Miami

Wow We Have Come This Far / BFI 5year Anniversary

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'Worlds Without End Part I,' 20 x 37 inches, ©2009 Harlan Erskine

I'm happy to announce that I will have the above print included in the BFI Portfolio. If you are in Miami please stop by the benefit this Thursday November 12th. Hope to see you there!

THE BAS FISHER INVITATIONAL CELEBRATES ITS 5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH A BENEFIT AND PREMIERE OF THE PORTFOLIO "WOW WE HAVE COME THIS FAR"

Date: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Time: 7 - 10 p.m.
Tickets: $50 per person (cash or check only)

Location: The Bas Fisher Invitational
180 NE 39th Street, Suite 210
(inside the Buena Vista Building in Miami’s Design District)

Featured artists in portfolio "Wow We Have Come This Far":

Kevin Arrow | Alex Cardenas | Clifton Childree | Jessica Dickinson | Harlan Erskine | "Freegums" aka Alvaro Ilizarbe | Frederico Nessi | Rebecca Schiffman | Francine Spiegel | Jen Stark | Mike Taylor | Jonathan Thomas

The Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI), an artist-run, alternative arts space in Miami's Design District, is throwing a cupcakes and cocktails soiree to mark its 5-year anniversary and portfolio premiere on November 12, from 7-10 p.m. “Wow We Have Come This Far” features exclusive, limited-edition prints exploring silk-screen, giclée, photography and etching, among other mediums, by 12 BFI alumni artists.

Attendees will be treated to deejayed tunes by BFI organizers Naomi Fisher, Jim Drain and Kathryn Marks, with the added pleasure of knowing their $50 ticket goes toward future programming and events.

Founded in Summer 2004, the BFI has hosted 30 exhibitions, many of which have launched the careers of emerging artists: Francine Speigel went on to show with Deitch Projects in New York; Jessica Dickinson and Alejandro Cardenas are represented by James Fuentes, an edgy, downtown New York gallery; and Jen Stark, Alvaro Ilizarbe and Clifton Childree are among Miami's most respected talent.

In gratitude for their success, these portfolio artists contributed to raise funds and ensure support for the next generation. All ticket and print sales go toward matching the Knight Arts Challenge grant awarded to the BFI from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. This matching grant provides funds to maintain year-round programming including exhibitions, lectures, community outreach and artist residencies in association with the Fountainhead Residency, as a nonprofit, non-commercial venue under the umbrella of the Dade Community Foundation, a 501c3. The Knight Arts Challenge is a $40 million initiative to bring the South Florida community together through the arts.

About the Bas Fisher Invitational

For over five years, the Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI) has consistently maintained a presence in Miami as a thought-provoking artist-run gallery space. As a zero-profit, alternative venue for unrepresented artists the BFI has allowed artists to receive full benefit of their hard work and to make great professional connections. The BFI was created by Naomi Fisher and Hernan Bas (now managed by Fisher, Jim Drain, Agatha Wara and Kathryn Marks). Since 2009 the BFI has been under the umbrella of the Dade Community Foundation, a 501c3.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote community engagement and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

The Bas Fisher Invitational is generously supported, in part, by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Opening Tonight: Naomi Fisher, The Brave Keep Undefiled A Wisdom Of Their Own

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Miami to New York! Tonight Miami native and friend is coming up for her opening at Leo Koenig. I'll be there and many others. Also, as mentioned in a previous post, Leo Koenig is having some sort of art pot luck next door.

Leo Koenig, Inc.
545 West 23rd Street, 212-334-9255
Chelsea
Leo Koening website

September 18 - October 24, 2009
Opening: Friday, September 18, 6 - 8 PM

Leo Koenig Inc. is delighted to present a solo exhibition by Naomi Fisher entitled "The Brave Keep Undefiled Wisdom of Their Own." With this exhibition, Fisher strives to explore the reciprocal relationship between the force of nature and its tendency towards chaos as it stands in opposition to the order and structure of civilization and culture. It is an investigation through movement, landscape costume and adornment.

Figuring most significantly in this new series of photographs, videos and drawings, are the women depicted in the images. Some of these women have been photographed by the artist for over a decade, and are all trained dancers and performers whose personal visions parallel those of Ms. Fisher's. Other intrinsic elements of inspiration for the exhibition came from the location (Oleta State Park), and a chance happening of what can only be described as the "Garage Sale of a Lifetime" where the artist stumbled upon the sale of the contents of an unpaid storage unit in Miami. There, Fisher amassed 3 garbage bags full of clothes that ended up containing vintage Versace.

"Camp Primitivo" was the name which was given to Fisher's "bubble world," and leopard print was their uniform. Oleta State Park, is on an island in Biscayne Bay between North Miami Beach and the City of Miami. Truly hidden in plain site, the park has miles of mangroves, forests and beaches nestled between metropolis and ocean. Life there was basic, food, beach, insect repellent, sleep, cook dinner over a campfire, drink, dance, thunderstorm, scream, repeat. The resulting images convey an atmosphere of spontaneous expression tinged with just a bit of mystery. The women, clad in their leopard-print and sequined outfits, exude an impulsive and unguarded playfulness, while at the same time leaving the viewer with the feeling that they might never really know the whole story.

Growing up in Miami and traveling abroad while her botanist father collected and studied tropical plants has given Ms. Fisher a unique perspective to recontextualize the modernist fascination with the tropics and the "wild" women for whom the jungle is their natural habitat. The images in this exhibition are a culmination of a project where the artist invited four women to camp with her and shoot for 9 days straight. The intimacy is apparent in the images. For the duration of the project each performer was able to tap into a reservoir of darkness and emotion which was effortlessly communicated with humor and abandon. Likewise, the artist's direction became an intuitive, and organic process. This seamless reciprocal gesture could only be the result of years of familiarity and collaboration.

Naomi Fisher is an artist born and raised in Miami. Fisher has exhibited internationally in such venues as the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev; Halle fur Kunst, Luneburg; Kemper Museum, Kansas City; Kunsthalle Wein, Vienna; Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel; Deste Foundation, Athens; and the New Museum, NY. Fisher graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in Photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1998, and is a recipient of a 2008 Knight Arts Challenge Grant from the John and James L. Knight Foundation. She also co-founded and jointly runs the Bas Fisher Invitational, an artist run alternative art space in Miami.

The artist would like to thank Jacqueline Fritz, Nancy Garcia, Jessie Gold, Elizabeth Hart, and Nikki Rollason for their inspiring performances.