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Miami was pulsating with contemporary art in early December, and local valley artists were right in the midst. LivAspenArt, a gallery located at the base of Highlands, exhibited work at Bridge Art Fair Wynwood during Miami’s Art Basel week – the vanguard of today’s art that attracts the world’s most eminent collectors and artists.
Art Basel Miami Beach, which ran from Dec. 3 - 6, is considered the most prestigious art show in the United States, initially spawning from the famed Art Basel in Switzerland. Since its inception, the rapid swelling of Art Basel Miami’s participating artists, visitors and reputation led to an overflow of art, spilling into a myriad of satellite fairs. More than one dozen shows have sprung up around the venerable venue, including this year’s novelty, Bridge Art Fair Wynwood.
Along with 35 other galleries hailing from across the globe, LivAspenArt set up their booth in Miami’s design district. Gallery owner Olivia Daane Reische started LivAspen three years ago, transforming her personal art studio into a working gallery. Wandering into the space today, visitors will usually find Olivia and “artist-in-residence” Matt Neuman painting away. It is a unique concept that combines exhibition space with artist-customer interaction, allowing a buyer to hear the creator’s thoughts on a piece before purchasing the work.
LivAspenArt was asked to exhibit in the invitational-only Bridge Art Wynwood, which made its debut at this year’s Basel Week. Featured painters included Reische, Matt Neuman, Alicia Matesanz de las Heras, Tori Mitas-Campisi, Kat Parkin (a photographer) and Dasa Bausova.
Czech Republic-native Dasa Bausova worked for several years in Snowmass Village for Anderson Ranch’s marketing department. Her own work deals with political and philosophical theories and analyzes how supposed contradictions intertwine.
One of her previous series, entitled “Improbable Narratives,” played with people’s latent jealousy of religious believers that Dasa sensed in Czech culture. She explained that Czechs were outwardly proud of their progressive, secular society and would never think to espouse religion, and yet a “twinge of envy of structure faith” could be felt humming among the people.
Provoking viewers to reconcile the irreconcilable, she depicts devils and angels in a loving embrace and angels striking erotic poses for the camera. Her folk-inspired style in this collection combines bright colors, stylized figures and bold text to remind us that these paradoxes are inherent in quotidian culture.
For the Bridge show, Dasa chose to display paintings from her “Matter over Mind” series, a collection of works that play with puns, and questions the importance people place on the mind. She suggests that matters of the mind perhaps don’t matter; instead, we should mind our impulses and heart-felt reactions. Her art incorporates the letter “m” and asks the viewer to unconsciously find meaning in sound, colors and textures.
Dasa described the experiences that led her to this aesthetic theme. In the past four years, she has faced death in her family time and again. She found that, when confronted with such sadness and pain, “the mind separates from the dying person. The brain is desperate to save itself,” and so clouds reality from the conscious. “I realized the mind is not who we are, it is just a thing,” she explained.
“I am conscious that I can’t throw the brain out altogether, but I try not to think about my work,” said Dasa. “The ultimate is when I feel like someone else is making my work. I get into the zone, a place of great discovery. The brain just gets in the way.”
“free MIND” is one of Dasa’s works that hung at Bridge. Using acrylic paint, contact crayons and color pencils on textured mulberry paper, she plays with notions of unfettered freedom, the elusiveness of thought and the morphing state of one’s mind through text, iconic symbols and a lack of spatial setting.
Dasa Bausova reuses particularly pregnant imagery and symbols, as can be seen in her second piece displayed, “think M M M.” An amorphous bubble reappears with wispy lines and soft circles, and the letter “m” once again imbues the composition with meaningful sound.
This time, the brain is marked by a squirming mass of black squiggles highlighting the chaos of thoughts that just sits, tangled and heavy. The word “think” scrawled across the page poses a paradox, for it simultaneously asks the viewer to think about the work while challenging us to scrutinize the limitations of calculating thought.
Despite the striking talent of the exhibiting artists, LivAspenArt came away from the fair with few sales. Although Art Basel and the surrounding venues have previously been accustomed to frenzied buying, the foundering economy pulled Basel Week profits down with it. The Miami Herald reported nearly a fifth of the Art Basel galleries seeing sales down at least 30 percent from last year.
Although sales forecasts were gloomy going in, Olivia Daane Reische said she “tried not to think about sales, just about putting our best foot forward. We are a new, young gallery and we tried to put together a great show. And we did.”
Of the six artists exhibiting, two sold work. There may not have been many bites, but there were nibbles galore. LivAspenArt received clamorous applause from attendees. Reflecting on the praise and keen interest, Reische mused, “It’s nice to sell at openings, but the ripple effect is what is exciting.” She guessed that given wide-spread financial hardship, people are taking longer to make decisions. The gallery owner compared selling art to match-making, something that you can’t force. “If you like a piece, you can’t get it out of your head,” she stated. If someone was truly taken, they’ll be back.
The opportunity to move art is not the only benefit of Basel Week. Considering the influential collectors and galleries that amass for the event, networking is key. “I like to get my artists connected with other galleries, artists like Dasa and Matt, who is on the beginning path.”
Matt Neuman described the week as a cross-section of contemporary art, and was thrilled to see how his own work held up against work spanning all styles and nationalities. The chance to exhibit alongside internationally acclaimed artists, coupled with the sheer expanse of displays to view, the masses pouring into Miami and the balmy weather made for an exceptional experience. If given the opportunity, Reische assured she would accept an invitation for Basel Week 2009.
Art Basel Miami Beach, which ran from Dec. 3 - 6, is considered the most prestigious art show in the United States, initially spawning from the famed Art Basel in Switzerland. Since its inception, the rapid swelling of Art Basel Miami’s participating artists, visitors and reputation led to an overflow of art, spilling into a myriad of satellite fairs. More than one dozen shows have sprung up around the venerable venue, including this year’s novelty, Bridge Art Fair Wynwood.
Along with 35 other galleries hailing from across the globe, LivAspenArt set up their booth in Miami’s design district. Gallery owner Olivia Daane Reische started LivAspen three years ago, transforming her personal art studio into a working gallery. Wandering into the space today, visitors will usually find Olivia and “artist-in-residence” Matt Neuman painting away. It is a unique concept that combines exhibition space with artist-customer interaction, allowing a buyer to hear the creator’s thoughts on a piece before purchasing the work.
LivAspenArt was asked to exhibit in the invitational-only Bridge Art Wynwood, which made its debut at this year’s Basel Week. Featured painters included Reische, Matt Neuman, Alicia Matesanz de las Heras, Tori Mitas-Campisi, Kat Parkin (a photographer) and Dasa Bausova.
Czech Republic-native Dasa Bausova worked for several years in Snowmass Village for Anderson Ranch’s marketing department. Her own work deals with political and philosophical theories and analyzes how supposed contradictions intertwine.
One of her previous series, entitled “Improbable Narratives,” played with people’s latent jealousy of religious believers that Dasa sensed in Czech culture. She explained that Czechs were outwardly proud of their progressive, secular society and would never think to espouse religion, and yet a “twinge of envy of structure faith” could be felt humming among the people.
Provoking viewers to reconcile the irreconcilable, she depicts devils and angels in a loving embrace and angels striking erotic poses for the camera. Her folk-inspired style in this collection combines bright colors, stylized figures and bold text to remind us that these paradoxes are inherent in quotidian culture.
For the Bridge show, Dasa chose to display paintings from her “Matter over Mind” series, a collection of works that play with puns, and questions the importance people place on the mind. She suggests that matters of the mind perhaps don’t matter; instead, we should mind our impulses and heart-felt reactions. Her art incorporates the letter “m” and asks the viewer to unconsciously find meaning in sound, colors and textures.
Dasa described the experiences that led her to this aesthetic theme. In the past four years, she has faced death in her family time and again. She found that, when confronted with such sadness and pain, “the mind separates from the dying person. The brain is desperate to save itself,” and so clouds reality from the conscious. “I realized the mind is not who we are, it is just a thing,” she explained.
“I am conscious that I can’t throw the brain out altogether, but I try not to think about my work,” said Dasa. “The ultimate is when I feel like someone else is making my work. I get into the zone, a place of great discovery. The brain just gets in the way.”
“free MIND” is one of Dasa’s works that hung at Bridge. Using acrylic paint, contact crayons and color pencils on textured mulberry paper, she plays with notions of unfettered freedom, the elusiveness of thought and the morphing state of one’s mind through text, iconic symbols and a lack of spatial setting.
Dasa Bausova reuses particularly pregnant imagery and symbols, as can be seen in her second piece displayed, “think M M M.” An amorphous bubble reappears with wispy lines and soft circles, and the letter “m” once again imbues the composition with meaningful sound.
This time, the brain is marked by a squirming mass of black squiggles highlighting the chaos of thoughts that just sits, tangled and heavy. The word “think” scrawled across the page poses a paradox, for it simultaneously asks the viewer to think about the work while challenging us to scrutinize the limitations of calculating thought.
Despite the striking talent of the exhibiting artists, LivAspenArt came away from the fair with few sales. Although Art Basel and the surrounding venues have previously been accustomed to frenzied buying, the foundering economy pulled Basel Week profits down with it. The Miami Herald reported nearly a fifth of the Art Basel galleries seeing sales down at least 30 percent from last year.
Although sales forecasts were gloomy going in, Olivia Daane Reische said she “tried not to think about sales, just about putting our best foot forward. We are a new, young gallery and we tried to put together a great show. And we did.”
Of the six artists exhibiting, two sold work. There may not have been many bites, but there were nibbles galore. LivAspenArt received clamorous applause from attendees. Reflecting on the praise and keen interest, Reische mused, “It’s nice to sell at openings, but the ripple effect is what is exciting.” She guessed that given wide-spread financial hardship, people are taking longer to make decisions. The gallery owner compared selling art to match-making, something that you can’t force. “If you like a piece, you can’t get it out of your head,” she stated. If someone was truly taken, they’ll be back.
The opportunity to move art is not the only benefit of Basel Week. Considering the influential collectors and galleries that amass for the event, networking is key. “I like to get my artists connected with other galleries, artists like Dasa and Matt, who is on the beginning path.”
Matt Neuman described the week as a cross-section of contemporary art, and was thrilled to see how his own work held up against work spanning all styles and nationalities. The chance to exhibit alongside internationally acclaimed artists, coupled with the sheer expanse of displays to view, the masses pouring into Miami and the balmy weather made for an exceptional experience. If given the opportunity, Reische assured she would accept an invitation for Basel Week 2009.
