Dusting Off the Suitcase

Here’s a type of announcement I haven’t made in a long while: I’m traveling to Hong Kong today! (Thank you, as usual, to Art Basel and Art Central for the VIP program invitations.)

It’ll be my first time traveling since before the pandemic (my last trip was over four years ago, to Buenos Aires and the Patagonia region of Argentina and Chile, which I wrote about in the early 2020 blog post “Alegría”), making this the longest I’ve gone my entire life without traveling (yes, including when I was little—my About page has always included “globe-trotting polyglot” among my many distinctions, after all).

And it’ll be my first time back in the Fragrant Harbour in five years, since March 2019:

Some of my iPhone 5s* photos from that trip.
*(Except for that narrow selfie my cousin took on his phone.)

(In the above collage: the top left photo is from my blog post “‘Life’s too short for sad art’ // A preview of HKwalls 2019”; the top right is from my honed-from-years-of-experience guide “How to make the most of Hong Kong’s Art Gallery Night // or, Art Basel Hasn’t Even Started Yet and My Legs Are Already Tired”; the second row left is of self-taught artist Fung Ming Chip and his partner Yim Tom, both of whom I’d met the previous year and whose studio visit was a highlight; the entire third row is from Take Your Cousin to Work Day the morning my maternal cousin Philip Ng, a martial artist and actor, brought me to TVB; and the middle photo in the fourth row is of my late paternal grandma on the evening I finally got to visit her home in the Pak Tin public housing estate.)

Long-time followers of this blog will remember that I took solo trips to Hong Kong every year from 2012-2019 (and in 2017 my mom tagged along to record her Cantonese opera album!).

This will also be my first time back after my paternal grandmother’s passing from pancreatic cancer (I wrote about her and my maternal grandmother, who raised me and is ten years older than the former and still with us but has dementia, in my November 2020 blog post “A Tale of Two Grandmothers // On Memory”); it’s going to be strange being there and not being able to ramble around country parks with her like I used to, or try to figure out how to rearrange the contents of my hotel’s mini fridge in order to fit all the apples she always greeted me at the airport with, or sit next to her at the banquet-style family dinner we’d have with everyone and get food for her first before getting mine, internally reveling in being able to step into my role as the mature, eldest cousin on my dad’s side (a role I don’t often get to play since I’m one of the youngest cousins on my mom’s side). But also, I’m a different person than I was in 2012 when I was a whippersnapper and had no idea what I was doing (not that I think I know what I’m doing now), and it was like my Hong Kong uncles and grandma were making sure this kid traveling on her own was looked after.

My Facebook status at the end of my first full day alone in Hong Kong, 2012.

It’s the kind of change that comes with growing up, isn’t it?

Anyway, I’m looking forward to it, especially since so many new things have popped up in Hong Kong over the years I’ve been away. And since I’ll also be visiting Shenzhen for the first time in a decade!

While I’m overseas, you can: follow along on my socials; view my artwork currently on display in the exhibition Click at The Art Center Highland Park; reserve a copy of LAMINATOR Vol. 1, my brand new zine featuring 68 artists, poets, and writers from around the world (also available in the gift shop of the aforementioned art center while supplies last) (I mailed all pre-orders last week and it’s been so exciting to see folks receive and post about their zines these past couple days!); and collect art from a few of the artists in said publication.

Lastly, some miscellany:

On Threads and Mastodon.

• And these were my two thoughts while watching this year’s Oscars—very different from last year’s ceremony.

See you on April 2, Chicago!

How to make the most of Hong Kong’s Art Gallery Night // or, Art Basel Hasn't Even Started Yet and My Legs Are Already Tired

Guys, I did it. I managed to attend 14 opening receptions within 2 hours* at Hong Kong’s Art Gallery Night tonight. And I was handed champagne at almost each one. And my last two stops required me hiking up a mountain (not really but it was uphill and that’s hard as a Midwesterner OK). *(Might I suggest that not every Hong Kong gallery host their event from 6-8pm on the same night?)

Leonardo Drew at Pearl Lam Galleries (no relation).
Hong Kong's Art Gallery Night 2019.

My expert-level (half-kidding… but seriously) route that I recommend to anyone who’d want to see the highest concentration of high quality art within a limited amount a time (and, suffice it to say, the pictured pieces and linked exhibitions are my highlights / picks if you can only view a few):

If you’re taking public transit, exit at the Central MTR station. Arrive a little early and walk into the luxurious Landmark, where there’s always an art installation suspended from the ceiling. Once it’s time, start your gallery-hopping next door at the Pedder Building, which I’ve been visiting every single year I’ve been doing my annual Art Basel Hong Kong trip. Take the elevator to the top floor and work your way down via the stairs. This year’s Hong Kong Art Week / Hong Kong Arts Month, you’ll hit Leonardo Drew at Pearl Lam Galleries (no relation) on the sixth floor; What’s Up/Hong Kong on the fifth; Yeh Shih-Chiang: Edge of Sea and Sky at Hanart TZ Gallery (I always love coming here for Chinese art) and Edwin Wurm at Lehmann Maupin on the fourth; Overheated at Massimo De Carlo, Yoan Capote at Ben Brown Fine Arts, and Heimo Zobernig at Simon Lee Gallery on the third.

Vibing out to music at Yeh Shih-Chiang's Edge of Sea and Sky
at Hanart TZ Gallery. Hong Kong's Art Gallery Night 2019.

Then, walk west on Queen’s Road and go to H Queen’s, which was a new destination last year. Again, take the elevator to the highest floor that has art and work your way down. This year, you’ll hit Zhang Yanzi: Seclusion at Ora-Ora on the seventeenth floor, Louise Bourgeois at Hauser & Wirth on the sixteenth and fifteenth, Mary Course at Pace Gallery on the twelfth, Unlock at Tang Contemporary Art on the tenth, Zhou Yangming: Continuum at Pearl Lam Galleries (yes, they have a second location here) on the ninth, and Miwa Komatsu: Divine Spirit at Whitestone Gallery on the eighth and seventh.

Stomping down seventeen flights in a stairwell can get tedious (as well as dizzying); good thing there’s a “site-specific public art experience” throughout the stairwell called Exit Strategies. (Fun fact: When I was 18 at Columbia, I built a 12-ft.-tall site-specific sculpture in what I thought was an abandoned stairwell and the grad students filed a complaint about it/me to OSHA. (Yes, that’s what that line refers to in my “About” page.) Thank goodness for my professor Lisi Raskin who had my back. Eventually, I destroyed my sculpture as part of my project. The transience of art! My piece was called Asymptote and remains one of the craziest and greatest things I’ve done, to be honest.)

HOCA Foundation | KAWS: Along the Way at PMQ.
Hong Kong's Art Gallery Night 2019.

For the third and final leg, walk west and up all those steps that plague I mean characterize Sheung Wan to get to the Hollywood Road gallery area. I went for KAWS: Along the Way presented by HOCA Foundation at PMQ and Okuda: Digital Zoo at La Galerie – Paris 1839.

Okuda: Digital Zoo at La Galerie - Paris 1839.
Hong Kong's Art Gallery Night 2019.

Of course, there are galleries you’ll be skipping, but you can’t see everything in two hours. (Before H Queen’s existed, after the Pedder Building, I’d also visit the galleries around Ice House Street as well as attempt to see White Cube and others on Connaught Road.)

Note that I’m not factoring in any time for socializing—I purely viewed the art—so your mileage may vary. (I did, however, run into the HKwalls folks at the Okuda show.)

Lastly, this goes without saying for me (since I’m always in sneakers) but might not be as obvious to everyone else: Wear comfortable shoes.

And that’s the first night of Hong Kong Art Week! See you at the fairs!

Equinox

Happy first day of spring! I’m going on my annual Hong Kong trip for Art Basel today! (Thank you, as always, to Basel, Art Central, Asia Contemporary Art Show, et al. for the VIP program invitations!) Feel free to follow along on Twitter and Instagram for live updates and photos of my travels. Anticipate a blog post or two as well. (One of my highlights from last year? A studio visit with self-taught artist Fung Ming Chip.)

To celebrate the season: The dyed green Chicago River in 2018.

Until I’m back on April 3, you can: Apply to Line Dot Editions’ 3rd Annual Open Call Group Show (I’m one of the guest judges); look forward to my upcoming exhibit at the Chicago Public Library during May in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month; and vote in the Chicago mayoral runoff election before (like I did) or on April 2. Be a part of history!

Vernal

It’s spring, and you know what that means: I’m traveling to Hong Kong today! (Thank you, once again, to Art Basel, Asia Contemporary Art Show, et al. for the VIP program invites!) If you aren’t following me on Instagram and Twitter already, now’s the time to start; I’ll be sharing live updates and photos throughout my trip. (Also, SUE the T. rex—everyone’s favorite large murderbird—follows me [and occasionally replies to completely non-science-related thoughts of mine], a fact that brings me great joy every time I suddenly remember it. So yes, be like SUE.) (Granted, the likes of Ai Weiwei and Beck follow me too, but SUE’s the biggest celebrity here to my former [and current] nerdy self. Well, literally. But still.)

Some of my phone* photos from last year.
*(Except for the one of me, which my mom took.)
I love how my images are mostly of women,
even Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy).

I’ll be back on April 4. ‘Til then: Read my new (launched it last week!) ongoing interview series, ABC in HK, amplifying the voices—and the stories, struggles, triumphs, and dreams—of Chinese Americans who’ve returned to their roots, here and on Medium (and view the call for voices, which I’ve added a couple updates to, here); and look forward to my upcoming exhibit at the Chicago Public Library during May in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Southern Song

I’m traveling to Hong Kong today! (Thank you to Art Basel, Art Central, and Asia Contemporary Art Show for inviting me to your VIP programs again!) You know what to do; follow along on Instagram and Twitter for live updates and photos.

Some of my phone photos from last year's Hong Kong trip.

As you also know, I’m usually on my own for my annual HK trip. This year, however, my mom’s tagging along so she can finally record an album there! She’s an amazing Cantonese opera singer, and I’m so happy she’ll finally be able to share one of her myriad gifts with the world. I’m also happy because this means double the food portions I usually order. Watch out, HK; we Lam ladies are gonna’ come eat all your dim sum.

My mom at the storefront her family owned
and lived behind and above
in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

To tide you over ‘til I’m back: Part of my ongoing large-scale interactive mapping project is currently on view at the Chicago Cultural Center, selected by the City of Chicago as part of the “Year of Public Art” initiative for 2017. People back home, check out the exhibition if you haven’t yet and get the chance. And everyone everywhere, follow my Dreams of a City account, where I’m sharing one Chicago postcard a day, every day. (The last time I counted, there were 356. After my art-making event during the Open House a couple weeks ago, though? Expect even more!)

Journey to the West [because that’s my flight route]

Me and the Big Buddha, 1996.

I’m going to Hong Kong today! (Ah, yes, my annual Art Basel VIP visit. You can read about last year’s in “Pearl.”) I look forward to these trips no matter what, but this one has particular resonance as it’ll be the first to H.K. since fall’s protests.

For the folks back home, here are my recommendations for Chicago art gallery exhibitions to see in March.

Follow along on Instagram and Twitter!

Not all those who wander are lost // All you have to decide is what to [read] with the [blogs] that [are] given to you

So I traveled to New Zealand. Photos are on Instagram, and I microblogged moments like these on Twitter and Facebook. I want / need to go back. [Turns into wailing bearded future Jack from Lost.]

Me in Hobbiton. #nerdtears #nerdblessed

Transitioning from Bag End to year’s end: Here are your top 15 most read posts of 2014:

15. “Passion”

14. “That Time of Year”

13. “Goosebumps”

12. “Art Decade”

11. “From sea to shining sea”

10. “Get Your Kicks”

9. “Dig Yourself”

8. “The world is a vampire”

7. “State of Mind”

6. “Press your space face close to mine, love”

5. “He[art]”

4. “Forever Golden”

3. “Pearl”

2. “The Revolution Will Be Shared Online”

1. “Of the Horse”                

Older posts that were just as popular include: “Discussion: Art as a political weapon, artist as social instigator,” “2013 Greatest Hits,” “Notes from [an] underground [art scene advocate / Miami Art Week virgin],” “King of Kowloon,” “EXPO CHICAGO 2013 // An Interview with Tony Karman,” “Discussion: Why do you collect art?,” “Discussion: Skill vs. concept,” “Lucky 13 and More Numbers,” “Everybody get up, it’s time to sLam now,” “You may say I’m a dreamer / But I’m not the only one,” “East Middle West // An Interview with ICY and SOT,” “A Call for a Global Art History,” “Performance Paint plus Polymath post,” and “Agora.”

This year was filled with firsts for me, whether it was jurying an exhibition for the first time, speaking on a panel for the first time, or being in an artist residency for the first time. These upcoming months I’ll be treading familiar territory—revisiting my first love, traveling even more (I’ll once again be a VIP for Art Basel Hong Kong, which will be held in March instead of May)—but they’ll be no less exciting.

I’ve also started a Tumblr and Pinterest. I don’t quite understand them, but that’s what adventures are all about. Or something.

Thank you, as always. I’m glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things. Happy New Year’s Eve and Day!

Pearl

You know you’ve just flown in from Hong Kong when it’s 85ºF and it feels nice and cool.

Chicago, I’m home for a week. Then it’s off to New York. Using this time to visit my parents, power through jet lag, and catch up on things from the past couple weeks, e.g., watch the Interstellar trailer ten times in a row, half of which I pretend it’s a sequel to Contact.

Victoria Harbour as seen from Art Basel Hong Kong 2014.

  

My highlights from the second annual Art Basel Hong Kong, as well as other photos I took throughout my trip, can be viewed here on Instagram.

Rebecca Baumann, Automated Colour Field,
Art Basel Hong Kong 2014.

Hong Kong, of course, was and is so much more than Basel. This is, after all, where my roots lie.

Hong Kong, the city that gives new meaning to the phrase
"urban jungle."

My family’s history mirrors that of Hong Kong: My grandparents were refugees from the Mainland, escaping the Communists in 1949. When their squatter hut burned down in the shantytown fire of 1953, which left over 50,000 people homeless, they resettled in the Shek Kip Mei public housing projects, Hong Kong’s first public housing estate and where my dad and his three younger brothers were born and raised (I wrote about what life was like there in this post). My dad—while still a kid from the hood—got into and graduated from the University of Hong Kong (and later immigrated to the United States and earned a master’s at the University of Chicago). And now the sole American-born child of the Lam clan, with a not-bad track record of her own, receives invitations to return to her motherland every year and attend the world’s premier Modern and contemporary art event as a VIP. Cue “Circle of Life.” (And me holding up this puppy to an enraptured audience of Serengeti animals?)

Spent my last full day in Hong Kong relaxing here, by the sea,
with my grandma. What a long way the Lamily has come.

Whether it’s visiting the Mei Ho House, the last remaining—and newly “revitalized”—building of the Shek Kip Mei slums (I asked my uncles to bring the only photos they have from their childhood for comparisons); or imbibing free bottomless booze at a sweaty party in a parking garage in the industrial district of Chai Wan on the outskirts of the city with friends old and new while dancing to a live Chinese rock band (whose female lead singer, who wore Pink Floyd tights, we gave sips from a bottle of vodka we may or may not have taken from the bar) and, before that, watching dancers follow a set of instructions that included, among many other things, screaming audience members’ names, hiding in boxes, doing a routine to a Rihanna and Beyoncé medley, and fisting themselves in their mouths; or looking at art…

I love this place. 

Have a great week, everyone.

That Time of Year

Bye, Chicago.

 

Been here a hundred times. Never gets old.

Hi, Hong Kong!

Neither does this.

I’ll be sharing photos on Instagram as well as updating Twitter and Facebook. Follow along!

In the meantime, if you’re around Batavia, Illinois, check out the exhibition I juried at Water Street Studios.

Chicago, I’ll be back in a few weeks. Albeit briefly. Then it’s off to New York!

2013 Greatest Hits

Photo by Jessica Pierotti.

Ah, 2014 cometh. There’s already much to look forward to:

• I’ve just been invited to be the guest juror for Water Street Studios’ spring show, opening April 11. Thanks, Steven Lockwood!

• I’ve also received a VIP invite to the second edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, happening in May. (Here’s my recap of the inaugural fair.) And right after Hong Kong, I’ll be in New York City for my 5-year college reunion (holy shit).

• But before all that: My visiting artist workshops at the Chicago Children’s Museum are this Saturday and Sunday and next Thursday. Chicagoans, bring your kids to Navy Pier and let me be a bad influence on them. I mean, yeah. (I’ll also be showing them the weird stuff I drew when I was around their age.) A fun way to kick off the new year.

Opportunities:

• Artists: The CTA is seeking art for Blue Line stations. Apply! Submissions are due January 6.

• Illinois residents: The Art Institute of Chicago will be free every weekday from January 6 through February 12! Warm up this winter with art.

Photos from my last two adventures of 2013:

• Sixty Inches From Center and Autotelic’s birthday bash (photos by Claire Demos and Jessica Pierotti).

• My highlights from Art Basel Miami Beach and the rest of Miami Art Week (including parallel fairs, concurrent exhibitions, and public art throughout Miami) on Facebook and Flickr.

And now for the year in review. Here are your top 10 most read posts of 2013:

Agora

From laughing with friends during egregiously inappropriate moments to selling four artists’ works* to emerging, past one in the morning, onto the craziest roof after climbing up three ladders through the craziest attic with a bunch of crazy people (I love you all), Saturday night was amazing. Thank you, everyone.

*(James T. Green’s Post-Black animated GIF, Robin Rios’ Quiet aluminum print, several pieces from English Prevo’s Agora series, and Jessie Winslow’s Untitled mixed media photo collage.)

Party photos forthcoming.

English Prevo.

An excerpt from (and an addendum to) last month’s “King of Kowloon” post got published in Rad Brown Dads, which is pretty rad itself.

Event to attend: New Yorkers, go to this celebration hosted by my friends Stephanie Lindquist, Courteney Ervin, and Glendalys Medina. Learn about different ways to expand your creativity.

Events to find me at: I’ve just received VIP invitations to PULSE and UNTITLED, both of which I loved last year (you can find out why in one of the most read posts of 2012). I’ll be there, as well as the Art Basel Miami Beach VIP Vernissage and everything else I scored free passes to (that’s the way to do it).

Americans, enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend! Everyone else, stuff your faces anyway!

Oh twelve oh yeah // Year in Review

First, an announcement for 2013:

I received a VIP invitation to the inaugural Art Basel Hong Kong, happening in May. Count. Me. In.

And now for a look back at 2012. I’m going to try to make this short and sweet (“try” being the operative word here) because the past year felt short and was oh so sweet.

Photo by Sophia Nahli Allison, 2012.

My year in review:

• I CAN DO THAT, the second show I curated independently, was, simply, the best (so far); I

• popped my international contemporary art fair cherry with the likes of ART HK, Art Basel, and Art Basel Miami Beach; I

• traveled the world and explored the art scenes of Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Basel (and other Swiss cities), and Berlin, but also made sure to shine a spotlight on the local arts, including the inaugural Expo Chicago; I

• launched Dreams of a City (and launched a bunch of balloons into the night sky); I

• celebrated my venture’s first anniversary; and I

• had a blast.

OK fine here are 2012’s top 10 most read posts as well:

10. “I Can Spell // Sorry, Time Out Chicago magazines” – The I CAN DO THAT call for artists flyer.

9. “I / We / Can / Did” – The aftermath of the I CAN DO THAT closing reception.

8. “Hong Kong and China were niu bi // Shanghai off spray paint” – Jetlag.

7. “On ubiquitous banana men, palm readers, and maps” – Featuring a couple I CAN DO THAT artists and an introduction to what would later become Dreams of a City.

6. “Best in Show” – I CAN DO THAT rocked.

5. “Midwesterner in the Middle Kingdom // The Outsider” – Third culture kid angst.

4. “Notes from [an] underground [art scene advocate / Miami Art Week virgin]” – “Your report on Miami is better than any article in any newspaper anywhere.” Dude.

3. “Discussion: Art as political weapon, artist as social instigator // This painting would look nice in my foyer” – With great art comes great responsibility. Maybe.

2. “Winging It, in the Modern— / People’s Choice” – In which I stood in the middle of the Art Institute and harassed museumgoers.

1. “Lucky 13 and More Numbers” – The results of #2’s shenanigans.

Thank you for being a part of such a thrilling year. When I think about 2012, more than anything, I see beautiful people, faces, you—whether you squeezed your way through a crowd at a show and found me, months later; or lingered with me outside a 7-Eleven late at night as you peddled pictures of pop stars; or laughed with me in multiple languages in a photo bookstore halfway around the world; or sat with me on a stoop in the summer heat to talk art and life and the love of it all… this year was painted with the light of new friendships forged, old relationships strengthened, fleeting encounters that left eternal impressions. Here’s to an even brighter year. I can’t wait to see what 2013 will bring.

Have a safe and fun New Year’s, everyone.

Notes from [an] underground [art scene advocate / Miami Art Week virgin]

A drop of forty degrees. It hurts, man. It hurts. (In other words, I’m back from Miami, home in Chicago.)

Things I did a lot of this past week:

• Took photos. You can check them all out on Flickr or / and Facebook. (You can also watch the slideshow at the end of the post.)

• Tweeted. Tweets ranged from art-related to things like this.

Now, what was my take on Miami Art Week?

Inside Wynwood Walls.

Being me, the first thing I did in Miami was visit the gritty Wynwood neighborhood, ‘most every surface swathed in street art, dripping with pigment and passion. Away from the beach resorts and omnipresent pools, away from the Hummer limos pulling up to art deco hotels and nightclubs with flashing marquees, Wynwood is a wonderland of aerosol ecstasy, where you could walk down a side street and smell fresh spray paint, breathe it all in, let the dizzying barrage of color saturate your soul. I couldn’t help but think of the squatter communities off Moganshan Road in Shanghai or in Berlin, ostensibly bleak cityscapes where you could lose yourself and find yourself and find God in graffiti. This is how you make my heart go aflutter.

Of course, the main attraction was Art Basel Miami Beach. Sure, you had your Hirsts and your customized BMWs on display in the collectors’ lounge and your fairgoers in Louboutins and on-trend sheer dresses and there were $20-a-glass champagne carts rolling down the aisles. But there was good stuff too.

My favorite booths included Salon 94, featuring Jon Kessler’s kinetic sculptures, one of which controlled an iPad that took photos of the viewer (technology! topicality!); and mother’s tankstation, featuring Atsushi Kaga’s dark-humored cast of characters. The latter booth sold out during the daytime preview, so the artist himself, along with his mother, created more art on the spot. Among these creations were tote bags that were only 50 bucks each—mind-blowing at a fair where works of art can and did sell for millions.

Atsushi Kaga and his mom at mother's tankstation
at Art Basel Miami Beach 2012.

There was so much more to see other than Basel, however, with over a dozen parallel fairs, such as NADA Miami Beach (I’ll just say this: the entire time at Basel, I saw gallerists picking at nothing but salads and fruit platters; at NADA, within my first few minutes in one of the fair’s halls, I made eye contact with a girl devouring a pizza) and UNTITLED. Art Fair, which I thoroughly enjoyed (right on the beach, the fair was perfectly located, the sandy path from Ocean Drive to its entrance, I imagined, almost inherently a stiletto deterrent), but most of all…

PULSE Miami was, hands down, my favorite fair. For me, there are two factors by which to judge an art fair (or anything, really): how fun it is and how good it is. PULSE was great fun and it had high quality art—a combination that is unfortunately rare.

                                                                                     

(Painfully boring events with passable art are to be expected. The opposite is equally common but harder to identify because of certain… distractions: Let’s be real—we’ve all been to at least one event where it’s fun and hip and yeah there’s a gaggle of kids milling about secretly wanting to get snapped by a street style blogger and when that doesn’t happen they all Instagram each other and then exchange Tumblr URLs but when you get around to actually looking at the walls you realize the place is infested with that distinct hipster brand of half-assed juvenile Bad Art and you’re not sure whether it’s ironically bad like that ugly grandpa sweater that ironically mustachioed dude over there is sporting or if it’s just plain bad.)

From Jessica Drenk’s exquisitely crafted sculptures made out of such materials as cut books, carved pencils, and coffee filters at Adah Rose Gallery to Casey Neistat’s Watch Some Movies interactive installation where visitors could lounge on couches in a living room setting and, well, watch some movies, or help themselves to bowls of tampons and condoms, cans of cheap beer in a mock-locked fridge, and a grilled cheese sandwich-making station (operated by the artist himself)… PULSE delivered.

The art met the caliber set by Basel (in many ways I thought it was much better, even), but, more importantly, it was refreshing.

I also noticed (or perhaps just naturally always hone in on) many works that put an emphasis on people, on communities, like:

a participatory public art project that combined urban farming with housing and assistance for the homeless; a multimedia installation representing the residents of a neighborhood affected by gentrification; and Brooklyn-by-way-of-London artist Shantell Martin’s Continuous Line mural, into which she incorporated visitors’ names (you all know I’m all about blurring the line between artist and audience) and onto which she hung two signs of polished stainless steel, one asking “who are you,” which tapped into the viewer’s sense of self and identity, the other asking “you are who,” which, Shantell explained, alluded to art fairs’ preoccupation with being a somebody.

Shantell Martin next to my name in her "Continuous Line" mural
at PULSE Miami 2012.

For those who might feel discouraged by or think that the art world consists only of the superficial and posturing and celebrity-worshipping and big-name-and-big-money-driven commercial greed… don’t.

Even at the top, there is room for alternatives.

There is room to be subversive.

After all, this is art.