Hernan Bas, Champagne Corks Bobbed in the Pool That Morning, 2016

Bright Young Things is Lehmann Maupin’s ongoing exhibition for a new body of work by Detroit and Miami-based painter Hernan Bas.  Amongst the most particular and earnest contemporary figurative painters, Bas has established himself over the past years as a craftsman of distinctive visual narratives, in which the lavish and relentlessly indulgent daily life of western aristocracy meets the styles of mannerist painting, employing passionate color spectrums and surreal architectural forms. (more…)

Hernan Bas, A Satanist on a Tuesday (or, The Key Master) (2012)

Detroit-based artist Hernan Bas’ new show Occult Contemporary is on now at Lehmann Maupin, the exhibition consisting of Bas’ most recent body of work: a group of paintings in various sizes depicting dark, fairytale-like scenes. The name of the show is a reference to “Adult Contemporary,” a term used to describe a category of popular music. The subject of the show itself, as reflected in the title, is inspired by the appearance of the occult in all forms of popular media, including those geared towards children and young adults. Bas displays a strong fascination with the supernatural, his paintings loaded with whimsical imagery.

(more…)

Another view of the main lobby, A Scott Campbell “tropical fantasy” (represented by the Miami based OHWOW Gallery) is the top center work

Art Observed was on site at the Soho Beach House Miami during the week of Art Basel Miami Beach for a tour of the 150 work art collection assembled for the private club and hotel.    Keeping a close connection with the artistic community has been an important part of the strategy for the Soho house brand, which has multiple locations in England as well as in New York and newly in Los Angeles, Berlin and Miami Beach.   This week marked the first Art Basel Miami Beach for the location and it hit the ground running,  hosting some important events such as dinners for White Cube and Victoria Miro galleries and a W Magazine event.

A John Baldessari on the left and a Friends With You on the right, in a hallway on the main floor

More story and images after the jump… (more…)

–>
Alice Neel, photographed by Sam Brody courtesy of Victoria Miro Gallery

“In The Company of Alice” is currently on view at Victoria Miro Gallery. This is a group exhibition of paintings honoring the life and work of Alice Neel. Each of the painters participating in the show drew inspiration from their admiration for Neel’s work. Some of the artists in the show often create portraits–but for others this is a new endeavor, and their very first portraits are being shown in this exhibition. “In the Company of Alice” coincides with a retrospective of Neel’s work at Whitechapel Gallery, opening on July 8^th. Studying Alice Neel’s work as a point of departure for modern and contemporary portraiture, “In the Company of Alice” aims to broaden the viewer’s perspective of figuration and portraiture. The exhibition also brings forth the importance of  these modes of practice in relation to contemporary art.

–>
Alice Neel, Richard, 1973, courtesy of Victoria Miro Gallery

More text and images after the jump…

(more…)

View of the exhibition “Considering Henry” (2010)

Now showing at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris is a look at the Miami-based artist Hernan Bas, unprecedented in France. The exhibition, entitled “Considering Henry,” is on view through March 13, 2010 and borrows new works from major collections belonging to the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney, MOCA (both Los Angeles and Miami), The Rubell Family Collection, The Saatchi Collection, SFMOMA and the Hirshhorn. Tracing prevalent themes of solitude and reflection in Bas’s romantically-inflected oeuvre, the exhibition follows the artist’s steadfast inspiration in nineteenth-century literature and painting.

Hernan Bas’s The landmark (or the laser point) 2009
Acrylic and airbrush on linen over panel
4 x 5 feet / 122 x 152,5 cm

More images, text and related links after the jump… (more…)

–>
Hernan Bas Mystery Bouf (or, the kingdom after the flood) (2009) at Lehmann Maupin.

Lehmann Maupin’s Chrystie Street location on the Lower East Side of Manhattan presents a new body of work by contemporary Miami-based painter Hernan Bas. This exhibition, entitled The Dance of the Machine Gun & other forms of unpopular expression after the “Futurist Manifesto” by Italian poet F.T. Marinetti, is his first solo show in four years and coincides with the artist’s retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, taken from the Rubell Collection of Miami.

Lehmann Maupin
–>
Hernan Bas: The Dance of the Machine Gun & other forms of unpopular expression
–>
201 Chrystie Street, New York
–>
April 23 – July 10, 2009

RELATED LINKS
–>
Exhibition Page [Lehmann Maupin]
–>
The Beginning and the End: Hernan Bas at Lehmann Maupin N.Y.C. [C-Monster]
–>
Hernan Bas at Lehmann Maupin Tomorrow Night! [Supreme Being]
–>
Hernan Bas at Lehmann Maupin [The World’s Best Ever]
–>
Hernan Bas: The Dance of the Machine Gun & other forms of unpopular expression [Whitewall]
–>
Go See: Hernan Bas at the Brooklyn Museum New York [Art Observed]
–>
Video: Hernan Bas at Lehmann Maupin [NewArtTV]

–>
Installation view of new works by Hernan Bas at Lehmann Maupin Gallery.

(more…)

“Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection” at the Brooklyn Museum includes 38 works by Miami’s native son Hernan Bas, collected over a ten-year period by the seminal Rubell family.  His work, which incorporates romantic and classical imagery, finds inspiration in youth and Goth culture, fashion layouts, and books, among them the Hardy Boys series, Oscar Wilde, and Huysmans as reimagined from the perspective of a young gay artist. At the center of the exhibition is a specially commissioned, grand-scale video and sculpture installation, Ocean’s Symphony, a “sumptuous tribute to the myth of the mermaid.”

Brooklyn Museum
Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection
February 27-May 24, 2009
Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing, 4th Floor

RELATED LINKS

Exhibition page [Brooklyn Museum]
Exclusive: Miami Native Hernan Bas Brings Decadence to Brooklyn Museum [Flavorwire]
Hernan Bas at the Brooklyn Museum [Flash Art]
Getting Lushy: Hernan Bas at the Brooklyn Museum [C-Monster]
Overview: Hernan Bas [ArtInfo]
Hernan Bas Exhibit Opens at The Brooklyn Museum [WWD]

(more…)

Hernan Bas Painting via Hikari

A not to miss on the Miami Art Basel agenda, is the famous Rubell Family Collection. Displayed in the design district in a large, blockish, museum-esque building. While a private collection, there’s nothing private feeling about it, including the vacuous galleries, bookstore and several banners on light posts proclaiming its presence. It’s clear that the Rubell’s have contributed and shaped the contemporary art world as we know it.
(more…)