Art Basel Miami 2007 - Part 2

Visiting Art Basel Miami is like going to a huge museum show where you can see the best in international contemporary arts. The thing with museums is that you can admire and covet everything you see on their walls but nothing is available for sale, hence the name "museum". The artworks are usually part of their permanent collection through acquisitions or on loans from other museums and private collectors. At Art Basel you can actually take home a Picasso, a Miro or an Andy Warhol original, hence you have the big bucks - I mean BIG BUCKS! That's what makes this fair so cool, it's that besides getting your creative juices going, you can actually dream of owning a museum-quality piece of art. And there are tons of it to choose from. It's is overwhelming to see the sheer quantity of top names that are displayed on it's many gallery stands. I lost count of how many Warhols I spotted by weaving through all those hallways. Making a fashion analogy: it's like walking through a big shopping mall which every other shop sells Prada, Dior or Gucci runway pieces - not key chains or sunglasses - but couture level clothing. Welcome to Art Basel!

Here are a few more images from a few of my favorite artists that I came across during my art excursion in Miami on Sunday. From the top: Damien Hirst, Kehinde Wiley, Candida Hofer, John Currie, Julian Opie, Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara below.

Click on the artit's name to view older Little-Pumpkins posts on them.

Julian Opie @ Aventura Mall

As a brand-new Florida resident, I've been exploring my surroundings to get acquainted with what's out there. I was at Aventura Mall the other day, literally killing time, waiting for a friend's ride to pick me up. I decided to stroll around to check out what's there and at first glance it just seemed like any big American mall chock-full of chain stores and a very noisy food court. To my delight and utter surprise I spotted these two digital sculptures by British artist Julian Opie, whom I covered recently here at Little-Pumpkins. I am still not sure what they were doing there as there were no plaques or signs stating the purpose of the displays. Were they on loan or a permanent purchase? It kind of baffled me that they were there, lost amidst Banana Republic and an under-construction Christmas village. I must say that they worked perfectly with the passing traffic of strolling shoppers, as the displays perfectly mimicked their hurried struts, though not quite as runway-model like as his svelte female figures.

Julian Opie's Digital Art

I've never been a great fan of digital art, as my attention spam is ususally too short to sit through video installations. When at museums, I tend to take a peek at those darkened rooms, wait a few seconds and walk out. It seldom grabs me to the fullest. There are a few exceptions here and there, but to me they are usually too hermetic and boring. You know, that kind of art that you're suppose to say it's brilliant but deep inside you think "WTF?!" I don't pretend to be a highbrow art critic, who can wax-poetic about "the complexities of human existence", or stuff like that. I just tend to glance quickly at "TV monitor art" and keep going.

But there's something about Julian Opie's work that seized me at first glance.

The first time I really paid attention to the British artist's work was at the ICA, in Boston, earlier this year. The piece was one of his "walking supermodels", as I call them, and it's part of the museum's permanent collection. It shows a black & white video of a female cartoon-doll, side view, with a hypnotizing hip swagger. I couldn't get enough of that!

In his work, photographs and short films, are computer-altered to highly stylized, minimal figurative reproductions. In my simple words, I would say a "paint-by-numbers" quality, with thick black outlines and flat colors. You see idyllic landscapes where water subtly ripples. Face-on portraits, staring at you with little beady eyes, then a sudden blink. Spellbinding!

I selected a few of my favorite pieces to share on the blog. To see more of his fascinating work click here for his personal site.