December 11, 2008
The Aqua Wynwood Fair Thoughts and Standouts..

First off, when it comes to art fairs, The Aqua Wynwood Fair.. is lucky to have nice real walls, much better lighting, and real Flat Floors… which just makes for a much better presentation experience for Art viewing. If MAO had a drink dollar for every time we stumbled on those damn tent floors at Scope, Art Miami, Etc….. Yikes!

– Patricia Sweetow Gallery from San Francisco, CA – Great Booth! They had some thoughtful photo and video works from Jefferson Pinder, which are worth checking out. But

both MAO and Dr. Quiz totally fell in love love love with the work of super young painter Jamie Vasta.

Now, MAO never in his lifetime thought he’d ever write these words… “We liked a group of paintings made entirely of GLITTER.” Yikes..! Yes.. It’s true… As a total contemporary Art Snob, it’s almost scary to even type that statement, but it’s totally true.

The work of Jamie Vasta, is as intoxicatingly thoughtful, as it is sparkly & luminous. Made of only Glitter glued onto wood board, her newest series of young girls with their hunted (and frequently killed) prey left us mesmerized. FYI.. these painting were all made prior to the Sarah Palin for VP choice.

There’s so much in these paintings, we looked at them again and again. this series are all based on images Jamie found off the Internet.. it’s hard to begin.. but they were impressive, political, lush, scary and beautiful all at the same time. Sadly they don’t photograph well.. so don’t think MAO’s completely gone mad, until you’ve experienced one directly/

(Photo #4, painting by JAMIE VASTA, Zoe,2008,glitter, stain on wood,40 x 30 inches)
But after seeing these paintings, it was no surprise to hear, this artist was recently named one of the top 15 artists under 35 to watch, by Art Ltd. Her work was actually the magazine cover. Jamie who was only born in 1980, already has had reviews in Art in America, Artweek, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and has been a critics pick in Artforum.com. That’s a lot of attention for glitter paintings.. but well deserved. Check out the work of Jamie Vasta soon.