I found out that a lot of Bushwick art people were going down to Miami last week, and I know this sounds crazy, but I felt like it was up to me to see that nothing bad happened to them. Shhhh, I know it seems ridiculous, but I enjoy my delusions so much! Btw: QUESTIONS people! How am I supposed to do this job without your questions! Email them to: lisa.levy0511Atgmail.com.
When I got there, I found out that everyone I saw from Bushwick was in a great mood and the last thing they needed was help from a self-proclaimed psychotherapist, but I couldn’t stop myself from meddling in their activities anyway. At Scope, I spent time with Rafael Fuchs of Fuchs Projects at his booth. The background to his booth was a photo of his parents dancing. Hmmm…could mean he idealizes his parents? I’ll have to look into that.
At Scope I also stumbled upon what was possibly the most talked-about work of art titled, “Self-Portrait” by Peter Gronquist. Self-portrait? That guy must have problems.
Down the beach was the Untitled Art Fair where I knew a bunch of people from Bushwick. With a space curated by the great Omar Lopez-Chahoud, it was definitely the coolest vibe of any of the fairs I attended. First, I saw Jennifer McCoy and Jen Dalton from Auxiliary Projects. They were showing Adam Thompson’s drawings and Arielle Falk’s conceptual sculptures. Why are these ladies smiling? S A L E S.
I also stopped by to visit Microscope Gallery to say hello to Elle Burchill and Andrea Monti, the gallery’s directors. It looks like they’re having a conflict but it’s really just my attempt to stir them up for my own feelings of being needed.
Here’s the happiest threesome of all—Janice Sloane, Rachel Phillips and Charles Tisa, directors of The Parlour Bushwick! They got a lot of mileage, I was told, from the “B” word. Bushwick. It seems Bushwick = Authentic. These guys always seem to travel in threes. I think Janice helps keep Rachel and Charles’s relationship together. It’s not really any of my business, but I’m not giving up. I’ll get back to you with the deets!
Let’s talk about Aqua now. It’s an awesome place to have an art fair because it’s all hotel rooms as galleries that face out on a really nice two-floor courtyard. My first stop was Robert Henry Contemporary where I found Hrag Vratanian from Hyperallergic talking with Robert Walden and Henry Chung in the well-curated booth. We had a discussion and the consensus was that people have heard of Bushwick, but don’t necessarily separate it from the rest of Brooklyn. Bushwick = Brooklyn.
This photo of Paddy Johnson from Art Fag City was taken by me at the Hyperallegric-sponsored party at Aqua. It was nice to have a chat with Paddy in a more relaxed atmosphere than I usually get. Let me mention AFC had a booth that was at Untitled as well. The piece was awesome, a published Tumblr, check it out here.
Separated at birth! Celebrity party photographer Patrick McMullan who covered the Art Basel preview and Jonathan Grosslerman, celebrity party photographer engaged to cover the Aqua party by Hyperallergic.
In case I’m not being snarky enough, this is an excellent example of the art collectors (or shoppers as they’re called) at the main fair, Art Basel Miami Beach, in the convention center. You overhear people talking about purchases and prices of five-figure works of art the same way you and I shop for used clothing. It kind of feels like being in a casino. You can’t tell what time of day it is and people are quaffing $20 glasses of champagne from wheeled carts.
Here I am making a lame attempt to comfort Bushwickian Liz Dimmit, who absolutely doesn’t need it. That lady has her sh*t together!
Here is one of my favorite Bushwickians Christopher Stout is in his gallery room at Select Art Fair. His work looked fantastic! I really appreciate people like Chris around these parts because he runs the Bushwick Art Crit Group which is a great thing for the entire community of Bushwick artists.
I have to include the lovely, fashionable, and uber-talented Julia Sinelnikova from Bushwick with her friend JJ Brine. We found them at The VH1 + Scope Party, which was the most fun because it was on the beach.
I also ran into genuinely world-famous artist, Shepard Fairey! He was on a street corner by himself, posting his stickers which said, “It takes the disruption of millions to hold us back.”
Just so you don’t think everyone from Bushwick in Miami is glamming it up, these two are working their asses off art handling at Art Basel.
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