by Onajídé Shabaka - 26 Dec., 2006

   Aqua Fair the Last Article of ABMB 2006

    by Onajídé Shabaka

Aqua Art Fair, because it appears here as the final article of this year's ABMB fairs, does not mean that it is the least of the fairs.

Aqua Art Fair @ Aqua Hotel (Collins Ave., Miami Beach)

Greg Kucera Gallery has the largest stable of artists and some of the best work of all the fairs combined. Any number of works would have been suitable to show here.

Brice Marden
Distant Muses, 2000
(plate area at right 8.5 x 13 inches)
at Greg Kucera Gallery

Lisa Dent Gallery returned this year to feature more of Matthew Cusick's work. "Matthew Cusick's maps lead nowhere. Clipped from yellowed atlases and geography textbooks, the pieces gather together aging blues, whites, pinks, and golds of antique cartography to construct bleak landscapes with oblique references to American foreign policy and Western imperialism." [via: ArtKrush]

Matthew Cusick
The Course of Empire (Mixmaster II), 2006
Mixed media and maps on prepared panel
48 x 77 1/2 in./ 121.9 x 196.9 cm
Courtesy Lisa Dent Gallery, San Francisco
Photo: Wilfred J. Jones

Matthew Cusick
Lisa Dent Gallery, San Francisco

Jen Garrido
(top left)
Web Bubbles #1, 2006
oil on panel
10 x 10 in.
(top right)
Web Bubbles #2, 2006
oil on panel
10 x 12 in.
(bottom)
i wish i was a whistling swan, 2006
oil on wood panel
15 X 22 inches
at Branch Gallery (Durham, NC)

Quilts from Gee's Bend
What more does one need to say here? Nothing. These quilts are totally magnificent.

Jaq Chartier
(top two paintings)
Giant Color Chart (diptych)
acrylic, stains and spray paint on wood panel
50 x 85 in. total width
(bottom right)
18 Greens
acrylic, stains and spray paint on wood panel
24 x 30 in.

Jaq Chartier
[title unknown]
at Platform Gallery

Jaq Chartier's paintings explore scientific methods through experimentation with paint and process. All of her works are "tests" to discover something about materials and what they do. Inspired in part by images of gel electrophoresis, Chartier investigates the migration of various stains through layers of paint and acrylic gels, like those employed in DNA mapping.

For the last several years, Chartier has been employing strategies of exploration, process, and rigorous testing in the creation of her luminous paintings.

In spite of the process Chartier takes to arrive at her end paintings, these are works that totally captivate with radiant, yet subtle, colorings. However, the process is essential to how these works are created, so in reality, that process cannot be overlooked no matter how temporarily. Chartier charts the migration of water-soluble inks, dyes, and chemical stains through the application of layers of paint and acrylic resin. As these materials interact, the composition emerges. The visual results can obviously take surprising turns as these materials are "tested" yet, working in this fashion also allows for instability and the unexpected to manifest itself.

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