Los Carpinteros  Güiro – Pop up bar on the Beach – All photos in this post by Art Observed

The events surrounding Art Basel Miami Beach have grown noticeably in the past few years, thankfully so has the pixel count in the latest issue cell phone cameras of our Art Observed staff on site (though some photos below seem to belie this capability). Below is a selection of some of the people, art, cars-as-art, parties and events we tweeted and instagrammed live during the week @ArtObserved, in case you missed it.

Azealia Banks at the Standard Hotel for Terrywood on Friday Night

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Will Ryman, Bird (2012). All images via Paul Kasmin Gallery.

Will Ryman’s Anyone and No One solo show is the artist’s first at Paul Kasmin, and the first for any artist to show simultaneously at both the 10th avenue gallery and the former Bungalow 8 location. Three new site-specific works include a towering labyrinth of 200,000 paintbrushes, and larger than life sculptures of a man and a raven.

Will Ryman, Signature (detail) (2012)

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Doug Aitken, Now (2011) at 303 Gallery NY. All photos for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

AO is on site in London for this week’s Frieze Art Fair. With 173 galleries selling an estimated $350 million worth of art, a level of anxiety pervades as the week’s results will be indicative of the overall international contemporary art market. Works like Christian Jankowski’s droll The Finest Art on Water and Michael Landy’s Credit Card Destroying Machine directly comment on the world economic state, while the overall demeanor remains upbeat, with art world moguls and A-list celebrities enjoying the festivities.

Michael Landy’s Credit Card Destroying Machine (2011), Thomas Dane Gallery

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Will Ryman, The Roses (2011). All photos via Paul Kasmin Gallery unless otherwise noted.

Along Park Avenue, from 57th to 67th Streets, New Yorkers can enjoy an early spring thanks to Will Ryman‘s steel and fiberglass installation, The Roses. Towering up to 25 feet high, the works brighten up the wintry uptown grayness, breaking down the elitism of gallery-laden art and offering a different experience from each point of view—below, above, in a cab passing by. From a family of artists, and a background in theatre, Ryman capitalizes on the public placement, relying on the viewers to “complete my piece,”according to NY Times. Working with City Hall, the Borough Hall Commissioners Office, and the Park Avenue Sculpture Committee, Ryman had his trash vetoed—matches and a Doritos bag—but a variety of dog-sized bugs survive, as well as 20 scattered rose petals, six of which double as lawn chairs.

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Rose #39, Will Ryman. Via Marlborough Gallery

‘Will Ryman: A New Beginning’, an exhibition showcasing the work of New York artist Will Ryman, is currently showing at the Marlborough Gallery in Chelsea. This is Ryman’s second exhibition at the gallery and follows his much celebrated show at the Saatchi Gallery in London earlier this year.  ‘A New Beginning’ has taken over the first floor of the gallery and features 39 sculptures, ranging in size from 2ft – 7ft high. The sculptures depict over 100 Roses which vary in shades of pink and red amid a garden of detritus. Visitors are encouraged to roam through the garden in which their view is distorted to reflect that of a rodent.

Will Ryman Installation video. Via Marlborough Gallery

Related Links:
Will Ryman: A New Beginning event page [Marlborough Gallery]
Profiling: Will Ryman by Mary Barone [ArtinAmericaMagazine]
Will Ryman interview August 2009 [ArtonAir.org]
Go See Will Ryman: The Bed [ArtObserved]

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Installation view of Will Ryman’s ‘The Bed’ via Saatchi

Will Ryman’s sculptural installation ‘The Bed’ is on view at Saatchi Gallery in London through May 6, 2009. The work is constructed out of papier mâché and is centered around a 26-foot-long bed with a sleeping man, surrounded by empty malt liquor cans, cigarette butts and various debris from a night of lonely indulgence.  It depicts a scene described as ‘somewhere between Sunday morning lie-in bliss and nervous breakdown.’ The exaggerated scale and clumsy construction depicts a cartoonish world while also presenting a formidable spectacle.  In his artist’s statement, Ryman said that ‘The Bed’ originated with his childhood impression of his parents’ bed being much bigger than it actually was, and is an exploration of one’s distorted perspective of one’s place in the world and relationship to surroundings.

Will Ryman [Saatchi]
Huge bed sculpture installed at gallery [Worthing Herald]
Another unmade be receives the Saatchi treatment [Evening Standard]

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