My Virtual Garden: Palm Beach Art Fair

Last week a new art fair opened in Palm Beach, the" Contemporary and Modern." It was

excellent, better than I had hoped. Much smaller than Art Miami, it was just the right size,

and I spent four hours and saw all 60 gallery booths and talked with many of the

gallery owners and learned much. The best artists were represented, and the artworks

were excellent. The 8 ft. high "Red Lollipop" in bronze is by Desire Obtain Cherish
(D.O.C. / Jonathan Paul) and behind a bronze by British sculptor, Sophie Ryder.

Sophie Ryder. "Conversation." British. Bronze.

Sophie Ryder creates mythical creatures part human and

part animal, frequently rabbits.

Fidia Falaschetti. "Mickey Mouse." Gilded Bronze. Italy

Every country in Europe was influenced by American pop culture and Pop Art.

The figure of Mickey has become universal.

Peter Anton. "Candy and Donuts." Mixed Media

The mouth-watering donuts and pieces of candy greeted visitors to the Art Fair.

Everyone wanted to reach out and grab one and taste it.

Close-up of Peter Anton's "Pieces of Candy."

Kwang Young Chun. " Untitled." Koreau 2106 Paper

Kwang is one of the leading Korean artists in folded paper sculptural reliefs.

He uses mulberry paper and folds pieces into little boxes, like he used to do

with herbs in his parents' pharmacy. He then glues them with rice glue to the

background.

Close-up of Kwang.

Folding paper into tiny boxes is a craft which children learn when they are very young.

It is perhaps the first exercise children do in Korea. Kwang has adapted that

childhood practice into wonderful abstract works.

Kwang Young Chun. "Orange." 2105 Folded Paper Korea

Kwang Young Chun. "Orange." detail

Tony Cragg. "Portrait." Marble England

Tony Cragg creates a very different kind of sculpture, using stone.

Kenneth Armitage. "Seated Figure." English Bronze

Kenneth Armitage uses simplified human forms for his sculptures.

Jim Dine. "Chartres." 2012 woodcut Pop Art

Sean Helms. "Seated Man." English Bronze 2015

Helms' work is very realistic, of very ordinary people in very ordinary poses,

rather than ideal figures in contrived poses. This is about 30" high.

Amelia Pelaez. "Still Life." Cuba

I was delighted to see that my favorite Latin American gallery

was at the show, with its wonderful collection of Cuban art.

Senor and Senora Cernuda and their son Sergio have built

the finest gallery of Cuban art anywhere.

Amelia Pelaez. "Still Life." Cuba

They have many more artists besides Amelia, but she is one of

my favorites.

Marc Quinn. "Sunrise and Sunset." 2015 England

Quinn is one of the leading British artists today. This huge painting, 8 feet long, is typical.

He takes a handful of flowers, lays them on a table, and then paints them on a

gigantic scale. The colors glow and inundate you.

Dayron Gonzalez. "The Holy Father." Cuba 2016

Dayron was new to me. Mr. Cernuda explained that he is a young artist who paints

social and political works. This portrait, influenced by Bacon's Pope Innocent X,

shows Pope Francis involved in all of the political events of today and in Cuba.

Bridget Riley. "Silent Memories." English

Bridget is one of the leaders of the Op Art Movement, interested in how

our eyes respond to colors and the way they interact with one another.

Pablo Atchugarry. "Untitled." White Carrara Marble. Uruguay

The dealer explained to me that Pablo spends six months of the year, right now, in Italy

near the Carrara quarries. He chooses his pieces of marble and begins to carve. Then,

when the weather becomes nice back in Uruguay, he goes there and completes the

works in marble and also works in other materials.

Pablo Atchugarry. "Red." Bronze. Uruguay

This piece was new to me, but Pablo now makes many pieces

which are cast in bronze and painted with automobile enamels.

There are usually eight in each series, two each of red, yellow,

blue and green. This one is 24" high, but some are 80" high.

Alexander Calder. "Tightrope Walker." U.S.

Calder continues to be very popular, both for his paintings / prints and also for

his sculpture. This piece is based on the figrurs he created for his famous circus.

Mel Bochner. "Amazing." Embossed monoprint. U.S.

Bochner is one of the "verbal" artists, who use words both as

abstract forms and also loaded with meaning, that you cannot avoid.

Robert Indiana. "Love Cross." U.S.

Robert Indiana's LOVE in steel and in prints is found all over

the world and in every museum, but he always finds new ways to

use the word.

Victor Vasarely. "Zak." Hungarian / French
Vasarely is often referred to as "The Godfather of Op Art." The piece
above uses the same colors as the Indiana work and yet it is completely
different. As you watch, your eyes will seem to detect movement.

Jaehyo Lee. "Bench." Korea 2016

Jaehyo is the third of the Korean artists I became acquainted with. His sculptures

look like simplified furniture or biomorphic shapes. This one is made of burnt wood,

which turns black, embedded with large nails and bolts, and then smoothed.

Other works have various kinds and colors of wood embedded in other wood.

Allan d'Arcangelo. "Aspen Colorado." 1970 U.S. Hard Edge
d'Arcangelo frequently used road signs and simple barriers
for his works.

Sophie Ryder. "The Hare and the Goat." England

Sophie Ryder usually depicts mythical figures, part animal and part

human. Her favorite character is "Lady Hare." This piece is 24" tall

and is cast in bronze. She has a horse and rider at the entrance to the show.

Robert Motherwell. "Orange Lyric." U.S. Abstract Expressionism

Kaws. "Orange Man." Retna. "Calligraphy."

These are both graffiti artists / street artists / urban artists, who also do smaller

works like these to sell. Kaws is very active in advertising design, especially of toys.

Retna has invented his own calligraphy, made up of elements from Gothic, Arabic,

hieroglyphics, and his own invention. He often decorates whole buildings,. as he
has in Wynwood, Miami.

Manolo Valdes. "Infanta Mariana." Spain. Alabaster

Manolo Valdes now lives in New York and is extremely prolific. He has been greatly

influenced by Velasquez' "Las Meninas" and Matisse's portrait of his wife wearing a hat

with ostrich plumes. The form of the Spanish princess appears again and again in his work.

Manolo Valdes. "Blue Butterflies." Spanish. Bronze

This is a variation on the portrait of Matisse's wife, but here the ostrich plumes

have become butterflies, one of them blue.

Damien Hirst. "Psalm 21." English. real butterflies

Hirst buys exotic butterflies from dealers, glues them to a background, paints around

them, and then covers them with acrylic to preserve them. They become abstract patterns.

He then takes the pattern and creates prints of the image.

Ilhwa Kim. "Space Station Sample." Korea 2016 Paper

Art fairs these days show the work of a number of Asian artists, far beyond the old

boundaries of Europe and the U.S. Most recently, Korean artists have become wifely

known. Kim is one of the finest. This is a piece made entirely of rolled mulberry paper,

which is then glued with rice glue to the background. This is a detail close-up.
Each "seed" is hand-dyed and rolled.

Ilhwa Kim. "Space Station Sample." Seoul, Korea. Rolled and dyed Paper
Ms Kim studied art at Korean universities and works in Seoul. Her art works are
highly regarded in Paris and London, where she has frequent exhibits.