "good" art fairs are nearly always tightly juried. There are many art fairs where one just pays and anyone and everyone can go - those usually suck and in about a week or so, some DMV galleries and many DMV solo artists will unfortunately discover this.

And thus for Miami/NYC fairs I am thinking (in no particular order) about Art Miami, Context, Aqua, Pulse, NADA, Affordable Art Fair(s), Scope, Miami Project, Frieze... some of these are very, very hard to get in, but they're listed nonetheless, because there is a "food chain" of art fairs, and the bottom-feeders usually spell disaster for the participants.

And thus The Art League would need to establish a process to pre-jury its membership to 3-5 artists and apply with those artists to an art fair. I would start with The Affordable Art Fair in New York. They are close by and they are a "proven" fair. I have done it many times and consistently recommend it to any gallery that asks me about art fairs in general.

And thus redux The Art League would need to canvas their membership and find out who's interested in being juried for possible selection for further jurying into an art fair. I would make this process independent from the Art League itself - just like they do for their monthly juried shows, and have interested artists bring their work in to be juried by an independent juror.

That juror has to be a very special juror - in fact 98% of your standard-issue visual art juror (art professors, art critics, art writers, art center directors, artists, etc.) would guarantee a disaster to this process. In the DMV the jury pool for this process is very limited and its members are only those gallerists who have participated in multiple art fairs. In fact I can't think of anyone better to jury this part than me!

Back to the generic process... In the next post... Or soon... All DMV (and nationwide visual arts non profits/co-ops and clubs should be reading this...).

And the openings begin: ABMB Day One

Tonight was the openings for Art Miami, Scope, Red Dot and some other fairs, and I had a chance to stroll through those three and chat with some gallerists and artists.

Over at the Art Miami press lounge, the buzz, from some journos and locals, other than the street trees being "decorated" in shirts and tops, was Art Basel's "contraction" or how ABMB had reduced the number of galleries at last year's ABMB.

"I'm not sure if this is was a result of the economy," said a savvy Miami art writer, "Or ABMB throwing a bone to the satellite fairs."

He must have seen the quizzical Klingonesque forehead expression in my face, because he expanded by adding that the economy seems to have had a profound impact on the number of galleries applying to the satellite art fairs, as more and more galleries stay home due to lackluster sales.

"I know of a local Miami gallerist who sold a million dollar painting at ABMB last year and this year he didn't get invited back," he postulated, "And so he went to the next best fair, Art Miami."

Heads nod. "And yet, ABMB week has a record 260 art galleries this year," someone says.

"What's the art fair food chain looking like this year?," I asked. By that I meant to ascertain as to which ones were the top fairs. Another journo chimed in and noted that she thought that after ABMB, Art Miami was the best satellite art fair, followed by Pulse and Scope.

Heads nod.

"But Scope is in a real down spiral," noted yet a third voice, this time belonging to a local artist whose gallery is at Art Miami. Several heads nodded in agreement looking like a Nirvana video.

"And Red Dot is surprisingly picking up former Scope galleries left and right," added the guy who had coined the term "contraction."

"Uh?... why is that?", I asked, recalling that one of my own dealers had turned down an invitation from Scope and chosen Red Dot.

"I'm going to check this out over the next few days," he expanded, "But I'm told that Red Dot more than doubled its size from last year and that a lot of 2010 Scope galleries are now showing at Red Dot, especially a lot of Asian galleries."

"Free booze and food at opening night..." commented a new voice.

While there is free booze (all kinds of wines, Herradura Tequila and Finlandia vodka non stop) and food (be ready to fight) at Red Dot's opening night, in my opinion there's also a huge change for the better over the last few years. In fact, I would opine that this is the best Red Dot that I've ever seen and I know that Scope now realizes that Red Dot is breathing down their neck when it comes to the art galleries' food chain... and Red Dot has food and booze... heh, heh...

The two fairs, next to each other, still have huge differences. Scope seems to be stuck a little in a presence and feel that was cool and popular when everything that hanged sold; that's a thing of the past. Red Dot booths hang a lot of artwork.

And while the minimalist look of the Scope galleries may still show a once cool approach to art fair presence, the lack of crowds and lack of red dots and alleged mass exodus to its neighboring art fair, where hanging is a bit more relaxed (read that a gallery can hang more artwork in their booths), plus the fact that this year's Red Dot's booths are quite a bit taller than usual (affording more vertical wall space), may reflect the realities of the new art fair world.

"I think the days when an art fair director could dictate to a gallery what artist to hang are rapidly coming to an end," opined a local art blogger.

"What about Art Miami?" I asked.

"Art Miami has become the second choice if a gallery can't get into ABMB" was the consensus opinion, and my own walk-thorough showed a highly sophisticated art fair with a very good blend of art galleries and a sharp, elegant presentation in most of them, with a clear and surprising lack of trendy art and more of a lean towards commodifiable artwork.

I haven't seen Pulse yet, thus I asked about Pulse.

"I think Pulse has learned the Scope lesson and is making an U-Turn on its brand," opined someone and heads nodded.

I Klingoned my forehead and the opiner expanded, "Pulse is doing a great job of still appearing cool and trendy while its galleries shift to more traditional artwork that can actually be sold... check out how all of a sudden realism is all over Pulse."

The next few days will tell... meanwhile, over at Scope, I had heard some good buzz over Trawick Prizewinner David Page's performance; he's there with Baltimore's Jordan Faye Contemporary. Page's unique work really stood out at Scope. A couple of other DMV are dealers are also at Scope: Hamiltonian, Civilian and first time Scoper Heiner Contemporary, who was showing the amazing work of (e)merge wunderkind Avery Lawrence plus Elizabeth Huey, David Kramer and Jon-Phillip Sheridan.

Heiner has one of the best looking art fair booths of all time, courtesy of Lawrence's familial wallpaper, part of his "Moving a Tree" project.

There are no DMV galleries in Red Dot or Art Miami, although AM has two Baltimore dealers in their roster.

Tomorrow the hot ticket is the opening party at Aqua, where yours truly has been busting his keister for the last two days preparing for tomorrow night's opening.

Celebrity sighting: Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman is two booths across from Norfolk's Mayer Fine Art! Jane Seymour's artwork dominates the booth of her gallerist, and paintings, watercolors and sculptures by the actress and artist, who was there tonight, all 85 pounds of her, dominate the booth. Her watercolors are by far her best work...

Sandra Ramos lecture at George Mason University

Thursday Oct 28th at 1:30 at the School of Art - Room 2001. The talk and slide lecture will discuss the state of contemporary Cuban art. It is free and open to the public.

Sandra Ramos groundbreaking work in the 1990s was amongst the first to challenge and expose the harsh realities of Cuban life. By addressing forbidden issues such as mass migration, the plight of Cuba’s raft people, racism in Cuban society and the inequalities of Cuban life, Ramos found a voice through her art that has brought her worldwide fame and inclusion in many private and museums' permanent collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Dallas Art Museum, Miami Art Museum, Fuchu Art Museum in Japan, Thyssen Bornemisza in Vienna and regionally at the University of Virginia Art Museum.

Sandra Ramos resides in Havana, Cuba. Her work has also been showcased at Art Basel Switzerland, ARCO Madrid, Art Basel Miami Beach, multiple Biennials and many other worldwide art fairs.

Her second US solo show, "Exodus", showcasing her latest paintings, videos and etchings, opens this coming Saturday, Oct. 23rd at Norfolk's Mayer Fine Art Gallery.

Cuban Art is Caliente!

From the Wall Street Journal:

With art from Asia and Russia in demand, some in the art world are betting on Cuba to be the next hot corner of the market. Prices for Cuban art are climbing at galleries and auction houses, and major museums are adding to their Cuban collections. In May, Sotheby's broke the auction record for a Cuban work when it sold Mario Carreño's modernist painting "Danza Afro-Cubana" for $2.6 million, triple its high estimate.

Now, with a new Cuban president in power and some hope emerging for looser travel and trade restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba, American collectors and art investors are moving quickly to tap into the market. Some are getting into Cuba by setting up humanitarian missions and scouting art while they're there. Others are ordering works from Cuba based on email images and having them shipped.

The collectors are taking advantage of a little-known exception to the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba: It is legal for Americans to buy Cuban art.

I will be curating two Cuban art shows this year: one in Norfolk opening next April 12 for Mayer Fine Art and another in Maryland later this year for H&F Fine Arts.

One thing to be careful about: there will be chaos when the Cuban dictators finally step aside, and I suspect that "government sanctioned artists" will not be at the top of their game - if anything, collecting dissident Cuban art is the key.

I've been telling all of you for years now: Buy Cuban art!

DMV area galleries heading to Miami

I probably don't have a complete list, but from what I've gathered, the usual group of DMV and neighboring cities' galleries are heading south next week for the Art Basel Miami Beach week of fairs around the Greater Miami area.

We are heading to the Context Art Miami fair in Wynwood - come see us in booth E-82.  Connersmith, C.Grimaldis and Goya Contemporary will be next door at Art Miami; Adah Rose and Adamson are heading to Pulse; Mayer Fine Art, Ghostprint, Hamiltonian and Morton Fine Art are all heading to Aqua Art Miami (where we were for the last three years and had our best fairs ever!); Project 4 is in Scope, and Randall Scott Projects is at Miami Project.

As I've noted many times before: if you are a 21st century gallerist or artist, you gotta go to the dance.

There's a truckload of more art fairs... check them out here.

This Friday in Norfolk


My good bud Matt Sesow opens in Norfolk's best art gallery, Mayer Fine Art. The opening reception is from 7-9PM.

Calling all art undergrads!

As I mentioned several times in the past, I've been retained by the Longview Gallery of Washington, DC to curate an exhibition for them focused on student work.

The exhibition hopes to deliver a survey of the best artwork by undergraduate art students working in accredited art school programs in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia.

Over the last few months I have visited a ton of schools up and down the mid Atlantic. In the process, the new Mayer Fine Art Gallery in Norfolk, Virginia liked the concept, and now the DC show will have selected students have art travel down to Norfolk for a second exhibition there.

I will curate the exhibition from both a submission process as well as visits to schools and studios. All selections and invitations will be made at my discretion.

Through this process, the exhibition also hopes to educate the selected students on the process of participating in a commercial gallery art exhibition, including advance preparations, presentation and delivery of artwork, opening receptions, dealing with the press, etc.

Calendar

May 5, 2008 - Deadline for postmark of entries to me

May 10, 2008 - Invited Artists Notified

June 5, 2008 - Deadline for Delivery of Art to Gallery

June 7, 2008 - Opening Reception

July 5, 2008 - Exhibition Closes

July 6, 2008 - Pick-up of Unsold Work


This exhibition is open to all art students 18 years and older who are enrolled in an accredited undergraduate art school program in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia. At my discretion, the exhibition may also include a piece by the selected students' art professor. All work selected must be for sale and framed and presented professionally to conservation standards. Open to all two and three dimensional media. The size of the submitted artwork cannot exceed 40 inches in any one direction (excluding frames).

There are no fees or charges associated with this exhibition and process. Accepted artists are responsible for any costs associated with delivery and return of unsold work. All preliminary judging will be done from digital entries.

A formal opening and reception for the accepted artists will be held on Saturday, 7 June 2008 from 6-8 p.m. at the Longview Gallery. The gallery is located at 1302 9th street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, Tel: 202.232.4788.

A second formal opening and reception (dates to be announced) will be held in Norfolk for the second show.

All the details and prospectus can be downloaded here. Art professors desiring to contact me to set up a school visit should contact me directly via email: lenny@lennycampello.com.

ABMB Week: The read it all at once report

Monday

All photos by J. Jordan Bruns. Today it was the typical brutal day as we unloaded and started setting up at Context Art Miami in Wynwood.

After trolling around for a while looking for a parking spot, we found a Doris Day parking spot nearby the loading docks for the fair (a Doris Day parking spot is like in the movies, where the main actor always finds a parking spot right in front of wherever he/she is going). 

The place was a beehive of workers delivering crates, European gallerists walking back and forth barking worried orders on their cell phones, cleaning crews on a constant battle to keep the place clean, Haitian day workers hanging around hoping for a job, security checking badges and asking for wrist bands, and the savage art sounds of hammers banging and drills drilling and the random and heartbreaking sound of glass breaking somewhere.

Hundreds of trips later we had taken most of the art out of the van with only one casualty - this is the brutal part of driving your work down instead of having it shipped and delivered to your booth.

Ran into the DMV's Andrea Pollan and then Calder Brannock; both are working the fairs.

After a ten hour day we are 90% done... all the work for opening night is hung, and almost all labeled; all the electronics are working, and Simon Monk, Dulce Pinzon and me are on the walls and Audrey Wilson and Elissa Farrow-Savos are on the floor.

The VIP Preview is tomorrow. The fair opens on Wednesday.

Tuesday

In typical Floridian puzzle-weather, it was very rainy up in Hollywood Beach, which is where we are staying as we have for the last few years. A few blocks south, the sun was bright and fully ready to endorse the VIP opening at Context Art Miami.

Once we got to Wynwood, we dropped off a piece for a special exhibit that the Art Miami folks had arranged with the local Marriott hotel. It was a delicate dance of driving in the serpentine challenges presented by Maimi drivers, but we installed the piece (a wonderful sculpture by Elissa Farrow-Savos) and headed back to Wynwood.

We finished off labeling the work, which brings to mind the interesting tidbit that just a handful of years ago, one seldom saw any labels at art shows or art fairs.

It was as if all curators and gallerists in the upper artsmosphere of the art world that made a decision to endorse David Parnas' information hiding principle. 

Today, it is the opposite, as delivering as much information about the work seems to be the trend.

We've always used labels... just sayin'.

I rushed through the fair to try to get a flavor for the quality of this year's Context... and my report is that new director Julian Navarro has done a spectacular job: this is by far the best art fair that we've ever been honored to be part of; Context has set new standards this year... more on that later.

Simon Monk wall at Context Art Miami - Alida Anderson Art Projects

There were long lines waiting for the 5:30 opening at both Context Art Miami and Art Miami, as I was very impressed how the crowds increased as the evening progressed. The Wynwood district where several of the art fairs are staged is a pretty congested area without the art fairs and unless you are savvy enough to dance the traffic dance, it can be challenging on the night when everyone wants to go to the art show. In addition to the two best-known Art Miami fairs, there are several satellite fairs in Wynwood which now use Art Miami as the magnet fair, just as all satellite fairs use Art Basel Miami Beach as the magnet fair.

Almost immediately DMV artist Audrey Wilson broke the ice and at the same time proved my point about the importance of art fairs for artists. Wilson sold a major piece to a collector who has now bought one of her pieces at Context Art Miami 2013, Wynwood Art Fair 2014 and now Context Art Miami 2014. He also bought one of my drawings, which was nice.

It is always good to break the ice on opening night... as the night ended I sold three more of my pieces.

Overall I noticed that all the dealers around us seemed to be making sales, and this is a great indication of the hard work that it takes to get a critical number of collectors to an art event.

Tomorrow the fair opens to the public.


Wednesday

Today was the opening to the general public of the Context Art Miami fair.

We arrived a few minutes after the official opening time of 11AM, as did most other dealers (we saw the hardworking Leigh Conner hustling to Art Miami).

This is the result of trying to get off the highway to North Miami Avenue... this simple operation seems to be a permanent parking lot at practically any time.

Plan for about 15-20 minutes to get from the highway to the fair; traffic is that bad!

Today was a much calmer and slower day than yesterday, with noticeably less young women, slim as rifles (and just as dangerous) confidently walking the aisles of the fair on needle heels and unshaven young studs with shiny hair, otherwise clean as a new stiletto, taking phone pictures of the artwork.

The day went fast, with the only novelty being the arrival of a couple of well-known DMV artists, Tim Tate and J.T. Kirkland, as well as a local guerrilla artist paddling his artwork ($20 a painting) while streaking through the fair.

Thursday

The sky fell yesterday, or at least it sounded that way when it started to rain hard, really hard and one is inside one of those gigantic tents where most ABMB art fairs are held.

Tents, regardless of size, always leak, so today was an interesting day in the life of a gallerist, as we scrambled to prevent art from getting wet.

The City Paper's Christina Cauterucci and Perry Stein were over in Miami Beach and delivered an outstanding report on DMV area galleries and artists at Aqua Art Miami, although somehow they missed the three DC artists being exhibited by Mayer Fine Art. Read their Aqua report here and their final report here.

All three of these artists, Judith Peck, Victoria Gaitan and Jeannette Herrera, have been showing in Miami for ABMB for the last few years.


Friday

Friday was packed with people at Context Art Miami, and today I really saw some dealers move art off the walls - most noticeably our neighbor across the hall, a gallery from Colombia who was doing well with some gorgeous work by Colombian artists.

We also had our best day so far, selling a nice sculpture by Elissa Farrow-Savos and a very large drawing of mine.

Around seven PM, the sounds of helicopters overhead were quite loud, and a little checking revealed that street protesters (some protesting the sad Eric Gardner issue, and others the death a year ago of a local graffitist who died after being tasered by the police) around Wynwood and eventually shut down I-95.

Needless to say this caused the area's usual gridlock to become gridlockier.

With the aid of some dexterous driving and Google maps we drove through Little Haiti and picked up I-95 north of the closed part and managed to get to our Hollywood hotel with little loss of time.

Saturday

Saturday was so far the best day at Context Art Miami. In fact, in the eight years that I have been doing art fairs, this was the best one day ever.

The day started early, as we shifted home base from the beach hotel in Hollywood Beach to Little Havana, in order to be closer to Wynwood for the crucial last two days of the fair.

After dropping the luggage and getting two "colados" to kick start the sleepy systems, and on the way to the fair, a phone call resulted in the sale of six of Dulce Pinzon's amazing work; that's the way to start the day.

The crowds at Context were huge; it was actually hard to navigate the halls!

We sold work by Simon Monk, multiple pieces by Elissa Farrow-Savos, and several of my drawings, including a major video drawing.

It was frenetic selling, with multiple trips to the gallery van to replenish the walls. We also noticed that the dealers around us seemed to be selling well. It is all a question of numbers: Art Miami succeeded in bringing large crowds to the fairs, and this is in direct proportion to the probability of a sale.

There were also multiple "wake" events as I call them. They are the potential after-effects of doing an art fair... For example, there are at least two galleries interested in Elissa's work, and one in Audrey Wilson's work and a local Miami gallery in my work.

Sunday is the last day; apparently there are more street protests scheduled, so it may get interesting.

Sunday

The street protests yesterday had minimal impact on the fair, and once again good crowds were present.

We had another decent day, and sold eight of my drawings, as well as an acquisition of two of my vintage Art school stone lithographs by the Museo de Arte Afroamericano in Caracas, Venezuela.

All throughout the fair, people have been admiring and taking hundreds of photographs of DMV artist Elissa Farrow-Savos' gorgeous sculptures, and myriads of cards with her name were handed out to the "we'll be back" crowd. Seldom does that happen... The fairs are big and overwhelming... You either get the work when you see it, or forget it...

As we were beginning to pack a few minutes after 6pm, a couple did actually come back and purchased the work. As we began to wrap it, a very pretty collector from San Francisco also returned and was a little... Well, actually a lot, saddened to see that the sculpture had been sold. 

It had clearly made a powerful connection with her. I actually think that she was almost ready to make the new owners an offer for the piece and thus create a new record for the fastest secondary market art turnover in history!

She appeared truly bummed out, so I gave her one of my Art School vintage stone lithos as a present and promised to see if the artist would entertain re-creating another version of the work.

We were packed and out of there by 8pm, and after a heinous 4am wake up call, I now sit in the plane at oh-dark thirty as I head back to the DMV after a very successful art fair!

Back next year!

Next Week in New York

Next week is the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, right across the street from the Empire State Building.

The Affordable Art Fair is always a very interesting art fair to me, from the psychological point and from the commercial point of view.

AAFNYC (as it is known, since there are versions of this fair in Europe and Australia as well) is put together by the same people who bring you the Pulse Art Fair, arguably the second best Miami art fair after ABMB.

And I say Miami on purpose to put it geographically in Miami, since there are some top notch European-based art fairs which are clearly higher than Pulse in the art fair food chain. But, when it comes to the first week of December in Miami, after ABMB, Pulse is clearly the number two darling of the art cognoscenti.

AAFNYC has an "affordable" ceiling price for art of $10,000 (used to be $5,000); this tells you a lot about the art world.

This NYC and London versions of this fair have a reputation as really good selling fairs, where galleries do fairly well, in spite of the current economic blues enveloping the world. From my own experience with this NYC-based fair (which goes back to 2005), it has always been a very successful art fair for the galleries that I have been associated with (sorry about the dangling preposition).

And if you review the list of galleries who have exhibited at AAFNYC over the years, you'll discover a lot of blue chip galleries, in fact, some of the same galleries which show at Pulse!

Yet some snooty galleries stay away from it. "I wish they'd change the name of the fair," told me a gallery owner once when I asked her why she didn't do the fair.

Enough said.

And yet, galleries from all over the planet (including a lot of British galleries) will come to New York next week, and a lot of savvy New York art collectors will come to the fair and a lot of artists and art galleries will do very well, since this is the only NYC art fair at this time of the year (among other things).

My work will be there, represented by Norfolk's top independently owned commercial fine arts gallery: Mayer Fine Arts, who will be showcasing work by Sheila Giolitti, John Roth, Alexey Terenin, Judith Peck, Rosemary Feit Covey, Sharon Moody, Rosalie Shane, Joey Manlapaz and Andrew Wodzianski... note that there are several DMV artists in that mix (Peck, Feit Covey, Moody, Manlapax, Wodzianski and I).

If you want some free tickets to the fair, send me an email and I'll make sure that the gallery leaves some free passes at "will call".

Tonight in Norfolk

Several DMV area artists, such as Tim Tate, Andrew Wodzianski and yours truly are in MFA's Winter show. The reception is February 26, from 7-9PM.

MFA is easily and by far (in my clearly subjective opinion, but easily checked out), Norfolk's top fine arts gallery, with a gorgeous location on the city's waterfront.

Mayer Fine Art
333 Waterside Drive
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 803-4749

In Norfolk tomorrow night

Havana-based Cuban artist Sandra Ramos is in many people's opinions, the leading contemporary Cuban artist in the world, and later this month, her solo exhibition titled Exodus, running from October 23 - December 27, opens in Norfolk's leading independently owned commercial fine arts gallery: Mayer Fine Art.

MFA, which also represents my work, is by far the top fine arts venue in the Tidewater area, and its hardworking owner, the talented Shiela Giolitti, daughter of the legendary comic book artist Alberto Giolitti has been preparing for this, Ramos' second ever solo show in the USA, for a long time.

Sandra Ramos. Flying to Miami. Charcoal and Acrylic on Digital Canvas Print. 130 x 90 cm. Circa 2010
The opening is Saturday, October 23rd from 6-9PM.

Additionally, Ramos will be leading a printmaking workshop at the Chrysler Museum on Oct 23 and 24th. You can register for that workshop here.

Then, on October 26th at 7PM, Sandra Ramos will present a lecture on contemporary Cuban art at the Baron and Ellin Art Galleries of Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Free and open to the public.

Ramos is in the permanent collection of MoMa, MFA Boston, Dallas Museum, Miami Art Museum and many other US, European and Latin American art museums.

I'm driving down for this opening; see ya there!

Sandra Ramos' workshop

Havana-based Cuban artist Sandra Ramos is in many people's opinions, the leading contemporary Cuban artist in the world, and later this month, her solo exhibition titled Exodus, running from October 23 - December 27, opens in Norfolk's leading independently owned commercial fine arts gallery: Mayer Fine Art.

MFA, which also represents my work, is by far the top fine arts venue in the Tidewater area, and its hardworking owner, the talented Shiela Giolitti, daughter of the legendary comic book artist Alberto Giolitti has been preparing for this, Ramos' second ever solo show in the USA, for a long time.

Sandra Ramos. Flying to Miami. Charcoal and Acrylic on Digital Canvas Print. 130 x 90 cm. Circa 2010
The opening is Saturday, October 23rd from 6-9PM.

Additionally, Ramos will be leading a printmaking workshop at the Chrysler Museum on Oct 23 and 24th. You can register for that workshop here. Hurry! There are only three spots left!

Then, on October 26th at 7PM, Sandra Ramos will present a lecture on contemporary Cuban art at the Baron and Ellin Art Galleries of Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Free and open to the public.

Ramos is in the permanent collection of MoMa, MFA Boston, Dallas Museum, Miami Art Museum and many other US, European and Latin American art museums.

I'm driving down for this opening; see ya there!

Over in Norfolk

Several DMV area artists, such as Tim Tate, Andrew Wodzianski and yours truly are in MFA's Winter show. The reception is February 26, from 7-9PM.

Mayer Fine Art
333 Waterside Drive
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 803-4749

Common Waters at Mayer Fine Art

Below is a quick video showing the exhibition "Common Waters: An Ocean Apart" at Norfolk's new Mayer Fine Art.

Works by Sandra Ramos, Aimee Garcia Marrero, Cirenaica Moreira and Marta Maria Perez Bravo.