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Abel's 4,000 albums that matter: Part Sixteen

Well, it’s been a while my sweet chickens and dearest fools of the parade, but with reason. Now, dispensing with the cutesy introductions that usually preempt these proceedings, many things have happened in the weeks since we saw each other last, but one thing remains true and solid within these digital pages: my deadly incursions into the sacred realms of the English Language and Her Grammars and Spellings continues unabated by reminder e-mails and occasional real-life skirmishes with people in the word biz. But I say unto them and you my sweet chickens and most dearest and appreciated fools of the parade, could I possibly give a bucket of rocks kicked over of a flying fuck when my THL sheriffs encourage my excessive excess? Nope, I didn’t think so… we soldier on to the day 4000 becomes a reality, or I perish in a hail of recorded materials!

Bad Religion, Mark and the Mysterians, and more after the jump

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Rita Ackermann Opening Reception at MOCA Featuring Performance by Gang Gang Dance

On March 15th, MOCA will host an opening reception for Rita Ackermann’s new exhibition of paintings that will feature a performance by members of Gang Gang Dance.

The exhibition itself is an examination of Ackermann’s work throughout her career, which began with her relocation from Hungary to New York City in the early 1990s. Drawing from experiences transitioning to Western culture, Ackermann went on to express her unique vision via paintings, drawings and collages that range stylistically between intense expressionism and subdued abstraction.

Members of Gang Gang Dance Lizzi Bougatsos and Brian DeGraw will debuting new material as part of a new performance created specially for the exhibition and centering around their love for long time collaborator Rita Ackermann. DeGraw will be accompanying Bougatsos’ vocals utilizing drums and piano supplemented by samples ranging from Dead Prez to Gil Scott-Heron to Aime Cesaire.

Opening reception is free for MOCA members and $10 for non-members. RSVP in advance here!

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Few & Far Women at Primary Flight - Art Basel 2011

Probably one of my favorite videos to come out of Basel this year.

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In case you haven't heard about Time Piles, Dylan Romer explains his trippy new art app

dylan romer time piles

This was originally published on the Huffington Post Miami and the HuffPo Tech section. Read it again here!

Lets talk about it from Time Piles on Vimeo.


I love how I wrote this about Dylan and the first image on this video of the interview is me with my tongue out. Thanks, Dylan.

Buy Time Piles. Don’t suck.

For years, South Florida-bred artist and daytime software developer Dylan Romer ran around town with a laptop, a camcorder, and an XBox 360 controller. Armed with a BFA from FIU, an MFA from UF, and a homemade program, he created live psychedelic video art that screened at galleries around Miami. He captured events as they happened — people booty-dancing at shows, performance artists writhing, drummers pounding — and translated the images into choppy renderings of reorganized time. Through his program, the world looks like a moving collage of double exposed images.

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by Liz Tracy, posted Dec 30, 03:43 PM · Comment

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I happened to be over at Miami Art Museum the other day, and Michael Balbone, who you might know from Less Concept More Action or because he creates amusing and amazing works of art, has revamped the museum’s gift shop. It’s now filled with items that your family will want, well, your family that knows the Miami art scene or has a stellar sense of humor. Check out this madness here.

by Liz Tracy, posted Dec 19, 11:58 AM · Comment

A delayed bit of Basel with a taste of Nathan Lam Vuong and a touch of Liz Tracy

david rohn the amazing ultran nathan lam vuong

I didn’t have much time to dedicate to THL this Art Basel Miami Beach. Time is a limited and valuable commodity, and I had to offer all of mine to making income. To all the haters, I think it’s an understandable trade.

I know no one cares about Basel anymore, it was like so two weeks ago. I get it, but I’ve got something left to say. My old roommate and bestie artist Nathan Lam Vuong, who you may know as DJ Sticky Rice, came into town from Los Angeles and enjoyed the week with me. I planned out a packed week of art, parties, work, and socializing, because I’m an obsessive hyper-planner and I had to budget time for writing. You can check out some highlights from our week on Nate’s Tumblr, and/or you can read about them here. Do both.

We had fun. I must say, it was a good time. I started the week before Nate got here farting around town with Bleeding Palm. We went by Pulse and Scope and Design Miami and the MOCA party – Miami’s Mark Handforth’s work is big and badass – and the French party at the old Perrotin space, ending the night at the Roofless Records party at Churchill’s. Some guy from Patrick McMullen took our photo, made me feel special. That was all in one evening. The freaking party at the former Perrotin space was again a blast. Every year, the best, the end. There were definitely less people than in the past this Basel, but it didn’t take away from the free-flowing wine and awesomely bad dance music. As usual, they ran out of glasses and I made the guy pour out a Sprite can to fill with up with spirits. There’s a Lil Kim joke in there somewhere.

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Art Basel Miami Beach: Misael Soto on a very big towel

misael soto

It was kind of windy yesterday, but that didn’t stop Misael Soto from executing his plan to lay out on a huge towel he constructed. The purpose of going out to 6th Street on Miami Beach was to bring strangers together to lounge around with him on the sand.

Misael’s work is playful, fun, and speaks about community and friends. He got about twenty people to commit to chatting with him and becoming new buds on the big blue towel, while others just sat around on it. According to Soto he wanted to, in a public arena “break the barrier of how people set aside their own space.” When folks go to the beach, the towel is their real estate for the day. He said, “I wanted to subvert that with a big ass one that is for everybody. It’s everybody’s beach towel.” He’ll probably be on 17th Street again on Sunday.

Look how big it is!

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A Simple Guide To Surviving Art Basel

A friend recently asked me for a guide to surviving Art Basel. After pointing him in the direction of Liz’s masterful event listing, I gave him two words of advice: “you won’t.”

Well maybe that’s not advice, more of a truth. Art Basel was not created with your survival in mind. It is designed to strangle you and leave your body in an irrigation ditch, preferably somewhere near the Everglades. It is the art world’s version of China Buffet – too much, all at once, in every conceivable way until a level of discomfort is achieved and you feel feverish from too much MSG. It’s a whirlpool of commerce crammed into a week and none of it was designed with individual enjoyment in mind.

Look, if you can’t handle an entire day at a major museum (and don’t lie, very few people can) there is little chance you can survive Basel or the innumerable other things going on around it. So maybe you want to follow these tips, formatted in the simplest format possible cribbed mercilessly from Highlights for Children:

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Art Basel Miami Beach: Farley Aguilar takes over Scope Art Show

farley aguilar scope

Today is the preview of Scope Art Show, which is put together by THL friend Daniel Laburu and will feature one of my favorite people and artists Farley Aguilar. His cryptic and haunting paintings will be taking over Booth B23, curated by Anthony Spinello. Make sure to stop by. Farley’s work is the shit (there’s an art term for ya).

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Art Basel Miami Beach: catch this graffiti mural being created now at Bakehouse Art Complex

lalo vargas bac graffiti

Graffiti culture as we know it strengthened and expanded during the eighties. In South Florida, a community of artists who have been tagging away for the past three decades have come together on a project. Reuniting through a Facebook group, Miami Graffiti History aka MGH80’s, members Aurelio Roman aka DMS organized a memorial and gathering of writers, even ones from out of town. Over a dozen artists will be working on a massive mural on a wall outside of the Bakehouse Art Complex this Art Basel. There will be DJs and dancing.

This image was created by Lalo Vargas aka END with TIME and GWIZ to memorialize a friend who passed away, Ocho Placas tattoo shop’s Jose L Carrera aka Nasty Nes.

Check it out live till Dec. 2 at 561 NW 32nd Street.

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Bhakti Baxter and Jenna Balfe talk about the must-see-everyone-will-go art blowout tonight in the DD

dome

It’s Sunday already, and we’re all taking fearful baby steps toward Basel. It’s only days away and shit has already begun.

Tonight at 3825, Bhakti Baxter’s space in the Design District, there will be a Miami style, art blow out. If you want a good taste of what we have to offer artistically as a city, this is the event you should attend. There will be performances and a Balance BBQ Sculpture by Baxter and Jason Hedges, presenting a medieval cooking device. The show is a collaboration with NDS shop and Diet Gallery’s Hard Poems in Space.

We happened upon Baxter and Jenna Balfe who will be performing at the show and accosted them for a chat.

Tell me about the show.

Bhakti: The show is to celebrate the space that four or five artists have been working in in the last eight years and it’s closing because it will be demolished the beginning of next year. We wanted to have one last throwdown at the space.

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Art Basel Miami Beach: The Heat Lightning's massive, all-inclusive list of satellite fairs and related events

ferris bueller art

Art Basel Miami Beach. It’s baaack.

We have again put together a comprehensive list of Art Basel and related events to assist you in your Basel journey. Last year, Venessa Monokian and I created Bikable Basel maps. Some places have moved, but you can still use them and your bike (be green, guys).

You should remember to go to Scope, Pulse, and NADA because I like them the best. Then you should go to all of these events down here. I starred ones that I will either be at or, if I were multiple people existing at the same time, would attend all of.

If you don’t see something on here, add it to the comments, please! Thanks.

Remember to hydrate, people! Wear comfortable shoes. Learn something new about something. And for God’s sake, have a happy Basel!

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Sarah Glidden is a cartoonist living in Brooklyn. While in town last week for the Miami Book Fair, she paid a visit to Occupy Miami and drew the people she met and the stories they had to share. Check out the short comic she made here!

by John Spain, posted Nov 23, 11:55 AM · Comment

Less Concept, More Action: Miami Art Dares with Alan Gutierrez

alan gutierrez

Less Concept, More Action is a project by Misael Soto and Liz Tracy which dares Miami artists to do things that make them uncomfortable, but in a friendly way.

Artist Alan Gutierrez is an employee at Dorsch Gallery and a sort of prim dude. He took our art dare to wear next to nothing but coochie cutters and a Dorsch Gallery tee and brave the insanity that is art walk holding a huge arrow that stated: Free Booze… and some art. But first, we asked him three questions about art walk and free booze.

So, what do you do, art-wise?
Be the light.

How do you feel about art walk and what it’s become?
I think it’s a great way to incorporate an aerobic element into your art-seeing.

How do you feel about free booze?
Not too long ago I set up an elaborate bloody Mary bar at my house and sent out an open invitation to stop by for a drink. That was extremely gratifying.

Make sure to check out the Dorsch Gallery’s 20 year anniversary this Saturday, November 19 at 10 p.m. You can say what’s up to our man Alan who will likely not be in booty shorts. There will be free booze and awesome music though. Oh, and swing by Flute Salad around the corner at Lester’s to say hi to Liz and Amanda. Video after jump.

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Antonia Wright's party/show at Dr. Mosquera's gallery/office was the best quinceañera ever

antonia wright 2

I’m sure you’re wondering what I did last weekend. Well, not really, but you should be since at least one event I attended was out of this world awesome.

Miami artist Antonia Wright works at the Margulies Collection, was one of the major forces behind the Wynwood Art Fair, and is known for her engaging, emotional, and thoughtful performance art. You might have already seen the photos of 31-year old Wright posing for her very own quinceañera around town. Airbrushed and garishly dressed, she’s a perfect Cuban princess, though double the age of one normally pictured posing in elaborate gardens without a husband at her side.

Where All of Your Quinceanera Dreams Come True opened at The Mosquera Collection in October. Wright mailed out special invitations to friends to attend her very own quince just last Friday. She never had her own “coming out” party, and so, this performative work allowed her to experience her own big day.

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Pocket of Lollipops' Maitejosune Urrechaga and Tony Kapel gator puzzle (interactive)

pocket of lollipops gator small

One of THL’s favorite married couples, who you may also know as rockers Pocket of Lollipops Maitejosune Urrechaga and Tony Kapel were selected to decorate a 7-foot sculpture of a glamorous gator. As part of a project celebrating female philanthropists through the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, these guys are true winners.

In case you missed the unveiling last night at the Colonnade Outlets at Sawgrass Mills, the multi-talented artists created a puzzle version of their collaborative creation especially for our wonderful THL readers.

Print it out, cut it up, figure it out. Oh, and enjoy the crap out of it!

Hit up Pocket of Lollipop’s Snowcone in the Stairs show at Little River Yacht Club on Nov. 19.

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Less Concept, More Action: Miami Art Dares with Michael Balbone

mike balbone occupy miami

Less Concept, More Action is a project by Misael Soto and Liz Tracy which dares Miami artists to do things that make them uncomfortable, but in a friendly way.

We ran into artist Mike Balbone at the Occupy Miami planning meeting last Saturday where a very nonorganic dare idea popped up organically. While other organizers spoke for hours about protests, permits, porta potties, and sustainable cuisine we sent Mike on a particularly dangerous and tasteless dare, asking him to bring back food from the evil corporate poisoner McDonald’s and eat it at the meeting. He bravely agreed.

Can you briefly describe the work you make?
My work mostly deals with recycling and crafts and public memes and pop culture and love.

How do you feel about the Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Miami movement?
I support it, but sometimes a sad thing that can happen with such protests are the people think it’s a venue for their own personal diatribes instead of the actual group consensus of changing things with government, politics, and Wall Street.

Would you attend the demonstration next Saturday?
I think I’d have to stop showering for a week to be on par.
Yah, I totally would, I’m just kidding!

He’ll be there. But first, he ate McDonald’s.

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