Untitled: Bold, Bright, and Big

Untitled. opens to the public today and is open through Sunday, December 7. Sitting right on the beach in a tent pavilion designed by K/R, it aims to be a different kind of fair, directed by Omar Lopez-Chahoud and curated by Christophe Boutin and Melanie Scarciglia. This year again, it certainly felt different, with lots of surprising, big, and interactive installations and sculptures from over 200 artists and 110 national and international galleries.

Entering the fair, the first thing that caught our eye were 10 stacks of posters, created for Untitled., curated by Onestar Press in Paris. Free to take with you in kindly offered plastic umbrella bags (and we never pass up freebies), we grabbed one by Lawrence Weiner that read “Spit Into the Wind & Hope for the Best” and Lisa-Anne Auerbach with some of her notable knitted hashtags like #kittensthenewblck and #pussythenewcat. Other posteres were by Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Mathieu Mercier, Jonathan Monk, Slavs & Tatars, and Mika Tajima.

Walking up the first aisle we were struck by a massive, rainbow, floor sculpture CR_O_MA (2104) by Guillermo Mora, presented by Formatocomodo in Madrid. It’s made of two-by-fours of wood connected by metal hinges, weaving between each other into a massive, bright pile that’s painted in the complete chromatic spectrum.

Less flashy but equally awe-inducing was an installation by Anastasia Ax at Sinne (Helsinki). The entire booth was filled with a big heap of shredded garbage, paper, and what black ink, that spilled out into the aisle (and a little bit into the booth next door). It was messy, raw, and vulnerable. The artist noted that often in her exhibitions, people take part of the work home. So for those of you keeping track of the free-art options at Untitled., we’re up to two!

We had another wild encounter with Rebecca Morgan’s assortment of Face Jugs (2014) at Asya Geisberg gallery. Made from glazed terracotta, stoneware, and porcelain, they are gnarly, gruesome, and fun with bug-eyes and wonky crooked teeth.

Another ceramic work we loved came from Jared Clark at Ada gallery (Richmond). Based in Salt Lake City, we were told that he finds kitschy tchotchkes and then adds colorful resin and paint. Four of these works hung vertically on the wall of the booth, but we were told they could be on a table, as well.

At the back of the tent was an enormous piece from SiTE:LAB in Grand Rapids. It looked like a side of a mossy, rocky cliff had been cut out, sliced up, and reassembled inside the booth, with slabs and slivers held together by a tilting, not-so-stable looking wooden scaffolding.

In the middle of the fair was a forest of coffins held up vertically by sky-blue poles from Ebony G. Patterson at Monique Meloche (Chicago). We wound our way through the tightly clustered, brightly-clothed and fringed caskets that felt more spirited than macabre.

Finally, at Ana Cristea gallery’s booth was a live, ongoing performance by artist Shaan Syed. Posters with black painted text that read things like “Fruit, Milk Shade” and “Egg, Bacon, Beans, Chips, Burger” (perhaps mere over-sized grocery lists?) were strewn about the floor, while the artist in white pants, no shirt, no shoes (no service) stood by a sloppy mattress and bottle of champagne on the floor. We think he’s game for selfies, so there’s another freebie for you.

All in all, it’s definitely worth a trip down to the beach to visit Untitled. And, come on, it’s the beach­, and probably the closest we’ll come to the ocean all week.