Art Miami Pt. 2

Art Miami features only established, well-known artists in many media.

Newer, mid-career artists show across the street in the Context Fair.

Tom Wesselmann.  "Wildflower Bouquet."  Laser-cut steel.

Wesselmann was a Pop artist but he sometimes used the technique of a laser-cut steel

image which he then painted.  This is lovely, but my favorite is "Bouquet of Tulips."

Tom Wesselmann.  "Still Life with Orange and Tulip."  U.S.  Pop Art  Steel.

Robert Indiana is a Pop artist famous for his HOPE sculpture and posters - like an

advertisement, this image tells you everything at once, no need to study or "read" it.

Robert Indiana.  "Baby Blue Brooklyn Bridge" is a new painting, influenced by

Cubism, Futurism, and an advertising logo.

Toots Zynsky.  "Sollevarsi."  Cast glass.  She fuses together hundreds of tiny rods of glass

and then shapes the form while the glass is still hot.  The forms are sensuous and

organic.

Toots Zynsky.  "Everlasting."  Cast Glass.

Keith Haring.  "Totem."  Steel.

Keith Haring was a graffiti artist who started by spray-painting subway cars.  But soon his

animated stick-figures attracted attention and he became a much sought after popular artist.

Keith Haring.  Two Paintings.  The strong outlines and large areas of flat color

are typical of Haring's works.

Philippe Hiquily.  "Girouettes/Weather Vanes."  "Marbella."  Wrought Iron.

This French artist makes playful sculptures, semi-abstract, which are also

vanes.  The various parts move, although they are seldom used as actual vanes.

After World War II, the U.S. emerged as the world capital of art; Paris and Berlin were

badly damaged.  Young American artists now emerged with bold new styles, different

from "Old Europe."  Abstract Expressionism was bold, aggressive, used large canvases.

Some of the artists wanted to remove their personalities from their works, to make them

as impersonal yet readily understood as an ad on a billboard.  One group was called "Hard Edge,"

but their images were strong, simple, with hard outlines.  Kenneth Noland in Washington, DC

created a series of "Targets," no big historical narratives or personal stories, just a simple

bold image you could understand with one glance, like an ad for Coke.

Kenneth Noland.  "Target."

Noland also did a series of V-shaped "Chevrons,"slightly off balance stripes.

David Spiller is a British artist who uses printed words in his works.  They are not only 

patterns of color and form, but they convey meanings, for him, positive and optimistic.

The Terminus Gallery is from Munich Germany and always has a large space and mostly

Pop Art, but American and German.  Heiner Meyer is a German artist who often uses

Disney characters, such as "Great Minnie."  She's not a war general or a nude Venus,

but a figure everyone in Germany and America knows.

Thomas Downing.  "Spot Painting 128."

Thomas Downing (1928–1985) was an American painter, associated with the Washington

 Color Field Movement.  From 1965 to 1968, Downing taught at the Corcoran College of Art

 and Design in Washington, D.C. There he taught several people who in their turn became 

artists influenced by Downing's ideas, including Sam Gilliam.  His paintings to a large extent consisted of circles arranged in precise patterns on the canvas, with colors often chosen

 according to ideas of symmetry. Downing's Spot Paintings are his best known works.

Fernand Leger.  "The Great Parade."  French print.

Leger used strong black outlines and flat washes of color to create bright,

lively scenes.

Richard Erdman.  "Sequita."  Carrara Marble.

Pablo Atchugarry.  "Untitled."  Carrara marble  Uruguay.

Atchugarry works half the year in Italy choosing pieces of marble and

beginning the carving.  He then returns to Uruguay and completes the

works.  He also works in steel.  Despite the hardness of the stone, his

works look like the soft folds of draped fabric. 

Pablo Atchugarry.  "Untitled - Red."  Uruguay.  Abstract.

Atchugarry also works in painted steel.

Joel Shapiro.  "Kneeling Figure."  Bronze.  U.S.

Shapiro's figures some in all sizes from 10 inches to 10 feet, sometimes made of wood,

sometimes of steel, sometimes, bronze.  They look like stick figures in an infinite

number of poses.

Louise Nevelson was a Russian/American sculptor.  Her father owned a lumber company,

and she grew up playing with wood and making things of left-over pieces.  As an adult, she began

to create wall pieces and standing pieces, which often looked like altar screens or stage sets.

She painted them a monochrome color like white, or black, or gold.  They are made of

found pieces of wood which she manipulates.  Their forms, and the light and shadows

they create, make your eye move round and imagine.  This is about  6 feet high.

Louise Nevelson.  "Maquette/Model" for "Night Wall 6," a very large work which

was sited outdoors.

RETNA is a graffiti artist, or street artist, who has created his own unique

language or set of characters, which mix Arabic and Hebrew and Greek and

made up forms to create intriguing, impressive works.

Tony Cragg.  "Standing Figure."  Bronze.  British.

Cragg uses this form in many sizes and materials and shapes.  As you walk around it,

it sometimes looks like weathered stone in a National Park; at other times it looks like

the profile of a person.  It has fluidity and motion and ambiguity.

Tony Cragg.  "Standing Figure."  This time the piece is made of wood and covered with

polyurethane to protect it.  It is made for outdoor siting.

Alex Katz.  "The Red Hat."  2013  U.S.

CRANIO.  "I'm on a Diet."  and Bene Eine  "Love."  These are a combination of Pop Art

and Graffiti Art, and the artists choose anonymous names.  The standing figure is made

of fiberglass.

This whole gallery features black and white works.  The standing figure, by Manuel Neri of Italy,

is made of white plaster and painted.  The large "brushstroke" on the wall is by

Donald Martiny.

Lee Jae Hyo (or Jae Hyo Lee) was born in 1965 in Korea.

He produces immaculately formed, intricate sculptures that reveal a mastery of

his materials.  This work consists of hundreds of small pieces cut from branches of

a birch tree.  They very from one inch to one and a half inches long.

Lee Jae Hyo.  "Beechwood."  Close-up.  The sizes of the twigs, the rings of

annular growth, and the colors create infinite variety.

Lee Jae Hyo.  "Circular Piece."   wood

Lee Jae Hyo.  "Shield."  Here, Lee takes a circular wooden piece and scorches it

with fire until it is black.  Then he hammers in large nails and bolts.  Then he bends

and polishes then so they are all smooth on the surface and make a pattern.

Lee Jae Hyo.  "Wooden Chair" made of various pieces of wood which have been

joined and sanded perfectly smooth.

Chuck Close.  "Lou Rawls."  Jacquard tapestry.

Chuck Close takes a photograph of his subject, draws a grid over it, and then paints

a very large picture enlarging each of the small squares of the grid.  In this case, the

large image was then digitized and put into a special electronic jacquard loom and a

tapestry was woven of the image.

London Police.  "Barycetan Rides Again."

The "London Police" are actually two Dutch artists who create graffiti art, both

outdoors on the sides of buildings, and also on canvases such as this.  Their

characters can be recognized by their strong outlines and forms.

l'Atlas and Tanc.  "Substances 1."
l'Atlas and Tanc are two young French artists from Paris who have developed their own
style of calligraphy, which they paint on walls and canvases around the world.
They are leaders in the Graffiti Art or Street Art Movement.

l'Atlas and Tanc.  "Substances 2."  French Street Art

David Hockney.  "Inner Courtyard."  British.

David Hockney.  "Celia."  British.  Celia has posed for many
paintings by Hockney.

Hendrick Kerstens.  "Red Turban."  Dutch.  Photo.
The model is the photographer's daughter, Pauline, whom he has been
photographing since she was 14.  Looking at her one day, he was reminded
of a famous Flemish painting, and so he began photographing her
regularly with simple props.  This recalls Jan Van Eyck.

Al Held.  "Ortho."  U.S.   8 x 12 feet

Brian Rutenberg.  "Camellia."  South Carolina.

Donald Martiny.  "Black Stroke."  U.S.

Yao Jui-chung.  "Good Times: Purple Dawn."  China.
Yao combines traditional subjects with contemporary techniques.
More Asian artists are shown each year at the exhibit.

David Yarrow.  "The Old Testament."  Photo.
Yarrow photographs the wildlife of Africa close-up.  For photos of lions, he had a cage
made for himself with openings large enough for his lens but too small for a lion's paw.
He then sat in it for hours and photographed lions as they approached.
The photographs are then greatly enlarged; this one is 56 x 56 inches.
Price was $50,000.

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