They also appear to be the only applicant that has clearly stated on their website that they intend to use revenues from the .art domain to support the artistic community.  On their About page, they explain….

“A substantial part of the revenues generated by this service will be returned to the art community in a form of grants and funding for underfunded art institutions, organizations and projects.”

Johnson on her blog has more detailed information on the other applicants. She remarks that some of them “ make me very nervous.” I agree.  It suddenly seems very important to protect the .art domain from those motivated by pure greed.  It’s like someone wanting to own and resell air.  I mean, after all, doesn’t “art” belong to all of us?

GalleristNY has also now posted about the .art domain and explained, “Only one company can own a top-level domain, and will have the right to operate and develop it over the course of 10 years. Applications for the use of the domain would go through this one company. If there is discontent with how the domain is being run at the end of 10 years, it is highly possible that ownership will not be renewed.”

They also quote e-flux co-founder and artist Anton Vidokle explaining why he believes its important for e-flux to administer .art.

In fairness, I’ve received comments from a man named Paul Garrin claiming that he has owned the .art domain since 1996 through his company name.space and that he intends to sue ICANN to protect his trademark rights.    However, I am not sure if this legal claim is accurate or not.

So, it looks like this topic may be brewing for future controversy and I’ll keep you posted as best I can.

If it were possible, I’d be on a plane to Rome right now.

It’s not. So, it’s very fortunate that Woody Allen seems to have caught all my Rome-obsessed vibes of late and released a new film, “To Rome With Love.”  I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m looking forward to it because it stars three of my favorites: Woody Allen, Roberto Benigni and Jesse Eisenberg (from “The Social Network”).

I’ve loved Woody Allen since my godmother Alice took me to see “Annie Hall” in the 70s when I was a little kid.  I wanted to grow up to be Annie Hall.  From that moment, I was hooked on Woody Allen films.  I’ve always been drawn to the heavier stories, like “Another Woman” or “Hannah and Her Sisters.”  However, I think that “Broadway Danny Rose” is one of the funniest movies ever made and I equally love “Midnight in Paris” and “Manhattan Murder Mystery.”  I love them all.  I even adore his soundtracks.  I enjoy playing them while I’m sipping a glass of wine and preparing dinner.

My godmother, Alice, is simply obsessed with Woody.  It’s not far-fetched to conclude that her second husband, a Jewish analyst named Michael, is a very Freudian surrogate-Woody figure.  She took me to see Woody play the clarinet at a club in New York City once.  We sat at a table in the front of the house  - directly in front of him.  We were both in heaven.

It’s funny.  At the time, I was doing an internship at Christie’s, the auction house on Park Avenue.  In one of those life moments that can only be seen as the melding of fate and irony, one day I exited the front door and bumped directly into someone working on Woody’s next film — ironically called, “Alice.”  Somehow, I was invited to watch the filming the next day.

I remember standing so closely behind Woody as he directed that I could have touched the bald spot on his head.  I didn’t get to meet him.  I was told he was strange and didn’t talk to people on the set.  When filming concluded, within the blink of an eye, he quickly shuffled into a beat up 80s station wagon waiting nearby and the driver whisked him way into Manhattan gridlock.

I couldn’t complain, though, because that day I was introduced to Brian Dennehy, producer Robert Greenhut and comedian Bill Murray, who was as sarcastic and witty in real life as he is in his films.  And very, very tall.

Back to Woody’s latest….

“To Rome with Love” also  features Alec Baldwin and Penelope Cruz, who speaks fluent Italian and has been in a number of Italian films, including one I’m still trying to figure out called, “Non ti Muovere.”  Also in the cast is the quirky and adorable Ellen Page.

Here’s the trailer.

When was the last time you saw a movie that was so good you didn’t want it to end?

This morning, I was utterly charmed by a French film called “The Intouchables.”  When the ending came, I was in tears and didn’t want to move.  I’d fallen in love with the two main characters and I wanted to somehow keep them in my life.  Leaving the theater meant the relationship would end.  So, I sat there watching the credits,  swept away by the touching true story and the poignant way it is told by the writers and directors, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano.

The brilliant and handsome French actor François Cluzet (if you don’t see a lot of French film, you may recognize him from the U.S. film, “French Kiss” that starred Meg Ryan) plays Philippe.  He is a man who has great wealth, evident from his posh home with a myriad of servants.   What he doesn’t have, however, is mobility.  He is paralyzed from the neck down as the result of a hang gliding accident.  He is only able to nod his head.  Other than that, he can not move at all and this forces him to rely on an array of aides, most of whom are unable to stay with him for more than a few weeks.

Until now.

Enter Driss, a Senegalese immigrant, who shows up for a screening for new aides.  From the moment it’s his turn — well, let me rephrase that — from the moment he makes it his turn, it’s apparent that this is a young man with a mighty high opinion of himself.  It might even be said he has a “chip on his shoulder.”  He barges into the room where Philippe and his assistant are conducting interviews and demands that they “sign my paper.”  He then explains that the only reason he has come to the interview is so that he can get his signature of proof so he can claim his government benefits.

Fortunately, things don’t go as Driss planned.

Philippe tells him he must come back tomorrow to get the paper because he can’t sign it right now.  He shows how he is paralyzed.  Driss agrees.  When he returns the next morning he is shown the house, including a very elegant room and bath that will be his – if he accepts the job to be Philippe’s new aide.  He shows up the next day ready for work.

From that point, the two men develop an unlikely, yet heartfelt and remarkable friendship.  This friendship helps them both grow in ways they couldn’t before they knew each other.  Though not a love story, it’s clearly a “bro-mance” and these guys clearly fall in love (platonic) as they come to know and trust each other.

Stories like this are reminders that no matter how difficult and disappointing life can be, there is always joy to be found, especially for those smart enough to surround themselves with good friends.

Francesco Simeti, A seahorse, a caravel, and large quantities of concrete, stone, fill, topsoil, tiles, piping, trees and other plants, 2012; Barge and seahorse element; Courtesy, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens; © Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Miami, Florida. All rights reserved.

The work of Italian artist Francesco Simeti is now on view at the Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami.  Simeti divides his time between Italy and New York.  He’s known for installation work and this work was created for Vizcaya’s Contemporary Art Project (CAP). You can read more about Simeti’s work in my post on the Knight Arts Blog.

Cristofano Allori, Christ Served by the Angels, beginning of the 17th century, Oil on canvas, Collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. On view as part of the 2012 national touring exhibit, "Offering of the Angels."

Recently, I had the opportunity to revisit the Uffizi Gallery.  However, this time I was in Fort Lauderdale, rather than Florence.  This is because the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art partnered with the Uffizi to bring a stunning exhibit, “Offering of the Angels” to our backyard.  The centerpiece of the exhibit was a stunning work by Botticelli titled, “Madonna with Child (Madonna della loggia),” and dated circa 1466-1467.

I remember when I was in Rome in the summer of 1987 that it was the exact time during the restoration of the Sistine Chapel when the restorers had hit the halfway mark.  So, one-half of the ceiling was still full of soot and grime, while the other half was brilliant with vibrant color.  This was the year prior to my beginning college as an Art History major and I’d been working as an intern for two years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I was voraciously consuming the art trades – ArtNews, Art in America, etc.  There had been much talk in the press at this time about how Michelangelo was — suddenly — being recognized as a master colorist.  This was not something that had been known about his work, or noted.  We know now that this was because so many of his great works were buried under centuries of candle wax and ash.

“Offering of the Angels” provides a similar opportunity to rediscover the work of old masters from the perspective enabled by their restoration.  The colors are brilliant.  The Uffizi has gone one step further to demonstrate the extraordinary discoveries that result from restoration by documenting the restoration of Titian’s “The Madonna and Child with Saint Catherine of Alexandria” dated 1550 to 1560.  Uffizi has provided reproductions of all the stages of restoration of this work.  Following them, stage-by-stage, is akin to uncovering a hidden treasure and this is precisely the wonder of restoration.  It can reveal complexities and nuances within an artwork that have not been fully appreciated or understood since the work was created.

So, I marvel at the restoration process and I marvel at the beauty of the works contained within this exhibit, all of which have been magnificently restored and all of which hinge on the premise of faith within the Christian religion.  Art can be seen, faith can not.  Faith is a magical vestige of hope and enlightenment and it’s faith that served as the impetus and inspiration for much of the great art of Italy.

If you’d like to read the article I’ve written about this exhibit for Ambassador, the magazine of the National Italian American Foundation (an organization that I have such admiration for, and encourage you to support if you’ve got Italian blood, or an interest in Italy), please click here to download the PDF> Botticelli in Your Backyard by Jenifer Mangione Vogt | Ambassador| National Italian American Foundation

William Koch stands in front of an authentic Western saloon, which has been installed in a gallery at The Society of the Four Arts as part of the exhibition “Recapturing the Real West: Collections of William I. Koch”

Every nook and cranny of Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts is bursting with over 500 paintings, photos, artifacts and antiquities for “Recapturing the West: The Collection of William I. Koch.”

“Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach.  This painting is “Mountain Lake” by Albert Bierstadt. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

Items are hung Salon-style, cascading down the walls.

William Koch at “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

There are even garments hanging from the ceiling.

Items are hung from the ceilings for “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

Outside, the front lawn is littered with wagons.

Wagons on the lawn outside Palm Beach’s The Society of the Four Arts as part of “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

“Unfortunately,” the billionaire collector noted during a preview on Friday, “the poor Four Arts just doesn’t have enough space.”  This he remarked while standing in the midst of his hurriedly scurrying, large curatorial and handler staff, four Palm Beach police officers and a private security firm equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance rivaling the Secret Service.  All were readying for Saturday’s opening.

William Koch at “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

Koch has been referred to as the “other” Koch because he’s often upstaged by his twin, David, also a billionaire art collector, who, along with their older brother Charles, runs Koch Industries. (Earlier this week The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that David Koch is funding the renovation and restoration of the fountain area in front of the museum on Fifth Avenue.) But in 1983 he escaped their shadows, sold them his share of the business, which they all inherited from their father, for a reported $470 million, and started his own Fortune 500 company, Oxbow Group. His current net worth is estimated at $3.5 billion.

William Koch at “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

The brothers had a long-standing legal feud as a result of the sale that lasted until 2001, when they settled. Now, Bill acknowledges David as his best friend.  Yet, while David and Charles are highly involved in conservative politics,  Bill prefers the less incendiary pursuit of collecting — mostly art and wine — voraciously.  Koch likes to amass things.

William Koch at “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

“My wife thinks I should be on hoarders,” he joked, referring to his third wife, Bridget Rooney Koch, granddaughter of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney.

William Koch at “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

Inspired by his father’s legacy, he began collecting Western Art thirty years ago. He tears up, and momentarily pauses, as he shares his fond memories of working on his father’s ranch, outside of Wichita, Kansas, where he often performed grueling, physical labor. “It wasn’t a dude ranch,” he explained. Koch became enamored with the cowboy lifestyle and discovered he had more of an affinity with the working man than his country club peers.

There are items within “Recapturing the Real West” that have unrivaled historical significance, such as the only known photograph of Billy the Kid, which Koch nabbed at auction last year for $2.3million.

The only known photograph of the legendary Billy the Kid, which was purchased at auction last year by William Koch for $2.3 million. It is part of the exhibit “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

There are the over 150 guns from historic outlaws and lawmen, including ones that belonged to General Custer and Sitting Bull.

William Koch stands in front of a display case containing artifacts that belonged to Sitting Bull, including the gun he used, as part of “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

There are Charles Marion Russell paintings, Frederic Remington bronzes, antique cowboy hats, saddles, bowie knives, Jesse James’s gun, Jesse James’s killer’s gun, women’s apparel, Native American Indian artifacts, branding irons and a restored U.S. Mail stagecoach.

William Koch stands in front of an authentic, restored U.S. Mail stagecoach that is part of “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

There’s Wyatt Earp’s vest and his star, which reads, “Constable.”

Gears and guns belonging to Wyatt Earp, including the star badge he wore, which reads, “Constable” on display as part of “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

There are photographs of Jeremiah Johnson, Annie Oakley and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

A photo of the real Jeremiah Johnson (who didn’t look at all like Robert Redford) is part of “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

There’s Custer’s guide-on, made by his wife, which is thought to be the flag flown at Little Big Horn.

William Koch stands in front of General Custer’s Stand-Alone, the flag thought to be the one flown at Little Big Horn, which is included in “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

The exhibit is organized into groupings, each creates an environment.  One nook contains a general store.

A recreation of a general store, with authentic artificats is part of “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

An entire gallery houses a Western saloon, equipped with a fully restored, authentic bar, which you enter through the original swinging wooden doors.

William Koch in the Saloon at “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

In the corner, there’s a brothel containing erotic images, aids and corsets.

The recreation of a Brothel at “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

Koch quipped, “My wife hates this stuff.”

The Brothel at at “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

Throughout his guided tour, Koch, who has a Ph.D. in engineering from M.I.T., demonstrated vast historical knowledge. At one point, Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwich Gallery, remarked, “I’m from Independence, Kansas — home of the Jesse James Gang.”

Koch replied, “No, that’s the Dalton Gang and I have Bob Dalton’s gun.”

Broun later said, “I am blown away. We have a wonderful collection, but this puts it to shame.”

William Koch at “Recapturing the West: Collections of William I. Koch” at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

Where will the Koch collection go when the exhibit ends in mid-April? “I shouldn’t tell you this, but I am building my own Western town in Colorado,” said Koch. He then explained that the town will only be for family, friends and historians because, at his age, he doesn’t want to deal with the legal and accessibility hassles of opening a public institution.

He remarked, “I want to have a compound for my kids, and structured in such a way that they get along and not fight the way that I did with my brothers.”

The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Photo: Jenifer Mangione Vogt

Until I viewed Dana Schutz’s exhibit, I didn’t think there was anything I’d find weird.  I went to one of the strangest art schools in the country, Purchase College, which I adored,  but I definitely was surrounded by a good amount of pretty strange artists of all kinds, though usually they were friends and I didn’t think they were strange.  Generally, I adored them.

So, it’s sort of a funny coincidence that Schutz’s one woman survey originated at the Neuberger Museum of Art, which is on the Purchase College campus, and is one of my favorite museums.  Yet, I can’t say that I really “got” Dana.  I toured through the exhibit with her during the preview and she was really very lovely, but it seemed like she struggled to assign meaning to certain aspects of her work that she was questioned about.

Now, in fairness, many great artists live in their own imaginations and are, by nature, shy and introverted.  And, I definitely go the impression that Dana had a very rich inner world.  I reviewed her exhibit Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels for the Palm Beach ArtsPaper.

The title of this post is just for fun.  It just sort of struck me after viewing and hearing about her face eating paintings.

Jenny Saville’s images of women are disturbing in that she depicts imperfection in a grotesque manner that goes against everything we’re brainwashed to believe about the feminine ideal.  Yet, there’s a beauty to her portraits and its a beauty born out of fragility and vulnerability.  I was surprised, and pleased, to learn that this British painter was greatly influenced in her work by time she spent living in a a Palazzo in Palermo, Sicily.

I wrote about Saville’s ten-year survey at the Norton Museum for the Palm Beach ArtsPaper, but please note that the title of this piece was not my idea and I don’t like it, nor do I think it’s entirely fitting.

John Miserendino of Brooklyn’s Recess Activities, Inc. gallery was in the Deauville lobby performing “Pavillion,” a work inspired by Dan Graham’s sculptures that included scheduled conversations with curators and artists, such as Rich Aybar, pictured here. Photo: Casey Kelbaugh

Of all the fairs and events that happen during Art Basel Miami Beach, I like the NADA fair the best.  Maybe it’s because I went to a college (Purchase) known for its strong arts program and loved the environment created by artists and creative people.  I loved seeing the scruffy artists walking towards their studios in the mornings, coffee in one hand, cigarette in the other.  And I immediately recognized the same type of environment at NADA.  There was this great vibe going on in the Deuville’s Grande Lobby.  The people-watching equaled the art.

You can read my review of the 2012 NADA fair here. 

Miami Art Museum Senior Curator, Peter Boswell, stands beside Rivane Neuenschwander's work Chove Chuva | Rain Rains. The man on the ladder is part of the work.

In July I attended the press preview for the mid-career survey of Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander.  This exhibit, A Day Like Any Other, moved me in a way that I haven’t been moved by art in quite some time.  I think this was primarily because, while so many artists focus on their own inner turmoil and emotions, Neuenschwander is preoccuppied with what her audience carries into her work, which is part-installation, part-peformance, part-painting, part-drawing.  Her work is so many things that it’s near-impossible for a critic like myself to categorize it.  And, in this case, for me, this added to both her charm and brilliance as an artist.

Neuenschwander was present at the preview and I found her to be as fascinating as her work.  She is humble and shy.  In fact, Senior Curator Peter Boswell took the lead for mosts of the tour.  However, when asked direct questions, or when interjecting information about specific facets of the work we were viewing, she was interesting,  thoughtful and earnest.  

I capture some video of her speaking about the work that is pictured here, Chove Chuva | Rain Rains.  It’s both installation and performance and it spotlights the slowly-fading Brazilian rain forest, while also commenting on the transendence of time through buckets suspended from the ceiling from which slowly drips water throughout the day.  The performance aspect of this work is that there is a maintenance man hired specifically to periodically replace the lapsed water buckets, which he does using a ladder.

I reviewed the exhibit and you can read my impressions at The Palm Beach ArtsPaper website.

Artist Jackie Tufford stands amidst work from her series, "She Wore Wire Dresses," some of which are also used in her performance work.

The contemporary art scene in Palm Beach County may not contain as much of the risqué or emergent as can be found in our flashy neighbor to the south, Miami Beach — and we really needn’t be jealous; after all, we have old money — but there is a steady undertow of the new pushing towards the surface, and slowly (and I do mean slowly) beating down the fine art-and-antique image and recasting Palm Beach as a stylish hub for new art.

We’ve seen it most recently with the success of the Art Palm Beach fair, and alternative art spaces, such as the Mordes’s Whitespace Gallery. Elsewhere, the market for contemporary art has escalated to the point of absurdity. So, you couldn’t really think Palm Beach art collectors would be left out of the fray. It’s just that things move rather slowly here under the royal palms.

Yet, whether or not there’s interest, there can’t be movement or energy in art without the presence of working artists and Saturday night’s opening reception for Contemporary Art Pop Up illustrated that there is a vital group of them here and that they’re doing work that merits attention. Unfortunately, gallery and exhibition space is still lacking. So, led by the efforts of Turkish-born artist Sibel Kocabasi, a group of 18 artists mounted a “pop-up” exhibit at an alternative space on PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens.

The show is a success, and Saturday night’s reception guests felt as though they could’ve been in Miami or New York City. The exhibiting artists are Alette Simmons Jimenez, Amy Gross, Carolyn Sickles, Dan Leahy, Freddy Jouwayed, Isabel Gouveia, Jacek Gancarz, Jackie Tufford, Jacques De Beaufort, Maxine Spector, Nancy San Pedro, Nune Asatryan, Sam Perry, Sarah Knudtson, Sibel Kocabasi, Skip Measelle, Stephan Tugrul and Ryan Toth.

Read the full story at Palm Beach ArtsPaper.

Bubbles, 1976, by Robert Vickrey

Whimsy and wonder dominate in the world that Robert Vickrey creates in his painting. On first glance, there’s not much that is dark or foreboding. In fact, within moments of entering the exhibit, Robert Vickrey: The Magic of Realism, now on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art until June 19, one feels, well, comforted.

And that’s because the symbolic images are reassuringly familiar. Look around. There are nuns and children and balloons and bubbles and sparklers and bicycles and lions and tigers and bears. Oh my, scratch that last part. There are no lions or bears, but there is, actually, a tiger (Tiger, Tiger, 2009). And, overall, what there is, resoundingly, in Vickrey’s work, is a sense of safety associated with childhood. That quality makes this exhibit remarkably soothing to the soul — at the surface.

It makes it remarkably good, too, as a family-friendly exhibit. The subject matter, symbolism, and references to great artists serve as a good launching pad for talking to children about art. Yet as quickly as one decides that these paintings are simply beautiful, something might seem equally off.

Vickrey works in a style, as the show’s title suggests, known as magic realism. It’s a style with roots in pre-World War II Germany and is built around the idea that beautiful things are not always what they seem. Another artist known for this style is Andrew Wyeth, and his seminal work, Christina’s World, is the quintessential example of something that appears beautiful at first glance, yet has disturbingly melancholic undertones.

Read the full article at The Palm Beach ArtsPaper.

Artist Leonardo Casali

Currently on view at the Miami Beach Cinematheque is a thought-provoking, multimedia exhibit including photographs and video called, “Pimpwaves.”  It’s the work of photographer and artist, Leonardo Casali, and it shouldn’t be missed.

Casali has used his camera to, essentially, capture nanoseconds in time.  It’s as though he’s frozen the moments that happen in between the actions of everyday life and offered them up for contemplation. Here, exposing a layer of depth that is often ignored.  He’s highlighted the minutiae, guiding us towards nuances that serve as allegory for a larger contextual story.

Art critic Valentino Cima writes in the text accompanying the exhibit, “The starting point for Leonardo Casali’s quest is that the true identity of things goes beyond what we see every day.”

What we see in this exhibit are various images of South Beach taken by Casali last winter. The images appear, in a sense, to be opposites.  Some are extreme close ups of the water, shot at a high shutter speed, which allows him to capture and reduce their rapid motion.  Others are scenes of the beach, barren except for one single beach hut or lone shed.  So, with some of the works you’re in the midst of the action, yet in others you’re observing from a safer distance.  This creates an intriguing rhythm.

Casali explains, “I took many of the photos during three full moons last winter on the beach at around one o’clock in the morning when the moon was very full.”

Having shot the beach at such an unusual hour, Casali show us one of the world’s most famous beaches in an entirely unique way. Gone is the sunshine, the joviality and the overall sense of the “good life” often portrayed in travel brochures. In these works, the beach is melancholy, stark.  Not without beauty, but this is not a confrontational beauty. It’s the kind of beauty that unfolds. 

Dana Keith, Director of Miami Beach Cinematheque remarked, “It’s a pleasure to expose his work to the South Beach public, accustomed to seeing the world’s most exciting beach in a much more commercial world of images.”

Casali’s South Beach is, decidedly, one, perhaps, for gentler souls — those that prefer to think beyond the surface.  And it’s refreshing to see his take on this beach, one that is so often associated with status and celebrity, because through Casali’s lens the beach becomes again what it truly is: nature.  The natural elements of light, water and sand are presented here as the esoteric.

Keith further explained, “I decided to bring this exhibition to South Beach because it is a different point of view to the typical on a very familiar subject. The beach and the water are South Beach’s most famous and most popular asset and attraction, but it has been rarely seen through the visionary eyes of an artist such as Leonardo. His approach and concept to a typical scene is poetic, elegant, and romantic at the same time, with great artistic merit.”

Untitled, 2010. Courtes of the artist, Leonardo Casali

Knowing something about Casali’s own adventurous lifestyle lends an understanding of what shapes his vision, and it’s always interesting to learn what drives an artist and what shapes his world.  Recently, he visited forty-two countries in a two-year period, travelling through Asia, South America and Africa, including visits to some of the world’s most dangerous countries, like the Congo.

Interestingly, he’s from one of the world’s most unique countries. San Marino is a tiny republic nestled in an enclave in the eastern corner of Italy.  And, a country no less, as Casali explained, that has the world’s oldest constitution and what must be a surefire method to counter corruption: it changes leaders every six months. 

It’s such a small country, too, that Casali joked about a visit to China where the airport officers sequestered his passport so they could pass it around to show one another because they’d never seen one.

Casali began working in fashion photography as a photographer’s assistant, first in Milan, and then in New York, learning his trade from industry leaders, such as Bert Stern.  Through this work he developed keen and quick skills of observation that served him well and led to assignments with top fashion magazines, such as Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Allure. He continued to work in fashion, photojournalism and portraiture working for top magazines in the U.S. and Europe and photographing many high-profile people, including Philip Glass and Carla Bruni.

“When you work for a magazine, you don’t have a lot of time, you have to quickly understand the person, especially if it’s a big rock star.  There’s a lot behind photography. You’re more like a movie director and a psychologist and you have to develop a relationship with the person so that you can get across the point you want.  Many times afterwards the person will look at the image and they will be surprised because they didn’t know that they could look like that.”

But, ultimately, Casali was unimpressed with the world of fashion and celebrity. Perhaps exactly because of the “psychological” and “directing” aspect of his photographic work, and perhaps also because of his penchant to delve more deeply into his subjects, he began making documentary films.  In 2007 he produced and directed, “Graças a Deus,” the story of the emigration from Italy and San Marino to Brazil in the late 19th century.  The film tells the woeful tale of the mostly illiterate immigrants who, expecting a better life, instead found themselves working in harsh conditions in coffee fields as replacements for slave labor at a time when slavery had just been abolished. (View clips from Casali’s documentary on his website at http://www.leonardocasali.com/documentary.html and more of his work can be seen here: http://vimeo.com/user3509107.)

It was after tackling such heavy subject matter that Casali turned his attention to the quiet beauty found in stark moments in time. 

“I do a lot of reportage (a word used more commonly in Europe for what we in the U.S. refer to as photojournalism) and it makes you see things you don’t want to see.  These (photos of) waves in black and white…the reflections…these are much more enjoyable then some story of reality or drama.  In Italian we say ruffiano – meaning something that is universally appealing, that everyone likes.”

Thus the images in “Pimpwaves” are like visual poetry, truncated moments whittled down to bare essence.

Cima explained, “…he is an argonaut of observation in search of a different interpretation of reality. By bringing his instinctive vision of the world into play, he highlights the divergence between physical and psychological space and pierces the barriers of familiarity. The effigies of these images are washed up on the surface of a beach that reflects a new need in our perception of what we see.” 

And Keith shared a similar sentiment, “His talents in photographic arts are varied but connected. His feature films, video art, and photographs all have a haunting quality that puts them in a realm of a true visionary.” 

Up next: Casali is headed to Paris to exhibit some of the new works included in this show.  

Leonardo Casali: Pimpwaves is on view Monday through Friday from 11am till 6pm and before scheduled films at Miami Beach Cinematheque until June 29, 2011.  For more information about the exhibit, visit www.mbcinema.com.  For more information about the artist, in both Italian and English, visit http://www.leonardocasali.com.  The exhibit is presented in collaboration with the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce, Southeast www.iacc-miami.com and the Societá Dante Alighieri Miami www.dantemiami.org.

In the final room of the exhibit Hudson River School Masterpieces from the New-York Historical Society, now on view at  The Society of the Four Arts through Sunday, there are two striking portraits of the men considered to be the fathers of the movement: Thomas Cole and Asher Durand.

One could also pronounce them the fathers of American art because, during their lifetimes, they gave credence to the United States as a place where artists could find unparalleled inspiration – and make a viable living with their work.

Thomas Cole was merely 22 when his work was discovered, in 1825, in a New York City shop by Durand and two other painters, John Trumbull and William Dunlap. They quickly purchased all three of his paintings (for a mere $25 each) and Trumbull remarked to the dealer, “I am delighted, and at the same time mortified. This youth has done at once, and without instruction, what I cannot do after 50 years of practice.”

Durand and Cole would develop a bond of friendship that lasted until Cole’s untimely death in 1848.

Read the full review at The Palm Beach ArtsPaper.

Red and Green by Joseph Kleitsch

Glancing at the viewer, a woman shields her face from the sun. She stands in a garden resplendent with color. Red geraniums dance at her feet alongside the stone pathway where she stands. Alongside her, a woman kneels and tends to the garden.

Throughout the painting, titled Red and Green by Joseph Kleitsch, patches of shade and bright sunlight compete for dominance. A moment in time is captured, resulting in questions: Who is this woman? Who is she looking at?

The answers are irrelevant because she belongs to everyone. And her moment in time is equally familiar.

In another work, The Idle Hour (1917) by John Hubbard Rich, a woman reclines in a rocking chair. She gently fans herself with an elegant, Oriental-style fan. She appears at ease, but lost in thought. The room is awash in a hazy, sunlit glow that seems to match the subdued nature of her mood.

The ability to elegantly capture moments of quietude like these is so much a part of the appeal of the artists represented in California Impressionism: Paintings from the Irvine Museum, now on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art until April 17.

Read the full review at The Palm Beach ArtsPaper.

LITTLEST SISTER | 10 | Invitational Art Fair has returned for its third edition. LITTLEST SISTER is a fragment of the explosive satellite art fair phenomena; exploring the “booth” as a venue to exhibit and sell art.

Madoff (2010) by David Leroi, Unique Print on Archival Fine Art Paper, Gesso Board, 12" x 12" x 1.5" Courtesy of Spinello Gallery

Since 2001, the glamorous art typhoon – Art Basel Miami Beach, takes place every December in sunny Florida. Located in Miami Beach, the international fair is the American “sister” event of Art Basel in Switzerland, the most important annual art show worldwide for the past 42 years. Eight years later, the effects of Art Basel Miami Beach spawned 20+ “satellite” art fairs throughout Miami, housing 1100+ galleries and alternative spaces from around the world.

If you’re looking to find small diamonds in the rough, look no further. Art Basel Miami Beach finds her baby sibling at Spinello Gallery. LITTLEST SISTER is the Design District’s only art fair, across the ocean from Art Basel, Design Miami, and NADA, and coinciding with Art Miami, Pulse, and Scope.

The art fair consists of 8 booths, all 4′ x 8′ in size. The scaled down booths uniquely house over 40 of today’s most provocative artists ranging from unknown artists, up-and-coming art stars, to seasoned veterans, curated by Art Fair Founder Anthony Spinello.

This year LITTLEST SISTER will house a VIP Project Room featuring a solo project, “Observations,” by master painter Marc Dennis. Dennis’ hypernaturalistic, highly detailed and obsessively delineated paintings address the changing relationship between natural and unnatural phenomena. In this show he explores the subversive potential of beauty, referencing traditional still life painting while distilling something otherworldly from within nature’s beneficence. The VIP Project Room will be conveniently dressed with an extensive selection of art publications and Cafe, ideal to converge, lounge, and unwind.

The Littlest Sculpture Project, a new highlight, will deck the halls with innovative sculptures that accentuate the fair’s overall concept. Works by: Pablo Cano, Eric Doeringer, and Pachi Giustinian.
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2010 Invited Artists:

Farley Aguilar, Aja Albertson, Lluis Barba, Pablo Cano, Saul Chernick, Esperanza Cortes, Franky Cruz, Enrique Gomez de Molina, Marc Dennis, Luis Diaz, Eric Doeringer, Kim Dorland, Juliane Eirich, Andy Freeberg, Pachi Giustinian, Colby Katz, Nicholas Klein, Kris Knight, David Leroi, Zachari Logan, Lee Materazzi, Ruben Millares, Federico Nessi, Carl Pascuzzi, Christina Pettersson, Chad Person, Melanie Ratcliff, David Rohn, Santiago Rubino, Julika Rudelius, Kim Rugg, Sleeper, Spunk and the Orange Kittens, Tatiana Vahan, TYPOE, Michelle Weinberg, Agustina Woodgate, Antonia Wright, Tim Berg & Rebekah Myers

Curated by: Anthony Spinello

Valerio Adami, Metamorfosi, 1982

The exhibit is merely a glimpse into Adami’s vast oeuvre, which has been shaped by global travel and friendships with some of the world’s most notable cultural icons. Adami’s work tells a visual story, allowing him to infuse social commentary in paintings that portray global hotspots such as Israel, India, Cuba, and the post-World War II Europe that seems the underlying theme to most of his work. Each painting is a visual storybook.

“Adami sees around him, in the real world, the world of his visions, a world of metaphors, those evocations from depiction that are replete with ideas beyond depiction,” writes George S. Bolge, the Boca Museum’s executive director. “He assumes all objects are inherently allegorical; ‘moderated’ by him, they become more intensely so.”

Adami was born in 1935 in Bologna, Italy. As a young man, he spent his summer vacations in Venice, where his ideology as an artist was shaped by meetings with prominent artistic figures, including W.H. Auden and Oscar Kokoschka. He went on to study art at the Academia di Brera, first as a draughtsman, but by 1954, he was studying under the tutelage of the then-renowned figurative painter Achille Funi.

Funi’s influences had included Boccioni and the Futurists, whom he later rejected, finally settling on a style influenced heavily by Renaissance masters. Funi’s struggle between the old and the new may have influenced Adami’s rejection of abstract expressionism in favor of a figurative style with abstract elements, which has remained his trademark for the past 40 years. It is decidedly the struggle betwixt modernity and antiquity, and it remains pronounced throughout his work.

 Please read the full article at The Palm Beach ArtsPaper.