Goodbye Nada Miami Beach, Je F* t’aime!

New York Observer’s Nate Freeman mistook me for an art dealer, and in his text about NADA Miami Beach wrote that if Miami Beach could be summed up in a T-shirt, then that would be the “JE FUCKING T’AIME” one I was wearing at the preview of the satellite fair, located in the historic Deauville Beach Resort in Miami’s North Beach.

 

This misconception did make sense though, since this was exactly the expression the actual dealers had on their faces during the opening of the fair, for in the booths of the young and strong galleries artworks had been constantly rehung until everything got sold out again, turning NADA into the hipster powerhouse of the art fairs.

 

The 90 exhibitors that has gathered this year presented a miscellany of works by upcoming artists to a more relaxed crowd that instead of being divided into VIP and “normal” people, was united by those who were partying together the previous night.

 

Getting into the Deauville Beach Resort, you had the feeling that NADA knew exactly how to engage young people with attention deficit problems, without getting them lost in the art labyrinth the moment they pit-stopped for their vital instagram updates. The ground floor of the hotel -which was wisely picked in a way that satisfied both the crowd that goes to see art only when happening in gentrify venues and the exhibiting galleries by providing them with more affordable costs and discount prices on hotel rooms- was divided into 4 zones, each one hosting about 20 booths.

 

Starting from zone 4, one could easily grasp why those who were there to buy had to queue outside the fair before it opened its doors, in order to walk around the booths without facing the threat of the red stickers. As the Journal Gallery’s director Michael Nevin told me “We have been doing this for years now and it is getting better and better”. The Journal showed very powerful works presented in a sophisticated and carefully curated booth. On display there were works by Kika Karadi, Graham Collins and Chris Succo, with a 30.000$ painting being one of the most expensive artworks in the fair.

 

The Journal’s booth was next to Rod Bianco Gallery, that presented small-scale works on paper by artist Bjarne Melgaard, being sold for 5.000$-8.000$. Collectors determined to leave Miami with bigger pieces by the New York-based Norwegian artist, had to pass by Art Basel Miami, where serious business was happening with his solo show at Gavin Brown’s booth presenting paintings on sale for 40.000$-60.000$.

 

Elsewhere, Katherine Bernhardt offered many choices to NADA collectors, having a big painting on canvas presented by China Art Objects, while smaller works were available for the first hours of the opening at Canada Gallery’s booth that presented a salon style group show by a list of artists with booming careers – such as Matt Connors and Joe Bradley – whose works had been sold within hours.

 

To continue the writer’s obsessive–compulsive disorder and finish with zone 4, Karma Gallery presented a Dan Colen’s installation, that consisted of scattered cigarette butts and wine bottles. It seems that Colen, affected by Roberta Smith’s unfavourable review on his “Miracle Paintings” show, presented at Gagosian Gallery last September, went back to the multimedia neo-pop approach that had indeed established him as one of the most anticipated artists of the early 2000s.

 

In zone 3, Tomorrow gallery exhibited a very talked about series of works by artist Brad Troemel, which consisted of living ant colonies preserved in five rainbow-colored, slim plastic boxes full of gel, thus forcing the insects to dig their way out. The artwork could be a living nightmare if the viewer was susceptible to trypophobia or if he was a lover of ants.

 

In zone 2, Kathy Grayson made The Hole’s booth look like a painter’ studio, messing up with the floor, the walls to create an “artist studio atmosphere” with realistic ceramic sculptures of beer bottles, cigarettes, markers, ashtrays and lighters by artist Rose Eken. On the walls there were works by Matthew Stone and Evan Robarts among others.

 

A little further down, Night Gallery’s booth was a multimedia cornucopia resembling a well “curated” tumblr blog. The works by Augustus Thompson, Mira Dancy, Rose Marcus, Paul Heyer, and Zachary Armstrong, to name a few, were oscillating between 4.500$ and 8.000$, and were all worth to buy.

 

Last but not least, it should be mentioned the Foxy Productions gallery from New York, with post-internet female artist Petra Cortright being the star of the booth. Stefan Simchowitz, one of the world’s most successful and controversial collectors of emerging artists’s works, commenting on artsy.net about Cortright’s work claimed that “collectors should get to NADA early on this one; it will be a tough ticket to get.”

 

To conclude, NADA was a fair full of life, curiosity and energy. The amount of abstract painting on view was disappointing, but this is an art disease that will cease only if something new comes up, and in this regard NADA Miami Beach 2014 was full of hopeful surprises.

 

From our correspondant in Miami, Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos

December 8, 2014