Asymmetrik are an online gallery that focuses on photography. Owner Jeremy Hu took some time to tell me the details of the artists shown at the Asymmetrik booth at Scope Miami 2011. Of course my notes were illegible. But I did take some pictures. Crappy pictures but pictures. AND you can go to asymmetrikinc.com and see good images! I encourage you to go there in fact.

Corriette Schoenaerts’ piece from her Passion = Violence collection was part of the exhibit. 

“She made it she photographed it--happy pieces--tries to put fantasy into the reality, the scenes of dreams.” says Hu.

My notes didn't say a coherent thing about the wonderful pieces by Sara Carter. Some day I will post a handwriting sample so people can see my dilemma when I do not record interviews.

Matthew McMullen Smith was also featured prominently. His photos of women literally veiled in smoke are striking.

“By looking at the picture you wouldn’t know it but he is a skater boy.” says Hu.

Mark Sobczak's piece barely made it to the exhibit and was unframed. As usual my photo of a photo does not do this justice. It is remarkable work.

These pieces (woodcuts) by Susan Goldman were shown at Ink Miami Art Fair in December 2011. The Old Print Shop, 150 Lexington Avenue at 30th Street in New York, showed these particular prints. They went for $900 each, which seems reasonable.

Goldman is an artist and teacher who, as you can notice in these pieces, explores ancient, traditional images in her work.

As far as process goes Goldman builds the surface of compositions by printing multiple layers of transparent inks onto paper. Then she wipes the plate to create luminous effects. The use of solvents breaks down and builds forms. Her work is in collections including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and the Cincinnati Art Museum (as well as many private collections).

She teaches at George Mason University and runs a print atelier, Lily Press, in Rockville, Maryland.

Hideo Takeda's The Proposal is funny but he is a serious artist.  He calls himself a cartoonist. His work was shown at Ink Miami Art Fair during Art Basel Week by Verne Collection Inc.

Takeda, born in 1948 recently had a one man show at the British Museum. When you look through his work you sometimes find muted colors juxtaposed against brilliant color. His absurdist humor will make you smile and sometimes roll your eyes.

He IS a cartoonist but he is also a wonderful artist. The trick is his humor has no words, only the image. It is a tough thing to make people laugh or smile with just an image. A true skill.

__ Enrique Martínez Celaya, a native of Havana, uses a number of media to create his work and examine time, memory, representation and more. His painting, Untitled (Boy With Horse), was another of those that stood out at Art Basel 2011 (and it was AT Art Basel not the satellite fairs). The painting was shown by John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco.

Celaya’s works, not usually shown in group exhibitions, are often shown as “multi-disciplinary” collections at museums, galleries or even unconventional venues like churches and philharmonics. His work has been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of Marican Art and, lest it seem New York-centric, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Museum der bildenden Kunste in Leipzig.

Celaya is more than a fine artist. He also has written criticism, two books of poetry and edited other books including poems by Charles Baudelaire.

Celaya was, as noted, born in Cuba but immigrated to Spain and then moved to Puerto Rico where he apprenticed to a painter. He currently works in Miami. Read more on this fascinating artist at his website (linked above).

Tatiana Ginsbergstudied at the University of Iowa Center for the Book and then went to Japan for several years on a Fulbright Scholarship. Following this she received an MFA from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

And these paper bowls are one of the results of this eclectic education. Small, dainty, beautiful and, presumably functional, the bowls cost around $100. The series was called 100 Days.

Ink is a fair that focuses on the print and on paper. Many of the galleries and companies present use wonderful paper in their art and prints and these pieces are no exception. These pieces were shown by Verne Collections Inc, of Cleveland.

Josh Dorman's work, shown by Mary Ryan Gallery, NY, is mixed media using acrylic, ink and old maps to create abstract images on differing themes. The maps seem to turn up a great deal though.

He has had numerous solo and group shows, going back 20 years. His undergraduate degree is from Skidmore and his Masters from Queens College (I almost went there for grad school, seriously, I did but my student loans got screwed up so I went elsewhere..so Dorman and I are like BROTHERS...ok perhaps not...).

Abel Barroso's piece, Tabaco Con Ideologica, was one of the many interesting small pieces and prints shown by the University of South Florida's Graphicstudio, Institute for Research in Art. The piece was  part of Ink Miami Art Fair at the Dorchester on Miami Beach.

I took photos of some of the other art shown by Graphicstudio but I took shabby notes on the back of someone's bio which I then LOST. What can I tell you this was on Saturday. I hadn't planned on going to Ink and wasn't prepared. But when you read up on Barroso you will find that his works often require you to interact with them.

_ Andres Waissman is an Argentine artist born in 1955. His work has been shown or is in the collections of numerous institutions—often in collections with a specialization in Latin American art. Waissman is a major artist in Argentine contemporary art. His work was shown by Gachi Prieto Gallery in Buenos Aires.You can see better representations of his work on their website.

He works in multiple media and takes inspiration from cartography, sociology and history. He was lived in the USA and France but currently lives and teaches in his native country. He created a Studio Cri Program for Visual Arts in Buenos Aires, as a place for young artists to work and interact.

_ Chris Roberts-Antieau’s work sort of speaks for itself doesn’t it? At least Monkey Pioneer of Outer Space spoke to me. It may have actually SPOKEN to me.

Roberts-Antieau’s work is all sewn fabric with hand painted frames. The ridiculously bad photos representations of her works here in no way do them justice. You should first go to the Red Truck Gallery website and then make an effort to see her work (hell, maybe even buy it…and there will be an article about buying art soon).

You can also find more info about Roberts-Antieau at her website.

_Roberts-Antieau’s website mentions her first (and last) day of art class and how her first drawing was singled out for ridicule by the professor. She walked out. I would have punched him in the face but then I was sort of anti-social when I was school-aged.

Roberts-Antieau has since seen her art as clothing in addition to fine art. Her work is the sort of thing people will say “I could do that” when you show it to them. Always say this in response “OK, so DO it.” See, they REALLY cannot do it but the see an image of what they thought they could do, what they wanted to do, what their brain told them they were doing, as a kid.

That is pretty deep. I really should lay off the cold medicine when I do not actually have a cold.