Galeria Carte (Buenos Aires) showed work by Marcelo Suaznabar at Scope Miami 2022.

Find out more about Suaznabar at his website. He says his work is focused on the coming environmental catastrophe. He notes this is increasingly unavoidable because of the structure of society and human greed. This is an interesting point to be made during Miami Art Week, on Miami Beach, which you will soon need a submarine to visit.  Let's not even get into the State of Florida, which doesn't even allow the use of the term "climate change."

In some ways the dystopian vision of Suaznabar's paintings seems like optimism.

Sist' Art Gallery (Venice) At Scope 2022. You can see more from the gallery at their website  and you can guess who is who when you go to the website.

None of the art was labelled in the booth.

193 Gallery (Paris) showed work by Sesse Elangwe Ngeseli and Samuel Cueto (among others). You can rummage through the gallery website  for more details.

Ngeseli is from Cameroon and his work has sometimes (although not exclusively) dealt with historical events in his homeland.  Like many accomplished artists he has created his own internal iconography, imagery distinctive to his work and symbolic of his intent.

Cueto is a French artist with an unusual background--free fighting and hip hop.  He transitioned into film photography--actually using film rather than digital.

Yes, my headlines suck but it is a solid, basic description.

Nina Murashkina's paintings are fun and there is some vague  luridness about some of them (except the cat one below....well, actually even the cat one).  But there is humor and strength in the work beyond this. Lurid might not be the right word but it is as close as I can get after two successive days of looking at art. I was going to go to the thesaurus to find a better word but then thought maybe I'd just send you to the artist's webpage or the Lyskenko Gallery website.

Murashkina was born in Donetsk, Ukraine and studied at Donetsk Art College (graphic design). She also studied monumental painting at Kharkiv Art and Design Academy. Unsurprisingly she also studied film and stage design. Her work is theatrical.

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.  
​
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).