by Saxon Henry
Miami Museums
My
recent visit to two Miami museum shows proved to be Dramamine-popping
experiences. The cause of my unbalanced equilibrium: “Natalia
Benedetti: Luminosity” at MoCA at Goldman Warehouse (the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Wynwood satellite) and “Vik Muniz: Reflex” at the Miami Art Museum.
Natalia Benedetti’s video installation, on
view through June 4, is a study in light and space that had me
parachuting with the artist from an airplane on an errant plunge toward
earth. The vibration of the parachute chords and a hazy, blue horizon
that pitched and rolled had me longing for an airsick bag (though I
have to admit I enjoyed the ride!).
Distance was also on Brazilian artist Vik Muniz’s
masterful mind when he created the visual double-entendres in his
current exhibition of roughly 100 works at MAM, on view through May 28.
With deft precision, he composes images from an astonishing
variety of materials, including dirt, sugar, wire, string, chocolate
syrup, peanut butter, ketchup, color chips, hole-punch confetti,
diamonds, caviar, pigment and junk.
When viewed at close range, the displayed
photographs he has taken of his creations were disorienting.
At a distance of 10 paces, the perspective shifted and the
adroit compositions mimicked an impressive variety of
art-historical images, the minute alterations of which—demanded by the
materials used—making them all the more interesting.
The furtive smile of Mona Lisa (after Warhol) becomes a smirk in peanut butter and a scowl in jelly; and variations of Caravaggio’s Narcissus and Goya’s Saturn Devouring One of His Sons,
created from junkyard-worthy flotsam and jetsam, made me want to clean
out the garage when viewed from close range, but morphed into clever
compositions at a distance. It’s this juxtaposition that makes Muniz’s
work brilliant.
Miami Galleries
Roughly
four months after Art Basel Miami Beach left town, I decided to check
in to see how galleries are doing in its wake. Compared with the
intense, round-the-clock bustle occurring during the fair, the
atmosphere was somewhat sleepy.
Gallery owner Cora Bettcher remarked, “I
think art shows have had a positive impact, creating young collectors
and bringing more awareness for art. But I’m also finding that they
have shifted the focus of many of the collectors away from galleries.
The first year of Basel, it was a boom all year for me; now, most of my
art is sold during the weeks surrounding Basel, and I’m rethinking
having a gallery at all.”
That’s a shame because the Bettcher Gallery is a delightful space in which to view art. A recent exhibition was made up of complex works by Morgan Craig and ethereal works by James Austin Murray.
Murray, a New York-based artist, creates texture with the gesso he
slathers onto the raw surface of the canvas which depict his intricate
drawings of fragments of the New York cityscape. The placement of the
images and the creamy gesso against the stippled natural tone of the
taut fabric make his compositions seem to float from the wall.
At Lurie Fine Art Gallery in Miami’s Design District, John La Huis also
uses texture as a strong compositional tool, creating dynamic movement
when his brush clashes with canvas or wood. Layering with acrylic and
sealing with epoxy, he seems to enjoy keeping the secret of what has
disappeared. Packing tape, childlike sketches, a reversed alphabet and
a stream-of-consciousness vernacular are all in his repertoire. La
Huis’ works are accompanied by the steely metal mobiles and sculptures
of Minneapolis sculptor Tom Brewitz.
The constructions by Peruvian-born Cecilia Paredes in the show “Borrowed World,” on view through May 8, take on an other-worldliness in the muted atmosphere of Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts,
which is ensconced in the burgeoning Wynwood Art District. The natural
materials—pheasant feathers, snake skin, coral and umbonium shells—are
undulant and free in some constructions, constrained and orderly in
others (a writhing wing of filigreed coral floats in the middle of the
room while delicate wishbones compose a basketball net that is anchored
to its hoop on the wall).
A relative newcomer to the Wynwood scene is Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, an impressively large, two-story branch of the renowned Parisian gallery. In the downstairs rooms, works by Japanese artist Mr. and Italian-born Paola Pivi are
up to the task of filling the grand space. All of the works in Mr’s
exhibition, entitled “NIN-Stealth,” sold within the first two weeks of
the show’s opening.
Photo Credits: Article header (Morgan Craig):
Courtesy bettcher Gallery; Natalia Benedetti: Courtesy of Natalia
Benedetti and Fredric Snitzer Gallery; videotaped by Yoshe Ishihara;
Vik Muniz images: Courtesy Sikkema Jenkins & Co., NYC and Miami Art
Museum; James Austin Murray: Courtesy Bettcher gallery; Courtesy Lurie
Fine Art Galleries; Mr.: Courtesy of Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin
