My Highlights from Artissima 2014
As a collector, ask yourself, what am I looking for in art? Prestige? Fashion? Knowledge? Passion? Speculation?
This selection has poetry, literature, architecture, and psychology as underlying themes. Every work has its own story. Just like experiencing art, collecting art is about “the necessity of life.” The choice has not been made on purpose, but was a natural walk through the list of galleries and artists. The works of art make a collection important. The selection of these works could be an addition or extension to our own collection.
My Selection:
Francesco Gennari, TRE COLORI PER PRESENTARMI AL MONDO, LA MATTINA, 2013, at Tucci Russo per l’Arte Contemporanea
The work of Francesco Gennari can be viewed as a contemporary answer to the heritage of the Arte Povera. Gennari's use of materials and his choice to resort to minimal, pure aesthetics, result from a permanent creative enquiry into meaning and symbolism. Fascination with the mysterious charges Gennari's work with an enigmatic force. He reveals a romantic notion of art.
Bojan Sarcevic, Untitled, 2014, at Pinksummer
It has been a long time since I saw new work from Bojan Sarcevic. His sculptural works are characterized by strategies of subtle intervention that concern themselves with social relations and space in general. There is quietness, persistence and exactitude in his sculptures. Confounding the ornamental with the architectural are gestures which can be traced in Sarcevic’s oeuvre.
Michael Bauer, The Shadow of Bob Seger - SP - MB, 2013, at Norma Mangione
In the work of Michael Bauer, we discover layers of different narrative clues. His paintings are portraits, but they are portraits of memories. Bauer builds rich amalgams of fascinating personal detraction, anecdotes from friends, forgotten bands, maligned painters’ mistakes. Trying to resolve the works of Bauer is impossible.
Peter Linde Busk, tbc, 2014, at MONITOR
Fabulous figures, inhabitants of the underworld, distorted, ugly, yet very meticulously ornamented creatures, populate the artistic universe of Peter Linde Busk. He touches subjects as sociology and psychology, fear, and defeat.
Serban Savu, Three Graces, 2014, at Galleria Monica de Cardenas
Serban Savu’s paintings express disenchantment with the utopian ideals of the old Romanian communist regime. His subjects are scenes from everyday life, surroundings, his people, his places, sometimes invented. In this painting, he presents the “Three Graces” with sensitivity for the contradictions of contemporary life in Romania.
Haris Epaminonda, Untitled #02 tf, 2014, at Galleria Massimo Minini
The first time I saw the work of Haris Epaminonda, I was holding my breath, I was standing still and I didn't move for a while. It was difficult to search for a meaning or to unravel a story. One has to slow down, observe and sense the work. Her work is poetry.
Oscar Abraham Pabón, The Origin of the Circle, 2014, at Martin van Zomeren
Oscar Abraham Pabón seeks the sculptural in the quotidian by using the geometric qualities of fabric and other organic materials. Anything from Persian rugs to towels molded into shape with Maizena and photocopies of his own hands can function as a geometrical sculpture or architectural model. He synchronizes the functional with the ornamental.
Andy Boot, 980, 2013, at Galerie Emanuel Layr
Andy Boot’s works seem accidental. His paintings comprises the traces left by shell pasta. His sculptures look futuristic and have the shape of rare objects. They are made from simple materials—are the forms coming from internet or from design books? Boot also makes works which are craft-oriented, works which become decorative in the functional. Boot maintains a dialogue with historical precedents.
Michael E. Smith, Untitled, 2013, at KOW
The sculptures of Michael E. Smith respond to the socio-economic and cultural backdrop of Detroit, the city where he was born. Entering an exhibition of his work is like stepping into an overwhelming emptiness—it exaggerates the lonely status of the artwork. He arranges his exhibitions like an archeology of industrial elements and shows the failure of the ecological and economic environments of our era.
Josef Dabernig, Documentation of football matches attended in the form of excerpts of texts from match tickets (in 7 parts), 1989-2009, at Galerie Andreas Huber
Artist and filmmaker Josef Dabernig loves order and minimalism. He has a rationalistic obsession with and drive towards planned structures. It's remarkable that, despite having participated twice in the Venice Biennale, the artist did not have his first show in a private gallery until the age of 51. The artist decided deliberately to distance himself from the market. The majority of his work consists of public art projects and interior design for art institutions.
