Art Basel Miami - Inspired by Others

Being inspired by others is a wonderful gift to receive. 

It was my pleasure to be invited to Art Basel Miami by my artist friend Tatiana Cast (www.TatianaCast.com). She was excited yesterday to show me one of her favorite venues; Aqua show in Miami Beach. What a fabulous, intimate show in the Aqua hotel on Collins Avenue, and the works were sensational and inspirational!

View of Collins Ave Art Deco hotels from the Aqua Hotel 2nd floor open-air patio.

At Aqua, I saw the work of Dawn Southworth, through Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA (www.RicePolakGallery.com), who had many personal sketches adhered to an ironing cloth or collaged onto tar-paper. Here are my 2 favorites from the Aqua show...

The rawness and personalness of these images inspired me to get back to drawing today simply for the enjoyment of it, grabbing a few minutes to sketch over morning coffee. Wow, just that simple act has rekindled in me an imagery I have enjoyed painting in the past (hair-on-fire people) and this tinkering allowed me to discover, through a happy accident, creating the spider like squiggles you see in my sketches below.

Oh, the serendipity!  Personal experiences such as this today have many times so plainly demonstrated the brilliance behind Picasso's quote, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working!" Just through small consistent action, we can stoke the creative fire. What are you drawing, painting, photographing, or writing today?

Here are more of the Aqua show artworks that I really enjoyed...

Alejandro Salazar, California, www.Gallery-300.com

 

This image is carved out of a freakin' telephone book!!!

Alex Queral, www.ProjectsGallery.com

Derek Gores, Florida, www.ThinkSpaceGallery.com

Fred Tieken, Arizona, www.PerihelionArts.com

Happy Arting!  :D Tristina

Busy With Galleries...

Yesterday was a busy Gallery day! In the early part of the day I finished up a 3 panel painting (triptych), which I later submitted to a Landscape and Still Life show. They went out the door so fast I didn't have a chance to take pictures! The set is a very soft suggestive landscape called "upland", 24 in x 36 in x 2.5 in; I promise pictures next weekend from the show.

I attended 3 Openings last night! The first was a visit to Studio Henning Haupt to view guest artist Adam Collier Noel's ARTAFACT/ARTIFICE show. WOW! His artwork was spectacular, utilizing vintage photos and transfers for an organic, antique look. Here are pictures:

Even though Henning was not at his studio last night as he was attending another opening of his artworks in the FAT Village ArtWalk, some of his magnificent oil paintings were in residence...

Next door to Studio Henning Haupt, the MAC Fine Art Gallery had an opening as well. Here are my favorites from that show:

 Fantastic sculpture made from plastic toy parts!

Dimensional landscapes carved out of mini magazines.

And last, and certainly the highlight of the night, was the "Summer Heat V" opening in Wilton Manors at the Rossetti Gallery (http://tomrossetti.com/) where Adam, from the Studio Henning Haupt opening, won the Best In Show! It was a pleasure to spend the Rossetti opening with several of my artist friends, Tatiana Cast (mixed media painting) and Sandra Canning (fine art photography). Here's one last picture from last night with Tatiana and me in front of her painting, 'Beyond', with Sandra's photograph above:

What ARTSY activities are you doing this hot summer? Please share in the comments below.

Happy Arting! :D  Tristina