swampspace

Sunday, September 23, 2012

see y'all in september

to Walk Softly and Carry a Big Brush might be his legacy.

Summer is over and this year we pause to say Adios to Tony Goldman. A singular guy with a really great team of close advisors, muses, lieutenants and gofers. Go gently now Tiger, the burden of knowing is lifted off your hearty shoulders. Go knowing that Art is the most Powerful Force in this World.

Big MAC

Go knowing there is now one more school in the swamp devoted to teaching enlightenment for a life worth analyzing.

Go knowing generations of regular people will be inspired by your unique gentle brand of gentrification, your inflorescence. Go with the comfort that you did allot more than place tired old Borinquen Wynwood on the world cultural map.

Respectfully, a short ride from the Wynwood Walls Hood is DownTown Miami.

In this fertile swamp others will pick up the drumbeat and move the pieces forward.

The seeds are being planted for the next crop of creativity but as George Lindemann said succinct,

"Well scratch that, at least for the foreseeable future"

dear george in response to the Herald

Time of the Signs

This lumbering place moves slow and dirty in the direction of history. One history rewritten each year in the ebb and flow of power and funding that fuel enterprise in art. What accumulates for the fast approaching seasonal tide is nothing less than an Art Funds Grab Frenzy. More on that later.

For now we focus on the prevailing winds. Some say the trend toward enlightenment seems to be stalling. Yet in Little Haiti there are signs of something truly unique brewing... open your own sign company.

“If you work all day and drive home in traffic, you don’t really feel like going back out,”

Laura Quinlan - Rhythm Foundation

Jordan Levin for the Herald

On North Beach there is a open call to artist, just don't get caught...

“Our budget has expanded so we can expand our programming, and we want people to take advantage of it.” Shana Sheldon - Locust Projects

At best, our Arts Awakening is moving like molasses.

Yet Michael Dezerland Collection is doing his Happy Days Best to keep art alive in North Miami.

Big North Miami shout out for 12345 North Dixie Highway and their YoMomma Show and Best Address in the swamp.

If the Mink and Mignon of art is on Miami Beach and the Meat and Potatoes of art are in Wynwood, then the place for just that Perfect Pastiche of good taste and taste good is the Design District.

During Fashion Night Out, scene from District Factory featuring a kick ass set by Afro-BETA !

But pardon the appearance Miami Design District is in a perpetual temporary state of improvements, progesterone makeovers, open bars, twilight zones, reacquisitions and all things next...

Relax dear followers, All Roads lead to Swampspace

The perfectly peculiar master of menagerie Mark 3-Diamond greets visitors...

Where the wild things go, legendary style mama Pat Fields goes greenjeans...

Lovi Liz and the purple professor drink the swampy punch...

Hey babe, Take a Walk on the 3-D Side...

With zero funding for the arts Swampspace does more proportionately for Miami than the entire provincial government of Bangladesh.

swampy demographic...

Nutting hollow bout them cheeks.

Honk if you are with the Toot Your Horn party...

And be prepared for a big group celebration of Re-creation ala Hannah Hoch...

*

Friday, August 31, 2012

Spatial Recognition in 3-D

Swampspace Gallery

is thrilled to announce

the photography of

Mark 3-Diamond

s p a t i a l r e c o g n i t i o n

opens September 8, 2012 6-11pm

150 NE 42 Street Miami Design District

3-D Mark Diamond Invades Swampspace

The Spatial Recognition Show

is sure to be eye-opener of 3-Dimensional photography reflecting this amazing medium.

Diamond helped establish the Museum of Holography in New York City in 1975. For three decades he has maintained a laser laboratory for holographic research and more recently developed an indescribable lenticular imaging technique applied to portraiture of notables such as Buckminster Fuller and more importantly the impromptu photo-journalism of street theater personalities . At mid-career Diamond is nudging the envelope of contrived expectation with a stunning sense for the power of kitsch.

“this is a new medium for most people, and as such a new visual language which requires a bit of contemplation in order to really see what is going on in these little gems. By presenting such an overwhelming pastiche of subjects all in one place the viewer can readily acclimate to this new lexicon if they have the patience to engage, the rewards are great and it directly affects their appreciation for the 3-D- depth of the world around them.”

Not to be underestimated, Diamond professes to have assembled a gallery of hundreds of images aptly called the 3-D Wall-o-Gram. Included in his arsenal is an unusual 3-Dimensional Aerial Atlas of Miami filmed from a helicopter over the last 4 years. The centerpiece of Diamond's 3 ring circus is entitled GreenSpace. Visitors will encounter a chunk of earth and green leaves popping from the floor causing the sensation you are seemingly knee deep in it. Diamond says that the experience is achievable in a dream state where objects intersect and share 3 dimensional spaces in a way “real” things cannot.

Special musical guest Jam I Am

August Digest

Metro Madness

The hottest month in the swamp is also a time to reflect on the art scene as one melts into a puddle of paint and promises in the shade. What direction will our beloved arts community take as the 2012 season approaches?

Tidal Rip Currents

For starters, the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami will not be following in the footsteps of PAM as it did not get the blessings of a YES vote to fund its visionary expansion with public dollars gifted from public debt. Clearly the waters have been muddied with disappointment.

Omitting O's... Adding Zeros.

Curiously enough downtown Miami interests do not seem to have any hurdles when it comes to a silent tax base funding the arts. With the help of DwnTwn dollars the thrust is towards energizing the proverbial dead zone with further development. When opportunity calls, some stand in line with bated breath for the tap on their backs that signals their good fortune while others watch with disbelief the transparency of nepotism in the swamp.

HONK! if you love FASCO...

Opa! Locka

The moorish capital of the swamp will aslo soon be infused with art dollars thanks to taxpayers and really good grant writers. But I recall twenty years ago we were very close to having an original Keith Haring sculpture at the entrance to the OpaLocka airport and some one sour power puss blocked the deal. Our loss.

Ketchup not related.

When we survey the bigger picture, it would appear there is a trending for the bigger as evidenced by the solicitation of monumental artworks produced locally for the much anticipated union of ULTRA with BASEL musical art concert scheduled for December at Bayfront Park.

Big for the sake of scale is just plain small minded.

Mini John Sex

So there is certainly a valid case to be made for the small.

Small is good when the show is over.

that ol' Beatle Bounce

Small and big are a matter of perception, the size of ones gait does not necessarily make for great, but shoe size does matter. Too loose or too tight, a blister in never all right.

the Scholl Stroll Shuffle

For most Miami artists it has become apparent that those who march the predictable goose-step are less likely to fall out with the platoon of power brokers. That is neither good nor bad but a random act of coincidental fate for some and a contrived acquiescence for others.

Luxury Unleashed

As we spiral out of the storm season and into the business time of the year, Miamian are looking at how best to dedicate their limited resources to maximize another fabulous fall winter in the swamp.

Kids are All Right

Big ups for the DASH Kids who survived tropical dud Isaac unscathed standing tall for a decade the Design District beacons welcoming BASEL and much more...

swamptradiction

Contrast in exceptionalism; expectations and opportunity for Miami and its art are aptly exemplified in this photo.

The face of our captivating allure is in this photo.

Friday, August 24, 2012

swampo ArtoConecto

Next up for one day only on Saturday August 25,

Swampspace will host ArtoConecto's next plug-in event KIDSART SENSES

featuring the absent Berliner and never tired Hannes Bend.

For more info contact ArtoConecto

School has officially begun but for Tony Kapel his HallsWays show is over.

Kapel may be the Shel Silverstein of our time, his most recent book is a coarse collection of poetry, observations and refined doodling that mostly only the keenest of swampy minds can craft.

All We Need Is Love... and a few more plastic flowers.

The swamp never sleeps and neither does our space and its supporters seen here currently hosting the very floral petroleum petals production for Rosario Marquardt.

And as we turn the corner here at swampy, please take a moment to smell the bouquet of denim flowers courtesy of Regina Durante Jestrow, one of our finalists of the Swampspace Sculpture Parking Challenge.

September 8 we feature Miami's own fly guy Mark 3-Diamond...

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Going for Gold

Aaron Burr is back in the news with the renewed interest in Hudson NY as another artzy epicenter...

Punk veteran Patty Smith visits the Vatican to sign her latest mural...

Jen Stark goes to Washington D.C. to unveil her work at the Smithsonian Museum...

Following in the grand Aventura Mall tradition of buying art, Bal Harbor Mall announces mo money for art sculptures to enhance your high-end shopping experience.