Pulse Miami returns to the Ice Palace in the Design District in Miami for its ninth edition. The show features several new special projects, including a radio show by Bad at Sports, Pulse Play > and Impulse, a special section of curated solo exhibitions. Pulse will be on view through Sunday, December 8.
This year, Pulse curators and gallerists exhibited an exciting array of artworks. We really liked one of Pulse’s special projects commissioned by Cannonball this year: the radio show by Bad at Sports (B@S) that will be stationed in the Ice Palaces restrooms. A lighthearted endeavor, the hosts conduct interviews with the “rich and fabulous,” and argue about art in their live internet radio program. You can also get a limited-edition poster made for the B@S radio show by Chicago and Miami artists.
Robert Montgomery, The Slow Disappearance of Meaning and Truth
For some reason, there were a lot of skulls and skeletons to be seen around the fair, but the best skull artwork would have to be Alessandro Brighetti‘s Cyclothymia and Shiver at Jerome Zodo Contemporary. In Cyclothymia, a skull sits in deep black liquid and is suddenly engulfed in a moving herd of liquid black spikes. Shiver is a spinal column similarly sitting in inky black liquid, which moves around the vertebrae seemingly of its own volition. They’re pieces to be seen to be believed. Brighetti’s ferrofluid and magnetized pieces are macabre and chilling, and especially beautiful.
Ada Rose Gallery had two works on display that each had a different take on typical school supplies by artist Jessica Drenk. We loved Drenk’s Implement, two sculptural vessels made from yellow pencils. The way the ends of the pencils are straggered and shaved on the surface of the work makes and almost pixelated effect, as if the object was low-resolution on a computer screen. Drenk’s other work, Bibliophylum, is a wall relief using books to strange effect. From afar, it appears to be a thousand pinned-up feathers in an oval, but are actually shavings from books whose pages have been fused. It’s as if the book was returned to it’s original state and shaved as if wood.
Alessandro Brighetti, Shiver
A sucker for photo realism, we loved Israeli gallery Zemack Contemporary Arts‘s paintings by Yigal Ozeri. His triptych of a woman different poses is stunningly beautiful and masterfully crafted.
Neon art was also a prominent theme this year, it seemed like every other booth had a neon piece. We liked Robert Montgomery‘s The Slow Disappearance of Meaning and Truth at C24 Gallery. It takes the shape of the infamous “Welcome to Las Vegas” road sign, which itself is an icon of the city famous for it’s sin.
Yigal Ozeri, Untitled
In an age when communications are increasingly reliant on cell phone technology, artists and creatives are finding new ways to find commentary on this dependence. In Allison L. Wade‘s Breakup Text Paintings: I Knew You Would Do This To Me, four phrases are simply written on bright solid canvasses. The sentences are immediately recognizable as emotionally charged text messages, which makes the physical medium they’re written on all the more jarring. The paintings make it loud and clear that we are now willing to send a text to convey painful and even hurtful emotional messages. At Rick Wester Fine Art.
There’s of course too much good stuff to cover everything here, so Pulse is worth a visit.
Tim Biskup, Head in the Hole
