Nomadic Fungi Lab Samples Develope Red Dots

The Nomadic Fungi Institute was very honored to have two NFI Lab Samples on display with Ro2 Art at this years Dallas Art Fair. The two samples were fresh from the NFI incubator, and
still damp with the pure spring water we use to sterilize all our lab samples with.

With the Dallas Art Fair drawing in thousands of people, these two NFI lab samples was set to receive a lot of exposure. The NFI hot line started ringing Friday afternoon with people saying there were red dots on the wall next to the lab samples. Of course the NFI staff was very alarmed. Had something gone wrong with our sterilization process and the nomadic spores found the latex wall paint irresistible. With a quick call to Jordan at Ro2 Art we were informed that the red dots were actually sold stickers!

Dallas Art Fair Promo Code for Professionals

The Dallas Art Fair starts this week! There are lots of great events at the art fair and all around the city all week long.

The Dallas Art Fair is the one show that brings hip, contemporary art galleries directly to Dallas. It should not be missed! AND for the Second year in a row Dallas Culture Map is sponsoring free day passes to all professionals. I am assuming you are all professionals of some sort.

So, follow this link, copy the promo code and past it in at the Dallas Art Fair ticket page.

http://dallas.culturemap.com/news/arts/03-26-14-dallas-art-fair-professionals-day-free-admission/

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dallas-art-fair-2014-tickets-10403780989

See you at the art fair,
Brad

Zona Moca Art Fair Mexico City

I am a nut for art fairs. For me, art fairs are the best way to see firsthand the artwork that is driving the cultural head lines. So when American Airlines ran a ridiculously low airfare to Mexico City that coincided with the Zona Maco Mexico Art Contemporaneo I booked it.

Living north of the Texas/Mexico wall I soon found that information about Zona Maco was very limited. Most of it was in spanish, a language that I don't speak, read or understand unless it addresses the topic of food.

The Zona Maco website has an english version that includes most of the basic information but fell short on full functionality. But I was able to gleam that over its ten years of operation it has become quite big with galleries from all over the world exhibiting a wide spectrum of artistic styles and price points.

The art fair was laid out in three zones contemporary art, modern art and design. These zones were not hard set and it was a pleasure to see how they conversed with each other. It was interesting too that sunday appeared to be family day, with large groups of parents, kids, grandmothers, aunts and uncles long lines at the food stands.

Material Art Fair Mexico City 2014

Seeing the Material Art Fair was a case of being at the right spot at the right time. I was in Mexico City because American Airlines was running an airfare that was so cheap I couldn't find any excuse not to fly down to see the Museo Soumaya and the Museo Jumex. Plus there was the super sized Zona Maco Art Fair (more on all that in the next post)

Over breakfast at Casa Comtesse I noticed a listing in the local paper for the Material Art Fair, and it was going on just down the street from where I was staying!

This was the first year of the Material Art Fair with just forty galleries in attendance. The focus of the fair was on "Emerging Practices"(!?)  A little over half of the galleries came from outside of Mexico. Several exhibitors were actually artists co-ops such as the Neter, which isn't so much a gallery as a group of artists that are committed to promoting their artwork by promoting the gallery. These groups work together, pulling from the groups resources to build bigger and better events, exhibits, opportunities, and artwork. These groups with their can do attitude added a lot to the optimistic atmosphere of the art fair.

The Neter used customized pizza boxes to create portfolios that included limited edition prints by twelve of their artists. Very nice work at a very reasonable price.

Printed Matter Inc.

This art fair was more about making new discoveries than perusing the walls for well known signatures. The galleries represented mostly under recognized artists, in fact I would say that the galleries themselves were mostly under recognized. That element infused the art fair with an air of excitement, optimism and rebellion that the bigger, blue chip art fairs are too mature/tainted to generate.

I was very surprised and happy to see Dallas represented by artist Ricardo Paniagua at the DAI Gallery...

Kevin Jacobs Director of the Oliver Francis Gallery

And Dallas's own emerging practice gallery, the Oliver Francis Gallery . 

Over all, the Material Art Fair was a great opportunity to see how artists, co-ops, and galleries are approaching the art market with new alternatives in the hopes of making big waves. Hopefully next year MAF will make a bigger splash by spending more time on promoting the art fair, and perhaps finding a better location than the fourth floor of the Hilton.  

Discovering Free Dallas Art Fair Tickets

The fifth annual Dallas Art Fair is just around the corner, and with 83 galleries in this years line up, 40 of which are first time participants, I am starting to get really excited to see some new and exciting artwork.

While perusing the local media coverage for this event I discovered two wonderful things which I am very excited to share with my BFS Blog subscribers. First is the new art and entertainment website CultureMap. They have been around for a while but I just found out about them.

The second discovery is that CultureMap in their post Enthusiasts Experience Dallas Art Fair for Free on Professionals Day posted a pass code that allows you to purchase free tickets to the Dallas Art Fair!

NOW you have no excuse to miss the most important art event in the DFW metroplex!

Houston Fine Art Fair Shopping List

The Houston Fine Art Fair was like going to Whole Foods, row after row of good for you art work. Unfortunately I left the wallet containing big wades of cash at home. I posted my shopping list and a few observations on Art and Seek. (Photo- Keiko Gonzalez, Salar Galeria de Arte, Bolivia)

Next month is the Texas Contemporary Art Fair. Will it be worth another 8 hour roundtrip drive?..

Houston Fine Art Fair

Well I just can't stay away. I'm heading down to Houston for the Houston Fine Art Fair. I've posted a short blurp on Art n Seek , which I'll follow up on with photos on monday.

Posting About The Art Fairs In Dallas On Art and Seek

This is a quick post. Still have more art to see before it's all gone. I've been posting about the Dallas Art Fair and the Suite Art Fair on Art and Seek.net. Here's the link to all those pages, plus my older posts on art go by.

 I'll be blogging more about the art fairs on my blog soon.

A Suite Art Fair Just Up The Hill

Just posted a review about the Suite Art Fair on Art and Seek. Here's the link A Suite Art Fair Just Up The Hill

Eyeball Exercise Coming Soon At The Dallas Art Fair

The Dallas Art Fair opens to the public next Friday! I've been really jonesing for this event. This is the third year of the DAF. Each time it gets a little bigger with a few more galleries signing up. Plus there is the Suite Art Fair being held over at the Belmont Hotel. (I'll be stretching the corneas there as well)

The beautiful people at Art and Seek are once again indulging my rambling prose, so keep an eye out there for my latest misspellings. I'll post links here on my blog to any posts I make there.

Tonight, I'm doing some warm up exercises at the local art gallery openings.

Playing In The Mud At The Dallas Arboretum

Being involved with the Creative Arts Center has opened up several unexpected opportunities to push my studio centric self out into the public eye. The latest example was at the Dallas Arboretum's annual art fair, ArtScope. It focuses on artisans like potters, wood turners and glass fusing-ists(?) About 100 artisan booths nestled among the blooming trees and flowers.

Anyway, DA asked CAC to send over a few art teachers to do art demonstrations, so here I am standing under the trees working on a clay bas-relief sculpture of the cafe gardens. 

I was out there for about 4 hours. I don't think the sculpture is the best I have done, but it was fun talking about making art, having my photo taken a lot, and handing out little balls of clay to all the kids.  A casual observer might think they were watching a sun burned Van Gogh feeding dirt to young children...

Next week it's off to North Park Mall for some speed sculpting at ARTsPARK.

Art in the District 2010: posting on Art Seek

Posted a little blurb about the Art In The District 2010 art fair on Art and Seek. Just hoping to get the word out a bit more.

I really feel like the local/Texas media coverage for this art fair and the Dallas Art Fair, which by the way ran full page adds in Art in America and Art News for the last two months, was severely lacking. After the grand opening events for the two new performance centers in the Dallas Arts District a few months ago, you would think having 56 nationally recognized galleries set up camp across the street from the DMA would cause some buzz with the Art District crowd...

Dallas Art Fair posting on Art & Seek

I just posted an article about the second annual Dallas Art Fair on Art and Seek, click here. I am heading down there tomorrow to hopefully load up my eyeballs on some hot relevant artwork. Then I'll pop over to the new Art In The District 2010 art fair. Perhaps if I am lucky I will OD on art.

Art basel: Immersion and Beyond

Posted the last article on Art Basel Miami 2008 on the Art & Seek blog. It was a great time that I hope to repeat next year.

Art Basel: Our man in Miami, Part 4

Here's the link to my 4th article that I have posted at Art & Seek on Art Basel Miami 2008 

Art Basel: The Been Done List

After spending days and days of viewing art at Art Basel Miami 2008, I can safely post a list of art that has been done. Check it out on the Art & Seek blog.

Art Basel: Our man in Miami, Part 2

Due to tech issues I could not post on Art & Seek while at Art Basel Miami. So I sent photos of the Texas galleries to Anne, who was so nice to post them for me. 

Art Basel: Our man in Miami, Part 3

This is a link to the Art & Seek photos that I sent in while at Art Basel Miami. Thanks Anne for posting those for me. 

Art Basel: Our man in Miami, Part 1

This is a link to my first "on assignment" posting for Art & Seek. There's an introduction by Anne Bothwell with my photos of some of the Texas galleries that are part of Art Basel. This assignment lead to posting 5 articles. 

I am going to Art Basel Miami 2008

I am going to Art Basel Miami 2008, and KERA Art & Seek asked me to write some articles about it. Here is the link to my first article on the event and the varies Texas galleries that will be there too.