My Virtual Garden: Art Wynwood

Art Wynwood 2017 was an excellent exhibit of contemporary art and movements from

North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. Every important contemporary artist

was represented. Because the work is so new, it takes some education and getting used to.

I learned a great deal from the gallerists as usual, and I am still learning to

appreciate some of the works. "Reserve judgment" for the time being.

The abstract aluminum sculpture above is by Italian artist, Roberto Cavaliere.

Mr. Brainwash. "Mickey and Minnie." France / U.S. Acrylic

"Mr. Brainwash" is a famous French born - Los Angeles based street artist.

His formal name is Thierry Guetta, and he is very famous for his murals, paintings,

and advertising images. He uses icons of American culture, for many purposes.

His work seems immediately appreciated and understood by younger viewers,

whereas the older generation finds it more difficult. They often embody humor,

sometimes satire.

Alberto Sanchez. "Golden Prism." Venezuela.

This is a perfectly flat painting, painted in an illusionistic manner of Op Art

so that it looks like it projects into a 3D form. It was definitely flat and 2D.

I was there and touched it. It is part of the great Venezuelan Op Art movement.

Speedy Graphito. "The Art Market." French Pop

Speedy Graphito is a French artist in Paris who is enormously famous, successful in fine art

and advertising, and very well known. He takes famous images from American comics and

art history, and combines them into a dense, immediately recognizable image to anyone

who knows modern art. Here you can see works by Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat,

and others. Donald is studying the market for prices in art, which has become

extraordinarily valuable. Spray cans for painting lie on the floor.

Ed Ruscha. "Anchovy." U.S. acrylic

Ruscha paints very subtle images like this,which look as if they have volume or

stand out from the surface. although they are perfectly flat and make use of

techniques of drawing and shading to suggest space and depth.

Frank Stella. "The Butcher Came . . . " Print U.S.

Stella is one of the foremost living American artists. This is one of a series

of prints he created based on Jewish folklore. The forms he first drew in

this work later became wall sculptures and 3D pieces in aluminum.

Donald Sultan. "Corten Flowers." U.S.

Sultan creates very simple forms, often of flowers, in both painting and

sculpture. This is one of a series in corten steel which he created. They are

meant to be placed outdoors in a garden.

Wuilfredo Soto. "Untitled." Venezuela
Wuilfredo works with geometric abstraction and kinetic sculpture.
This is actually a 3D wall sculpture and those are layers
of woodpieces which create pyramids and depressions. As you
move, the sculpture seems to move also.

Wuilfedo Soto. "Untitled." Venezuela. 3D Sculpture.

Again, this is constructed of layers of wood, so that the eye does

not know what is flat and what is recessed or raised/ As you walk by,

it changes constantly. Hence, it is known as "kinetic art."

Jaehyo Lee. "Wooden Urn." Korea.

Jaehyo Lee is one of South Korea's greatest artists, creating sculptures with intricate

inlaid wood or metal. Here he carved the basic form of an urn, then burnt the surface

to create the black color, then carved into the wood and inlaid the form with many

pieces of various wood types which he sanded perfectly smooth.

Zhuang Hong Yi. "The Four Seasons." Chinese. Rice Paper.

Zhuang is one of the great contemporary Chinese artists who work in the ancient

tradition of folding and dying rice paper. Each of these forms/cones is hand rolled of

hand made rice paper and then dyed. They are then attached to the background. This piece

is about six inches deep. It changes constantly as you walk by.

Zhuang Hong Yi. Close-up showing rice paper and subtle colors.

Zhuang Hong Yi. "Amethyst Field." Chinese/ Rice Paper.

Salvador Dali. "Space Elephant." Surrealism.

This is one of a number of surrealistic elephants with long thin legs

which Dali created in limited editions. They are images from dreams

or nightmares or the subconscious.

Omar Hassan. "London Street." Mixed Media.

Omar Hassan was born in Milan in 1987 with an Egyptian father

and an Italian mother. Today he works in Milan and London. He is

a street artist. This is a collection of doorbells, on pads of

colored acrylic pigment; you would see them along a London street
Or maybe in a bakery?.

Dominique Gerolini. "Untitled." France. Watercolor.
Gerolini is a French geometric abstraction painter who works
with layers of color and very carefully delineated forms.

Stallman. "I Am Light." Canvas on Edge. U.S.
"Stallman" is a name which combines the names of a duo of Pacific
Northwest artists - Jason and Steven. They are a couple and they work
together on all their pieces. They have developed a technique of "Canvas
on Edge." They wanted the canvas to BE their work, not merely to support
their work. So they cut canvas into 3 inch wide strips and use the strips to form
intricate patterns.

Stallman. "I Am Light." Close-up.

Seen close-up or from different angles, the work changes constantly, as do the

colors, light, and shadows.

Stallman. "I Am Light. #2." U.S. Canvas on edge.

Stallman. "I Am Light #3 - Green." U.S. Canvas-on-edge.

Stallman. "I Am Light #3 Green" seen from the side. U.S.

John Henry. "Cathedral Column." U.S. Steel. Chattanooga, Tenn.
Henry is one of America's most famous sculptors, creating huge abstract
steel sculptures for many American cities. Henry's sculpture has been described
as huge welded steel drawings. He arranges linear and rectilinear elements that
appear to defy gravity and float. This is a small indoor piece.

Nelson de la Nuez. "Monopoly Wall Street." Pop Art.

Nelson is known as the "King of Pop Art." He was born in Havana,

but was brought to California at the age of 7; today he is American.

He was fascinated with American tv, comic books, games, and

advertising. He combines all of them in his work. Michael Jackson

was a regular buyer of his work. Monopoly figures are some of his favorites.

Roberto Behan. "Instant Happiness." Silk Ribbons.

Charles Koegel. "Who Knows Us?" New York.
Koegel paints in the style of geometric abstraction.

Edgar Negret. "Gran Mariposa." Colombia. Aluminum.

Edgar Negret was Colombia's most famous sculptor. His works are usually

abstract forms, industrial in appearance, and painted in a bright solid color. On a

large scale, they make excellent outdoor public sculpture.

Francisco Zuniga. "Two Women." Mexico. Bronze.

Zuniga was one of Mexico's greatest sculptors, and his favorite subject was

one or two native women talking or walking.

Speedy Graphito. "Pop Still life." French

The work combines images from Haring, Wesselmann, and

others.

Michael Moebius. "Marilyn Pink Bubble Gum." German-American. Oil Painting.

Michael was fascinated by the pin-up paintings of Alberto Vargas, realistic yet perfect

figures. When he reached the U.S. he determined to paint in the same manner, but of

different subjects. He chooses famous figures chewing bubble gum. Original oils

sell for $100,000; multiples in a photographic process for $20,000 each. Two Marilyns

had sold by the time I saw them. The size is large 48x68 inches.

Michael Moebius. "Beatles Bubble Gum." German-American. Oil on Canvas.

Michael Moebius. "Audrey Tiffany Blue Bubble Gum." German-American.
Giclee print. 48x68 Edition of 25. $20,000 each.
A giclee print is a fine art digital print made with an ink-jet printer.

Henri Matisse. "Creole Dancer." French. 1952 Paper-cut-outs.

Late in life, Matisse suffered a number of ailments which prevented

him from holding a pen or a brush. And so he took a large pair of

shears and sheets of construction paper, and he cut forms out of the paper

and had an assistant assemble them on the floor in a certain pattern.

Copies were than printed by his favorite printer. These are prints

which were made from various works during the period and sold as a set;

they are now being sold individually

Henri Matisse. "Escargot / The Snail." Paper cut-out.

This is a very small version of a very famous and very large work

which Maisse made and is now in the Tate Modern Museum in London.

Henri Matisse. "Zulma." Paper Cut-out.

This is a very small edition of a much larger work also,

of a model standing in a robe beside a table.

Ms Laurence Jenkell. "A Piece of Candy" Marble. French.

Laurence has made this wrapped piece of candy her signature piece. She makes them in bronze,
in marble, and in plastic; She makes them in many colors. The form is simple and yet defined.

This piece, of white marble, stands about four feet high.