Top Five Galvanized Artworks from ABMB
Dec 17, 2013 by
Top Five Artworks from Art Basel Miami Beach That Will Add A Little Warmth To Your Winter Interior. By Katy Diamond Hamer
A trip to Art Basel Miami Beach, held from December 5th-8th each year, cannot be taken for granted. Each year thousands of art lovers from all over the globe flock to South Beach, a landscape electrified by palm trees and neon. This year, Art Basel was once again held in the expansive Convention Center about a ten minute walk to the beach. Hundreds of galleries participated in the fair and dealers, collectors, artists and members of the general public reveled in the booths filled with art from the most well-known of international artists to the emerging newcomer. For many of the visitors, Miami is a treat. Stories were overheard of weather conditions in Berlin, Oslo and even New York where temperatures were a whopping 50 degrees lower than the balmy, sunny Miami which remained steady at around 82 degrees Fahrenheit during the day.
Walking around the fair during the VIP Preview, both guests and the art vied for attention one outdoing the other in glitz, glam and splashes of color. However, what is most important is that at the end of the event, most of us were going to be returning to colder, snowy climates. Which brings me to our Top Five list here; Top Five Artworks from Art Basel Miami Beach That Will Add A Little Warmth To Your Winter Interior.
Kimsooja, To Breathe: Bottari (II), 2013, Duraclear Photographic Print in Lightbox, 72 4/5 x 48 4/5 x 6 1/4 inches, Edition 1/8 + 2AP
Photograph by Katy Hamer
Kimsooja is a Korean artist known for her Bottari series. Much of the series consists of bundles, traditional in the Korean culture, the artist uses the bundles to signify the domesticity and migration of the people. This photographic work, is very different from what I’ve seen before however, there is a Zen-like quality to the biomorphic shapes and pastel colors. Shown in Art Basel with Kukje Gallery, Seoul / Tina Kim Gallery, New York, 2013.
Ulrik Heltoft, The Origin of the Specimen, 52v, 2013, Black and white video.
Photograph by Katy Hamer
In Ulrik Heltoft’s film, The Origin of the Specimen, the artist tells a loose narrative of a neanderthal who is wandering in a wooded landscape. He appears to be the last of his kind and then finds a small plant which he proceeds to ingest. The film ends with the figure lying on the leafy ground, foam spilling from his mouth. We are left to wonder about his fate and maybe even our own. Ok, you ask, this will bring me warmth? Well, at least watching it with a loved one, snuggling by a fireplace, one can be glad to not be a neanderthal. Shown in Art Basel with Anderson’s Contemporary, Copenhagen, 2013.
Stefanos Tsivopoulos, History Zero (Video Still), Single-channel, color video, 2013
Photograph by Katy Hamer
Stefanos Tsivopoulos’ History Zero had it’s debut this summer in the Biennale di Venezia. The artist, representing Greece, exhibited this work in three-channel format rather than single-channel. The film is 33 minutes in length and is broken down into three episodes all relating to monetary worth and migration. Three figures are prominent in the narrative, and are very different from each other but bound by a thread woven by the artist and include, an African immigrant looking for scrap metal, an elderly collector suffering from dementia, and an artist taking photographs throughout Athens. Their tale is reflection of the European crisis where many exist under a particular umbrella, singularly wandering but rarely meeting. Shown in Art Basel with Kalfayan Galleries, Athens – Thessaloniki, 2013.
Haroon Mirza, Siren (foreground), 2012, 22 x 15.7 x 13.8 inches, Cymbal, motor, wood, table leg, UV light bulb, light fixture, fabric cable, radio
He Xiangyu, I’m Sorry (background), 2013, Stainless steel, pain, wire, lamp
Photograph by Katy Hamer
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Haroon Mirza is an artist who uses various media in order to create an overall sensory experience. Part of the Biennale di Venezia in 2011, both sound and light are often part of the artists oeuvre. He Xiangyu is a young Chinese artist based in Beijing. Both artists were shown in Art Basel with SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo, 2013,
Tony Oursler, Aitia, 2013, Video projection, mixed media, sound, 67 x 71 x 67 inches
Photograph by Katy Hamer
Tony Oursler’s Aitia, offered a surreal diorama of sorts, as a screen, white plaster cast body, and a globular shape on a stick all received figurative projection. The artist plays with the varying surfaces and in doing so makes what could be considered a three-dimensional painting. Shown in Art Basel with Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf, 2013.
More soon!
xo