2011 May 09
Bernice Steinbaum’s Exhibition in Print 2011
On 09, May 2011 | 4 Comments | In Artists, Exhibits & Museums | By man-admin
With Mosaic Art NOW 2011 finally released, we thought we would take another look at the Exhibition in Print sponsored by LATICRETE – this time through the eyes of our jurors.
The EIP 2011 is actually two separate exhibits, one curated by Bernice Steinbaum, PhD and the other by the team of Emma Biggs and Matthew Collings. The selections were made entirely independent of one another, giving MAN readers the opportunity to see how the perspectives of various influencers in the larger art market impact the judging process.
Today, we will briefly look at Ms. Steinbaum’s selections.
Bernice Steinbaum, PhD, is one of the most respected members of the art community in the United States. Gallerist, dealer, curator, juror, speaker and author, Ms. Steinbaum has a reputation for a discerning eye, honest tongue, and snappy wardrobe. Over 30 years ago, Steinbaum broke the mold in Manhattan, opening a gallery in Soho that focused entirely on female artists – blazing a trail that eventually earned her a Woman of the Year Award from the National Organization for Women.
Steinbaum now champions emerging artists whose work speaks eloquently about the issues of gender, race, culture and identity at the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery in Miami, FL. In 2000, after closing the doors of her Soho gallery, she was instrumental in founding the Wynwood Arts District in Miami when she turned a rundown crack house in that area into her eponymous two-story, world-class, positively magnetic art gallery.
The Bernice Steinbaum Gallery currently represents two Macarthur “Genius” award winners, five Guggenheim winners, multiple National Endowment Winners, two Annenberg Fellows and other artists of note. Its clientele is made up of 50% museum acquisition funds, 30% corporate collections and 20% individual collectors. Ms. Steinbaum is a regular participant in Art Basel Miami as both a gallerist and speaker.
In short, as a wise man we once worked for used to say, “She knows how to pick her horses.”
Four years ago when, green as grass and loaded with passion for mosaics, we approached Steinbaum about a contemporary mosaic exhibit in her gallery, she silently flipped through our catalogues, handed us our proverbial hat and later, over cocktails, held forth with honesty, sagacity and wit about What Makes The Art World Tick. Mosaic Art NOW and the Exhibition in Print are a direct reflection of Steinbaum’s invaluable input and care. We are forever grateful.
Here, then, are Ms. Steinbaum’s mosaic horses.
Please bear in mind that this is just a representative portion of the Exhibition in Print as it appears in MAN 2011. We readily admit that much of the exciting dynamics of the Exhibit – most notably context as it relates to both the Exhibition as a whole and the intent of individual artists – is lost within this limited space. In the magazine, four pages are devoted to three works by each artist and are accompanied by in-depth Artist Statements and Descriptions of each work.
We highly recommend that you click on the images for larger and more detailed views. All photographs are by the artist unless otherwise noted.
The art world is an imperfect place. Museums exhibit artwork; art periodicals critique it; collectors collect it; critics criticize it; auction houses provide a secondary market for it; and commercial galleries supply a retail mechanism. It is an arcane and elitist system of interlocking patronage that has not changed in the past one hundred years. Of the thousands of practicing artists residing in the Americas and other continents, only a handful are able to support themselves solely by making art. In spite of these facts, however, these artists continue to make art because of their passion for mark making.All artists make magic – for those of us who don’t (like myself), it is virtually impossible to know or agree on what all the ingredients are that are used in the potions. This juror selected the magic that worked for her – given that she is in the business of selling magic in her daily life as an art dealer.
Steinbaum: “In his larger works, the viewer gets the sense that it is abstract work, perhaps a pointillist painting, on further examination we find individual people with delineated faces, each having their own personalities.”
Barberini: “My personal artistic ‘language’ for exploring artistic expression is mosaic. The themes, the techniques and the materials change depending on what I want to ‘say.’ I view contemporary mosaic as a valid artistic expression equal to the fine arts.”
Mosaic of Remnants Detail
Queen Esther with Mordechai Detail
Memories 35 x 50 cm
To order a copy of Mosaic Art NOW 2011 with the entire Exhibition in Print 2011 and more on the contemporary mosaic scene, click here.
