Dennis Hollingsworth

The Bloggable and the Unbloggable

Saturday night was to be a good night just because there wasn't an overwhelming number of art/social events for a typical LA weekend. All that was on the radar was: 1) something about "Paper", a rolling thunder promotional exercise for the benefit of a group of art related magazines. I missed the ChinaTown shmooze night and the gala Hollywood thing for which I had heard that there was a crowd and line watiing to get in the club on Hollywood Boulevard... thank G-d I missed that one. You have to be in your late teens or early twenties to endure that experience. The third event for the Paper promo engine was a Saturday thing that was to be eclipsed by.... 2) The Cirrus opening for "Naive Set Theory", a show curated by Catherine Lord. I wanted to support jean Milant's efforts in hosting shows for young curators and artists, to toast a glass with Jean after the monotypes we created recently and to see if I could extend a furtive conversation I had with Catherine earlier in the week about her curatorial thesis. A soon as I had dismounted my scooter in the Cirrus Parking lot, I patted my pockets only to realize that I had left my camera behind. ?Que Lastima! Jean promised to send me a couple of jpegs of the show, so I should pinch the blogsac about the show until the fotos come in.

But it was quite a night, most of it unbloggable. In Spain, most everything I experience is material for the blog. But here in LA, there is a matrix of confidences and discretion that must be respected --else I destroy many friendships and compromise careers. The crux of the problem is that many, many fascinating art issues are entangled within the personal and business realms. The temptation to tell-all is great. But if you want valor, then you'd best be discrete.

But what can be reported about a night on the town that bounced from the opening at Cirrus then to Hop Louie then to the bar formerly known as the "Score Bar" in downtown LA, then to the "Pantry" for a 3 am eggs over easy breakfast? Well, Mat Chambers and Chris Liponi were hilarious and laid back, and my other two friends were locked in a monumental psycholanalytical take down... and that I was much impressed, inspried and humbled that by the end of the night, they had talked through thier issues and found a new level for their friendship to carry on.... that they would not let their friendship be destoyed by their differences. Highly admirable.

And that's about all that can be said about that right now.

What must be reported however, is the tsunami-like loom of the ArtBasel Miami Beach Art Fair. Several weeks ago, my friends Aaron Parazette and Sharon Englestein called and offered to put us up at their folk's place in Ft. Lauderdale during the fair, why don't we fly over with them? I had been looking for an opportunity to fly across country to Houston with Stephanie to see their new baby girl Joy and talk. And I mean talk. When Aaron and I talk about art, we go deep. It's better with Aaron than the usual chat time in the art world because Aaron is a kind of all terrain vehicle when it comes to the hablaba in our trade. He can go into art theory, hardcore studio practice, personal and personality dynamics, the intricacies of business, politics local to the art world and as geopolitical as it can get, the comedy and the tragedy of it all, as deep or as light as you want, for hours and hours with careful consideration the entire time.

So I happily bought the tickets and rented a car.

Then I began to hear the word on the street. Most everyone I am talking to are going to Art Basel Miami Beach. It's like seeing the beach evacuate into an abnormally low tide before the tsunami break. ArtNet's Walter Robinson reported twelve events, twelve art fairs opening that weekend:

Back in 2001, when the Art Basel crew scheduled its first art fair in the Miami Beach Convention Center, it was clearly an idea whose time had come (even though the events of 9/11 caused the debut of Art Basel Miami Beach to be postponed until 2002). Miami?s balmy weather and party atmosphere, not to mention its role as a gateway to the avid Latin American art market, makes the city a ready destination for contemporary art lovers the world over.
Now, the art world knows a good thing when it sees it, and by 2005 Miami was hosting at least four important art fairs in addition to Art Basel Miami Beach -- the immensely successful NADA Fair of hip young dealers, plus the artist-organized Aqua Art Miami, located in Miami Beach hotels, and the new Pulse Miami and Scope Miami, both in the city?s Wynwood Art District.

This time around, however, the Miami lineup is giving pause to even the most energetic art lovers. At least 12 different art fairs are scheduled for early December -- and it wouldn?t be a surprise if we?ve overlooked one or two more. Can the art trade actually support so much activity? Will all the rest of the world?s galleries be empty for the week? Only time will tell -- and the time is drawing near.

I think the issue of SCALE and the tendency of the imagination to outstrip our human (hence limited) capacity to digest it will be a rich vein to mine conversationally that weekend.

The tsumani effect is that most everybody I talk to are going to the fair. New York, LA, Tokyo. In addition to the twelve sanctioned official events, there will be several spontaneous happenings crafted by artists sprinkled throughout the weekend. It will be a nightmare of social vectoring and the mysterious powers of quantum dynamics will not be enough to let us appear simultaneously in multiple parties and rendezvous.

I swoon at the thought of it all. Steady yourself, Dennis. Focus on the one important thing for that weekend: bring your bathing suit.

Stay tuned for more of course.

(image courtesy ArtBasel Miami Beach)