Awkwardness as an Art (Advisor’s Newsletter)
Take it from an art advisor whose journey took 25 years to the art world as a place to settle and build an innovative brand:
Like the vintage (and cringe-worthy) fine art photo below, putting yourself “out there” is its own genre of agony.
This 1977 vintage photograph by Andy Sweet (1954-1982) channels an awkward expression of adolescent sexuality in a style reminiscent of Diane Arbus (1923-1971) or, presciently, Rineke Dijkstra (b. 1959). Sweet shot it at Camp Mountain Lake in North Carolina before going on to document the now largely vanished Jewish community of South Beach, Miami in 1977-1980;
And now, shall I dazzle you with my latest and greatest art-world revelations?
Or shall I simply attach a few photos of art that I encountered over the course of my quotidian routine?
Truth is, I’m constantly learning new things—while often I awkwardly wonder if I’ve actually learned anything new at all.
And now, without further ado, behold the uncomfortable art of showing up and seeing something new.
Likely evoking mixed and awkward reactions on both sides of the aisle, Gun Ring, New York (2024) by Anastasia Samoylova (b. 1984), debuted at the 2024 Armory Show in New York and is now part Atlantic Coast, her forthcoming book and exhibition that opens at West Palm Beach’s Norton Museum of Art in November.
An(other) Attempt to Say Something Profound About Art in NYC
In late May, I visited NYC for the fourth time in a few months, this time to hear Gustavo Dudamel (b. 1981) conduct the New York Philharmonic performing Philip Glass’s (b. 1937) Symphony No. 11 (2016).
(As a fan of Glass's music for over 30 years, I believe Symphony No. 11 is the best composed in the US this century—and bound to being performed 100 years from now.)
The rest of my hours were spent as I normally do, shuttling from gallery to exhibition—a typical day, which is why it’s awkward for me to have to give much more of an introduction to the images that follow.
A museum-quality highlight among NYC gallery shows in New York at the moment is a new body of work by Takashi Murakami (b. 1962), who rehashes famous Japanese woodblock-cut ukiyo-e prints as paintings (with a contemporary Murakami twist, of course) at Gagosian in Chelsea.
Lyrically abstract painter Kikuo Saito (1939-2016) worked closely with more famous abstract expressionists such as Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) and Larry Poons (b. 1937), whose paintings are far more expensive. Saito’s estate is represented by James Fuentes Gallery and is bolstered by upstate New York’s KinoSaito residency and foundation.
William Kentridge (b. 1955) has long been South Africa’s most internationally acclaimed artists. Complex and rooted in diverse media and expressions, his latest work, shown by mega-gallery Hauser and Wirth, includes several very attractive monumental metal sculptures.
Toyin Ojih Odutola (b. 1985) is a Nigerian-born figurative artist presenting a new body of work at the Tribeca outpost of Jack Shainman Gallery. Though the representation of skin has been a core focus of her practice, she has also explored depictions of landscapes, architecture and domestic interiors in more recent series.
Malick Sidibé (1936-2016) was a Malian photographer renowned for his vibrant portraits that capture the essence of Mali’s cultural landscape during the early postcolonial 1960s and 1970s. His work has an active secondary market and is shown by Jack Shainman Gallery, among others.
One of the densest — and most fun — gallery exhibitions on in New York right now is Carnival at Jeffrey Deitch in Soho, a space filled to the brim with everything (art and collectibles) circus-, clown- and freak-show related.
One of LA’s hottest contemporary artists at the moment, Mario Ayala (b. 1991) uses spray-painting techniques typical used on cars to create trompe l’oeil canvases that poke fun very humorously. This work in Deitch’s Carnival show (with Florida license plate S3N 1L3) pokes fun at the Sunshine State as a destination for retirees.
Given my personal predilection for painting that straddles figuration and abstraction, I’ve had my eye for a while on colorful abstract canvases like these by Bay Area artist Sarah Blaustein, recently shown at Hesse Flatow Gallery in Tribeca.
Avoiding Meme Status in
Florida-man-land
Back home, I try to keep my life and work as interesting and as keenly focused on art as possible—without ending up the art-advisor version of a Florida Man meme myself.
(Can you imagine the headline? FLORIDA MAN LOOKING AT ART GETS EATEN BY ALLIGATOR. Is that cringe, cliche, or even conceivable?)
Lately I’ve been up and down the highways here so frequently — from Miami to Palm Beach to Orlando and back several times since I last wrote — that I feel like by now Florida’s art scene needs no introduction.
Miami’s top summer museum exhibition is at the ICA. It features a comprehensive look at Colombian textile artist Olga de Amaral (b. 1932), showcasing around 50 of her best tapestries, which have developed in different directions over the years.
An educated observer cannot deny the appeal of sexy-looking art in Miami these days. The Perez Art Museum Miami is showing Dance in Heat II (2020), a canvas by highly-sought after black artist Tunji Adeniyi-Jones (b. 1992).
Intergalactic is the name of an outstanding, Jetsons- era show of light-endowed sculpture by Argentine artist Gyula Kosice (1924-2016), an outstanding recognition of how mind-bogglingly advanced late 20th Century art from Latin America can be.
Charting Transcendence recently placed this 25 square foot geometrically abstract quilt by Miami artist Regina Jestrow (b. 1979), who will be having a September 2025 show with Miami’s Baker—Hall, in a Florida collection.
Orlando Musuem of Art Florida Prize nominee Kandy G. Lopez (b. 1987) turns painting and drawing into yarn portraits of friends and people of color. They carry soft, familiar, as well as monumental notions within their fibers.
Marvelous work made pretty much entirely out of paper by Kelly Joy Ladd (b. 1977) wows museum-goers with geometrically-inspired energy in the Orlando Museum of Art’s Florida Prize exhibition.
Violet Sleeve (2022) by Patricia Treib (b. 1979), a recent acquisition of the Rollins Museum of Art in Winter Park, a close Orlando suburb and one of the loveliest towns in Florida.
Rounding out this week’s theme of awkwardness, Njeri Kinuthia (b. 1998), previously mentioned in this newsletter, made this terrific tapestry to honor the first time she wore booty shorts after immigrating to the USA. Kinuthia continues showing in Central Florida art institutions, her latest in the Albin Polasek Museum in Winter Park
