The 49th Annual Coconut Grove Arts Festival -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

The 49th Annual Coconut Grove Arts Festival 

February 18th - 20th, 2011 

Coconut Grove, Miami Florida

Its that time of year again.  Time for my favorite outdoor arts festival.  Instead of re-writing about the experience I will link to last years blog post about the festival here

Festival website with maps here

"Video of the Week" -- Robert Rauschenberg, Erased de Kooning -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

If video does not play please go here 


This morning's post about the lecture on Duchamp's Readymades at MAM had me thinking about another controversial artist, Robert Rauschenberg.   Robert Rauschenberg was know as a New York painter for sure but he was also very happy living in Captiva, Florida.   A Florida Artist Hall of Fame member, Robert spent the better part of 30 years in Florida.  One piece of his in particular comes to mind when I think of the Readymades and probably his most controversial work, "Erased de Kooning."  The video above is of Robert retelling the now famous story of how and why the work was created.  As Robert describes the work; "it's not a negation, it's a celebration."  And the fact that de Kooning understood the idea right away shows what a great artist he was.  The story also illustrates how far a bottle of Jack Daniels will get you with most artists!

New York magazine ran a 3-page excerpt from de Kooning: An American Master, by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, describing how a young Robert Rauschenberg asked the middle-aged de Kooning to give him a drawing that he could erase.  Download the pdf. here

Robert Rauschenberg Foundation website here

 Erased De Kooning 1953

30th Annual Antiques Vintage & Garden Show benefiting the Orlando Museum of Art - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Find out more here

MAM Lecture this Saturday- "Duchamp's Readymades" - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

"Beyond Repetition: Marcel Duchamp's Readymades"

Marcel Duchamp is famous for inventing the "readymade" - a form of art that reframes ordinary commodities as art. This seemingly simple gesture has had an enormous impact on art since 1960. By focusing on the objects on view at MAM, Carnegie Professor in the History of Art, Yale University, David Joselit will give an account of the readymade's complexity and variety. (Space is limited. First come, first seated.)

Date/Time:
02/18/12 02:00PM - 03:00PM 

MAM website here 

Qatar Purchases Cézanne’s The Card Players for More Than $250 Million -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Qatar Purchases Cézanne’s The Card Players for More Than $250 Million,
Highest Price Ever for a Work of Art

With this landmark score, the tiny, oil-rich nation joins a massively exclusive club: only five Card Players exist, and the other four are in world-class collections such as the Musee d'Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The purchase is just the latest bid in Qatar's effort to become an international intellectual hub... GL

 Link to Article here

Art Wynwood - Presidents Weekend - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

The original trend setter is doing it again.  The group that gave us Art Miami is set to open Art Wynwood this weekend.  Promising to be more edgy, the organizers are hoping to take advantage of the large crowds that descend on Miami every Presidents Weekend.  The location will be the same tent in Wynwood that Art Miami is located in and most of the same galleries will be participating.  But organizers say it will have a completely different feel than the December fair, which has been around for over 20 years.

To attain this, fair director Nick Korniloff told Miami New Times, "We asked that the galleries change their programs and showcase some of their younger, high-quality emerging or mid-career cutting-edge artists."

Korniloff hopes the new fair reflects the urban, high-energy vibe of the Wynwood Arts District.  GL

Art Wynwood website
Article on the fair - here

Where
The Art Miami Pavilion
Midtown Miami | Wynwood
3101 NE 1st Avenue
Miami, FL 33137

When

Thursday, February 16

VIP Preview Access for Art Wynwood VIP Cardholders & Press GENERAL ADMISSION:

6:00pm-10:00pm

Friday, February 17

11am - 7pm

Saturday, February 18

11am - 7pm

Sunday, February 19

11am - 7pm

Monday, February 20

11am - 6pm

Photographer Clyde Butcher To End Cross-Country Road Trip In L.A., Will Shoot Local Ballona Wetlands -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Photographer Clyde Butcher To End Cross-Country Road Trip In L.A., Will Shoot Local Ballona Wetlands
From LAist.com

Celebrated photographer Clyde Butcher rang in the new year during a cross-country road trip. Armed with old-school camera equipment, Butcher's mission is to chase natural light and capture some of America's most stunning yet threatened landscapes. His last stop is L.A.'s Ballona Wetlands, and he's also heading west to celebrate "Visions of America," his black-and-white photography exhibition which opened at The G2 Gallery today.

Curated by Jolene Hanson, the collection boasts over 30 of Butcher's most beloved large-format photographs from America's national parks, according to a press release. The autographed silver gelatin prints have captured the beauty of Yosemite and the Florida Everglades, among numerous other spots...

During his road trip, Butcher also planned stops at the Grand Canyon and Lone Pine, propelled by the environmental photo opportunities in California.

My favorite photographer, I have written about Clyde many times on this blog.  An amazing artist and environmentalist, Clyde's work continues to inspire and inform all who come in contact with his work.  GL

Link to Article about the LA show here

Clyde Butcher website

Link to G2 Gallery in LA here

Renowned Art Collection from Florence, Italy, makes American Debut at The Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Offering of the Angels:  Old Master Paintings and Tapestries from the Uffizi Gallery South Floridians will be the first in the nation to view an extraordinary exhibition - Offering of the Angels: Old Master Paintings and Tapestries from the Uffizi Gallery, November 19, 2011-April 8, 2012, at the Museum of Art|Fort Lauderdale Nova Southeastern University. The Uffizi houses one of the world's greatest collections of paintings and tapestries, many of which were originally commissioned by members of the Medici family. Executive Director of the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale Irvin Lippman says, "Offering of the Angels brings to the Museum of Art and to South Florida a wealth of old master paintings and tapestries that are rarely, if ever, seen in this region. We welcome the generosity of the Uffizi Gallery in allowing these treasures to travel here. These works of art reflect, in their fullest expression, the high points of artistic achievement of Western civilization." More on the show here Uffizi Gallery  I'm embarrassed to say I have not been to this show yet.  I have heard great things about it and plan to go before the show closes in early April. GL

Art Around the Web -- Amsterdam Tattoo Museum -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Ali Mousavi

Tattoos, Through Time: A New Museum for Amsterdam 

NYTimes.com

by Ivan Quintanilla

In Amsterdam, which claims to have the greatest number of museums per square mile in the world, few topics are left unexplored. There is a museum that delves into sex, another on war (or at least the Dutch resistance), and a museum dedicated, of course, to marijuana. Last fall, a museum opened with a focus on another topic that rarefied institutions generally avoid: tattoos. Founded by the Dutch tattoo artist Henk  Schiffmacher, the Amsterdam Tattoo Museum is dedicated to the art, history and preservation of tattoo culture. Occupying 21,000 square feet of two beautifully restored 19th-century buildings, the collection is a wide-ranging one that documents the history of tattooing, from the prehistoric era to the present day.

Read the rest of the article here

The Amsterdam Tattoo Museum website

I've been to Amsterdam many times and most of these themed "museums" are just tourist traps but the tattoo museum looks promising,  judging from their informative website.  They have put a huge (over 500 page) Lexicon of the history of tattooing and an equally huge catalog of tattoos online (over 40,000 tattoos and growing).  

After noticing all the painted arms of the football players this past Sunday during the Superbowl, I would say tattoos will continue to grow in popularity in the US.  GL

Lowe Art Museum Opens Its Vault to Celebrate 60 Years of Collecting -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

LAM Building, 1961

Lowe Art Museum Opens Its Vault to Celebrate 60 Years of Collecting 

by Veritas - The University of Miami

In celebration of its 60th anniversary, the Lowe Art Museum will present the exhibition “From the Vault: Building a Legacy, Sixty Years of Collecting at the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami.”

On view January 28 through March 25, the exhibition is a highlight of the Lowe’s distinguished collecting history and draws from some 18,000 works of art, showcasing important objects not currently on view or that may never have been seen by faculty, staff, students, or the general public.

The exhibition will be divided into the three sections: The Foundation Years, 1952-1969; The Formative Years, 1970-1989; and Building the Legacy, 1990 and beyond. It includes paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photography, and mixed media objects that represent the unique, multicultural holdings of the Lowe.

Find the whole article here 
The Lowe Art Museum website

St. Petersburg is Cashing In as a Top Cultural Destination - by Florida Fine Art Blog

One of the things I hope I am highlighting on this blog is how important arts and culture are to the overall economy of Florida.  With a State like ours, where tourism is the main industry , having world class cultural venues is essential.  To that end, no other city in Florida, save Miami, has been more  proactive in building and programing to capture those coveted cultural tourism dollars than St. Petersburg.  And its paying off big time.  Below are some comments from different travel blogs all raving about visiting St. Petersburg.  AOL Travel recently added the new Dali Museum to a list of one of the top buildings you have to see before you die.  American Style Magazine has picked St. Petersburg #1 of the Top 25 Arts Destinations in America (for midsize citys) for several years running. 

Quotes from the Travel Blogs;
"In addition to the fabulous art museums and galleries which are basically all located right downtown sitting on the Bay, one can shop and dine in dozens of exciting and interesting retail shops and restaurants...We were really impressed with the talents and creativity of a Master Pottery Artist, Don Williams. So impressed that we purchased one of his works...It is indeed one of the finest cities in the country to visit. Art is EVERYWHERE in downtown St. Petersburg."  purpleroofs.com

"St. Petersburg, Florida is certainly one of the very major art destination cities in the country. Sure, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc. offers a large variety but for a medium size city in the country, no city can even come close to what St. Petersburg has to offer."  gayapolis.com

While The Dali is the main attraction other great venues are close by.  There is the Tampa Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg, The new Chihuly Collection is presented by and near The Morean Arts Center and there is the great artist hangout and studio space - Crislip Arcade.  If you have the time, The Ringling Museum of Art is just a short drive south.  The Ringling is a 30-room mansion and the location of an impressive Rubens collection, among other works. It was once the home of circus founder John Ringling.

With all the positive press and great attractions, hotels have been filling up, restaurants crowded.  St Petersburg is no longer just a side trip from Orlando or Bush Gardens.  The city has become a world class arts destination and even in this slow economy is growing by leaps and bounds.  Enjoy!  GL

Links to get you started; 

The Dali

Tampa Museum of Art

Chihuly Collection

Museum of Fine Arts

The Morean Center

The Ringling Museum of Art

Guide to St. Petersburg

Crislip Arcade

Modernist Prints: 1900-1955 at The Backus in Fort Pierce -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Wassily Kandinsky Kleine Welten VII, 1922 Lithograph color 10 3/4 x 9 1/8 inches 

Modernist Prints: 1900-1955

From Syracuse University Art Collection 

at The A. E. Backus Museum 

Fort Pierce, Jan 13th thru Feb 18th

TCPALM.com

by Isadora Rangel

Fort Pierce's Backus Museum exhibiting Modernist Prints

Visitors of the A.E. Backus Museum will have the chance to see the work of modernists such as Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky for $2.

The museum is presenting prints by these and others artists during Modernist Prints: 1900-1955, a traveling exhibition from the Syracuse University Art Collection coming to Fort Pierce from Jan. 13 through Feb. 18.

The show brings 30 prints from across the modernist movement's spectrum, from impressionism through abstraction and pure non-objectivist designs.

Works by Joan Miró and the Americans Arthur B. Davies and Milton Avery will share the room. The prints were created through etching, woodcutting, lithography, stenciling, screen-printing and engraving

...

The exhibition also will feature a 5-foot-by-5-foot 1967 transparent silk screen print by Andy Warhol of Marilyn Monroe, which is owned by a local collector.

Read the Article here 

Beenie Backus was asked once what he thought of Warhol and his soup cans.  His answer was simple; "If I had been a poor kid from New York, I would probably find soup cans beautiful too.  But why would I paint soup cans when I have all of Florida!"  Backus was however a lover of everything modern and stayed abreast of all the latest music and art trends. I think he would love to know his old studio is the venue that brought modernism to Fort Pierce.  GL


A. E. Backus Museum website
Syracuse University Art Galleries website

Self-taught artist Edson Campos' works go on exhibit at Mount Dora Center for the Arts -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

"Hoshi"

Atelier - A Show of New Work by

Edson Campos

On view now thru February 18th.

at Mount Dora Center for the Arts

Self-taught artist Edson Campos' works go on exhibit at Mount Dora  Center of the Arts

Orlando Sentinel

by Christine Cole

Before he begins working on a piece of art, Edson Campos needs an established jumping-off point.

In "Atelier," the elaborate charcoal drawing that gives the new exhibit at the Mount Dora Center for the Arts its title, that point is the studio, or "atelier," of influential French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle.

"I use his studio to place myself," the Central Florida artist said.

By choosing to insert a self-portrait in his depiction of the studio, Campos allies himself with the Bourdelle's symmetry of composition, his precise geometry of architecture as well as his spirit of creativity.

Link to Article here

Edson is a favorite of the Coconut Grove Art Festival having come in first place several times.  His over the top large scale Renaissance revival paintings wow every audience in a marvelous, aggrandizing way.  His figure work is done with such old school craft; Edson's skills as a painter is of the highest caliber. 

Edson Campos website

New American Wing Galleries for Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851

New American Wing Galleries for Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts

The Art Newspaper

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware attracted more than 50,000 visitors in four months during its 1851 premiere in New York City.

The public paid to see the 12ft-high by 21ft-wide painting of George Washington and his soldiers advancing across the frozen Delaware River on Christmas Day 1776, leading to the victorious battle of Trenton.

What the New York Evening Mirror called at the time “the grandest, most majestic, and most effective painting ever exhibited in America”, is now the centrepiece of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 25 redesigned and expanded galleries of American paintings, sculpture and decorative arts, which are due to open on 16 January.

For the first time, the Met has installed its entire American art collection chronologically on one floor.

Dating from the 18th century to the early 20th, the works hang in sky-lit, beaux-arts-style galleries.

“Visitors can follow the history of American art, or rather the history of America, through these galleries in a way that was not possible before,” says Morrison Heckscher, the curator of the American Wing, adding that sculpture from the collection will be scattered throughout the galleries. 

Read the rest here

Works included are on loan from the American Folk Art Museum, a personal favorite of mine.  The gallery additions have been discussed for years now, I'm so glad all the hard work is completed and the artwork is all available to view at once.  Sounds like a good enough excuse to visit New York!  GL

The Metropolitan Museum of Art website

Ocean Drive -- Kristen Thiele Paints Hollywood's Golden Age -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Kristen Thiele paints Hollywood's Golden Age

Ocean Drive Magazine - by  Brett Sokol

Second generation Miami Beach Artist Karen Thiele gets a great write up by Brett in Ocean Drive.  This former punk rock bassist/bartender/artist has been honing her craft in Miami Beach since before Miami Beach and Modern Art were so synonymous.  GL

From the Article; "... Of course, growing up as the daughter of two of Miami’s best-known artists during the ’70s and ’80s —painter-turned-sculptor Robert Thiele and painter Shirley Henderson—one might see Kristen as simply carrying on in the family business. Indeed, she’s quietly become one of Miami’s most impressive artists in her own right, crafting figurative paintings that are technically accomplished while still full of wonder, particularly in her latest series, After Hours, which plumbs Depression-era Hollywood to capture the more ambiguous moods underlying that period’s classic screwball comedies..." 

Read the whole article here
Kristen Thiele website  

"Video of the Week" -- Don and Mera Rubell on "American Exuberance" -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Whitewall Magazine produced this video of the Rubells describing their latest show.  For those not in the know, the Rubells are the original cool couple of the Miami art scene.  The shows the Rubells have put on the past five or six years have been some of the most edifying shows ever produced in Florida.  I can not talk highly enough about what these two art lovers have done for South Florida.  Please go see this show!  GL

Whitewall Magazine here

The Rubell Collection here

Why the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Failed - and How to Fix It -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Why the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Failed - and How to Fix It

The Atlantic - by Michael J. Crosbie

The design vision was strong, and the artist accomplished, but a couple of key changes were made between conception and execution.

Read Article Here

An interesting take on what can happen during the process of creating art.  Having the best intentions it seems as though the design team lost their way and completed something much different than what was originally envisioned, to the detriment of Martin Luther King's legacy.  At the time of this posting there is an effort underway to fix some of the mistakes Michael Crosbie points out in his article.  The first thing being addressed is to somehow include excerpts from the "I Have A Dream" speech that was remarkably omitted from the memorial.

I am a big fan of the National Mall in DC.  Just from a sculptural point of view there is no place on earth like it, a giant walking sculpture garden celebrating great American's.  The two newer memorials; the WWII memorial and the beautiful walking memorial of FDR are fantastic additions.  If you haven't seen all the new additions, you must go.  And make sure to see them both in the day light and at night.  Take the Korean War memorial for example, I think the full impact of that memorial is truly only seen at night.  I have looked forward to visiting the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial this summer and hope they figure out how to make this memorial as successful as the rest.  GL

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial website
National Mall website

Art Now a Trend at South Florida Hotels -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

This is a article I found talking about the new Miami hotel trend to try and capture the coveted cultural tourism dollars.  GL

Art Now a Trend at South Florida Hotels

Eyesin.com

This is definitely a new emerging trend- from gallery partnerships to pieces from their owners’ personal collections, several South Florida hotels are featuring art in a big way.

Guests at a handful of Miami-Dade hotels could be forgiven if they confuse their surroundings for an art gallery.

From Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst paintings at the W South Beach to curated exhibitions from emerging artists at Miami’s Hotel Urbano, lodgings throughout the region are embracing art as a way to stand out and attract a creative clientele.

Read the rest of the article here

New York Times highlights Jerry Uelsmann show in LA -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

New York Times - Jerry Uelsmann’s Analog Dreams

by James Estrin

Before Photoshop allowed image makers to bend reality to their will with a single keystroke there was Jerry Uelsmann. He created surreal images the hard way — not with digital shortcuts, but working in a darkroom with seven enlargers and multiple negatives.

Now that’s layers.

Mr. Uelsmann — who grew up in Detroit and taught at the University of Florida — strove to create personal images that did more than just record literal facts. He transformed individual pictures into magnificent metaphors that suggested deeper truths. His work is featured in a group show, “Digital Darkroom,” at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles. The exhibit explores the intersection of art and technology and features 16 digital artists including Maggie Taylor, who is married to Mr. Uelsmann. It opens Dec. 17 and runs through May 28.

Read the rest of the article and interview here

Jerry Uelsmann Website

My Maggie Taylor Interview