The Rock Magnet

Below is a peek from Juicy Fruit Perfume: An American Remembers his Cuban Childhood, my biography, which is currently scheduled to be published in 2024 (should I ever finish it!) - This chapter is titled "The Rock Magnet":

One of our favorite games was rock fights. 

How in the world we survived countless battles without losing an eye or getting killed is both a miracle and mystery. 

Rock fights would either be planned, between a couple of teams, or just start out of nowhere, first with one or two people, and slowly gathering impetus until broken up by either an adult, a cracked head, or a cracked window or windshield on a parked or passing car. 

How many times would I wander out of my house, bored and with nothing to do, climb on the roof and survey the neighborhood from my own little kingdom. And if I detected Pepin or his brother Monguito playing down at the end of the block, or perhaps one of the Calixton brothers outside their house a block directly across from us, I would climb down from the roof, gather a few rocks, walk to the middle of the block, yell just one warning shout and launch an unexpected aerial attack.

Having been at the receiving end of these same attacks, it was not unfair to launch an unprovoked attack, and immediately the battle would begin. 

Two solitary warriors lobbing rocks at each other, maybe 100-200 feet apart, throwing the rocks in long, elegant arcs that demanded attention – in order to avoid them – and guts – in order to appear unconcerned and avoid being hit just at the last minute by side-stepping the rock as it was about to hit you. Soon, one of the brothers would join in, and now I would have to start dodging two attackers while shouting for either my cousin Cesar or my best friend Jorge Cunningham to come to my aid. 

As my best friend, Jorge, who was an excellent rock thrower, was feared for his skill; however, he lived about half a block down from Cuartel Street and would not always hear me. Cesar nearly always came to my aid, but he was not very good at aiming, and there was always a chance that he’d join the other guys – unless the Monguitos had done something to him recently. 

The only guy in our neighborhood that you never started an unprovoked rock fight against with was Pupy. 

Pupy was one of an endless horde of Haitians who lived in a huge house at the end of where the paved Cuartel Street ended. He didn’t usually play with us, as the Haitians tended to keep to themselves, and his house had a huge, fenced garden full of trees and space where he usually played his many brothers and cousins. A whole tribe of Haitians lived behind that walled fortress of a house and it was one of the few places in our neighborhood where we weren’t welcomed or allowed in. 

But once in a while Pupy would come out and play with us, more often than not terrorizing us. We were all afraid of him, except the Monguito brothers, who were fearless and would fight anyone, anytime; and Jorge, who although skinny and small was very tough. 

Pupy was mean and evil, and in rock fights would run close up to you and fire rocks at close range, rather than maintaining a respectable artillery distance. Our only means of revenge against Pupy was rather cowardly, but we all did it anyway. 

It consisted of the ritual of lobbing a few anonymous rocks into his house’s back garden or their roof, nearly every night; or whenever we were playing around that corner of the street, which was unusual by itself, as we usually played around the other corner of the block, directly next to my grandparents’ house, which is where I lived. 

There was an art to the rock fight that demanded a certain skill and grace in order to survive without being hit. This was especially needed when you were defending against two boys. 

The idea was to throw your rock and then immediately and very quickly begin looking for a new one to throw. Because we lived on a paved street, strategy and location was important, such as beginning the fight from around one of the several empty lots in our block, with an abundant supply of projectiles. One was most vulnerable when bending down to pick up new rocks (ideally two at once), when you took your eyes off your opponent. 

A well timed throw would arc towards you to try to catch you looking away for that final split second. Two throwers demanded intense concentration and skill, and an amazing dance around a rainfall of rocks. 

One year, for a few delirious months, our street was torn and opened up as huge, new sewer lines were installed. For months these large cement pipes provided castles and forts from which massive rock fights took place – the open, torn streets providing an unending supply of rocks. It is amazing how few times we were actually hurt – of course we were hit, and it did hurt, but seldom were hits very serious or requiring stitches. 

Except for Pepin. 

Pepin was the youngest of the two Monguito brothers, his father was Mongo, who we would all make fun of, as he traveled back and forth to his job in a bicycle, becoming the proverbial Mongo en Bicicleta character. Mongo also wore the same thick, nerd glasses that Castro wore and that nearly every Cuban who needed glasses seemed to have in those years. 

Later when I was in the US Navy we would see those glasses being issued in bootcamp and we would call them "birth control glasses." 

Mongo also had an incredible resemblance to the American cartoon artist Robert Crumb. Pepin and Monguito were a key part of our pandilla, and we all played together, and of course this included rock fights, either on our side against other neighborhood’s kids or internecine battles in our own group. 

But Pepin’s head seemed to be a rock magnet! I cannot recall the number of times that his poor mother Elba, had to take Pepin to the hospital to stitch his head close from rock wounds. It was astounding even to the doctors, and his crewcut was decorated with shiny white healed scars visible under the short cropped hairstyle that we all wore. It was so bad that one time, as Elba and Pepin where coming out of the most recent visit to the hospital (she madder than a hornet at yet another busted head, and he, recently stitched and bandaged), an amazing thing happened as they were waiting for the bus outside the hospital

Now, it must be made clear that buses were also good targets for rock throwing, and in our neighborhood we generously pelted the buses with rocks if they happened to drive by during one of our battles. 

Apparently this was the case all over Guantanamo, as when the bus arrived at the hospital stop, and as Elba and the bandaged Pepin prepared to enter it, from across the street someone lobbed a rock at the bus, managed to miss it completely, arcing the rock over it and landing it squarely atop Pepin’s head, busting it open in a new spot and sending him back to the hospital amidst Elba’s cries of blue murder. 

But the rock fight to end all rock fights was an incredibly huge rock fight that took place one warm, sunny summer early evening at the crossing of the river Guaso. It has remained, both in my memory and my father’s memory, as the largest, most intensive rock fight in Guantanamo’s history, and it literally involved nearly 100 people of all ages, sizes and colors. This rock fight was the mother of all rock fights.

Heading to the Left Coast

 

Wanna get an unicorn?

This 1980 original drawing of an unicorn by yours truly just popped up on Ebay! I did these unicorn series in prep for a private, illustrated edition of a book on the subject being printed in Seattle in 1980!

I recall selling this drawing in 1980 while I was selling art at the Pike Place Market while I was an art student at the University of Washington.

Bid for it here.

The curious case of Associate Professor Erika Denise Edwards and the Argentine national soccer team

Erika Denise Edwards is the author of the book "Hiding in Plain Sight: Black Women, the Law and the Making of a White Argentine Republic" and an associate professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.  She is also the author of a baffling article in the Washington Post titled Why doesn’t Argentina have more Black players in the World Cup? 

I shit thee not - the professor actually has a bee in her bonnet about this baffling question.  And to make her impossible case, she digs deep into Argentine history, although the article was already once corrected because somehow initially the author made a math mistake that thought that 149,493 divided by 46 million was one percent... cough... cough... the article has now been corrected.

Dear professor Edwards, the reason that there are no black players in the Argentine national team is that for a soccer-crazy nation like Argentina, only the best of some of the best soccer players on the planet make it to that team.  I can assure you that if there was a black Messi somewhere in Argentina with an Argentine passport, he would be on that team regardless of color.

Of that 149, 493 black Argentines, we would need a subset of men aged between 18-35 to sort of be able to even be counted. The miniscule mathematical possibility is now so low, that it takes a deep breath to try to figure out why some idiot at the WaPo thought that this was a valid question.

As one commenter notes: "For the same reason why there are no White or Asian or Latino players in nearly 50 African national teams: the demographics aren't there."

Another commenter strikes the article dead and demolishes the author's thesis in a few simple words: "Can’t say for Argentina’s FIFA team, but superimposing US racial categories on a Latin American country is an intellectual blunder the author should have easily avoided, almost the same mistake the racists make..."

Perhaps Professor Edwards needs to refresh her American-centric mindset, racialized by Americaness, deeply different from Latin American culture, and take a deep look at her flawed outlook and unsupported logic on this subject.  I recommend that she starts with Jorge Luis Borges who once noted that "The Argentinian is an Italian who speaks Spanish, thinks French, and would like to be English.”

Shame on the WaPo for publishing such a silly article. And yet, there's part of me which "hears" what the Prof. is saying, although her arrow errs in her aim - I am talking to you, the rest of Latin America! That's who the Professer needs to aim her arrow at instead of the New World's "whitest" country! Cough... cough...

PS - Latin American newspapers are having a lot of fun with the Professor's article.

Wanna exhibit in Howard County, Maryland?

The Howard County Arts Council (HCAC) in Maryland manages two galleries at the Howard County Center for the Arts with over 21,000 square feet of exhibit space. 

HCAC presents 11-12 exhibits per year of national, regional, and local artists, including two-person, small and large group, juried, curated, and community shows.

Visit HCAC's application portal to apply.

Renewal: The 2023 Prince George's County Exhibition call for entries

The annual Annapolis county exhibition is returning and will be on display at the Lowe House building in Annapolis, MD from January 11- April 10, 2023.

PG County artists can submit an online entry application at: https://m-ncppc.submittable.com/submit. 

All artists must be over 18 and either live, work, or have a studio in Prince George's County. You may submit up to 3 images of artworks for consideration and no more than 1 artwork per person may be selected for inclusion. Please review the entire call for entry for more information on the exhibition.

The deadline for applications will be this Friday, December 16, 2022, 11:59 pm.

Howard County Arts Council Seeks Exhibits and Programs Assistant

The Howard County Arts Council, a multi-purpose non-profit arts agency, seeks a self-directed, outgoing individual for an entry to mid-level Exhibits and Programs position in a small, fast-paced office environment. View the full job description here. 

Position open until filled. Send cover letter with resume and three references to Mary K Baxter at deputydirector@hocoarts.org

The Mighty Thor - page 14, issue 333

The Mighty Thor, issue 333, page 14 published in 1983. Terrific page showing Thor smashing his hammer and then flying away!

Script by Alan Zelenetz

Pencils: M. D. Bright (credited as Mark Bright)

Inks: Vince Colletta

Letters: Janice Chiang

Have Your Original Essay, Short Story, or Poem Featured and Published

Calling all writers to submit your creative essays, short stories and poems to the Local Writer’s Showcase. Enter to win a chance to win a cash prize, a free membership to The Writer's Center, and first place winners get published in Bethesda Magazine and online on the Bethesda Urban Partnership and The Writer’s Center websites. Adults and high schoolers are encouraged to apply, with winners picked from each group.

The deadline for the Essay and Short Story Contest is January 10, 2023.

The deadline for the Poetry Contest is January 17, 2023.

Partners supporting the contests include Bethesda Magazine, The Writer's Center and The Trawick Foundation.

Weird War Tales, issue 57, page 5

Weird War Tales, issue 57, page 5 published in 1977. Terrific page showing loads of action and great art! Set in the summer of 1944 in France during World War II, as well as France in 1247.

Script: Arnold Drake

Pencils: Dick Ayers

Inks: Gerry Talaoc

Once upon a time there was a Republic

Havana street, 1950s

 

There's a grossly erroneous perception, driven home by Hollywood movies and the narrative of the extreme wingnuts of the left worldwide, that pre-Castro Cuba was ripe for the Castro brothers due to the extreme poverty in the island, corruption, backwardness, disease, illiteracy, etc.

Nothing could be further away from the truth.

 

Cuba was the most likely, and also the least likely of all Latin American nations to fall under the clutches of Communism. In 1953 Fidel Castro wrote (In History Will Absolve Me):

"Once upon a time there was a Republic. It had its constitution, its laws, its civil rights, its President, a Congress, and law courts. Everyone could assemble, associate, speak and write with complete freedom. Public opinion was respected and heeded and all problems of common interest were freely discussed. There were political parties, radio and television debates and forums and public meetings. The whole nation pulsated with enthusiasm."

He, and his brother, erased that Republic, brutalized it, raped it, and replaced it with a Communist dictatorship.

Cuba was not a backwards island nation in 1959.... but, let's start backwards, while the island was still part of Spain and contributed 60% of that nation's gross national product:

• In 1829, Cuba was the first nation of Latin America, and also before several European nations, to use steam ships.
• In 1837, Cuba became the third nation in the world, after England and the US, to build a railroad. It also had the causal effect of creating a significant Chinese immigration to the island.
• The first doctor to use anesthesia in medical operations in Latin America (and also before Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and many other European nations) was a Cuban. It was ether and the year was 1847.
• In 1860, in the city of Cardenas, two clinics started the world’s first health insurance projects. Known then as Mutual Benefit Organizations, these MBO's were the precursors of what are known today in the US as Health Maintenance Organizations or HMO's. Membership in one of Cardenas's MBO's gave its members access to all of the then available medical treatments that the clinics offered. As the medical systems and clinics developed, most Cuban hospitals and clinics provided free healthcare to the poor.
• The first Latin American to play professional baseball in the US (and the “father of Cuban baseball) was the Cuban, Esteban Bellan in 1871.
• The very first demonstration on planet Earth of an industry powered entirely by electricity was in done in Havana in 1877.
• In 1881, a Cuban epidemiologist, Dr. Carlos Finlay, was the first to discover the transmitting agent of yellow fever, the mosquito Aedes Aegypti, which now also happens to carry zika. Dr. Finlay studied medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in the US.
• The first system of electric lighting in all of Latin America, and also before a dozen European countries was installed in Cuba in 1889.
• The first streetcar in Latin America (and before six European nations) began operation in Havana in 1900.
• In 1900, before at any other country of Latin America, the first automobile arrived in Cuba. By 1959, there were more Cadillacs in Havana than in New York City.
• The first Latin American woman to drive a car was the Cuban writer Renee Mendez Cape in 1900.
• The first Latin American Olympic champion was a Cuban. The gold medal was won by the fencer Ramon Fonst Segundo, in 1900 (he also won a silver in that Olympiad). In 1904 Fonts won three gold medals in fencing!
• The first Ibero-American nation to abolish bullfights was Cuba in 1901.
• In 1902, when Cuba finally broke away from Spain, the island had been the source of between 50%-75% of the entire Spanish Gross National Product.
• The first city on the planet to have a direct dialing telephone system was Havana in 1906. The second city in the world to have a direct dial telephone system was Santiago de Cuba, the capital of the Oriente province. All through the first half of the century, Cuba had more telephones per capita than any Latin American country except Argentina and Uruguay.
• In 1907, the first x-ray medical department in Latin America (and before nearly every European nation) was established in Havana.
• On the 17th of May, 1913 the first international aerial flight in Latin America was achieved by the Cuban pilots, Agustin Parla and Domingo Rosillo del Toro. The flight was between Cuba and Bone Key, Florida and lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes.
• Cuba, in 1918, was the first country of Latin America to grant divorces to married couples.
• The first Latin American (and the first person born outside of Europe) to win the world championship of chess was the Cuban master, Jose Raul Capablanca. He’s considered one of the greatest players of all time and was world champion form 1921-1927. He only lost 35 matches in his lifetime.
• In 1922 Cuba was the second nation in the world to have a commercial radio station, and the first nation in the world to broadcast a music concert. By 1928 Cuba had 61 radio transmitters, 43 of them in Havana, giving the nation the fourth place of the world, only surpassed by the US, Canada and the Soviet Union.
• In 1935 the concept of the radio novel and radio series was created by the Cuban Felix B. Caignet. That was the seminal birth of the telenovela as well!
• In 1935, the first black man to play professional baseball in the then segregated Major Leagues (and 12 years before Jackie Robinson) was the Cuban player Roberto Estalella. Cuban professional baseball had never been segregated.
• In 1937 Cuba was the first nation in Latin America (and before most European countries) to establish a legal work day of 8 hours. It also established a minimum wage!
• In 1940 Cuba became the first country of Latin America (and also before many European nations) to elect politicians by universal suffrage and absolute majority.
• Also in 1940, when 70% of the Cuban population was white, Cuban voters elected a black Cuban as President (Fulgencio Batista). Batista was the first (and so far only) black President elected in Latin America.
• In 1940, Cuba was the first nation in Latin America (and before several European nations) to recognize and authorize the right to vote for women, the equality of rights between sexes and races, and the right of women to work.
• In 1942, the Cuban musical director Ernesto Lecuona became the first Latin American musical director to receive a nomination for an Oscar.
• The second country in the world with a commercial television station was Cuba in 1950. Throughout the decade, Cubans had more TV sets per capita than any other Latin American country, and more than Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal.
• Also in 1950, Damaso Perez Prado’s mambo piece Patricia was the number one record for 15 consecutive weeks in the Hit Parade list.
• In 1951, Desi Arnaz became the leading producer in American television. He also pioneered the concept of a third camera in television programming.
• In 1951, the Hotel Riviera became the first hotel in the world with central air conditioning
• A year later, in 1952, the first all-concrete apartment buildings in the world were built in Havana.
• In 1953, about 57% of the Cuban population was urban and more than 50% of the population lived in cities with more than 25,000 inhabitants, 33% lived in four cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
• In 1953, one-sixth of the population lived in Havana, making it the third-largest capital in the world in relation to the total number of the nation's inhabitants (after London and Vienna).
• In 1954 Cubans had the third highest meat consumption per capita in Latin America (after Argentina and Uruguay) and higher than most European countries.
• In 1955, Cuba had the second lowest infant mortality rate in Latin America, 33.4 per thousand born and the third lowest in the world. It ranked ahead of France, Belgium, West Germany, Japan, Austria, Italy, and Spain.
• In 1955, life expectancy in the US was 66.7 years. Life expectancy in Cuba was among the highest in the world at 63 years of age; compared to 52 in other Latin American countries, 43 in Asia, and 37 in Africa.
• In 1956, the United Nations literacy report noted Cuba had the second highest level of literacy in Latin America and higher than several countries in Europe.
• In 1956, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce analysis, Cuba was "the most heavily capitalized country in Latin America" and its "network of railways and highways blanket the country."
• In 1957, a United Nations report noted that Cuba had the third largest number of doctors per capita (one for each 957 inhabitants) in Latin America, and more doctors per capita than Britain, Holland and Italy.
• The same UN report also noted that  Cuba had the number one percentage of electric access to houses in Latin America (and higher than Portugal, Spain, Greece, Ireland, and all of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union), and second in Latin America, after Uruguay, in per capita daily caloric consumption (2870 calories per person). This was also higher than all Eastern European nations and three Western European nations.
• In 1957 Havana became the second city on the planet to have a 3D movie theater and a multiscreen theater (the Cinema Radio Center).
• In 1957 Cuba had more television stations (23) than any other country in Latin America, way ahead of much larger countries such as Mexico (12 television stations) and Venezuela (10).
• In 1957 Cuba was first in Latin America, and ranked eighth in the world in number of radio stations (160), ahead of countries such as Austria (83 radio stations), United Kingdom (62), and France (50).
• In 1958 Cuba was the second country in the world to broadcast television in color. The US, of course, was the first.
• In 1958, Cuba was the first country in Latin America, and the third country in the world with the most cars per capita (one for every 38 inhabitants).
• Cuba was also first in Latin America and third in the world with the most electric home appliances per capita.
• In 1958 Cuba was the first country in Latin America and third in the world (after the US and England) with the most kilometers of railway lines per square kilometer and the second in the total number of radio receivers.
• In 1958 Cuba had 58 daily newspapers of all political hues. There were 18 daily newspapers in Havana alone. Bohemia magazine, with a circulation of 250,000, was the largest Spanish language weekly magazine in the world.
• People wanted to immigrate to Cuba – not escape from Cuba! Despite drastic immigration curbs set in place in the 1930s, when European immigrants almost matched the number of natural born Cubans, during the entire decade of the 1950's, Cuba was second in Latin America in the number of immigrants per capita.
• In 1958, and in spite of its small size, and small number of people (6.5 million inhabitants in 1958), Cuba ranked as the 29^th largest economy in the world, ahead of several European nations.
• In 1959, Havana ranked as the number one city in the world with movie theatres (358). New York and Paris were second and third, respectively.
• By 1959 Cuba had a large middle class comprising about a third of the population and 23% of the working class was classified as “skilled.”
• In 1959, Cuba's gold reserves were third in Latin America, behind only Venezuela and Brazil.
• Cuba had the third-highest per capita income in Latin America, exceeded only by Argentina and Venezuela (around $550 a year). It was also higher than Italy, Japan, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal and every single Eastern European nation in the Soviet bloc.

And then came 1959 and the Castro Brothers’ Workers’ Paradise… Since 1959, over two million Cubans have escaped from the island.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

Sir Winston Churchill



"Little White Turd" or the curious case of Professor Susan Eckstein

The famous Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, the subject of several movies about his extraordinary life and perhaps the Cuban dictatorship's most notable literary critic, once wrote a devastating poem about American academics who are boot lickers to the Cuban dictatorship while enjoying the benefits of a free nation.  He wrote it while in exile in new York City, when (to his horror) he discovered the disturbing number of American academia who supported the Cuban dictatorship.

The poem has recently been re-dedicated by Cuban exiles to Susan Eckstein, a Castro apologist and ardent Cuban dictatorship supporter while demonizing the Cuban Diaspora - she's a Professor in the Pardee School of Global Studies and in the Sociology Department at Boston University and most deserving of the poem.

Professor Eckstein: I join my fellow Cubans in dedicating this poem to you:

Blanco mojoncito,

quisieras ser guerrillero, pero cómo renunciar a

los productos Shaklee, a la loción después del baño,

a la nevera bien surtida ni (oh, de nunguna manera)

a la lectura del New York Times que tan puntualmente

llega a tu puerta.

Blanco mojoncito,

te arroban los desfiles militares y las marchas multitudinarias,

pero tu pie opta por el confortable

Addidas y no por la bota rusa, y tu culo no cambiará

jamás (a pesar de su férrea ideología) el suave

papel sanitario por las cuatro hojas del Granma,

cuya tinta (dicho sea de paso) te dilataría las

hemorroides

Blanco mojoncito,

admiras las vastas plantaciones colectivas (¿koljós

o granjas del pueblo?) donde los jóvenes ya no tienen

que pensar ni soñar, pero permaneces acá en

tu espaciosa habitación refrigerada, armoniosamente

invadida por plantas ornamentales que se

detienen junto a la biblioteca bien surtida donde

un afiche, EL FUTURO PERTENECE AL COMUNISMO,

domina el conjunto.

Blanco mojoncito,

ligeramente bronceado, consistente y pulcro,

comedido y escultórico, residuo casi final de una

dieta rica en proteínas y carreritas en short por

todo el parque, por mucho Baron Dandy o Air

Freshener («shake well before each use») que

esparzas en tu impecable apartamento nada podrá

impedir que tu olor te condene.

Blanco mojoncito,

para ti todo marchará admirablemente mientras

esa teoría que defiendes y tan bien te alimenta

(¡Me dicen que ya tienes hasta el tenore professor!)

no se te aplique en la práctica, matándote de

hambre.

(Reynaldo Arenas, New York, 1984)

A sailor and his date

A sailor and his date

 

A sailor and his date

Say it isn't so MSAC!

The Independent Artist Awards (IAA) program will not be offered in the FY2023 fiscal year while MSAC staff work to envision the program for FY2024 and beyond. 

From MSAC: 

The Independent Artist Awards (IAA) program will not be offered in the FY2023 fiscal year while MSAC staff work to envision the program for FY2024 and beyond. The existing IAA program is structured in a three-year cycle of artistic disciplines (Performing, Visual/Media, Literary). 2022 marked the completion of a full cycle, during which, MSAC received feedback from applicants, awardees, panelists, and staff about how the program could be improved. In FY2022, MSAC completed a yearlong process that resulted in a new program supporting the working and living expenses of Maryland artists, the Grants for Artists program. As the MSAC staff, Council, and public considered the needs and objectives around this new program, questions regarding the IAA program surfaced, underscoring the need for a thorough and thoughtful reconsideration of the intention, structure, and impact of the awards program. 

During FY2023, MSAC staff will seek a team of editors from the public to consider how the IAA program looks for the future. The timing of this pause will ensure we can serve all of our constituents to the best of our ability - considering new programs, funding allocations, goals, needs, and MSAC’s staff capacity.

While IAAs will not be awarded in 2023, there are many other MSAC opportunities that support Maryland’s independent artists, including: Creativity Grants; Professional Development; Opportunity Grants; Maryland Performing Artist Touring Roster; Teaching Artist Roster; Public Art Across Maryland; Folklife Apprenticeships; Heritage Awards and; coming in early 2023 - the new Grants for Artists program!

Art Basel Miami Beach week - The Saturday report

The crowds at Context Art Miami crowds were the largest that I have evr seen in any art fair in 20 years! They just kept coming all through the day.

The only issue was an apparent lack of sales everywhere, which is rather unusual, since art sales at an art fair are in direct proportion to the amount of people attending the fair.

Other than several drawings on Bisque, in our case, we again failed to materialize a significant, larger priced sale.

Sunday remains to "save" the fair.

Tomorrow morning, we'll pre-stage the vans around 6AM on the streets around the fair. We do this in order to save significant time during pack out. 

Art Basel Miami Beach week - The Friday report

Friday saw a lot of people strolling through the fairs, heard a few collectors discussing what fair was good and what fair sucked - also that there are about half as many fairs this year as usual, which makes sense as the world recuperates from Covid.

Sold multiple Bisque pieces again and also one of the Cuba series pieces.

Cuba - Isla Encadenada c. 1980

Art fair shoes

Art fair shoes

Life imitates art

Art Basel Miami Beach week - Thursday report

Decent crowds again, although mostly "strolling" through the fair -- not a lot of interested buyers, heavy Florida rains at times, and rather windy by the water.

Press coverage has been good - although rather "recycling" ideas from more than a decade ago, when know-it-alls where predicting the demise of the art fair model. The Art Newspaper calls it "the event that has become most synonymous with art-world excess", which is somewhat true, but showcases the art medias well-known antipathy towards the commodification of art.

Valentina Di Liscia from Hyperallergic title tells you all that you need to know about her outdated angle: Why Is There No Spanish at Art Basel Miami?  But she does opine about "art that is mostly drab and uninspiring" and gossips about a rush for "Anna Weyant (who happens to be dating the influential art dealer Larry Gagosian)." She also notes that Latino Miamians are "the most common ethnic group living below the poverty line in the city" in discussing fair ticket prices, but does not tell you that more that half of the wealthiest 1%centers in Miami are also Latinos.

She does nail it with this observation though:

"... an installation by the Brooklyn art collective MSCHF epitomized the worst of art fair gimmick: an ATM retrofitted with a screen that displays users’ account balances when they swipe their debit cards. It was presumably conceived as commentary on wealth disparity, but instead comes off as pretentious and reductive. I’m sorry, but we don’t need an art installation to know that some people have $2M in their checking account and others have $4.50."

I've heard from multiple collectors, including those who bring other collectors from their home states, that the big miss (again) this year is the Untitled art fair, which has been described to me as "too much fiber" and also as "heavy handed curatorial hand."

Artsy's Ayanna Dozier opines on the 10 best booths there... five gets you ten that all of those selections have Artsy accounts. She starts her article like this... cough, cough...

The beachfront setting lent soft, cool lighting to the 11th edition of Untitled Art, Miami Beach, and gave way to an impressive showcase of art. At the VIP preview on November 28th, the breezy atmosphere was matched by a vibrant audience dressed in vivid tones that perfectly complemented the bright white tent and the dazzling works on view. While droves of out-of-towners descended upon the fair, Miami locals were present, too, acquiring works on view while wearing chic beachwear like hot pink shorts and sheer glitter dresses.

Maximilíano Durón from ARTnews has seven different booths as his top choices for the same fair, including a nice look at my good friend Amber Robles-Gordon:

Building on two previous bodies of work, both created since the pandemic, With Every Fibre of My Being (2022) by Amber Robles-Gordon presents a visual summary of the ongoing research that the artist has conducted into her identities as an Afro-Latina of Puerto Rican heritage and as a U.S. citizen living in the District of Columbia. The work, installed in a U shape, is made up of dozens of textiles, many of which are stretched over differently sized hoops used in embroidery and needlepoint. There are prints, florals, sheer fabrics, and fragments of the American flag. In other places are small texts that read “Keep Abortion Legal,” “Make Womanhood Legal,” and “Keep Democracy Legal.”  

Five of the seven are Hispanic/Latinos/Latin(x)/Latinas, etc., which tells me something about the Durónmeister's approach... cough, cough... 

Finally, Anja Maltav at Miami's iconic Brickell Magazine, and thus the local set of eyes honors me with a selection for their top choices:

Among his most popular productions is his “Cuba Series,” an ongoing collection of art pieces started in the early 1970s. Some were completed before he started formal art training, and the bulk of the work was executed as art school assignments between 1977-81 at the University of Washington School of Art. 

 

Art Basel Miami Beach week: Wednesday report

Today Context Art Miami and Art Miami opened to the general public at 11AM, and people dropped by throughout the day, with warnings of heavy showers all day.

Yesterday, at the VIP opening we sold a few of my Bisque pieces and one of Christina Helowicz's unique sculptural works.

Sculpture by Christina Helowicz

The visual stimulation is overwhelming as usual, and the parade of "Art Fair people" begin...

I continue to sell Bisque pieces steadily throughout the day, and later on two of Tim Tate's smaller sculptures find a home in Miami.

Art Fair "tie guy"

Christina Helowicz with a Janis by Frank Hyder

Random art fair visitor with a Janis by Frank Hyder at Projects Gallery

Art Basel Miami Beach week: VIP Preview

Today is the VIP preview for Art Miami and is co-joined sister fair, Context Art Miami.  The day starts around 9AM with last minute hanging, re-hanging and labeling... most of the work has been already hung by the crew who arrived here on Sunday, but there's still a lot of work to do.

The booth before hanging the work

We're staying on the 22nd floor of the Doubletree skyrise in Wynwood, two blocks from the fair, with an exceptional view of the water and the fair itself.

The hanging is skillfully choreographed, with Christina Helowicz, on her first art fair ever, showing the aptitude and skills of a seasoned pro!

J. Jordan Bruns hanging his work at Context Art Miami

I have a special projects wall on the focus of the Cuba series works that I did in Art School, and I hang that and Christina labels everything.

By noon or so the booth is done except for some touch up work and labeling here and there.

Alida Anderson Art Projects booth at Context Art Miami 2022

At 4:30, the VIP Platinum opening starts - by 6:30, when the other VIPs arrive, the crowds really begin to show up - Context Art Miami has started!

At one point, Nora Atkinson, the very fair Curator-in-Charge for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum stops by to chat with Michael Janis and Tony Porto.

And thus the fair begins...