THERE WERE TEN TIGERS: paul wackers

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Aqua Wynwood 2009 (MIAMI)

Paul Wackers

Aqua 2009 was a little disappointing to those of us who loved the awesome, illustration/West Coast aesthetic of the 2008 fair. This year, Wynwood had to hold it down for the Aqua establishment, as Aqua Hotel did not take place. Leaving many of its previous participants without an affordable option for exhibiting, Aqua's quality of work fell drastically, shifting from the psychedelic to the low brow/Juxtapoz genres. Gross. Thankfully, Elenor Harwood and Michael Rosenthal galleries kept it real with some Paul Wackers paintings (@ EH's booth) and new Megan Whitmarsh pieces (@ MR). Below are pix of the good, the bad and/or the noteworthy:

Paul Wackers

Barry McGee

Dean Monogenis

Michael Bizon

Iris Schieferstein

detail

A Sidney Pink over a creepy glass sculpture

This is rad, it had no label but I liked it

Old Laylah Ali piece

Yuhi Hasegawa

grossy new goth/lowbrow work

seriously?

Paul Oberst

Nick Kuszyk

James Benjamin Franklin

Megan Whitmarsh above and three below

Cara Ober!!

Ginette LaPalme above and below

Andrew Wilson. This drawing rules.

Kyle Field. I love Kyle Field, but these are not my fav.

More gross art

A.J. Fosik

This was pretty funny

eh.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Aqua Hotel Opening 2008; Miami, FL

Michael Dee's glass sculpture and Michael Reafsnyder's painting in Western Projects' booth

Aqua Hotel, the South Beach branch of the Aqua fair, delivered the goods. With exciting exhibitors like Cinders Gallery, New Image Art and White Walls (to name a few), the fair presented a collection of young talents and had a shamelessly trendy aesthetic. Highlights include: William Powhida, Brian Chippendale, Paul Wackers and a seemingly endless supply of Campari.