Arrested Motion

Continuing with our coverage of Basel Week Miami, AM wanted to highlight another tantalizing find from the Scope/Art Asia fair: Wang Zhi Jie

Wang Zhi Jie is a contemporary artist from China that wields a skillful brush and conjures up some very sexy and appealing imagery. He specializes in drawing “innocent girls” conducting what are perceived to be provocative actions. He uses big dreamy & shiny eyes to symbolize the innocence of these young girls and focuses on them “mimicking” adult poses/situations.

More info and pics after the jump

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Scion’s renowned “Installation Art Tour” is now in its 5th successful year of showcasing emerging and established artists nationwide across various mediums: video, painting, photography, and etc. After its first successful stop in Detroit, the traveling tour made a huge splash in Miami during Basel Week.

The opening reception was held at the plush penthouse of the Raleigh hotel. With most of the artists involved in attendance and all of the brilliant cutting edge art at it’s disposal, Scion definitely knew how to entertain the discerning South Beach crowd.

With the next stop being Phoenix (Feb 6th - 26th), Scion’s Installation 5 is just getting warmed up and will be making its way across the country, so check out the website (here) to catch when it will stop by your city. AM will be bringing you continued coverage of future tour stops.

Check out all the pictures after the jump.
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This has been written on before, but AM thought that it was important enough to revisit. In the world of low-brow and pop surrealist art, there perhaps is no bigger name than Robert Williams, and Williams’ 1978 painting Appetite For Destruction is without a doubt his most recognizable work. People worldwide were exposed to Williams’ work when the paintings’ title and image were used by Guns ‘N Roses for their incredibly successful 1987 major-label debut (although the cover art was soon changed as many found the image offensive). So although there were plenty of impressive works of art in Miami this year, there were few masterpieces of Appetite’s stature.

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Over at Basel Week Miami, there were hundreds if not thousands of artists that were represented at the various art fairs. Ayako Rokkaku was one that caught AM’s eye and we did a little more digging for you. Similar to another rising Japanese arist: Masakatsu Sashie (here), Ayako also got her start at Takashi Murakami’s Geisai art fair where she won Scout Prize at Geisai #4/#10 and the prestigious Akio Goto Prize at Geisai #9. Her style is unique in that she paints not with brushes or instruments, but with her hands. Every painting is carefully generated by her fingers and may look simple at first glance, but upon closer inspection you can see layers of colors and intricate details in all her works. She enjoys working on canvas or cardboard. At Scope, she was found at the Gallery Delaive booth painting live and constantly working in front of the crowd that gathered to watch her work.

Ayako at work

More details and pictures after the jump.

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Friday night ended with a bang at the OBEY x Z Trip party. But AM never told the tale of how this massive night of Basel parties started. The Gen Art Vanguard party was the Basel Friday night jumpoff where the “who’s who” of Miami were at.

Dalek: James Marshall

With heavy hitter sponsors such as FAGE, Citibank, and Bombay Sapphire footing the bill for drinks, Gen Art Vanguard was transformed into a true Miami mega event.  Stars and artists lined up to grab their VIP goodie bags while everyone else mingled and hoped to get on TV/get their photos shot by the paparazzi. This event had it all: synchronized swimmers, live painting by LEBO, even a charity auction of works by Dalek, Gary Baseman, and AJ Fosik. (click here for the ebay charity link.) The exhibiting galleries were packed to the brim with hot people and even hotter art. After the extravaganza, we headed over to our friend Shepard Fairey’s OBEY x Z Trip party back at Shore Club in South Beach. (Check it out here)

Thanks to our girls: Debra of Culture Shock and Carrie of Gen Art for all-access throughout the night.

All the pictures of the madness after the jump.
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Colin Christian

Definitely one of the coolest fairs in Miami is the Gen Art Vanguard. (It probably doesn’t hurt to have one of the best parties of the week either).  Housing some of the most cutting edge galleries: Carmichael, Thinkspace, M Modern, Mark Murphy, Galerie d’art Yves Laroche, and etc, this was one of the fairs that AM made a point to visit more than once at Basel Week. We were on site early Friday morning to make our rounds to shoot the artwork and massive party set-up effort knowing that it was going to be a madhouse to get pictures of the art during the raging party that was going to ensue later that night.

(Visit the post about the Gen Arts mega party happened later that night here.)

Until then enjoy the pictures of the art after the jump.

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Jose Parla and Shepard Fairey

Already revved up from the Gen Art Vanguard Gala (Here)… Friday night got even more crazy as DJ Diabetic and Ztrip tag teamed the turntables for a packed Shore Club in South Beach. Shepard gave back in his usual gracious fashion as he threw a party for all his friends and fans. The party was super packed but security kept it cool and managed the crazy crowd wait to see Shepard and Ztrip. Once inside, the vibe was amazing. Numerous peeps were in attendance: Jose Parla, Gary Baseman, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Travis Louie, Nate Frizell, David Choong Lee… the list goes on and on.

AM pulled a few strings and got our new friend Mystery (Star of VH1 reality smash hit: Pick-up Artist) into the packed party and in return Mystery gave AM a lesson on why he is the Master Jedi when it comes to the “art of the mingle” and how to DHV (Demonstrate Higher Value) throughout the night.  Great times are expected at an Obey party… but we just didn’t think that school would also be in session…

All the photos after the jump.

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Jin Young Yu

Art Basel is not the only game in town. The crush of quality art fairs are a dream and a curse for art lovers. One has only so much time in the day! The Pulse Art Fair was one of the stops for us and the amount of amazing art was unbelievable! If you were here, we would suggest that you get surgery to put your head on a swivel because you’ll constantly be spinning around like R2D2 trying to absorb the visual delights. Of course, AM stopped and popped some pictures for your enjoyment.

All the pictures after the jump.

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Ron English & Travis Louie

Night time at Basel week is where the heavy wheeling and dealing occurs. Galleries and sponsors line up numerous parties for prospective clients. Thursday night was a doubleheader for AM. First stop was the Beautiful/Decay party at the Essex House. Lots of mingling occuring as we met up with the crew from Obey, Cerasoli LeBasse, and White Walls/Shooting Gallery. Ron English, Yoskay Yamamoto, Mars-1, Tessar Lo, Nate Frizzell, Dan Obrien, Edwin Ushiro and many more were on hand to guzzle beverages and catch up on the latest art gossip.

Next up was feature event of the night… the Emmanuel Perontin x Pharrell Williams x Le Baron party at the Delano Hotel. Living up to the hype, it was a massive endeavor to even gain entrance. Thanks again to Gen Watanabe (Director - Emmauel Perontin) and Beau Basse (Owner - Cerosoli LeBasse) for getting us past the riot police and bouncers!

Pharrell with AM

All the pictures of the night after the jump!

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After only being able to spend less than an hour at the Art Basel Miami 08 vernissage preview Wednesday night, AM went back to the fair yesterday, and this time, we took our time. For those not familiar with Art Basel, it’s like walking through the world’s biggest museum of modern and contemporary art, except everything is for sale.

There are far too many amazing works of art to mention - everything from Picasso to Rothko to Warhol to Richard Prince, so we thought that we would just highlight one of the pieces we really loved, a stunning painting by Mark Ryden, and then show a gallery of other works by favorite artists.

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AM stopped by to visit Jonathan Levine, who was on hand to showcase Shepard Fairey’s work at Scope. Shepard created some gigantic murals to go along with the exclusive stencil works on paper and record albums. Unlike most Shepard Fairey shows where the buyers names are put on a list for a chance to purchase art, Levine made these works available only to the people who attended the show and on a first come-first serve basis. A few hardcore fans arrived at 6am on preview day to get a shot at their favorite pieces. We hung out a bit and went shopping with Shepard and Amanda. All the pictures after the jump.

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Wednesday night, AM partied with Takashi Murakami and Rolling Stone at the Louis Lounge in South Beach. Takashi certainly knows how to let loose, including his hair! This exclusive event was to celebrate the opening of Murakami’s second Geisai Miami fair. Kaws, Matzu, and Aiko were just a few of the celebrities that were in attendance. The night got reved-up fast and the crowd of VIPs took the floor to party away. Props to Josh Liner Gallery and Gallery Delaive for showing AM fun South Beach style…

See the pictures after the jump.

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Scope was our first official stop and it was a whirlwind! We were stuggling to keep up with the sensory overload of abundant artwork. We thought you might like a quick sample of some interesting pieces before we head off to Pulse and Gen Art Vanguard today.

Photos after the jump.

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First stop at Pulse Miami Thursday morning was Tokyo’s Mizuma Art, which is known for showing some of Japan’s most exciting early- and mid-career artists, including Makoto Aida, Hisashi Tenmyouya and Tomoko Konoike. Upon entering the gallery’s booth, AM was immediately struck by two impressive paintings by Sashie Masakatsu. Masakatsu, who has just recently started to be shown by Mizuma, was a hit at Takashi Murakami’s Geisai fair a few years ago, as well as at Geisai USA and a recent solo show at LA’s GR2. His works are most recognizable for their ominous orbs - constructed of elements such as vending machines, air conditioners and street signs - eerily floating above varied landscapes or street scenes.

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