When's the last time art made you laugh? I didn't know what to make of Hernan Bas until a little more than halfway through "The Conceptualists," his extraordinary exhibition of very recent works. Here's the title that convinced me the 44-year-old Miami star painter is spoofing a younger, more privileged generation of art school graduates:
Conceptual artist #28 (he's been steadily infusing a weeping willow with additional malaise for his future burial site).
It reminded me of "sad winter girl," a term I first heard just before the pandemic. To be clear: Bas doesn't depict a single woman in the 35 paintings on exhibit. Instead, he has transposed this arch mindset to a gay milieu where unsmiling boys with terminal ennui read The Bell Jar. What would likely strike me as dumb if it were performed hits my funny bone in bright, heavily patterned acrylic.
Christine had a darker take during our afternoon visit to the Bass Museum--formerly a library, built in the 1930s--noting the allusions to suicide in several other intricate works by Bas as well as a tombstone motif. Apparently, Bas also has a thing for the occult and paranormal, subjects also not often explored in "serious" art.
I'm pretty sure Andy would have embraced Bas as a kindred Polaroid spirit. After all, children who went missing after Etan Patz were once grocery store celebrities.
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| Conceptual artist #19 (a child of the '80s, he places his Polaroid self-portraits in a familiar spot whenever he's feeling lost) |
Although Bas must paint at a furious pace, you'd never know it given his incredible level of detail. Can you spot the third fan?
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| Conceptual artist #26 (his coveted "sea-fan-fans" bring a calming ocean breeze to any interior)" |
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| Conceptual artist #17 (with the aid of scissors, paper doilies and origami, he elevates lily ponds to attract potential princes) |
Ya gotta wonder if this guy got his black eye for wearing too many boutonnieres, or asking another man to dance. Where's Carrie (or Aladdin Sane) when you need 'em?  |
| Conceptual artist #21 (his formative work, "prom night," marked the beginning of a career of works based on acts of disappointment) |
I've never had enough patience for video art, but the Bass has given me a new appreciation for Nam June Paik, another Korean artist who blazed that particular trail.
If I'd been paying attention to airport art during weekend getaways to Miami in 1994 and 1996, I might recall Paik's collaboration with the city fathers to include serious art with public works.
These exhibitions didn't leave much room to exhibit items from the museum's permanent collection and I forgot to identify this collaged work which stitches together an artist's drop cloths.
Two states where I've lived have very distinctive palettes.
The museum's sculpture garden fronts Collins Avenue. The ocean is just beyond.
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| "Miami Mountain" by Ugo Rondinone (2016) |
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