Red Dot and Art Now: Bang for Your Buck

MIAMI—After a few hours at Red Dot and Art Now (and at the two Aquas yesterday), it occurred to me—as it always does in Miami and Basel—that unless you are enormously wealthy, or enjoy the spectator sport of watching the enormously wealthy play the art market, it’s in these so-called satellite fairs that the real interest lies. With few exceptions there’s little risk in investing in most of the artists at ABMB this year—or much chance of discovering anything new. Their very presence at the fair guarantees their establishment and bankability; the risk has already been taken for you. Start thinking dollar for dollar and there is much more stimulus to be found, and satisfaction to be had, in the hotels on Collins and in Wynwood’s warehouses. The folks at the Shooting Gallery call it “kick-ass art for kick-ass people.” I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but I share the sentiment.

Yesterday we noted that Aqua had spawned a twin. Today I bring the good news that Red Dot has birthed a daughter, Art Now. They sit on either side of Collins Avenue in that stretch near 17th Street that is so thick with hotel fairs—Ink, Flow, and Bridge among them—that if you’re staying around here (as I am) you can do your fair-hopping in flip-flops (as I did). Keep the sensible walking shoes for ABMB.

There is wonderful, affordable work in both Red Dot and Art Now. Early this opening morning at Art Now (which, to my delight, bucked the lay-in-bed Miami trend somewhat by opening at 10), Lanoue Fine Art from Boston already had red dots next to Melody Postma’s Really, I’m More than Just a Boy Toy (at $3,800) and one of Carrie McGee's hanging sculptures (at $9,600). Apparently once the gallery had decided what to bring, they posted the pieces on their Web site and collectors bought online.

In the room of Repetti, those enterprising young people from Queens, I was particularly taken by an installation by Carrie Fucile called How to Melt My Heart. It’s a heart of frozen red ink that hangs above an amplified baseboard. As it melts, it drips onto sheets of paper pinned to the board. Those go for $600 each, or you can have the whole installation for $5,000.

At Brooklyn’s Safe-T-Gallery I made a real discovery: an assortment of wonderful handmade book pieces by Marty Greenbaum, a 75-year-old survivor of Fluxus. He was in Documenta VI! The works are weird, seemingly mutated things, with all sorts of objects glued into them. They range from $1,200 for the smallest to $18,000 for something like Book Seven from 1975. Imagine that. A work that’s both contemporary and an art-historical relic all at the same time.

A gallery that I hadn’t encountered before is Turner Carroll from Santa Fe. Much of the work they show has a delightful Surrealist mystery, and Joseph Cornell seems a particular leading light for a number of their artists. I especially enjoyed Sybille Bergemann’s magical photographs, including Engine Room I, with Girls at $4,200. Very collectible, in my opinion. I bumped into Glenn Lowry as I was leaving the room and told him he should buy stuff for MoMA. Not that he’s ever taken my advice before.

Cynthia Corbett from London specializes in artists who either live in or attended school in that city. They’re fortunate to have such an enthusiastic dealer: She virtually dragged me into her room! She has some remarkable cityscape photographs by Tom Leighton, who’s only a year or so out of the Royal College and conjures new fantastic cities by digitally combining details from real places. His Untitled (Berlin), which includes a Nelson’s Column transposed from London, is $7,600 in an edition of 3.

A special award should go to San Diego’s Murphy Design. In one small bedroom they have works by 50 different artists, all made especially for the fair. There is a zany consistency to Murphy Design artists. Their work is drawn from popular imagery, tends to be funny, and is often beautifully crafted. I particularly liked Jody Hewgill’s Notorious at $950. Somebody will probably have bought it by the time you read this.

Some other pieces that are just going to fly out of Art Now are the quirky dolls made (or amended, more accurately) by Stephanie Jaffe Werner, who is being shown here by Miami’s own Swenson Gallery. She often re-dresses the store-bought dolls in candy wrappers and a twist of decidedly adult humor. Mary Jane is $4,500 and I wish I could take her home with me.