David LaChapelle "Michael Jackson"

What is Art Basel? For those of you that have never been there, it is the most prestigious Art event in the United States outside of Basel, Switzerland where it originated 41 years ago. It draws a reported 40,000 art enthusiasts and visitors. According to Fredric Snitzer, gallery owner extraordinaire and fellow alum from Uarts in Philadelphia, the controversial, yet magnetic, Rubell Family collection was a huge draw for Art Basel to anchor itself in Miami for the past eight years, since its debut in 2002. It has been held annually in December ever since.

Art Basel has works from about 2,000 artists represented by some 250 art galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. It is a place to see the work of legends like Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso as well as work from the pseudo-anonymous stencil graffiti artist Bansky and the uberfamous artistic photographer and filmmaker Cindy Sherman.

Cindy Sherman "Cindy Sherman"

 Art Basel shows work from up and coming galleries with emerging talent as well as established and staples in the art world like Mary Boone, White Cube and Gagosian. Who’s work will we see this year? It is always a guess, however, there are some artist’s work which are sure to be there like Chuck Close, Damien Hirst, Jasper Johns, Takashi Murakami, David LaChapelle, Jeff Koons and hopefully, the whimsical Gilbert and George. There are just some artworks that cannot be unseen and some artists that cannot be forgotten.

Gilbert and George

Murakami's Japanese Anime and Modern Sculptures

Whether you like, dislike, or are not interested in art at all, Art Basel will never disappoint. It will overwhelm the novice visitor, entertain those who like shock-value and enamor the artistic-at-heart. This is it! Art Basel has generated satellite art fairs like Pulse Miami, the Bridge Art Fair, Scope Art Fair, Red Dot, and Art Asia.

Let us not forget the numerous openings for exhibitions that take place from artists piggy-backing on Basel’s popularity and then, there are the parties. From serious art collectors who spend millions on a single artwork to the VIPs who dawn on the Miami Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, Dec 1, 2010 for “the” night (Vernissage, by invitation only), the champagne and caviar parties begin before, during and after the fair takes place. Another reason to call Miami, “The Magic City.”

www.artbaselmiamibeach.com

Restaurants in the Miami Beach and surrounding areas:

Prime 112, Prime Italian, Barton G (The Restaurant), STK (Gansevoort Hotel), Casa Tua, Mr. Chow(The W Hotel South Beach), De Vito’s, The Blue Door (Delano Hotel), Azul (Mandarin Oriental Hotel), Joe’s Stone Crab, Emeril’s (Lowe’s Hotel), Smith & Wollensky, Philippe (Gansevoort South Hotel), Tatiana’s

Elaine Lancaster by Howard Austin Feld

Photo of Howard by Christine Alfaro Photography

For over 30 years, Howard Austin Feld has produced photographs from the demure to the erotic. His work has been featured in numerous national and international magazines, TV shows and has clients from around the world.

At first you might notice only skin, but there are many layers to the beauty of his work. Having studied and taught Figure Drawing (drawing from nude male and female models) for the past twenty years, I can tell you he is capturing form and content. His nudes are not “naked.” They are in fact forms placed in compositions that are complex, vibrant and juxtaposed with surprise elements. Where there are voids, there is an abstract composition, as well. When describing composition, the not-so-obvious has to be identified and that would be the relationship with positive and negative space (the main subject and the rest of the space). More elements to consider are the relationships between Foreground, Middleground, and Background and the parallel planes they are all on (I will end the Art jargon right here, except to relay that he knows what he is doing folks). I tell all of my students that a work of Art is successful if it commands your attention, isn’t that the reason why we buy Art in the first place?

Mr. Feld has certainly accomplished the artform of memorable retention of an image. Howard has photographed numerous subjects from people to places and things. Photos of Nature and Cityscapes are also part of his stellar and vast portfolio. He is undoubtedly a master at Photography and can therefore, play with it! He is gracious as he is talented, the photographer offers workshops to teach novices and professionals alike. I can relate to Howard, although we have yet to meet, as he is in essence a teacher. Even on his Facebook photos, he has tips on how to take photographs when rolling over his images with a computer mouse. I consider him to be a dedicated person who is secure enough with his incredible knowledge of an artform that he is willing to teach his tips and tricks to those who might otherwise, need years to learn the ropes.  For those interested in taking classes with Howard Austin Feld you will truly gain new insight into the world of Photography.

The Howard Austin Feld signature gallery is located in the heart of Miami’s South Beach at 663 Lincoln Road. Gallery hours are noon to 11pm on Sunday through Thursday, and noon to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays. To contact Howard Austin Feld, please call 305-888-9999 or 305-632-4638.

 

For workshop information follow this link and you can see what Mr. Feld offered in the past and when his next workshop will take place. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Howard-Austin-Feld/79035208777?ref=mf#/event.php?eid=112848329882

To reach the Howard Austin Feld commercial studio, please call 1.305.888.9999 between the hours of 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday. You can also email your inquiry to images@hafdigital.com.

The thumbnail for this post was created by Joey Mugica, Digital Artist, www.thecolorqueen.com