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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Visual Art Miami in Pictures: The Big Show Part I

Posted by on Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 10:33 AM

Let's just jump right in, shall we?

YO, ADRIENNE!!!! (Toxic Superman)
  • YO, ADRIENNE!!!! (Toxic Superman)

Talk of the town among those not too embarrassed to be caught talking about it at Art Basel Miami Beach this past weekend: Sylvester Stallone's paintings (dating back to 1977), at the Gmurzynska booth in the big fair. They're pretty absurd (the best thing about them is their hilariously ornate "artist-made frames"), but they're also sweetly earnest, and for that reason they sit better with me than Dennis Hopper's pretentious machismo pop crap, which has been getting attention for years. It's not a high bar, but...

Aint no sunshine when youre gone.
  • Ain't no sunshine when you're gone.

Deitch sold this sucker (by Kehinde Wiley) for $160,000 to an American museum. Best line out of Miami came from artist William Powhida, who called Jeffrey Deitch "a drug dealer in an ice cream truck." (Powhida's giant drawing of Everyone I've Ever Met (That I Can Remember) is at Platform in Seattle this month.)

Photographer-on-overdrive David LaChapelle is never one to be outdone. Here's his 2009 vision of MJ.

The Beautification: Ill Never Let You Part for Youre Always in My Heart, 2009
  • The Beautification: I'll Never Let You Part for You're Always in My Heart, 2009

Pretty in pink
  • Pretty in pink

These two clearly delightful humans are said to be very famous in Europe. Evidently they show up to everything. I do not know who they are but fell in love with them as they stood in front of a Sue Williams painting.

 

Comments (9) RSS

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1
They're a work of art themselves.
Posted by keshmeshi on December 8, 2009 at 11:27 AM
2
Powhida's comment about Deitch Projects was referring to Deitch's own website which is rife with ice cream cones. See for yourself at deitch.com
Posted by Platform Gallery on December 8, 2009 at 11:36 AM
3
Caught a ridiculously bombastic LaChapelle exhibit in Mexico City last spring. Glorified celebrity worshiping fashion photography. Way over glorified if you ask me.

The Sly Stallone paintings remind me of Robert Hughe's famous statement: "Julian Schnabel is to painting what Sylvester Stallone is to acting". Who'd of thought he could have said: "Julian Schnabel is to painting what Sylvester Stallone is to painting". Wouldn't have been quite so catchy though.
Posted by Rhizome on December 8, 2009 at 11:52 AM
4
"Dennis Hopper's pretentious machismo pop crap" - ? I'm curious why you think that – I think his photography and photo-realist paintings are great, I don't see what's pretentious about them at all. Tony Shafrazi's website has a slideshow of them here.
Posted by Strath http://pacific-standard.blogspot.com on December 8, 2009 at 1:18 PM
5
The two ladies are Eva and Adele, an artist couple from Germany. And yes, they show up to everything, their slogan being "wherever we are is museum." http://www.evaadele.com/
Posted by randomartfacts on December 8, 2009 at 1:19 PM
6
@4
I am with you. I am not sure where this vitriol is coming from. Maybe she doesn't like him because he is an actor.
Posted by Senor Guy on December 8, 2009 at 2:12 PM
michael strangeways 7
The Stallone is more interesting and creative than the Wiley.
Posted by michael strangeways http://www.seattlegayscene.com/ on December 8, 2009 at 3:11 PM
cmonstah 8
oh, those chapelle photos were something else. as was the crowd gathered in front of it.
Posted by cmonstah http://c-monster.net/ on December 13, 2009 at 9:47 PM
9
I'm pretty sure Eva and Adele are hired to come to such events.
Posted by Diaconov on December 18, 2009 at 11:09 AM

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