by Patrick Ogle

Warrior King by Paul Keene is a painting that looms over you as you approach, living up to its name. The piece was shown by Dolan/Maxwell (Philadelphia).

Below are: carnival by Florian Krewer (Michael Werner Gallery , NYC, London), Green Rain by Ross Caliendo (Ross + Kramer Gallery, NYC, East Hampton) and Orion Mists and Fireflies by Eric Aho (DC Moore Gallery, NYC). All stood out for quite different reasons.

Krewer is a German artist who has been exhibiting for about ten years. He has pieces in the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou, Paris and Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. There is darkness in the artist's work and plenty of distorted limbs and countenances. Yet there is something child-like too. This is meant as a compliment. There is something real in the work. Yes, I know that isn't terribly specific.

Caliendo's pieces are haunting, often depicting trees or architecture. Each has a predominant color like Green Rain. There is amazing depth to every painting.

Aho's work is deceptive. From a distance it looks like grass, sky but then, when you approach it it adds via subtraction. Trunks leap up, partially articulated. The painting makes you feel there is more there, something beneath the surface.

Marco Castro's provocative and painterly pieces were shown by Mexico City's Machete Gallery. It didnt make any sense to take a photo of one of them. He says his work arises from his connections to nature and cultural rituals and this broad swath of his work shows what the artist's reference.

Skeletons of Society, below, is by Chris Rivers (Pontone Gallery, London, Augusta) was one of three related paintings by the artist There is a whiff of Hieronymus Bosch (but only a whiff). I loved how the glossy parts of the painting frame the center creating the impression of a space, a hole. What looks like pure abstaction is full of figures on close examination. The photo on the right is detail from the painting to the left.

The observations here about Expo Chicago have been less pithy than some aimed at fairs and art at Miami Art Week 2021.

Why?

For one Expo Chicago had virtually no art that looked like second and third generation versions of "Mr. Brainwash," an artist I figure was part of an elaborate joke (or if it wasn't a joke it should have been). There isn't a banana taped to a wall or any such PR generated art either.Every year in Miami there is something ridiculous that allegedly "sells" for some ridiculous amount of money and is just plain silly. The year before last it was a banana duct taped to a wall. No one with a functioning brain thinks these stunts are actually real work. Frankly there is no reason to do that here as no one would actually cover it . Whether this is because Chicago is more sophisticated or because the media here don't care about art I will leave to your judgement.

There isn't much to HATE about anything at Expo Chicago.

Isn't that a little bit of a problem? After all, think of all the memorable art fairs and events in history. Something, in some booth, should inspire hate or at least ire. Not EVERYTHING. Art can certainly be pleasant but a little controversy would liven it all up. But maybe that should be the function of MORE fairs held simultaneously in Chicago. Why does Miami manage it while Chicago doesn't?

A few artists and gallery owners/workers have told me over the years that this fair is one where they hope to sell to institutions and corporate collections. Those sort of collectors are usually not interested in art depicting Che Guevara peeing on Jesus. So be it. I get that. That may be why this is a solid,  impressive fair year in and year out. I've also had it suggested to me that Chicago doesn't have an art "scene" but several art scenes that won't even look at each other. I cannot speak to the veracity of this but it fits some observations I've made from the outside. While I am in Chicago I'm on the outside!

by Patrick Ogle

Expo Chicago is running right now at Navy Pier and ends Sunday, April 10.

The galleries and artists shown here are not chosen at random but there is something random to it. The art is all outstanding but there is plenty that isn't depicted that is just as solid. What strikes people is often different.

This collection does include pieces I felt were among the best in the entire fair, notably the work by  Danuel Méndez shown by Cernuda Arte (Coral Gables). Los Ojos de la Cazadora is acrylic on canvas and El Huésped is oil on canvas. There is a mix of the real and the surreal here. The pieced even have a hint of defacement. It calls to mind post World War 2 that disfigured their work to make it reflect the damaged world of the time.

The three pieces below are all striking, for different reasons. The untitled piece by Perle Fine calls to mind Chagall for the color and  Kandinsky for the shapes. This is neither of them but rather Fine's own use of a peculiar geometry of her own making. This work is toward the dreamy side of her art rather than the more geometrical. The Fine piece is from McCormick Gallery (Chicago).

Should WE Become Bed & Breakfast People? by Jonni Cheatwood shown by Makasiini Contemporary (Turku, Finland) features the Brazilian-American artist's trademark psychological inquiry. The work is part domestic portrait and part interior monologue on canvas.

The third piece below by Ania Hobson and shown by Steve Turner (Los Angeles) has a hot carnal comic book vibe. There were other striking pieces by her as well and spending some time at this booth is a must.

Charlie James Gallery (Los Angeles) showed amazing relief sculptures by Rigoberto Torres and John Ahearn. The two sculptors work independently and sometimes together. I believe these two are by Torres. These sculptures were made in Brooklyn, beginning in the late 1970s. The people were folks from the neighborhood in the Bronx and they were not kings or popes or presidents but regular people, the sort of people who didn't historically have relief sculptures made of them.

They often made the molds for the sculptures in storefront windows in the Bronx. This is really art of the community but it is more than that it is a memorialization of a time and the people of that time.

VETA by Fer Francis (Madrid) showed the above piece and I cleverly neglected to get the name of it or the artist. It may be my favorite painting in the fair. I'm slipping in my old age.

The Last Giant (above) by Jacob Hashimoto and shown by Rhona Hoffman Gallery (Chicago) is a wall sculpture. It is bamboo, acrylic, paper, wood and Dacron.

The two larger pieces below are, obviously, wildly different in style.

Shulamit Nazarin (Los Angeles) had the piece on the right by Summer Wheat. Love Birds (left) is acylic paint and gouache on aluminum mesh. This makes me wish I looked more closely at this piece. That is an odd mixture of media!

Harpers (New York, East Hampton, Los Angeles) had work by Allie McGhee, the piece on the right. It is acrylic and enamel on canvas.

The Badr El Jundi (Marbella, Spain)/Pablo's Birthday (New York) had the pieces below. Click on them to look at the detail in these, for lack of a better term, wall sculptures.

by Patrick Ogle

Expo Chicago 2022 is up and running at Chicago's Navy Pier. The fair provides a diverse (in every sense of the word) collection of art from around the world in a fairly manageable size.

Photo Relevance (Houston),  showed work by Alia Ali, a Yemeni-Bosnian-American artist. Her art is informed by her upbringing, specifically the notion that "translation" between languages has often done a disservice to particular communities. In her work she endeavors to focus on experience and critique ...well frankly it is a critique of almost everything. She frequently uses textiles in her work, although Rhythmic Equations doesn't.

The two untitled pieces below by Adrián Gaitán were shown by Galeria La Cometa (Bogata). The pieces are burned motor oil on recycled wood in a cardboard frame. The photo is striking but they are even more so in person.

Wilfflowers by Claire Sherman is sort of a naturalists dream piece. It combines realism but there is something ethereal in the piece, its depth and intensity. How many different types of green are there?

David Driskell was a curator and a scholar. He was also a painter. The young lady at the booth said he was a student of Romare Beardon, one of the handful of greatest African-American artists. The piece here, The Branch, is a painting and a collage but the collage part is so subtle and seamless you have to get practically against the glass to be aware of it. Reading about the artist it is startling to realize he was more well known for his scholarly endeavors. He was born in Georgia but lived and worked in Maryland.

Both Sherman and Driskell were shown by DC Moore Gallery (Washington DC).

Ghosts in Common... by Kysa Johnson was shown by Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art , (Houston). This is, in fact, not the full title of the piece. You are encouraged to click on the gallery link to see that--and more pieces by the artist.  Her work is a fascinating exploration of nature at extreme scales. Are we looking at flowers? Bacteria or sub atomic particles?  A hint? It isn't the first one.

Frank Coffie. shown by Allouche Gallery (NYC) is a Ghanaian artist who mixes painting with textiles. This piece has a few discrete spots where thread is employed. It is difficult to see in a photo so you will ideally check his work out in person.

The two pieces below were shown by William Shearburn Gallery (St. Louis). Untitled by Donald Baechler and Effondrement huit lignes by Bernar Venet. The former is acrylic on canvas while the latter is oil stick on paper. It is more than just the media that are different.

Also below, from New York City's venerable and brilliant P.P.O.W. Gallery (NYC). Ann Agee's scupltures are just part of what they are showing. You can never predict style when it comes to P.P.O.W. but you can always predict thought provoking work.

Finally this work by Theda Sandiford via Ndr Nw Mgmt. Have you ever seen shopping carts as art?  The first word that might leap to mind when looking at these pieces is "exuberant." Isn't there always something exciting about art that uses an every day object as it's basis? These pieces are also best seen in person as the photo doesn't do them justice.

by Patrick Ogle

One of the funniest things about Miami Art Week, every year, is that people (myself included) act like going to a bunch of art shows is analogous to  a tour in Afghanistan. I will excuse myself a LITTLE because I often drive back and forth between Miami and North Broward. Those who make that drive daily will tell you, it resembles a scene from a movie where people flee some disaster or alien invasion.

Even so, come on; it is looking at art not mining uranium. 

Shut up.

The next time I complain feel free to throw this in MY face.

There are some truly magnificent pieces at various shows this year. But at a number of shows I kept walking up to things thinking they were "Mr. Brainwash" and sadly they weren't. Why in the name of all that is holy would anyone imitate that? In my opinion it is a JOKE, something created to make fun of the art business and collectors. You can pretend to be "in on it" if you like but you really aren't.

Unless you are actually Banksy, you are not.

I suppose when something makes money it repeats like burping up a bad burrito. It is a sort of art Nigerian scam. Remember when "Mr. Brainwash" rented the giant place on Miami Beach for years? Did ANYTHING sell? And if so what museum bought the piece with Darth Vader holding a can of fucking Dr. Pepper? And what is its current value? When all the details come about about Mr. Brainwash comes out some day; it may well not harm the value of those pieces. But the people imitating it? I suspect there will be depreciation.

This wasn't just one fair, although Context seemed practically DEDICATED to this development.

Usually you see a large number of Andy Warhol pieces but I saw fewer this year. Do not FEAR! There were still plenty of paintings and mixed media works that LOOKED like Warhol. Lots of celebrity pieces and many of them were SPARKLY!

Fuck 8th generation pop art. Fuck sparkly photos of celebrities. Fuck Star Wars or Disney character pieces and fuck you if you think any of that is interesting or ironic or hip or whatever bullshit you tell yourself so you can pretend you have a soul. Also Banksy/Mr Brainwash has run its course. Early on it was provocative and fun but it is all now a parody of a parody of a parody. It is a Pussy Riot concert at a Vladimir Putin re-election party.  
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Is this pandemic related? Or has everyone lost their damned mind?

by Patrick Ogle

Every piece shown at Art Basel Miami Beach 2021 was not contemporary. There were Picassos, Miros, Kandinskys and more. I just didn't take photos of them, instead concentrating on more recent art. The point here is, hopefully, to let people know about recent artists or even artists from the past that are less familiar.

I didn't IGNORE the historical!

Jean-Paul Riopelle's  Le puits hanté (1957) shown by Galerie Thomas (Munich) is an example of the artist's (fairly) early move into abstract.  He is a Canadian artist born in Montreal.  He was one of the principle proponents of Refus global, a manifesto that rejected academic training in art. It also rejected religion and was strongly anti-establishment. He traveled to Paris as part of a fellowship from the Canadian government.

His early work is associated with the Surrealists but the piece below was created well after his ongoing movement into abstraction. He lived with American Artist Joan Mitchell for some time. You can find out more about him at the Guggenheim Museum site. He stopped painting in 1992 and passed away in 2002.

​Elizabeth Glaessner's  Blue Recluse (2021) was shown by PPOW (New York). She is a California-born artist who lives in New York City. PPOW has, for years, represented a fascinating and diverse group of artists. Find out more at  elizabethglaessner.com.

At the end of the last post featuring art, it may seem these artists are being "stuffed in." The reason is actually that these pieces are too memorable to leave out. One is a top three piece from the entire week. 

Let's start with that impressive piece, from the bottom up; Tiwani Contemporary (London) showed Tupac y Tupac, Time lords of the Andes. Or, a failed Fitzcarraldo  (2021)  by Umar Rashid .  Rashid's work always has the best titles and it is always nice to see colonialists being impaled at a fancy art fair (figuratively, of course). The artist is from Chicago and currently lives in Los Angeles.

Double Head with Blue Paintings by Mark Manders, was shown by Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (New York City). The piece is painted bronze, painted canvas, painted wood, wood and iron.

The remaining pieces are:

Morris, Gainesborough, Turner, Riley (2021) by Grayson Perry shown by Victoria Miro (New York ).

Pastoral Scene (2021) by ​Barthélémy Toguo shown by Galerie Lelong & Company (New York, Paris).

​Found Wanting by Christina Forrer shown by Luhring Augustine (New York).

An oak trees landscape by Shota Nakamura was shown by Peres Projects (Berlin). Nakamura was born in Japan and now lives in Berlin.  He is a graduate of Musashino Art University (Japan).  This piece is a landscape with a figure but there are other pieces that are more abstract and others that are more focused on the figure. Bright colors and geometric shapes seem common in his work. You can find out more about the artist at  shotanakamura.com.

James Castle is what was once referred to as a "folk artist"  or, more recently, an "outsider artist." And this often means someone who labored in obscurity on their art, then was "discovered" after their death.  Castle was from Idaho , was deaf and never ventured far from where he was born.

It is hard to imagine his work being welcomed in the world of fine art while he was alive. It is impossible to imagine him walking into a gallery in New York or San Francisco with these pieces during his lifetime and being welcomed.  But after his death he has been shown worldwide and his residence is a cultural center and sponsors "artist in residence" programs. 

I always cringe a little when I read stories like them, and I read them a lot. On the one hand? It is nice what he did with his life is being remembered. On the other hand? There are James Castles a plenty out there right now being scoffed at by people who curate shows of "outsider art" for sale. There are some who consider anyone without an MFA an outsider.

These pieces were shown as part of Art Basel's Kabinett sector; this  is entirely appropriate, of course.
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Sean Landers' Fox  (2021) was shown by Taka Ishii (Tokyo). The piece is oil on linen.

Guilleromo Kuitca's Idea de una pasion (1992) was shown by Sperone Westwater (New York). The painting is acrylic on canvas.

​Chantal Joffe's Jessica (2012) was shown by Cheim & Reid (New York). The work is oi on linen.

You will notice these three paintings (which you can enlarge by clicking) are from the past 30 years. The majority of these paintings, even those not dated, are from recent years.

All are artists worth discovering. 

by Patrick Ogle

Art Miami 2021 did have some interesting and sometimes spectacular pieces.

​Imperial Love by Alexi Torres falls into the spectacular category. It is oil on canvas and is 96 x 192 inches (that is 16 by 8 feet for the math challenged). The massive painting was shown by Contessa Gallery ( Palm Beach, Cleveland).

It was impossible to get a shot of the painting without people in front of it but you can see more of the Cuban-born artist's work HERE.​

by Patrick Ogle

There sure is a great deal of 8th generation pop art out there. Likewise a bizarre amount of imitation of art that, it is highly likely, was intended as a joke. 

Money talks so someone must have bought the garbage for it to be imitated. 

The perfect antidote for garbage art is Cernude Arte (Coral Gables). They show Cuban artists from masters to contemporary artists.  This year, as always, they showed a who's who of Cuban artists going back decades. The two pieces here by Mariano Rodriguez and Demi come from 1944 and 1987 respectively. The choice of these photos was random and more based on the fact that Mapanare has run innumerable pieces on Cernuda (type their name into the search section on the site). These artists seemed under represented.

La Finca is oil on wood and was part of a solo show by the artist in 1944 at the Lyceum in Havana. In the same year his work was shown as part of a group show , Modern Cuban Painters, at MOCA (NYC).  The piece, like many Cuban paintings of the era, has a strong influence from the Paris school but there are twists on that theme. Cuban iconography abounds in the work. His work also has a strong Mexican influence. Find out more HERE. 

Demi was born in Cuba, then as a youngster she moved to Puerto Rico. Nine years later she came to the mainland United States. There is obviously a mix of abstraction and the figurative in her work which often relates to children. There are odd juxtapositions but they don't seem to be unsettling. They are more like the imaginings of a child. Find out more HERE. 

Below the Cernuda works are paintings by Lou Ros shown by Robert Fontaine Gallery (Palm Beach). These two pieces were tucked right by the passage between Art Miami and Context and are easy to walk past. Stop and have a look if you go to the last day. 

When you read about the French painter, he lives in Paris, you will see the words "figurative expressionist" and "abstract" quite a bit. While these are certainly expressionist (at least in the basic definition of the word) they are representational and lovely little pieces.​

Julio Larraz is a Cuban-born artist and these pieces were shown by Duque Arango Galleria (Medellin). Larraz began his art career as a cartoonist and caricature artists using his middle name, Fernandez.  He is a painter, draftsman and sculptor. He is  one of the most prominent living Latin American artists.

His father was a journalist who was imprisoned by one of the pre-Castro regimes and was owner/editor of the newspaper, La Discusion. When Castro came to power freedom of the press ended and the family, ultimately, came to the United States.  You can find out and see more at  juliolarraz.com.

Louis K Meisel Gallery (New York)  showed Montauk Sail and Keep Palm + Carry On by Susan P. Meisel. The gallery is best know for representing and championing some of the great photo realist painters of the 1970s and beyond. These are , of course, not that. These are bright, fun paintings by half of the Meisel gallery's team. She is also a photographer and sells high end real estate. I hope the real estate is her HOBBY because her paintings are lovely.

There is a hint of Carribbean art here but it isn't anything derivative. There is something quite "New York" about it even with the palm trees. You are allowed to create fun art. Not everything has to be a pile of skulls.

"G-sim"  Seyeon  was shown  by Galerie Bhak (Seoul). This piece is acrylic on canvas.  The brushwork is complicated and perhaps the concept is too. Is it an explosion or a bouquet of flowers? It has elements of both doesn't it? It likely has nothing to do with one of these things but it is truly a striking painting.

Below Seyeon's explosive work are paintings by women painters whose work comes from an era when women artists were dismissed. Which , it is sad to say, wasn't all that long ago.

​Tabletop Still Life by Mercedes Matter (left) was shown by Dean Borghi Fine Art (New York).  This piece is oil on canvas board and is from 1940. Matter was an American artist, born in Philadelphia, in an artistic family (her dad was Arthur B. Carles). She studied with a who's who of American modern painters, including Hans Hoffmann. She assisted Fernand Léger with his well-known WPA funded murals. She taught at NYU and Pratt and was also a writer. Yet, somehow her work was, and is, less well-known that some of her male contemporaries.  Her art is of similar quality to some of her teachers, including the one mentioned above (which is high praise). Find out more HERE.

Sin titulo (Aves) by Sofia Bassi was shown by Pablo Goebel Fine Arts (Mexico City).  The painting is oil on masonite. "Sin titulo," of course, means "untitled." Bassi was a Mexican surrealist painter, born in 1913 in Veracruz.  She didn't start painting until the mid 1960s and was self taught. Look at her work and marvel at that. The technique is impressive, refined.

She also murdered her son-in-law.

​There is some indication he may have had it coming.  Find out more about the non-art part of this HERE.  There are better sources but none that could be found readily online in English.​ This version is garbled and seems to be a poor translation of something but the idea general story comes through.

by Patrick Ogle
(Yes, Im so tired I collapsed into first person)

Once I told a friend that NADA Miami was a fair where a significant percentage of the art looked like a school project. They thought this was an insult. It was, in fact, a compliment.

The comment referred not to a middle school project but an MFA project. There are no copies of copies of copies of bad pop art at NADA or if there are I didn't see it (nary a whiff of reverence for "Mr Brainwash"). There is art that is high concept, that has humor, that is technically brilliant, that is poignant and there are even some pieces that have all of these things.  This description also doesn't come close to covering all the variation at Nada, this year and every year.  This year may be one of the best editions in Miami.

The photos here are somewhat random. There was a great deal to see, even though the fair isn't massive.  80m2 Livia Benavides (Peru) showed the piece immediately below. I tried to find the name of the artist and the piece but was unsuccessful (I forgot it). If only there was some sort of implement where you could write things down to remember such information.

I can tell you that Raster (Warsaw) showed Skinformer, the second image below, and that it was created by Aneta Grzeszykowska. 

It is constructed of leather and wood.

It is unsurprising to find out that her work is held in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, Pompidou Center, Hammer Museum and Fotomuseum Winterthur (she is  a photographer). In 2005 Grzeszykowska showed a collection of family photos with her own image removed from all the pictures. She lives in Warsaw.

Sorry We're Closed (Brussels) deserves mention for their name alone. I have an image of people heading to a showing at the gallery, getting there and saying "Damn, they're closed." Of course in Belgium they would likely say this in French, Dutch or German.

Fortunately there was no need to include them for the name alone.  They had some lovely pieces including these two mischievous sculptures. Obviously there is something totemic here and I want to belong to the culture that erects such totems. The artist is Eric Croes and he is another artist bridging the gap between fine art and crafts. In fact the bridge is getting so big there is barely any reason to make any distinction.

​Artists like Croes are the reason. 

Folks who love art owe artists like him a debt and this is written without an ounce of irony and no tongue in cheek.

Misako & Rosen (Tokyo) showed work by Brazilian artist, Tiago Carneiro da Cunha.  Sometimes when you look at a large amount of art your prejudices show. I am conscious of this so I look for work outside those I gravitate to. Carneiro Da Cunha's paintings, however, conform to what I love. I cannot always define it but part of it is certainly the juxtaposition of bright color with darkness, the expressive brush work and the fact each composition uses enough paint to cover a house.

These are paintings you cannot take your eyes off. 

​If NADA is any indication Poland has some good things happening. Leto (Warsaw) showed work by Aleksandra Waliszewska an Marta Nadolle. The top piece is another of the blendings of fine art and craft. Basically it is a rug. It also is one of the most striking pieces at this fair (or any of the fairs). The photo doesn't do it justice.

Nadolle's pieces (and not just the one above) made me wonder if I was supposed to be amused or concerned when I looked at the character. The info in the booth said all these are events from the artist's life.

We've all had nights like that.

The booth didn't have information on precisely what medium or technique was used in either piece so a trip to the linked gallery page may be in order if you want to find out more.

The last two samples from NADA Miami 2021 (but certainly not the least) include a tapestry shown by Towards Gallery (Toronto) and one of a series of paintings by Dale Lewis shown by Edel Assanti (London).

The former is one of a series of tapestries made with various techniques and materials at a number of fairs. Some, like this one,  tell a story. I confess to not knowing what that story is but I want to. Getting someone viewing your work to think about it and wonder what is behind it? Means something. 

Guess what? This is also part of that crossing the boundary from craft to art, the very same border I've suggested barely exists.

Lewis's works, as a series, are among the best GROUP of paintings I've seen. They represent various public liaisons and I am not sure I've ever seen this represented in a similar fashion. There is nothing dark or seedy about the paintings. They are bright. They are joyful. They are a celebration. They made me want to go get a blow job in the park.

The paintings are also large. This one is  78 3/4 x 66 7/8 inches and the others are all of similar size. He uses a mix of acrylic and oil.