Miami Project Art Fair - December 4-9, 2012

Lehman Gallery-Schoultz-Tree Explosion

INAUGURAL MIAMI PROJECT ANNOUNCES
EXHIBITOR HIGHLIGHTS & PARTNERS
AT THE MIAMI PROJECT ART FAIR
  
The inaugural Miami Project Art Fair launches next week, December 4-9, 2012, and will feature 65 leading galleries from around the globe in a 65,000 square foot exhibition space centrally located in Miami’s Midtown adjacent to the City’s energetic Wynwood Art District.  
 
Max Fishko, Managing Partner, says, “After speaking with many galleries from across the U.S., we were struck by a recurrent message – our colleagues were looking for a home that focused on quality, consistency and strong personal connections. That quality is illustrated by the range of impressive programs and installations being presented by our exhibitors at this year’s Miami Project.” 

Highlights include:
 
· San Francisco veteran dealer Cheryl Haines will be presenting a highly developed immersive new media experience which artist, Camille Utterback has been developing since 2001. Custom video tracking and drawing software create a projection that responds to the viewers’ movements in the space captured by an overhead video camera.  Untitled 5 will present a dynamic and fluid installation that is both algorithmic and organic. Utterback, the 2009 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient, is an internationally renowned artist who has had work presented at some of the most prestigious museums and new media centers around the world – including The New Museum, New York, Ars Electronica Center, Austria and The Netherlands Institute for Media Art.  

· Nina Katchadourian’s acclaimed series Seat Assignment, will have a mini show in Catharine Clark Gallery’s booth.  A large selection ofphotographs from the artists fifth solo show with the gallery will be thoughtfully installed.  The series, which was conceived – and first explored/executed on a flight the artist was on in 2010 between New York and Atlanta, was a response to the artist’s feelings – and indeed those of many travelers- of confinement and restraint during air travel.  The series is highly improvisational – the artist uses only her camera phone and materials that are easily accessible and readily available.  On the one hand, an inflatable neck pillow and tissues, put on in the airplane lavatory, transform the artist into a sitter of a Flemish portrait, while on the other a photograph of a travel magazine covered with pretzel crumbs becomes an image of a landslide.  The Brooklyn-based artist first exhibited the Seat Assignment series at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in New Zealand.  Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally at museums and exhibition spaces including PS1/MoMA, the Palais de Tokyo, Paris and The
Serpentine Gallery, London. 

· Monique Prieto is a well-known and influential Los Angeles-based artist whose paintings will be presented by ACME.  The installation for Miami Project will consist of seven recent oil paintings in various sizes in which the artist playfully combines abstraction and text with a great sense of composition and color.  The paintings’ silhouettes refer to the tradition of classic still life painting – the text in each of the works is from the diaries of British writer Samuel Pepy’s chronicling life in London during the 17th century. The silhouettes in these paintings refer to the tradition of classic still life painting. Prieto has had numerous solo exhibitions throughout United States and Europe. Her works are in many museum collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, among others.

 · In addition to the photographs, paintings and installations to be found at Miami Project, Los Angeles gallery Coagula Curatorial will present a series of performances entitled SEXT ME IF YOU CAN by artist, performer and author Karen Finley.  The interactive painting performance will feature an on-site studio where the artist will transform “sexted” images on her cellphone from anonymous collectors into “fine art” acrylic paintings.  Visitors can purchase a private code and phone number to sext the artist during the fair and she will paint images she receives during the show that will then be on view for the duration of the fair.  Finley, a recipient of many awards and grants including a Guggenheim Fellowship, has performed and exhibited widely including such venues as the Yerba Buena Vista Center, San Francisco and the Orange County Museum of Art.  She teaches at NYU, has lectured extensively and has authored several books.  Her work has stirred up much controversy over the years for her graphic depictions of sexuality and abuse.   

· Other performance-based work includes Group Therapy with Lorelei Ramirez, presented by School of the Visual Arts.  A
10-minute guided sound meditation by “psycho-observational research founder” Lorelei Ramirez invites therapy session participants to close their eyes and join the artist on a “journey to heal”.  Fair-goers who sign up for the guided mediation are placed in a dim-lit public space where they experience their own personal sound retreat. 

· In response to the devastation that was caused by Hurricane Sandy, Richard Levy Gallery will present AID + AID.  Each exhibiting gallery artist generously donated a gift for the exhibition at Miami Project and all sales from the installation will benefit
the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Artists include: William Betts, John Chervinsky, Jenna Kuiper, Matthew McConville, Manjari Sharma and others.  For images and more information visit: http://levygallery.com/current/benefit_2.html 

· Outside the fair’s main entrance Techo, a non-profit organization that organizes social initiatives to fight against poverty, will be
presenting a series of installations as part of their project ARTECHO.  The organization has invited a group of nineteen artists from around the world to create small-scale replicas (16”x 8”) of the houses that are built by TECHO throughout Latin America to raise awareness about the cause.  Additionally, Miami-based, artist and designer Fabian de la Flor, will perform a live intervention on a full-scale 194 square foot house and will paint the house throughout the five-day fair. Viewers are invited to view a photographic exposition mounted inside the house.  
 
According to Fair organizers, collaborations and partnerships are an important element that helps the Miami Project stand out. “Along with all the events and bells and whistles taking place in Miami during what is the most important art week in the United States, many of the clients with whom we spoke talked about wanting to focus on the art and the galleries. That is what we have set out to do. One way we’re adding heft and a sense of connection is through partnerships with leading cultural and arts organizations including Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Art and Design, The Whitney Museum as well as Miami International Film Festival.”  
 
Location:  
Miami Project Art Fair  
NE 1st Ave & NE 30th Street
Miami, FL 33137  
 
Hours:
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - 11am to 5pm
Thursday, December 6, 2012 - 11am to 7pm
Friday, December 7, 2012 - 11am to 8:30pm
Saturday, December 8, 2012 - 11am to 7pm
Sunday, December 9, 2012 - 11am to 6pm  
 
Admission:
$20 General admission
$10 Seniors / Students 
 
For additional information, please visit: http://www.miami-project.com/miami
  
Media contact: Helen Allen/Meryl Cooper, Allen/Cooper, 212-260-8100, [email protected]
  
Sponsors and Partners
Support from: MOCA North Miami Design
Partners: FX FOWLE, PIE studio
Supporting partner: ArtSpace Art
Handling & Logistics: Cadogan Tate Fine Art
Product Sponsor: Perrier Cafe
Sponsors: GastroPod, Panther Coffee and Real Sorbet
Cultural Partners: Guggenheim Patrons, Guggenheim Young Collectors Council, Miami International Film Festival, MoMA Junior Associates, New Museum, Whitney Contemporaries, The Apollo Circle, Young Friends of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Art & Design

Media Partners: American Art Collector, American Fine Art Magazine, Art Fag City, Art Guide Miami, Art in America, Art Ltd., Art Nexus, Artfacts.net, ArtInfo, Artnet, Artprice, Colossal, Hyperallergic, Miami Herald, Modern Painters, Santa Fean, SFAQ, The Art Newspaper, VENU

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