by Onajídé Shabaka - 12 Jan., 2007

   Art Miami 2007 Edition

    by Onajídé Shabaka

Art Miami (January 5-8, 2007) as a predictable entity has taken hits that are both fair and unfair. The 2007 version was a good fair in both quality of work and sales. After all, art fairs are about sales, right? Most of the local galleries have nicely fulfilled their obligations with good work. Was it because they're local that there seemed to be more good energy there?

Miami Art Exchange provided a short tour of Art Miami in conjunction with S. Florida Artist Meetup Group. Even though the turnout was small, it was an enthusiastic one. More of this type of thing will happen as the year progresses. (PalmBeach3 is the next meetup on the list.)

Art Miami honored Pervis Young, formerly Purvis, showing his "Wall of Peace" at the main entrance (below). While not sure about the construction of this portal, like an Arc d' Triomphe, it was at the center of a highly energized art fair. Pervis Young needed to resort to his given spelling so as to receive his medical treatments so, we'll all have to stop using the old spelling. Mr. Young was in attendance and greeted the fair visitors in his quiet, reserved style.

Pervis Young
"Wall of Peace"

Kelity
(graphite on canvas)

Kelity's graphite on canvas works were stunning, initially. Technically, one would have to marvel at this Hungarian born, Argentine citizen's skills. They are indeed well honed. What made them so good was the mix of sharply defined objects against the loose scribbles and marks of graphite strewn here and there on the canvas. These works are large scale for drawings measuring over 48 inches. After moving in and out of direct view of the works, they began to show their weakness. The formulaic and, stylistic creatures and objects began to lose their stunning qualities. They began to look more like patterns than spontaneous works arising out of a blank canvas, which they did at the initial viewing. Still, one would have to marvel at the skill of this artist.

(lost identification on art work
at Galeria H&H, Mexico)

Shinzo Kajiwara
Weathering, 2006
silk on rice paper
(approx. 48 x 48 in. each)

(l. to r.)
Mary Lee Bendolph
Past and Gone, 2005
etching and aquatint
40˝ x 35 in.

Mary Lee Bendolph
To Honor Mr. Dial, 2005
etching and aquatint
55 ˝ x 36 in.

Louisiana Bendolph
American Housetop (for the Arnetts), 2005
etching and aquatint
45˝ x 38 in.

Mary Lee Bendolph
Lonnie Holley's Freedom, 2005
etching and aquatint
40 x 44 in.

Jerald Melberg Gallery had the premiere booth at Art Miami 2007, centrally located and enclosed with comfortable seating and multiple mini-spaces within the confines of their booth. They are one on the few galleries that consistently feature the work of Romare Beardon. This year however, they also featured the work of the women of Gee's Bend.

The women of Gee's Bend, a small rural community in southwest Alabama, are celebrated for making exquisite abstract quilts. Based on skills and an aesthetic passed down through several generations, the quilts have been highly praised for their raw beauty, bold geometry and sophisticated color sense.

Some of these unique etchings were made from small quilts sewn specifically for the purpose of creating the prints, and some were made from previously sewn quilts from home. Using a technique called soffgroiinc/, each quilt was laid on a copper plate coated with beeswax to produce an impression of the quilt. Next, the soft ground was etched in acid, transferring the impression of the quilt piece to the copper plate and recording all the seams, textures, and nuances of each different fabric. (catalogue)

The next question, one that has been asked since just before Art Basel Miami Beach, is whether it would be in the best interest of enough people to have some other major fair-type event(s) at a different time of the year to balance out our peak high point AND, should Art Miami be the one to reinvent itself specifically for that purpose? Okay, that's two questions. Anyone want to tackle that?

I saw the previous fair organizers, the Lester's, and they have definitely moved to a different project. Some people, however, are very much into finding new things to do and breaking new ground and, have the financial resources, and wherewithal to get that project into the real world. I don't think we should be so shortsighted that we invest our entire lives into December because, as Sam Keller himself said, Art Basel Miami Beach is only a year-by-year project.

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