Showing up for the Muse

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Where did the week go?

There was so much going on... wrapping up the semester...late meetings and student games to attend so that life after school was pretty non-existant. I woke from heavy dreams dealing with luggage and new rooms, staggered to work promising myself I could get back into bed as soon as I got my work done, and that is what I pretty much did!

There was horrid weather all week... not at all normal...not like December is supposed to be in Paradise (Miami).

And I am proud that my students stayed painting up to the last minute! They were inspired and trying new things on the last day of classes! I hope they feel like they got their money's worth from me.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Night in Wynwood

Does this girl's mom know where she is? Portable tattoo studio!

lazer sparkles all over the sidewalks

new mural with real hammer and wood additions

another street on the backside

Does that woman have angel wings?

crowd jamming to a violinist

Finding my man

Surreal signage

Everything is on the streets

Dining tables, spectacle and the quietness of wallpaper at Basel fairs

John Bell, at Cancio Contemporary AQUA $1800.

I enjoyed the four (or was it five?) days of visual gluttony that Basel and the Satellite fairs always produce. But like a callous hardened, I did not find the wondrous moment of pure enchantment. I think that there was so much I contracted ADHD. Speaking of gluttony, there were lots of table-esque sculptures and installations and themed paintings...

Family dinners?

Elmgreen & Drasset

Based in London and Berlin, the duo Elmgreen & Draset focus on social commentary and architecture. The cracked table and chairs were only the beginning of noticing a lot of riffs on the dinner party...I could not help wonder what kind of meal the artists were manifesting?

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, (303 gallery)Aluminum and survival blanket

lost my notes on this one, or were there notes?!

Megali Reus In Place Of (Mint)

ZHAN Wang Urban Landscape (Chicago) , C-print (Long March Space)

Tense like an intimate Serra

There was a lot of tension in the art.

There was talk of the stabbing that had happened Saturday night (an exacto blade between to rival lovers)

Guiseppe Penone, Nel Legno, at Marian Goodman Gallery

seen at the Tornabuoni art gallery Basel

The "wow" factor for me was for this giant embroidered mural! Alas, Boetti is a dead artist now.

Alighiero Boetti, embroidered masterpiece

Roy Lichtenstein Assemblages 1955 booth B11

Another shocker were these early 1955 Lichtensteins- before he "popped"!

Adrian Villar Rojas, young and Argentinian

There was art to see up close. through, below, above, and just out of reach.

As people started to droop I stumbled to the far corner of Basel and found...Charles Burchfield at the DC Moore Gallery, and his astounding wall paper designs!

Burchfield wallpaper sample 1922-29

another wallpaper sample

Burchfield painting...reminds me of home farm

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Basel biggies part I

I didn't take many pictures because I was looking for painting, and there seemed to be less that in the past. Lots of sculpture as spectacle.

They banned selfie-sticks this year but there was still tons of people using the artworks as backdrops for vanity photo documenting. There were all the biggies, Picasso, Matisse, David Hockney,...