Art Districts Magazine

Miami Art Museum Announces New Acquisitions

raisa — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:41:50 +0000

As part of its commitment to serving the greater Miami community and in anticipation of its move to a new and expanded facility, Miami Art Museum has redoubled its efforts to build its collection of great works of art for the public to enjoy-and has received a challenge grant of $1 million from the Helena Rubinstein Philanthropic Fund at The Miami Foundation to support this process.

Beginning Friday, February 17, 2012, the museum will present a selection of these newly acquired works in the exhibition, “Restless: Recent Acquisitions from the MAM Collection.” Highlights include works by modern and contemporary masters such as Morris Louis and Fred Wilson, and emerging artists such as Nicolas Lobo, George Sánchez-Calderón and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. The exhibition will remain on view through Sunday, May 13, 2012. An exhibition preview and Artist Talk by Dara Friedman will be held Thursday, February 16, 2012, 6-9pm.

“This installation provides another perspective on the museum’s continued growth into a civic asset for future generations of South Florida residents and visitors,” said MAM Director Thom Collins. “At the same time, the generous support from the Helena Rubinstein Foundation underscores the importance of our continued focus on building the museum’s collection. With the construction of our new facility at Museum Park well underway, and our capital campaign at 75 percent of our goal, it is an opportune moment to make visible this equally important area of museum activity.”

The gift to Miami Art Museum from the Helena Rubinstein Philanthropic Fund at The Miami Foundation is designated as a challenge grant toward the purchase of contemporary art and requires a one-to-one match. The funds will be released in $250,000 installments annually or sooner, pending match timing.

“At the heart of an art museum is its collection, an area in which the Miami Art Museum has tremendous opportunity to grow in ways that are commensurate with the extraordinary building now under construction,” said Diane Moss, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Helena Rubinstein Foundation and a member of the board of trustees of Miami Art Museum. “It is my hope that this gift will enable new acquisitions and encourage others in our community to contribute to and nurture the growth of this collection.

The gift was one of the last made by the Foundation before it ceased operations at the end of 2011. Over its nearly 60 year history, the Foundation distributed more than $130 million, primarily to education and community-based organizations. However, the Foundation has also had an interest in supporting the arts, a reflection of the founder’s own interests in art and her connections with artists such as Salvador Dalí, Pavel Tchelitchew, and Marie Laurencin.

The point of departure for “Restless: Recent Acquisitions from the MAM Collection” is the video installation Dancer (2011), by Dara Friedman, which was co-produced by Miami Art Museum. The artist sent out a casting call for dancers of varied styles and genres, and filmed over 60 of them as they performed self-choreographed moves at various public locations throughout Miami, from busy South Beach streets to the rooftops of downtown buildings. As the dancers interrupt the normal flow of the urban milieu that surrounds them, they provide a poetic metaphor for the liberating potential of artistic expression.

The lyrical power of aesthetic experience is equally evident in two major paintings by Morris Louis-Circum II (1959-60) and Delta Eta (1960)-both gifts of the estate of the artist’s widow, the Marcella Brenner Revocable Trust. Measuring nearly 12 and 20 feet wide respectively, the works bear a sense of spatial depth and ethereal lightness that belies their monumental scale.

Also on view are several works that the museum recently purchased through the MAM Collectors Council. In Restless 20 and Restless 21 (which lend their titles to this display), Iran do Espirito Santo makes use of the physical space of the gallery to create a startlingly ambiguous perceptual encounter using planes of mirrored and frosted glass. Ernesto Neto’s Cai Cai Marrom (2007) is a large-scale sculptural installation consisting of a wooden armature from which nylon appendages stuffed with aromatic spices are suspended. The work centers on the body, evoking biological forms while providing a burst of sensorial stimulation. Robin Rhode’s stop-action digital animation Requiem for a Pavilion of Silence (2010) features a figure wearing an East German military uniform who paints multiple stenciled images of the Rietveld-designed “Berlin” chair on a wall behind him, sequentially creating the illusion of an imaginary “pavilion” that seems to both shelter and oppress him.

The presentation also features Fred Wilson’s Addiction Display (1991), which uses the visual language of natural history exhibits to draw a parallel between two sites in Colombia-one that has generated archeological artifacts and one associated with illegal drugs; together Wilson’s references create a tacit critique of the selective ways in which the cultural “Other” tends to be represented within Western institutional contexts.

“Restless” signals the special role played by the local art community in the development of the MAM collection through the inclusion of works by Nicolas Lobo and George Sánchez-Calderón, among several other Miami-based artists. Both artists address local urban space in different ways. Lobo’s Terrazzo Glide Slope, a purchase made with funds provided by MAM’s Young Collectors Council, is a sculptural representation of the invisible, V-shaped air routes that are traveled by airplanes unceasingly overhead as they depart from Miami’s airport. Sánchez-Calderón’s Swimming Pool Falla, donated by Liza and Dr. Arturo Mosquera, is a set of nine gold-foil “drawings” created with the use of fire. The work makes reference to Ed Ruscha’s landmark 1968 photoessay Nine Swimming Pools (which is also in the MAM collection), extending Ruscha’s critique of South Californian urban development patterns to Miami’s own evolving cityscape.

Opening Reception : “Restless: Recent Acquisitions from the MAM Collection.”

Artist Talk with Dara Friedman

Thursday, February 16, 2012, 6-9pm

Talk begins 6:30pm (Space is limited. First come, first seated.)

MAM members free, non-members $10

“Restless: Recent Acquisitions from the MAM Collection” opens with an artist talk and exhibition preview on Thursday, February 16, 2012. Artist Dara Friedman will discuss the process of making of Dancer and its relation to her previous films with MAM Curator Peter Boswell, at 6:30pm with reception following.

Second Saturdays are Free for Families: “Hood-winked”

Saturday, March 10, 2012, 1-4pm/ tour at 2pm

Public Tours: Sundays / 2pm

Museum tours, free with museum admission, are offered Sundays at 2pm. Museum visitors meet in the lobby. Thematic tours are offered periodically to correspond with current exhibitions.

Group Tours

Docent-led tours in English or Spanish can be scheduled upon request. Docent-led tours are free to student groups. Contact Miami Art Museum’s education department at 305.375.4073 for additional information.

“Restless: Recent Acquisitions from the MAM Collection” will be on view from February 17 thru May 13, 2012.

Miami Art Museum is located at 101 West Flagler Street. Miami, Florida 33130.

Bouzon Art Gallery

raisa — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:15:12 +0000

Bouzon Art Gallery
7253 SW 48 Street
Miami, FL 33155

Collecting Latin American and Caribbean Art

raisa — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:27:27 +0000

An Interview with Robert Borlenghi

“We don’t live in two separate worlds.”

Italian-born Robert Borlenghi has become a main player in the promotion of Caribbean and Latin American art in the U.S. since the 1990s. The man from Torino-this American Malraux, atypical gallerist and passionate collector who doesn’t consider himself “a businessman in art”-reflects on his life in the art world and offers keen, thought-provoking insight into some of the biggest challenges facing artists and galleries in the age of the Social Media Revolution.

By Joaquín Badajoz

Joaquín Badajoz - You are an art collector turned dealer turned gallerist. How did everything start? Was it an endeavour to support your passion at first?

Robert Borlenghi - I was a collector as a little boy. I had a stamp collection when I was 10 and a butterfly collection before that. I started collecting paintings since my early 20s, and the collection itself evolved, because taste and financial ability changed. I started with the things I was familiar with…limited editions of Picasso, Miró, Chagall, and then evolved into post-impressionist art, and finally contemporary art, mostly from California and Latin America, because I have an affinity to Latin America-I speak the language, and it was of a great interest to me personally. I never really considered becoming a professional in the field of the arts, and I’m not sure that I am. My interest was to share my knowledge. That was really the motivation behind my first gallery, which was dedicated to Haitian art. And fundamentally that is still my motivation today. I’m interested in showing things that I feel other people should see and they don’t have the chance to.

Robert Borlenghi at Pan American Art Projects. Photo: Fernanda Torcida.

J.B. - Why Haitian art?

R.B. - I went to the Caribbean for the first time in the early ’90s, and I had never been exposed to all of that. At the time I would have said that I was fairly involved in contemporary art. I was a founding member at MOCA in Los Angeles and served in the acquisition committee of LACMA, so I would say I knew something about art, but when I went to the Caribbean I saw things I never imagined. I think it was really a shock that I didn’t know anything about this. I then realized how little I really knew. At that point I decided that other people that were familiar with the things that I knew probably didn’t have any idea either, and I felt that they needed to see it. That’s really what changed my life. Haiti really changed my life.

J.B. - I understand very well this strange sense of amusement and the need to share your discoveries. That’s what art writers do on a daily basis.

R.B. - To give you an illustration, there was a very knowledgeable man about art in France. He was a minister of culture. His name was André Malraux, one of the most erudite people who ever lived. He went to Haiti in the ’40s and was so shocked that he decided to tour a show of Haitian Art at the UNESCO in Paris. And he did it. And basically Malraux is responsible for putting Haitian art on the map. It was because of that, because of that relationship that I felt with him-not that I’m trying to equate myself to him in anyway, it’s impossible, but there was something that we have in common-that I called my first gallery Malraux, as an homage to him.

J.B. - Do you remember the first piece of art in your collection?

R.B. - I remember the first, and the second, and the third that I bought. But the first piece in my collection was one that I painted. When I was 17, I won an award in the school system in Milan with that painting, because a famous art critic who was a member of the commission that selected the winners felt that it had ’sculptural qualities.’ I got a silver medal with Leonardo da Vinci’s head on it. I still have the piece.

J.B. - When you started Galerie Malraux in L.A. in 1990, the gallery was focused on Caribbean (Haitian and Jamaican) art. Four years later the gallery moved to Dallas, changing its name to Pan American Art Projects and adding Cuban art (Vanguardism and contemporary) to its portfolio. What was the reason for this decision?

R.B. - That’s a multiple kind of question. First of all, the reason for the move to Dallas was very personal in the sense that I moved my business to Dallas from Los Angeles-my real state investment and development business. I didn’t want to give up the gallery altogether, so a couple of years after I moved, in 1994, we opened with a very large Cuban show. The name Malraux did not fit anymore with what we were trying to do. The expansion into Cuban art was due mostly to the fact that in the early ’90s a congressman from California, Mr. Berman, proposed the law that was passed that allowed the importation of Cuban art, the famous exception to the embargo. The law was tested in the courts for a certain period of time. I finally spoke to Mr. Berman to make sure what was intended, because he inadvertently had left out the word ‘painting’ in the text of the law, and that was the reason for the legal test. When he reassured me that he had meant to include paintings, then I decided that it was safe to go to Cuba. So the expansion into Cuban art was basically because there was such a curiosity on my part about Cuba. So many people were talking to me about Cuba but I was not able to go. Finally, I went and I was able to put together a substantial collection from the beginning, and we opened a show with 400 pieces in 1994. We titled it “Cuba the Last Forty Years.” We showed many important works by Romañach, Domingo Ramos and several people from academia, but a great amount of the works was from the Vanguardia. It was still possible to find them in Cuba. I acquired a great number of works in the ’90s.

J.B. - Your gallery represents about 40 artists and works extensively with Cuban (living on and outside the island), Argentinean, Haitian, Jamaican and American artists. Are those the most interesting places in American contemporary art in your opinion?

R.B. - I can’t say there are not very interesting works being produced from Argentina to Central America, because there are. This year we are working with a Colombian artist who is currently having a show at MoLA in Long Beach who is a fantastic artist. It’s just that our development is gradual. It started in North America, it expanded in the Caribbean and to Argentina for very personal reasons. We were fortunate to meet Leon Ferrari before he became the Leon Ferrari at MOMA, Leone d’Oro in Venice, etc. And we still work with him. So, it’s not to say that those are the only places where interesting art is being created, but there is no question that interesting art is being produced in a lot of those places. I don’t think that what is being done today, that I have seen in Haiti and Jamaica, is at the same level as works done 20 years ago. But other places will come up. And we are basically affected by our ability to move and [do] as much work as we can do. Eventually I hope that we will continue to explore arts in this general area of the Americas, which is what is interesting to us.

Pan American Art Projects is located at 2450 NW 2nd Ave. Wynwood Art District, Miami. Photo: Fernanda Torcida.

J.B. - Art dealers and commercial galleries are commonly seen as a phenomenon of the sphere of circulation, not an artistic institution but a mercantile node whose essence is dictated by the market, a practical bridge between artist and consumers. Nevertheless, the hyperactive nature of the market has reshaped and redefined the artistic trends in a more direct way than museums or critics. What should be the role of the dealer nowadays?

R.B. - I don’t consider myself a dealer, and I don’t think that most galleries are dealers. I see a dealer as someone who really moves art back and forth, and sometimes art that he doesn’t own. I think the function of the gallery today should be to be more collaborative and closer to museums. Obviously, there is a need for the galleries to survive by selling art. But ultimately the purpose of the gallery has to be to promote, to teach, to show. And to do that I think there should be more relationships with museums, so that art that is shown in museums is also shown in the galleries, because we don’t live in two separate worlds.

J.B. - Pan American Art Projects is not a typical commercial gallery, but one that has received much praise for its ‘museum-quality shows.’ Despite this, the gallery has not been accepted at any of the editions of Art Basel Miami Beach. How is that possible?

R.B. - We were on the waiting list once (laughs). We still are a very young gallery. I think that to get in, to earn admittance to a place which is probably the most important one in the world, in terms of art fairs, you have to prove yourself in a consistent manner for a number of years. And I hope that we will. Slowly I think that we are going to be getting [on] the radar of some of the people who make this decision, and as they become more familiar with what we do I’m hopeful that will change.

J.B. - Do you plan to apply for the next editions?

R.B. - Yes. Because it’s a duty I have toward my artists. I have to try to get them in the best possible places.

J.B. - On the other hand, Pan American Art Projects participates in many international art fairs during the year. Do the fairs still work as commercial platforms or are they nowadays more focused on promoting and legitimizing artists and galleries on the international circuit?

R.B. - Well, both. Definitely art fairs give an opportunity for a gallery on a commercial basis to sell art. We participated in two new fairs just last month in Houston and Los Angeles, and we did well in both financially. So, that is important. Realistically the art fair market is an important market for a gallery. There are galleries that sell more in fairs than they do in their own spaces over the year. So they are not insignificant from the financial point of view. On the other hand, ultimately, as I said before, I think the responsibility of the gallery is to promote the work, which entails showing it, and showing it in venues where it is not known. That’s enough reason to participate in art fairs. People in Miami may know what we do; people in Los Angeles have no idea, so they don’t know our artists, and we take them there so they can learn about them. So, the answer to your question is both.

Abel Barroso, La Visa, 2011, wood sculpture, 54.50” x 32.50” x 16”

J.B. - Are the art fairs a good deal for galleries to promote art and increase sales or have they become a lucrative business for the organizers?

R.B. - It’s a risk. Every fair is a risk. You really don’t know when you go how it’s going to work out. I assume that the organizers do well (laughs)-I hope that they do. And I think it is good if they have a financial success, because that will give them the incentive to continue with their job. After all, if they don’t have a financial interest they can’t do what they are doing, and I think that is important for the galleries that these venues exist. I can’t tell you that we have been very successful in every fair we have done. That would be a lie. But I think that it’s important to continue doing it. Ultimately it’s necessary for the promotion of art.

J.B. - In the book The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art, Don Thompson analyzes some trends in the art market: the artist as a brand, the ridiculously high prices at which artworks of Damien Hirst, Warhol, Koons, Emin or Pollock, to name a few, have sold. Is contemporary art only about branding?

R.B. - No. I think that diminishes the image of the collector. I like to think that the collector gives thought to what he is actually collecting. Ultimately there are two issues there. One is who do we buy, and the other one is how much do we pay, and you are addressing these two issues. I think the suggestion that people buy someone simply because he has become popular, as I said, diminishes a little bit the intelligence of the collector. Now, I would admit that not everyone has the time to research many different fields of arts, many different artists or places, and everyone is busy with their own things, so they take shortcuts. And one of the shortcuts is to watch what museums are doing and showing and what other collectors are doing. It’s inevitable that if Saatchi buys Sandro Chia, people say, ‘Wait, maybe I should look into that.’ Then of course Saatchi sells Sandro Chia. It kind of makes it irrelevant, but it’s not. I mean, people do follow because they need shortcuts. But ultimately they make their own decision. And when it comes to how much they pay, they really make that decision. I don’t think any gallerist can put a price on a work of art and expect that someone would pay that amount just because he says so. People will pay for it if they agree that it’s the fair price. Ultimately, people decide the price. I want to give a little bit of credit to the collector.

J.B. - I think Don Thompson talks more specifically about the collector as an investor, not about passionate collectors who really follow their instincts.

R.B. - Well, there are a lot of people who buy art not because of the passion, but because they have the means, and they feel they have to have art. Some are influenced by some sense of pride that it is good to own something that people would recognize. That’s a trick because it definitely comes into play. When people want to have something that other people will appreciate you pay a premium for it. There is no question about it.

J.B. - Thompson also believes that artists, dealers and auction houses have conspired to anoint certain artists, thereby driving up their prices. Does he have a point or is this in your opinion an exaggeration?

R.B. - I can only speak from my personal experience. I have been buying and selling at auctions for 35 years. I have never conspired with an auction house. But I can say that the auction houses must not be underrated or overlooked in the importance that they have in setting prices. Of course, like always there is a financial motivation: The higher the price is the higher the commission and the higher profit for the auction house-that’s obvious. But again, if the buyer does not agree, the piece does not sell. What happens is if the piece sells for a little bit higher valuation than what the auction house had estimated, the next time that artist appears at auction the estimate will be increased but with justification-that is the market, the public, that say we are willing to pay more. The auction house is typically trying to keep the prices a little bit lower than market, exactly for that reason, to create interest and to create overbidding. The overbidding results in higher prices the next time, and it continues. If it goes down, if its sells much lower or if it doesn’t sell, the next time they have to reflect that. I was reading in The Art Newspaper the other day that the auction houses sell half of the art sold in America. I didn’t realize it was that much. That’s why I said that their function is very important, but as far as a conspiracy I don’t see it. I haven’t seen it.

Leon Ferrari, Woman, mixed media, 31.50” x 16” x 12”. All images are courtesy of Pan American Art Projects.

J.B. - Since you are one of the few Cuban-art dealers in the U.S. who works extensively with Cuban institutions such as the Cuban Fine Arts Museum, you are one of the most authorized to talk about the topic. I personally think that this is not one of the best moments for Cuban art. What is your opinion?

R.B. - I can’t disagree with you. I don’t think that we have the same amount of very good production that Cuba had in the ’70s or ’80s. There are few groups, let’s say, of students that become artists together, that create together, that work often with one another. There are individuals, however, several individuals, who are working in isolation, totally different from one another, who are very good artists. This year we were fortunate enough to add to our stable of artists two of them-Abel Barroso and José Toirac-and by Toirac I mean also Meira, who is his wife, as they work together very often. These are fantastic artists, but they have practically nothing in common with anybody else or with each other. There are still individuals that are extremely good, Yoan Capote, for example. Some of these really good artists like Capote and Garaicoa find the need to go and live at least for part of the year somewhere else, like in Spain, because in Cuba they don’t have the facilities, the materials to create what they want to create, but fundamentally they are Cubans. I think there are still examples of individual talent that is fantastic. But in general I agree that there is not the quality or quantity as there used to be.

J.B. - There are a lot of expectations and misinterpretations about the Cuba-U.S. cultural exchange. What are the pros and cons of this relationship?

R.B. - I understand, sympathize with and respect the position of those who are opposed to loosening the U.S. embargo to Cuba, and I understand the deep feelings involved, which make it difficult to isolate cultural exchanges. But art is exempted from the embargo, and it has its place. I was very moved when I saw on television, the day that Gaddafi was killed, a Libyan man wearing a cowboy hat and playing a guitar-you cannot find a more pro-Western image. You can compare that to kids playing in the streets in Havana wearing a Yankees cap: it makes you think there is hope for the future. But I should speak about our modest experience. Cuban artist José Manuel Fors spent six weeks in our apartment next to the gallery for artists in residence. He produced most of the show here, using local materials. Indeed, we could not have done this show if he was not allowed to travel. We encourage our artists to travel, whether to the U.S. or China, to complete residencies: It expands their views, and they contribute in turn to bridging differences.

J.B. - Have you ever had any problem working with Cuban institutions?

R.B. - Ultimately, problems are never with institutions, they are with people. There has been a lot of progress made in Cuba by institutions in the sense of trying to be more accountable, more dependable. That is one problem that exists unfortunately with that very controlled system. There is a risk of lack of accountability or reliability. But as I said, things are changing, and they have even made strides and improvements. So, overall I say no. As I said, there can be problems at times with some particular individuals.

J.B. - We have noticed that Pan American Art Projects has broadened its niche. How do you visualize your gallery in five years?

R.B. - The overall interest will remain the same. ‘Pan America’ is what we are interested in. We need to fill some gaps, and I hope that it’s something we will be able to do, to bring art from Mexico, for example. It’s something that we can’t ignore. But the overall interest remains the same, because fundamentally the whole concept behind this gallery is the presentation of works that come from different places together. So we can see how they work together. We can see what influences one can have on the other. And ultimately, we hope that they all become just one. No black and white, just some gray that we all belong to.

J.B. - Could you name an artist that you are particularly interested in working with or representing in your gallery? Why?

R.B. - The illustration I want to give you is of an artist that I think typifies what we would like to do. That is something of beauty, something of serious substance, large in scale, not necessarily terribly commercial. And you can see an example here in the show that opens tonight. These large pieces that I asked artist José Manuel Fors to do for the main walls of the gallery are an illustration of the scope of what we are trying to do. I think the artist that best typifies my own personal idea about art is Teresita Fernandez. It is an idea, as I said. She is represented by a very good gallery in New York: one day I would like to work with them to do an installation in Miami, where she is from.

J.B. - What are the main challenges an art dealer or gallery owner faces today?

R.B. - The huge challenge that we face is to be relevant, to continue to be relevant in a world that has such immediate access to all the information that is available. And by that I mean any person can contact any other person, any artist. And unless the artist has a deep sense of connection with the gallery it becomes very difficult for a gallery to be able to survive in the context of people being able to be in contact with any artist in the world at any moment. I think that is something we all need to address, both artists and galleries.

Pan American Art Projects is located at 2450 NW 2nd Ave. Wynwood Art District, Miami, 33127. Phone 305 573 2400 / www.panamericanart.com / miami@panamericanart.com

Joaquín Badajoz is and independent art critic and writer based in Miami.

Suspended Between Utopia and Disaster

raisa — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:29:46 +0000

Jovan Karlo Villalba, Beginning at the Water's Edge, 2010, oil on stainless steel, 24” x 24”

An Interview with Jovan Karlo Villalba

By Claire Breukel

Jovan Karlo Villalba was born in Quito, Ecuador, and moved to Miami with his family at a young age. He attended New World School of the Arts and studied painting, after which he was awarded a four year full-tuition scholarship to Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. He graduated in 1999 and began working as a full-time artist, setting up his studio in the burgeoning art district of Chelsea and later moving his practice to Long Island City in Queens. During this time, Villalba exhibited his work at the New York Design Center, as well as in galleries in all three major U.S. cities, including New York City, Los Angeles and Miami. He also participated in Bino-scapes, a group exhibition at the Berliner Kunst project in Berlin, Germany. In 2008, Villalba returned to his hometown of Miami, and in 2009, his Premonitions series was featured as part of the “Queens International 4″ exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art. New York. Villalba was awarded Best of Show at the Armory Art Center “New*Art” exhibition in 2011, juried by Miami gallerist Frederic Snitzer. He currently lives and works in Miami.

Jovan Karlo Villalba at his studio in Miami.

Villalba became known for his exact painting technique that, combined with a darker subject matter, are on the one hand aesthetically enticing and on the other disconcerting. His diverse color palette references the natural world, however his subject matter remains illusive, functioning as suggestions of actual form. The result is “landscape” environments that layer perspective and form in to a collage of melded realities that feel familiar yet resist recognition-creating imagery that is both elusive and ambiguous.

Ambiguity is key, and this is echoed in Villalba’s technique. Using oil paint on stainless steel, Villalba creates a reflective surface that emits a reflective light, suggesting a sense of assurance and well-being. This is, however, paradoxical amidst his dark and ominous backgrounds that are accentuated with forms of sharp bright color that lends his subjects an otherworldly aesthetic. We are in unknown territory and absorbed in a foreign land that offers both a suggestion of things to come as well as the possibility of a tumultuous turmoil.

The next shard of geometric line could quite possibly hit you squarely in the forehead or could offer a lifeline to grab a hold of during a raging storm. It’s this paradox-balancing between an optimistic future and complete devastation-that creates tension in the work.

Intrigued by this ambiguity in his work, I interviewed Villalba to gain insight in to his personal and creative inspirations in an attempt to unravel the subject matter of his “environments” and get a little closer to uncovering the true intention of these precarious suspended moments. The ideas Villalba expressed in the interview outlined his intentions in relation to his different bodies of work precisely, so instead of creating an article about the work I thought it best to publish the interview and share with you his words.

Claire Breukel - Has coming from Ecuador and growing up in Miami contributed to the way in which you make your work?

Jovan Karlo Villalba - I moved to Miami shortly after I was born. I was raised mostly by my mother’s family, who are from Cuba. Growing up I was always surrounded by many types of people from many different places. I imagine being in this multicultural environment during my formative years contributed to my development as an artist early on.

C.B. - In your earlier work there is a tension between the hyper-real aesthetic of your work that suggest the ideal (rendered through your exact painting technique and the stainless base of your work) and the subject that suggests destruction. This juxtaposition both appealing and also feels like a trick. Can you comment?

J.K.V. - The Premonitions series is more representational than my recent works. In this series I use dislocation to engage the viewer by rendering familiar imagery and placing it into unfamiliar environments and/or unsettling events-most of which are catastrophic in nature. The use of stainless steel-a material that has become very familiar due to its use in many consumer products-in my work is unexpected and serves to re-emphasize this idea of dislocation.

Reflection of Fall and Feathers, 2011, oil on stainless steel, 40” x 48”

C.B. - When did you first begin using stainless steel, and how did you come across the medium?

J.K.V. - Sometime in 2004 I found myself sitting in my small Chelsea art studio surrounded by large white canvases. At that moment, I decided it was time to begin experimenting with different surfaces for my paintings. Steel initially appealed to me because of its qualities and the subject I was working on. At first, I was having a hard time with rusting and making the paint stick. I switched to stainless steel, and soon after I came up with a painting medium that helped the oil paint stick to the surface.

C.B. - You created the Premonitions series during the time you were living in New York. I feel like the works allude to a personal narrative- is there a personal narrative integrated in to these environments?

J.K.V. - I think you will find that most of my work is a sort of personal narrative, likely influenced in some way by my experiences or circumstances. Living in New York City during the events of September 11th affected me, and my work, tremendously. Suddenly, I found myself-along with millions of Americans-living in fear and “on alert.” Almost instantly, I began to create work that comments on global tragedies and the resonating effects they have on us. I see Premonitions as an investigation into the human pysche wherein I present, in various ways, a series of the most feared apocalyptic events.

C.B. - Your “environments” function as landscapes that, through their ambiguous subject, illicit curiosity, uncertainty and sometimes even fear in your audience. Can you situate your work within the context history of landscape painting?

J.K.V. - I’ve always been interested in making work that stimulates curiosity and the imagination. I really don’t situate my work in the context of landscape painting, nor have I thought about my work that way. I don’t see myself as a landscape artist per se. It just happens to be the work I’m interested in creating right now.

The Climb, 2010, oil on stainless steel, 24” x 24”

C.B. - Your use of color, sharp shards of “light” and perspective visually echoes techniques used by David Schnell and other Leipzig painters. Is their approach to technique an influence on your work?

J.K.V. - Funny, recently I was told that my art resembles David Schnell’s because of those sharp shards and rays. In my work those elements and marks are intended to bridge and communicate the idea of connection, and not so much used to describe perspective and scale. Although the Leipzig painters have not directly influenced my work, it’s likely that they influence the work of artists I admire.

C.B. - Who are the artists you admire?

J.K.V. - I admire the work of many artists, from Anselm Kiefer to Matthew Ritchie. Recently, I’ve been interested in the work of my contemporaries from New York, such as Jim Gaylord, Francesca DiMattio and Jules de Balincourt.

C.B. - You describe your newer body of work as expressionist and gestural. Can you explain how your techniques have progressed and changed from the more representational qualities of Premonitions to the expressionist quality of your New Beginnings series?

J.K.V. - Visually, my work has become more expressionist, and even quite abstract. Over time, I’ve become more fixated on creating work that exudes more than meets the eye. Understanding visual depth and the dual roles of a brushstroke-as image in its own right and as a means of reference-has played a crucial part in the progression of my work. Some characteristics of surrealism, such as the combination of the abstract, depictive and psychological, are also visible in these new works. With regards to subject, my work remains within the context of social and environmental issues. Although in these new works the resulting images appear far less ominous. Instead, ideas of time, rebirth, cleansing and transformation all come in to play within my subject matter, however overall my work’s focus is still based on the idea of psycho-geography.

C.B. - In this newer series of work you have created environments that evoke an emotional response from your audience that includes optimism, self-reflection and maybe even nostalgia. In this way your environments become timeless and throw in to question human relationships (both physical and emotional). As an extension to this engagement with psycho-geography, do you create these environments as provocations to become more aware about social and environmental ideas?

J.K.V. - Both, for me they go hand in hand. Every aspect of my recent works-from the application of the paint that describes these environments to the installation of the works as seemingly floating steel panels-is intended to contribute towards evoking an emotional response from a viewer. Be it by stimulating contemplation, self-reflection and nostalgia and/or stirring up feelings of hope, isolation or confusion, this connection plays a vital role in initiating an experience that will engage a viewer and allow me to effectively comment on social and environmental issues.

C.B. - Do you have any upcoming exhibitions we should know about?

J.K.V. - I have two solo exhibitions planned for 2012-neither is titled as of yet. The first will open be at Taché Gallery in Chelsea in New York City on April 12. The second will be at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach in Florida in September. I will also be featured in the “Tomorrow Stars” exhibition at the Verge Art Miami Beach this December.

For more information about Jovan Karlo Villalba, visit his website, www.jovankarlo.com

Claire Breukel is a South African contemporary art curator based in Miami.

* Jovan Karlo Villalba is the winner of the Open Call for Artists. ARTDISTRICTS December 2011/January 2012

TOP 3

raisa — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:55:03 +0000

The Fortress: First Art Storage Facility in South Florida

raisa — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:40:11 +0000

The Fortress building in Miami, Florida is located at 1629 N.E. 1st Avenue, 33132.

By Sophie-Annie Videment

As the first art storage facility in South Florida, Fortress knows how it feels to break new ground. In fact, its New York location was also the first art storage facility there. But if you think Fortress takes its standing for granted, you’d be wrong. After 30 years, it still treats every client as its first.

“The Fortress has been in the business longer than anybody else,” says art dealer and collector Francisco Arévalo. “This longevity gives the people working in the company a strong knowledge which enables them to provide a very unique service. I also appreciate very much the discretion with which they carry out their business-it is very important in our field. In addition, at a more personal level, you feel as a client that they really take care of you, that they know you. I really like this friendly and yet extremely professional environment.”

Fortress’ viewing room.

This level of exceptional service provided by its team of dedicated, long-time employees is rare to find in the industry. Just ask some of its clients what they think of the staff and you will hear words such as “consistent,” “outstanding,” “refreshing” and “unbelievable” in their description. Felipe Grimberg, another art dealer and collector, concurs, “We have worked together with the Fortress for more than 12 years, and I am extremely satisfied with them. They are punctual, reliable and also very friendly. It is a trustworthy relationship.”

The same level of service that clients receive in Miami can also be found at Fortress’ locations in Boston and New York. In fact, the long-standing Miami-New York connection is alive and well at Fortress, as many of its clients have a home in both locations and feel comfortable knowing they can deal with the same company in both cities.

In particular, there is a high demand from both Miami and New York dealers during Art Basel Miami Beach. “Art Basel fair week is one of my favorites,” says Fortress Vice President Kimberly Jones. “Visitors and collectors come to Miami from all over the world. There is a multitude of world class art. It is a very exciting time in Miami.”

Fortress Miami recently completed an expansion and renovation of its private viewing gallery, which offers several options for displaying art depending on a client’s preference. It is available year-round by the day or hour. Obviously, demand is especially high during Art Basel Miami Beach, as, in addition to sales negotiated inside the fair, there are many private sales being finalized during that time.

Fernando Botero sculpture on display in Fortress’ viewing gallery.

While hurricane season just ended and South Florida escaped without experiencing a major storm, Fortress’ collection management protocol is always proactive and includes plans to deal with such weather effects throughout the year. In fact, the company’s Hurricane Preparedness Program has been an effective tool for collectors for 30 years, and it stresses the importance for all collectors in South Florida to remain diligent and include the same or a similar strategy in their plans.

Javier Mora, a prominent international contemporary art collector, started using Fortress’ services 10 years ago. “My use of their services has evolved over the years from small storage to full service,” Mora says. “Miami’s climate can be devastating for art works, and my insurance company had cancelled my policy because of the risks associated with the hurricane season. So, every six months now, the Fortress employees pick up my collection, store it in their temperature- and humidity-controlled facility, and reinstall it after the hurricane season. I really like working with them. Everything is smooth and easy. They are very good professionals who take good care of the works. The Fortress is unique in Miami.”

For more information about Fortress and its services, contact Kim Jones at 305-374-6161 or kjones@thefortress.com, or visit the company online at www.thefortress.com

Sophie-Annie Videment is an art critic based in Miami. She is an expert and art consultant on contemporary art, and is member of Paris-based European Chamber of Expert-Advisors in Fine Art.

A Conversation with Ramón Cernuda

raisa — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:37:50 +0000

Cernuda Arte in Coral Gables has become an authority on Cuban art. The family business is owned by Ramón Cernuda and Nercys Ganem, who run it with their son, Sergio Cernuda, and Luisa Lignarolo, a young art historian who joined the gallery before marrying Sergio. Recently ARTDISTRICTS spoke with Cernuda at the Miami home where, he says, “Every wall is nothing but a pretext for a painting” from the important collection of Cuban art he and Nercys have amassed over 38 years.

By Margery Gordon

Margery Gordon - Could you tell me a little bit about your childhood experiences in Cuba and your encounters with art?

Ramón Cernuda - My family left Cuba in October of 1960. It has been 51 years now. I was a young adolescent then, and our first encounters with art were after we arrived in Miami and my family relocated to Puerto Rico in San Juan. The art community in San Juan was small, but active, and through the University of Puerto Rico Museum and three or four other art institutions, we were able to establish our first contacts with the arts. Also, at the University of Puerto Rico, where I studied social sciences and humanities, I had the opportunity of taking various courses in art history and art appreciation. So those were the very early beginnings, in the 1960s and very early ‘70s. I acquired my first painting in 1973. It is in storage. Over two-thirds of our collection is in storage. We rotate the works. We hang about 180, so we estimate maybe in the neighborhood of 500 in the private collection, not considering our gallery inventories.

M.G. - And do those mix?

R.C. - Well, my wife makes it a point not to mix them. That was one of her conditions when I finally convinced her 11 years ago to open up a gallery-that we build a Chinese wall around the collection to try to keep it separate from our business. Occasionally we are clients of our own gallery, and every so often we agree, the two of us, to trade works from the private collection with the gallery when we find that there are some things that we can’t live without. But in general, both entities are very well-defined and separate.

Cernuda Arte: Sergio Cernuda, Luisa Lignarolo, Nercys Cernuda, and Ramón Cernuda.

M.G. - What were you doing before you started the gallery?

R.C. - I came back to the United States in 1974, and I formed a publishing house. We published books, encyclopedias-I helped publish the first Cuban Encyclopedia. I published other Cuban culture publications and self-study programs, English courses for Hispanics. In 1977, we formed a company for that purpose, and the company was very active until the year 2000. It continues to exist, but the volume of operations is minimal, because in the year 2000 my wife and I decided that in order to expand our horizons in the art world, we were going to not only continue our collecting passion, but we were also going to open up a gallery that specialized in precisely the field that had become our focus of interest.

For about a year and a half, we simply bought inventory for the gallery, because we are believers in gallery-owned inventory. Over 85 percent of our gallery’s sales volume in dollars is acquired paintings owned by the gallery that are then sold by the gallery, and maybe 15, at most 20, percent in dollar volume in consigned work. That tends to be the contemporary work of represented artists, because in today’s secondary market that deals in deceased masters, if you’re not ready to buy, oftentimes the works will not be available. So we are constantly buying and selling in that field of deceased Cuban masters, and, on the other hand, we represent 13 living artists. The bulk of our consigned work comes from those represented artists.

M.G. - How many of those artists are living in Cuba versus Cuban-Americans from here or living here?

R.C. - Ten live in Cuba, two live in Miami and one Cuban émigré lives in Paris.

M.G. - Is that something that evolved? When you started out, were you mostly just dealing in the secondary market and you started adding the contemporary, or was that part of your plan to begin with?

R.C. - It was part of the business plan right from the old days when I was the vice president and director of the Cuban Museum in Miami. I spent 15 years on the board of the Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture in Little Havana. We believed that our involvement in Cuban art should not be one that segregated or discriminated [against] artists for any reason other than the quality of their art. We integrated living artists with deceased artists in our exhibitions at the museum, and artists who live in Cuba vis-a-vis artists who live in exile. And that concept of one cultural entity throughout its historical evolution was our model for the gallery also. So from our first exhibition when we opened the gallery we included living and deceased artists, and we included artists living in Cuba with artists from the exile community. In those days, the idea of mixing artists from Cuba and the exile community was very controversial. We had massive demonstrations in front of the gallery from the very beginning, some definitely verbal insults and some physical violence: pushing, spitting, tire-slashing.

M.G. - Did you also have that reaction at the museum?

R.C. - Yes, in the ‘80s we were [targeted with] terrorist threats and actions. Two bombs exploded in front of the museum. One totally destroyed the building and about 25 paintings that were on exhibition inside the building. Of the 25, maybe four or five were saved; the rest were beyond saving. Another bomb placed in the museum blew up one of the cars of one of the directors. Those were tough times. It was a very intolerant climate in the arts and politics in general. In 1989, after various incidents at the Cuban Museum, the U.S. District Attorney’s office confiscated our collection and initiated a grand jury investigation regarding our possible violation of the embargo laws because they claimed that art was a Cuban product and it was illegal to possess it in the United States. We filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Government for violation of First Amendment rights.

Cernuda Arte at 3155 Ponce de Leon Blvd in Coral Gables, Florida.

M.G. - How did that fall under the First Amendment?

R.C. - Well, it was a very creative, but very fundamental, legal construction. The First Amendment protects your right to free speech, and a corollary of that concept is free access to information. So informational materials have had constitutional protection, including the press, also film, music and books, all kinds of publications. They are considered more than a product. So we said, the arts historically have been a source of enormous information to mankind. Professor Juan Martínez from Florida International University wrote a brief to the court basically outlining, from the Egyptians and even before, specific cases of what we know as mankind thanks to the arts, and what we wouldn’t know if it hadn’t been for the arts. The concept of the arts being informational material had not been defined by the U.S. Courts. We went to Federal Circuit Court with Judge Kenneth Ryskamp in 1989, who ruled totally in our favor and said art is definitely, and historically has been, informational materials. It falls under the protection of the First Amendment, consequently no lesser law can impede the free flow of informational materials. So the whole case of the U.S. District Attorney collapsed because the embargo could not apply to the arts, and it was not only Cuban art, but in those days, it was also Vietnamese art, Libyan art and Korean art were being embargoed. If you study art law, our case is studied as the case that gives art the constitutional protection of the First Amendment. Our case is case law; it’s precedential. It was an extraordinary experience for us, being immigrants to this country and ending up suing the U.S. government in their own courts and winning. It’s something that I don’t think happens anywhere else in the world.

M.G. - Specifically in Cuban art, there was a period when there were a lot of forgeries. Can you talk about that?

R.C. - It’s a problem that hasn’t been resolved. Particularly deceased artists, those whose works are being sold in higher numbers, get forged and sold on the U.S. market, and collectors, who are doing this because they love the art, are getting robbed, getting taken by these fraudulent transactions. So we have a situation where it’s very difficult for some people, unless they consult with experts, to protect themselves with investments. So it’s very important that that be a consideration for any collector, particularly of Cuban art. Some of the better-known living artists from the island are also being forged.

M.G. - Why Cuban art so much, because of the lack of access?

R.C. - Precisely, because of the divide between the sources, the history, the knowledge on the one side, and the collecting on the other, and the money. And then there’s the interruption of clear, continuous provenance. In normal conditions, talking of a painting from the early ‘20s and ‘30s, you can trace the various collections that have had that painting. With Cuban art, there’s always the argument, ‘Well, I can’t tell you who owned the painting in Cuba, because it got to me after it was smuggled out of the country.’ So there are issues that complicate the chain of custody of the painting.

M.G. - So how do you dig through that?

R.C. - We have to rely mostly on expertise. We have two libraries of Cuban art books that we are constantly consulting. Also occasionally we rely on scientific testing, when the monetary considerations justify that. It is expensive and time-consuming, but it has been a tool that has been used successfully. And we have worked with some retired FBI calligraphy experts regarding signature analysis. I provide a free-of-charge service at the gallery, and we get, on average, once a day someone coming in asking us whether this painting is a forgery or an original. If I believe that my opinion is not sufficient, I provide referrals. We’ve done it for auction houses, insurance companies, even the government has requested that we get involved in expert analysis of works for the courts.

M.G. - Has there been much enforcement?

R.C. - Not at all. That is precisely what we have been talking about-the need for much more enforcement and better legal instruments for the police. We’ve been working with the FBI. They have a unit here in Florida for art crimes. We first got involved with them a year ago with the theft of a major collection, and it so happened that the thieves brought the paintings to our gallery, so we were able to call the police, and they grabbed them then and there, inside the gallery. But with forgeries, it’s a much more difficult process. The only way that you could win is if you can prove that the seller knew they sold you a forgery, and then it becomes fraud, and there is no statute of limitations until the moment you discover it is a forgery. The burden of proof is on the buyer, not the seller. So we need a better set of laws regarding consumer protection in the arts.

Lowe Art Museum group visited the Cernuda Collection at their home on November 2011.

M.G. - Do you think that there is a better level of trust at this point in buying Cuban art, or do you think there’s still some trepidation because of the forgeries?

R.C. - I advise all of my clients to be extremely careful and to check everything that they buy and to buy from institutions that guarantee return of the monies if there is a problem. That should be a requirement of any collector. Very few entities guarantee, in writing, return of the money independent of the statute of limitations.

M.G. - What have you seen as far as the trajectory of the market?

R.C. - It’s going up immensely. The prices of Cuban art have really moved up, particularly of these deceased Modernist artists, the prices have multiplied.

M.G. - Was there a particular point where you saw a sharp increase, or has it just gone up steadily?

R.C. - Well, the boom years of 2006 and 2007 certainly marked a rise in pricing. Now that the economy has not been as good, the prices have leveled off and some prices have dropped with regard to those high prices of ‘05, ‘06 and ‘07.

M.G. - Is it hard when you see works come into the gallery that you really like? Do you have a collector’s temptation to want to keep them?

R.C. - It’s not hard, it’s horrible [laughs]. I have to thank my son Sergio, because he is the more level-headed, business-minded person, and also my daughter-in-law, Luisa. She’s an art historian from FIU, and she’s also involved in client relations. She’s been with the gallery about eight years. Just today we sold a painting that I would love to keep, but it had to go. By René Portocarrero, it’s a work from 1966 titled Portrait of Flora. It was exhibited in the Venice Biennale in 1966, and it’s an award-winning painting, a masterpiece. We acquired it from a private collection just four months ago, and it’s going to a very good collection of a good friend and client.

M.G. - What is the scope of the clientele? How much of it is local, national, international?

R.C. - Things are changing in that regard. Fortunately for us, five-six years ago we decided to go national and not put all our eggs in Miami, and we started an aggressive program of fairs outside the city of Miami. Now, in the downturn of the local economy-which is especially difficult for the art world because many of the collectors were in the construction or real estate industry or mortgage banking or related industries-we have found that that safety net of collectors around the United States and some European collectors have saved us from a free fall. We do continue to work with some local collectors that have been fortunately isolated from economic global problems. We do have some international clients, but it’s really mostly a national clientele. We’ve worked very hard at various fairs in the Northeast, and also Chicago, Houston now. We really have not ventured as much to the West. It has the geographic proximity, but it doesn’t have the cultural proximity.

M.G. - You haven’t been back to Cuba?

R.C. - I’m not allowed to go back by the Cuban government. I think the problem is more with what we do now, which is an independent gallery that represents artists from the island. The artists work exclusively with us, some worldwide exclusivity, and some U.S. exclusivity. It helps us immensely to control the direction of the career of these artists, to properly promote it, maintain the order of the market.

M.G. - So you can’t do studio visits. How do you handle the communication, exportation? Do you have other people who go on site in your business?

R.C. - Fortunately, my wife has been able to go to Cuba on various occasions-also my son, my daughter-in-law, they’ve been allowed. From the U.S. point of view, I can travel to Cuba anytime I want. The gallery has a license. Any full-time employee of the gallery can go to Cuba to conduct business without any limitation on the U.S. part…I’m looking forward to the day when, after 50 years of ostracism, I can be allowed back in.

M.G. - The artists there now, how are they treated?

R.C. - The artists are the privileged people in Cuban society. They are among the wealthiest, because they are one of the very few categories of workers in Cuba that can legally sell their products, art, in hard currency, to foreigners, either persons or entities, galleries. They get paid directly from us in U.S. dollars. We have to do it through the Cuban National Bank, so the dollars get converted to their equivalent to U.S. dollars, CUCs [Cuban convertible pesos]. The government charges a banking fee.

M.G. - What about the emerging artists? Are they subsidized when they leave the academy by the government?

R.C. - No. It’s swim or drown, and that’s a problem. The problem in Cuba today is that there are not enough galleries to help the emerging artists. They graduate thousands of very talented people, but then there is virtually no opportunity for them. They have to throw a bottle into the ocean and hope that it lands on some island out there and somebody opens up the bottle and reads the message and then starts caring for their work.

Wifredo Lam, Mujer de Pie, (Standing Woman), 1944, mixed media on paper laid down on canvas, 42” x 33 ¾”

M.G. - So have you discovered artists there?

R.C. - We work with a group of artists that were very young, starving emerging artists when we started, and now they’ve developed. Some of our artists have been with us on an exclusive worldwide representation for 10 years, since we started the gallery, and some have been with us seven, eight, five years. We just had a very successful exhibition of a lady, Irina Elen González, in her 30s, this month. She sold close to 90 percent of her show. Her price range is anywhere from $4,000 to $15,000. She’s been with us for five years, and now she got her first one-person show. She goes back to Cuba next week.

M.G. - Who do you think are rising stars, ones to watch?

R.C. - Miguel Florido is a very successful young artist in his 30s. He’s already sold at auction at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in the $15,000 to $20,000 range. He started with us 10 years ago. We represent him exclusively worldwide. He’s a very talented artist. Vicente Hernández is in his late 30s, a surrealist artist. He’s all about massive migration. He’s doing very well. He’s also been exhibiting and selling at auction in the $10,000 to $20,000 range.

M.G. - Any new blood that you’re looking at bringing in?

R.C. - Yes, we just signed an artist who arrived from Cuba two years ago. His name is Dayron González, an expressionist artist whose work is very strong and has to do with the life of children and adolescents in a closed society. It’s a direct reference to his experiences. I’m not politically active, but I do give opportunity to artists independent of their beliefs if I think that the quality of their work is important.

M.G. - Is it hard to play favorites? Do you have any?

R.C. - There are three artists of the Vanguardia period that are my favorites: One of them is Carlos Enríquez. I also like [Fidelio] Ponce [de León] very much, and Portocarrero. The more expensive artists are not my favorites. I love Lam, and we collect Lam, of course, but he’s not really my favorite Cuban artist. Ponce is very low-priced. He started doing his work in the mid-’20s, ‘30s, and he died in 1949. He’s an expressionistic artist, very distinguished, symbolic, spiritual. He doesn’t have the color of the tropics as much as Lam, not as decorative, so it’s not as popular.

M.G. - What are your plans for the fairs?

R.C. - We’re bringing a very strong Modernist show to Art Miami, including Wifredo Lam from the ‘40s, and also Víctor Manuel García. It has been a fruitful year because some local collections that were very active have gone into crisis and had to sell their works, so we’ve been able to pick up some important works. The display will be mostly contemporary for MIA, the Miami International Art fair. We did Art Basel last year. We sold Lam’s The Lovers [Les Fiancés, (1944)] for $3 million, a self-portrait of the artist marrying Helena [Holzer, a German scientist]. It was in the Basel catalog, and people, when paying for their tickets, were asking about it.

Cernuda Arte is located at 3155 Ponce de Leon Blvd. Coral Gables, Florida, 33134. Phone: 305 461 1050 / www.cernudaarte.com / cernudaarte@msn.com

Lélia Mordoch: Is Art an Antidepressant?

raisa — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:29:56 +0000

Lélia Mordoch

By Sophie Videment

“A work of art is not gratuitous; it’s always the expression of an inner need. One either rips one’s guts out to create or remains silent,” Lélia Mordoch says. Owner of a successful gallery with two spaces, one in Paris, the other in Miami, Mordoch’s success is driven by her passion for art and her vivid desire to share this passion. The December exhibition of the Miami space is organized around the publishing of the book Is Art An Antidepressant? created for the 21st anniversary of the gallery.

Sophie Videment - You own a successful gallery with two spaces in Paris and Miami, you are participating in international art fairs…tell us about your trajectory as a gallerist. How did this success happen?

Lélia Mordoch - The key to this success is my love for art. I opened a gallery in Paris, Saint-Germain des Prés in 1989, just before the art market crisis-at the worst moment-and I had the chance to survive and grow when other galleries had to close their doors. I have always wanted to be a gallerist because I love to make people discover the art of today. The artists I represent, I have discovered them myself when I visited their studios, or in the streets, or when they came into my gallery to show me their work. I first loved their work, but you can’t avoid to also love the person when you love the work of an artist. The work is the translation of the human being. Today, I still show lots of the artists with whom I have begun working, and we have become a kind of team.

Lélia Mordoch Gallery in Miami is located at 2300 North Miami Ave, Wynwood Art District.

S.V. - You inaugurated your Miami space in 2009. Opening a new space in another continent, in another market, is a huge challenge. What drove you to do it?

L.M. - I came for the first time to Miami to exhibit in a fair in 1991, when Art Miami, the fair created by Lee Ann and David Lester, was starting. Immediately, I was attracted by the city and by the collectors I met. The American public buys what it likes with enthusiasm. It is a very spontaneous public with whom you can share your passions. Immediately, I dreamed of opening a gallery in Miami. As you stress it, it is not as simple as that. So I waited for the right moment. I begun working with Daniel Fiorda, whose studio I had visited in the Lincoln Road Art Center in the ’90s. Quickly, as he was located here, he started to help me build the booth for the fairs and prepare the exhibitions in Florida, Miami and Palm Beach. It is thanks to Daniel, who manages the gallery, that I was able to open the gallery in Miami.

S.V. - You represent artists from Japan, France, Spain, some are renowned, some are emerging. How would you describe the artistic line of the gallery? What are the shared elements in the work of the artists you represent?

L.M. - The artists that I represent may seem at first sight very different, but they all have in common this visceral need to create. They create with their body and soul. Art is the essence of their being. I feature what I love.

S.V. - Participating in several art fairs all over the world represents a substantial investment. Is participating in an art fair more of a communication tool for the gallery, or do you see it more like a platform to expand to other markets? In which fairs will you be present in the next months?

L.M. - The contemporary art fairs are a scene for the artists. They facilitate the public and the artists to discover what is new on the international art scene. And, of course, to meet new collectors, art dealers and artists. Art fairs are live creation laboratories. The big contemporary art fairs are the best places to sell but also to buy, and superb exhibitions like the Venice Biennale reflect the spirit of the time. Art is a thermometer and a barometer of its time. Art can only be contemporary.

Julio Le Parc, Forme en contorsion sur fond blanc (detail), 1966, 39.5” x 12” x 6”. Denise Rene Editions.

S.V. - How would you define the role of the gallerist in the international art market?

L.M. - My goal as a gallerist is not to speculate on art works but to feature art and make the world discover artists; to share my passion; to make the public discover new things that reflect our era. To touch collectors, but also students, children, the man of the street. It is always an enormous pleasure for me when, at a fair, the technicians, electricians, firemen, police agents, stop to watch the art pieces, to comment, bring a colleague and say, “Come and have a look at this, it’s fantastic!” When I exhibited Patrice Girard and his sculptures, which include real fish, the public was astonished. That is when I met Carolina Sardi and Daniel Fiorda. I organize shows for people who are able to stop in front of an art piece and let their emotions take the lead, for all the ones who take the time to really watch. I don’t believe that the public is very different in Paris and Miami. Today we all live in similar worlds. Painters of today, whether they like it or not, are all children of Van Gogh and Vasarely.

S.V. - Can you tell us about the book you are currently publishing to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the gallery?

L.M. - The December exhibition is organized around the publishing of the book Is Art An Antidepressant? It’s the approximate translation of the original French edition, L’Angoisse est-elle soluble dans l’Art? published for the 20th anniversary of Lélia Mordoch Gallery in December 2009. It is a retrospective of the gallery exhibitions in the United States for the last 20 years. Works by artists such as Julio Le Parc or Garcia Rossi will be next to artists from another generation such as Emmanuel Fillot, Patrice Girard, Daniel Fiorda, Carolina Sardi, Keren… I wrote this book over the years; it gathers texts written for each show and anecdotes which give the reader an idea of what can be the life of a gallery. It is also, in a certain way, a history of 20 years of contemporary art. I’d like to add that I like writing and candles on birthday cakes. Twenty years of a gallery, it is the ideal opportunity to publish a book. The French book had a lot of success, including in Miami in spite of the language barrier. So I decided to create an American version, which at first was only supposed to be a translation. But I couldn’t resist to tell the story about opening the gallery in Miami. And in one year, you always have more things to tell.

Patrice Girard, Still Life, 2005, rice paper, metal, herrings, 20" x16" 2"

S.V. - What do you think about the Miami art scene?

L.M. - First, Art Basel Miami Beach is one of the major art events in the world. We are very happy that it takes place here; for a week, Miami becomes the world capital of art. Miami is a real city, a city that grows every day in spite of the economic crisis, which touches everyone. It is a cosmopolitan city, one of the major cities in the United States, and one of the most pleasant ones. So, there are lots of collectors and art lovers in Miami and in Florida. It is for them that I opened my gallery in Miami. I believe that every one of us in Wynwood contribute to the artistic creation of this city. This year is very special for me. I am currently in Cameroon, in Yaoundé, with Jonathan, my six-month-old baby. I am with him since mid-June. He is my son according to an adoption judgement from the Cameroonian law, but due to administrative complications, I don’t know if I will be able to be in Miami for the publishing of my book. I can’t miss any of his smiles, so Daniel Fiorda will do his best! To come back to the title of the book, I’d say that the question itself provides the answer. To cite Jewish wisdom: ‘There is no answer, only questions.’ ‘Is Art An Antidepressant?’ Try it and see for yourself.

Lélia Mordoch Gallery is located at 2300 North Miami Ave. Wynwood Art District, 33127. Phone 786 431 1506 / www.galerieleliamordoch.com / lelia.mordoch.gallery@gmail.com

Anica Shpilberg: Fragments, Memories and Realities

raisa — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:04:35 +0000

By Raisa Clavijo

Anica Shpilberg, Tango Class before the Madness, 2011, 40” x 30.”

The oeuvre of Anica Shpilberg functions as a gateway to a palpable and diverse reality that could just as easily be located in Shanghai, as in New York, Miami, Lima, Bilbao or London. The world in which she lives changes very rapidly, as life has given her the opportunity to travel constantly to a variety of countries where people have disproportionate access to opportunities. “I want to bring an awareness of the social disparity in which we live today, so I go from the Indians in the mountains of Peru to the sophistication that a resort in Italy might bring or to the different garbage collectors I have photographed over the years,” she says. “This is the way that I tell my story. I have always said that it is easier for me to use my art than to use words.”

Her main sources of inspiration are those things she witnesses in her many travels. These awaken in her the need to create, to weave a narrative starting with the fragments that she manages to capture from these experiences. While her earlier work captured fragments of her daily life and that of her family, what moves her now is the need to record the historical context in which contemporary man exists in order to perpetuate it so that it does not become diluted in memory.

Anica started creating art at a very early age in her native Peru after her mother introduced her to handicrafts such as embroidery, knitting and sewing. However, when Anica started spending hours drawing in her notebooks her mother enrolled her in painting classes. In 1970, she emigrated to the United States and studied design at LaSalle University in Chicago. Anica later moved to New York, where she studied photography, printmaking, mixed media and steel sculpture at the Pratt Institute, before going on to complete her studies at the Silvermine College of Art in Connecticut.

Museum Ghosts, 2011, 30” x 40.” All photos are courtesy of the artist.

Her artwork reflect the influence of some of the key figures of the 20th century, including Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella and Clyfford Still. But her work is not simple to interpret, nor should it be taken literally. Instead, it must be discovered step by step by learning to read the myriad symbols in her paintings that she hides under layers of pigments and materials that metaphorically function like the strata of remembrances, which must be removed in order to uncover the intimate universe of each human being.

Her recent series combines painting and photography. As if she were weaving a large cloth of memories, she delves into her extensive archive and selects images from her trips, which she prints on canvas, metal or chrome paper and treats them with different materials, altering the original scene and imprinting them with an aura of timelessness. Anica attempts to capture the heartbeat of each event she records by stressing and reassessing its singularity. In this way she attempts to hold back time and perpetuate it for posterity.

Old Shanghai, 2011, 20” x 20.”

Works such as Old Shanghai contain glimpses of that city 25 years ago when it still maintained a certain provincial flavor and had not yet succumbed to the vortex of technology and consumerism. Other works address social themes, as in the case of Tango Classes Before the Madness, which is an implicit commentary against violence and terrorism. The piece displays a tango lesson in the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao plaza, a scene that could suddenly be interrupted by a terrorist act. Although ETA, the Basque separatist organization, announced an end to armed activities in October, a climate of insecurity still exists in Spain after decades of terrorism. Other pieces allude to the “footprints” that we human beings leave behind in our wake in the places and on the objects we influence. An example of this is Museum Ghost, according to Shpilberg. “Museum Ghost is about the life of the many artists that form the collections of the many museums around the world and what it would be like if they could all share their experiences with us, what we could learn that is not in the book and how they would get along among themselves,” she says.

Anica’s work is in private collections in Connecticut, Georgia, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Switzerland and Israel. Her works have been exhibited in more than 70 international exhibitions in cities such as Miami, New York, Atlanta, New Haven, Dallas and Shanghai, among others. Of note are the World Tour of Contemporary Art London 2011 and Shanghai Art Fair 2011.

Anica Shpilberg is represented in Miami by Elite Fine Art Galleries. 46 NW 36th Street Miami, FL, 33127. Art collectors are welcomed to visit her studio at the Bakehouse Art Complex. 561 NW 32nd Street. Miami, FL 33127. www.anicaonline.com / anica@anicaonline.com

During Miami Art Week, she will be part of the show “International Art Exhibition,” curated by Nina Torres at 1800 Gallery. North Bayshore Drive, Miami, 33132. (November 28, 2011 - January 28, 2012.)

Raisa Clavijo is an art critic and curator based in Miami. She is de editor of ARTPULSE and ARTDISTRICTS magazines.

Zadok Exhibits Complement Miami Art Week

raisa — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:42:56 +0000

By Jenifer Mangione Vogt

The Zadok Art Gallery (ZAG), which opened in March 2010 in Miami’s Wynwood Art District, will present stellar exhibits to complement the plethora of art offerings that surround Art Basel Miami Beach. Zadok is dedicated to art from the post-World War II era to the present day and has quickly been recognized as a preeminent destination for artists and collectors.

One of Wynwood’s larger spaces, ZAG boasts an impressive 17,500 square feet of space that features 12 exhibit rooms. The gallery serves as a reference for the secondary art market and modern art but also provides a platform for emerging artists. For Miami Art Week, ZAG presents the work of Chen Man, Lewis Tardy, Lori Kirkbride and Hunter Jonakin.

Lewis Tardy, Photographic Memory, mixed media sculpture.

Chen Man’s “Curly Flower” vision series is on display for the first time. Man is a superstar of the Chinese fashion/photography world who works out of Beijing. She creates sumptuous photographic images that display a technical wizardry that belies her 28 years. In addition to collaborating with various international celebrities and luxury brands, Man’s works have been featured in numerous Chinese magazines such as Chinese Vision, Vogue China, Elle and Bazaar.

In 2008, Man was invited to participate in the prestigious “China Design” exposition in London, where one of her pieces was selected as the exposition’s feature advertisement. She has exhibited extensively throughout the world, and this year she was commissioned to create an advertising campaign for MAC cosmetics.

Lori Kirkbride, Pink, mixed media.

Lewis Tardy will present his sculptures, which weave recycled objects and scrap metals into complex, biomorphic designs. These works perfectly marry Tardy’s strong aesthetic eye with his intuitive level of mechanical craftsmanship. Tardy is a self-taught artist, having learned his craft in a traditional apprenticeship. An earmark of his work is his high degree of craftsmanship and surprising use of found objects.

Lori Kirkbride is an up-and-coming Brooklyn-based artist. Zadok Gallery will showcase her whimsical paintings that are filled with bold abstractions and playful floral designs. Utilizing acrylic polymer, resin and collage, she produces works of shocking color intensity, ranging in size from the intimate to the monumental. Her works-in their powerful simplicity-evoke a feeling of positivity.

Hunter Jonakin, Jeff Koons Must Die.

ZAG will also feature the innovative installations of Hunter Jonakin, who believes “technology has saturated our lives” and, as such, uses non-conventional material, such as micro-controllers, vintage game engines, fiberglass and custom built circuits, to craft elaborate and ironic digital installations. Taking the shape of traditional video games, his work explores the hybrid world of humanity and technology through neurological stimuli and changing viewpoints. Also exhibited will be an impressive outdoor installation by Jonakin in the gallery’s outdoor garden space.

Since its opening, ZAG has been committed to “serve as a preeminent destination for international artists and collectors who view art as an extension of political and social dialogue.” To date, the gallery has shown Italian artist Luca Artioli; esteemed French artist Marc Ash; well-known Miami pop culture artist Stephen Gamson; breakout mixed-media artist Karim Ghidinelli; acclaimed photographer Tomáš Loewy; China’s revelations, the Ta Men-THEY Group, Shi Lifeng and Shen Jingdong; accomplished Norwegian multimedia artist Stian Roenning; French sculptor Yom; rare works by Andy Warhol; and early paintings by Romero Britto.

ZAG was founded by Dror and Miriam Zadok, who met over 40 years ago in New York and decided after a honeymoon in Miami that this was the city to call home. The Zadok family shares in a belief that the Wynwood Art District is an important part of the cultural identity of Miami and South Florida. Longtime lovers of the arts and philanthropy, they hope ZAG will become a cultural icon that will also serve to benefit those in need.

Zadok Art Gallery. 2534 North Miami Ave. Miami, 33127. Phone 305 438 3737 / www.zagallery.com

Jenifer Mangione is an art writer based in Boca Raton, FL. www.fineartnotebook.com.