It’s remarkable.

In a few short weeks, International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE) has transformed the Palm Beach County Convention Center from an über-cool, contemporary art warehouse that housed their Art Palm Beach fair into a refined country-manor home for the current American International Fine Art Fair (AIFAF).

At the entrance, a four-spout fountain sits, surrounded by plush greenery and a few delicate pink flowers. The polished concrete floors have been replaced by plush carpeting. Subdued track lights have replaced bright overhead lights. White-cube exhibit booths have been Martha Stewart-ized with alternating Wedgewood blue, vermillion red, steel gray and buttercream walls accentuated by white molding.

The convention center leapt from MOMA to Met — while we were sleeping.

The crowd seems to have changed as well. Rather than Latin accents, one now hears plenty of British and French ones. Women have gone from wearing silver Prada to pink Pulitzer. The young and trendy have been replaced by mature bluebloods. Even the parking lot has gone from BMW to Bentley.

The art is different, too, for the most part. Abstract paintings have been replaced by plenty of serene landscapes with ornate, gold-gilt frames. Marie Antoinette is no longer walking among us, though she can be seen in some of the works on display. There are now also antiques, ceramics and rare books. And the bada-bling has gone up a notch with the participation of high-end jewelers such as Graff, Scavia and Buccellatti.

In this genteel environment, one might almost forget that, for-the-pure-love-of-art notwithstanding, the AIFAF, which will be at the convention center through next Sunday, Feb. 13, is about selling. Yes, all of these beautiful people are here to buy and sell art, which is a relatively stable commodity right now.

The art market, unlike other sectors of the economy, has held, despite the precarious economy and post-Madoff private-collector decommissioning. Most buyers believe, along with William Gaddis, that “a work of Art redeems time. And buying it redeems money.”

The market for contemporary art, illustrated by last year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, seems to be bursting at the seams, but the tastes at AIFAF tend to more conservative genres.

“I deal mostly in 19^th-century and some contemporary realism. Our clients are successful and busy,” said Howard Rehs, a third-generation New York dealer and owner of the Rehs Gallery. “At the end of the day, they’re looking for something relaxing and calming to look at. They prefer figurative or landscape to abstraction.”

Moving throughout the fair, one could see that these traditional tastes transfer to more contemporary mediums, too, as demonstrated in works by photographer John Dugdale, who was on hand at the Holden Luntz Gallery booth. Dugdale is blind and was accompanied by an affectionate companion, a golden lab named Henley, who gently nuzzled up to visitor’s ankles. The artist’s studio is located in the Catskills, which may explain why his photographic work demonstrates the same glow that is seen in many Hudson River School landscapes.

Dugdale explained that he sees his work “in my heart.”

“I just recently lost the sight that I did have. But I have these images in my memory bank,” he said. Of the Catskills light, he noted, “It’s so lovely. You can’t get away from that golden light. It’s pervasive.”

That golden light was evident in many works throughout the fair, but strikingly evident in a very large landscape painting taking up the entire wall at New York’s Alexander Gallery Booth. Laurel Acevedo, who owns the gallery with her husband, stood in front of the work, The New World by Baron Jean Antoine Théodore Gudin, explaining its provenance and significance while engaging two private collectors.

Though Gudin worked at the same time as the Hudson River School painters he was not a part of the movement and worked mostly in Europe, though Acevedo noted that “he inspired Frederick Church.” One could easily see the influence.

“It’s a rare work to see because Gudin, though American, existed mostly in national collections in Europe. He was employed by two kings of France. This work was in the collection of a former secretary of state,” she said.

Some of the fair’s galleries crammed work into their booth space. Others presented work in a thought-out manner, such as the Renoir and Friends exhibit in New York’s Hammer Galleries booth. Though all the works are for sale, they’re presented in a curated exhibit, with accompanying catalog, something you don’t always see in an art-fair setting.

Hammer’s president, Howard Shaw, explained that the gallery has a history of presenting one-man exhibitions of Renoir’s works, having done so in both 1959 and in 1984. Because the Hammer Galleries recently relocated, the show wasn’t seen in New York, and Shaw chose to preview it here at AIFAF, a treat for visitors who will see works that illustrate Renoir’s influence on other great artists.

“While Renoir doesn’t fit neatly into the history of modernism because in his late work, he looked toward the old masters—whereas artists such as Monet and Pissarro embraced modernism—you wouldn’t be able to appreciate Matisse’s odalisques or Picasso’s nudes without understanding Renoir’s influence on them,” Shaw said.

While the majority of fine art offerings at AIFAF are geared towards 19^th-century figurative and landscape artists, there are a few galleries that present some modder offerings, such as Palm Beach’s Arcature Gallery and Miami’s Rudolf Budja Galerie.

And moving from art to look at, to art that you can wear, Scavia displays jewelry-as-art in original, elegant floral settings. The Graff booth is guarded by two tall, young models bedecked in evening gowns and jewels. And Buccellatti has what seems to be a tongue-in-cheek “hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil” three-monkey statue greeting visitors to its booth.

Complementing the dealers and their offerings, AIFAF is providing a robust program of lectures that brings scholars, artists and specialists to the lectern to discuss a range of topics. Those that collect and those that merely admire have the opportunity to both increase their knowledge and rub elbows with great art, all in an environment created with every detail intended for the uplifting pleasure of celebrating aesthetics and inspiring awe.

Jenifer Mangione Vogt is a marketing communications professional and resident of Boca Raton. She’s been enamored with painting for most of her life. She studied art history and received her B.A. from Purchase College.

The American International Fine Art Fair (AIFAF) runs through Feb. 13 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. Hours are noon to 7 p.m. daily through Saturday; noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13. Admission is $10 in advance, or $15 at the door, for a one-day pass; $35 for a one-day pass with catalog; $15 in advance, or $20 at the door, for a multi-day pass; $45 for a multi-day pass with catalog. Student admission is $10. For more information, visit www.aifaf.com.

Glancing at the viewer, a woman shields her face from the sun. She stands in a garden resplendent with color. Red geraniums dance at her feet alongside the stone pathway where she stands. Alongside her, a woman kneels and tends to the garden.

Throughout the painting, titled Red and Green by Joseph Kleitsch, patches of shade and bright sunlight compete for dominance. A moment in time is captured, resulting in questions: Who is this woman? Who is she looking at?

The answers are irrelevant because she belongs to everyone. And her moment in time is equally familiar.

In another work, The Idle Hour (1917) by John Hubbard Rich, a woman reclines in a rocking chair. She gently fans herself with an elegant, Oriental-style fan. She appears at ease, but lost in thought. The room is awash in a hazy, sunlit glow that seems to match the subdued nature of her mood.

The ability to elegantly capture moments of quietude like these is so much a part of the appeal of the artists represented in California Impressionism: Paintings from the Irvine Museum, now on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art until April 17.

However seemingly banal, these are the fleeting moments in life that take our breath away, or require us to ponder. They do so because there’s an emotional connection between the subject and the artist. In some cases, as in the ones just mentioned, the subject is a person. In many other instances throughout this fine exhibit, the subject is nature. Either way, or whatever the work, a mood is evoked.

California Impressionism is a movement that combined distinctive aspects of European art with a distinctly American flavor. These painters emerged in the early part of the 20th century, primarily in Southern California, as a result of the economic opportunity and migration that was made possible by a modernized transportation system between the East and the West.

Their style seems to have peaked around 1915 and by 1930 began to decline into obscurity, only to be rediscovered, and heralded, in more recent years as a significant niche in the history of American art. The California Impressionists, along with other painters throughout the country who had adopted this fluid, emotive style, were precursors to the global dominance of American. Though not founded in the United States, Impressionism paved the way for the looser brushwork and gestural painting that foreshadowed the abstract expressionist movement and solidified America’s reign as the center of the art world.

With their painterly significance in mind, it pays to look closely at the canvas in order to follow the artist’s brushwork because you are witnessing the birth of the fluidity and freedom that is one of the hallmarks of American art, and which could only have emerged in a society that had also victoriously rejected the imposed boundaries of a traditional European hierarchy.

What you truly see here, in works such as Scrub Oak by John Bond Francisco, is a determined optimism that is born from sunshine, nature and the opportunity that had emerged from westward expansion. It was in this brief moment of time before the Great Depression that America blossomed and enthusiasm ran high. The sunlight breaks through the clouds and shines down on the land in a manner that is both peaceful and comforting. It seems to convey that everything will be all right.

These California artists, who were also known as the California plein-air painters, were discovering the natural landscape that the country had to offer and they were inspired by its sublime beauty. In the same way that a magnificent sunset can cause you to quickly gasp for air as you are overcome by the sheer beauty of it, these works invoke the same spiritual, though not necessarily (if at all) religious, sense of wonder.

Two works capture the beauty of nature with glimpses of artistic modernity. In Eucalyptus Grove, by George Spangenberg, the artist has gone into the trees to portray an interesting angle that reduces a landscape into a composition where color, line and light move forward and the viewer is drawn right into the canvas.

In the second, Los Angeles Harbor by Donna Schuster, discernible shapes hasten towards abstraction. The clearly defined lines of the three boats in the foreground are framed by less distinctly shaped boats behind them and more ambiguous objects, supposedly buildings, in the far distance.

Here again, line, color and light form an interesting interplay that makes the composition more significant than the scene being portrayed. The bold brushwork provides an additional testament to the importance of the light to the entire scene.

Light is, of course, the central character in all of these works. Both the abundance of light, or the lack thereof, send subliminal messages to the viewer because the light is allegorical to the deeper emotional content of the work, which summons the fleeting moments in time that are being portrayed.

When you view a work such as Southern California Coast by George Gardner Symons, you are transported to that moment in time when the artist stood in front of his easel admiring the scene. You smell the ocean and you feel the glaring sunshine that is depicted in the brilliant white peaks of the breaking waves that you can hear crashing against the rocks and sand. For those few moments that you stand before this work, you feel what the artist felt as much as you see what he saw.

Ultimately, that is the great blessing bestowed on us by the California Impressionists and the cornerstone for the success of this exhibit: these paintings provide a brief respite, a moment that is both inspiring and comforting. This is a moment often referred to as grace and it is, more often than not, inspired by the beauty of nature.

Jenifer Mangione Vogt is a marketing communications professional and resident of Boca Raton. She’s been enamored with painting for most of her life. She studied art history and received her B.A. from Purchase College.

California Impressionism: Paintings from the Irvine Museum is on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art until April 17. Hours for this exhibition are Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m., Saturday from 12 p.m. until 7 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. until 5 p.m. Admission is $14 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $6 for students. For more information call 561-392-2500, or visit www.bocamuseum.org.

“I chose the hammerhead because they’re on the red list and in danger of extinction,” said the artist Marc Hubert D’Ge— who looked like remarkably like a young Gregg Allman — in a charming Aix-en-Provence accent of his installation piece, Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves.

He stood beneath a 10-foot, taxidermied shark mounted on an exhibition wall with a video running over it and against the wall. The shark was trailed by a trio of foot-long babies. At one time, there had been five, apparently.
“We lost some of them somewhere along the way,” he explained with a puzzled expression.

A little further into the exhibition hall, a tall young woman, in full Marie Antoinette garb, floated regally amidst a crowd of inquisitive admirers. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that her costume was made entirely of plastic bags and bric-a-brac.

“Everything was pulled out of the garbage and is recyclable,” said Miami-based artist Lucinda Linderman of her performance work, Excess Extravagance.

Of her choice of the doomed, let-them-eat-cake, monarch for subject matter, she explained, “each of us are consuming like she did.”

And so these eco-friendly artists, along with an odd assortment of characters and a healthy dose of uber- beautiful people, heralded a wonderland-like journey into the environs of Art Palm Beach, a global contemporary art fair, which will reside at the Palm Beach Convention Center until Sunday. For these next few days, the convention hall has been transformed into a museum-like liminal zone – a hyperreal world – offering artists and galleries from around the world, alongside seasoned collectors, art aficionados and the merely curious.

The entire scene is a people-watching bonanza and an art lover’s aphrodisiac.

In true art-world fashion, there was quite a bit of hugging and kissing happening as dealers, standing within art-lined exhibition booths, enthusiastically greeted collectors and friends. One who was really shown the love was petite Sandra Neustadter. Based in Delray Beach, she and her husband Edward deal in master and emerging artists, and their booth was bustling with activity and interest.

In fact, many of the stellar exhibitors were from South Florida’s own backyard; Palm Beach and Miami galleries comprise a fair portion of the global art trade.

/“We feel so appreciated here,” remarked Geoffrey Orley of Palm Beach’s Orley and Shabahang as he explained that Palm Beach is the perfect market for the custom, contemporary carpets that he and his partner, Barham Shabahang, design for their discerning clients.

“People who gravitate towards the finer things in life,” he continued.

Jewelry designer Sherry Fehr, of Boca Raton’s Sherry’s Gifts of Gilt, felt the same. She participates in Art Palm Beach in order to reach new clients.

“We enjoy meeting people from all over the world who appreciate our custom designs,” Fehr said.

The international flavor of the fair adds to its appeal. Walking alongside visitors one overhears languages and accents from all the continents and many of the exhibiting galleries hail from diverse locations, such as Dublin, Tel Aviv and Caracas.

The fair also provides local art institutions with opportunities for visibility to these global visitors. Complimentary booths were provided for local museums, such as the Norton Museum of Art, where they were able to distribute membership information.

Cynthia Palmieri, executive director of the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in Palm Beach, another local cultural landmark, was grateful.
“It’s very nice that they invite us and provide an opportunity for cultural organizations to have a presence amongst collectors, galleries, and people interested in art,” Palmieri said.

Yet, even in Wonderland, there are disappointments. Such was the case for Vancouver-based artist Gordon Halloran, who had planned to exhibit an enormous outdoor ice-and-painting installation.
Halloran, who is committed to public art, explained, “We couldn’t find a sponsor. It looked like the sponsorship manager was going to get someone, but then it just didn’t work out.”

Thus, Halloran was reduced to exhibiting fragments of another of his works, Lotus in Motion, that, when shown properly, is truly a lyrically beautiful outdoor installation with polyurethane lotus leaves floating gracefully atop water. Seeing the singular lotus leaves, mounted on the walls of the exhibition booth, was sort of sad and illustrative of the fickleness that coincides with the extravagance of the art world.

It’s all part of the journey, though. And the foray into Art Palm Beach is a microcosm of the larger rabbit hole that is the global art machine, which can be perceived as its own living, breathing entity and which, for many, generates an adrenaline-like rush.

Art Palm Beach provides creative energy and excitement. Amid the thousands of visitors and hundreds of exhibitors, there is art for every taste and of every medium. There is conservative. There is outlandish. There is art that appeals to sight and sound and art that you wear, as well as art that you walk on. There is so much eye candy that it can be somewhat daunting. Expect ADHD moments.

This is proof that art goes beyond what tradition dictates — and that’s the best part of this wonderland — the fact that it showcases emerging artist alongside traditional ones. It brings contemporary art to Palm Beach, which is traditionally known to have more conservative tastes. Visitors are not just enticed by the aesthetically pleasing, but also challenged to think, to ponder – as evidenced by the works by Linderman and D’Ge.

For, whatever the amount of time you choose to spend at Art Palm Beach, one thing is certain: for that period of time, you will be transported into a magical, whimsical, and sometimes poignant and thought-provoking realm.
Escape from reality, after all, is part of the appeal of the journey into art Wonderland.

Jenifer Mangione Vogt is a marketing communications professional and resident of Boca Raton. She’s been enamored with painting for most of her life. She studied art history and received her B.A. from Purchase College.

Art Palm Beach takes place from Jan. 21-23 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. Hours are Friday through Saturday, noon to 7 p.m.; Sunday, noon till 6 p.m. Admission is $10 in advance, or $15 at the door, for a one-day pass; $15 in advance, or $20 at the door, for a multi-day pass. Children under 12 accompanied by an adult are free. For more information, visit http://www.artpalmbeach.com.

Art fair season is upon us. And, for art lovers in Palm Beach, it’s the most wonderful time of the year because, beginning this week, the Palm Beach County Convention Center will be the home of two fairs that showcase galleries and works of fine art from around the world.

They’ll also provide an unparalleled opportunity to attend lectures by leading artists, experts and scholars. And they help boost Palm Beach’s status as a world-class cultural destination.

The fairs, Art Palm Beach and the American International Fine Art Fair (AIFAF), are annual events that celebrate their 14th and 15th years, respectively. Lee Ann Lester and her husband, David, run both fairs through International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE). She attributes their success to the supportive local art community.

“There is a multi-generational tradition here in Palm Beach of supporting cultural institutions,” she said. “We have a wonderful audience that appreciates that the inspiration for the fairs comes from the surrounding art community and institutions, such as the Armory Center, the Norton Museum and The Society of the Four Arts.”

It might seem challenging to run art fairs in such close proximity to the world’s second-largest art fair, Art Basel Miami Beach. But these fairs have an aura that is distinctly different from Basel, yet provide the same access to leading global galleries and scholars, albeit at a smaller scale.

While Basel is a behemoth in relation to the size of the fair itself, as well as the ever-increasing satellite fair offerings, the Palm Beach fairs provide an opportunity to view fine art without a crazed impetus to see all, acquire all, and impress all.

True, the entire art world won’t be in attendance, but there also won’t be preening supermodels, wannabe art aficionados, rock stars, exceedingly long lines and, in true emperor’s-new-clothes-fashion, a lot of art that requires extraterrestrial insight to interpret.

For some, the entire Basel scene has an art-as-commodity vibe driven by collectors that look to acquire work by the next great artist that they can quickly sell for a generous profit. That makes the atmosphere uber-competitive, and Basel a star-churning factory.

Holden Luntz, who owns one of the world’s most prominent galleries for fine art photography, agreed that there is a marked difference between the average Palm Beach collector and the average Basel collector.

“Tastes are a little more conservative. Palm Beach collectors are not necessarily looking to be the first on the block,” Luntz said. “They’re looking for quality – work that they can live with – not so much what will put them ahead of the curve.”

And, while people may not necessarily correlate Palm Beach with contemporary art, the first fair, which begins this Friday, Art Palm Beach, is changing that perception. The focus is primarily on the visual arts, with a few exhibitors of fine jewelry. Lester explains that the fair supports the emergent trend for multimedia and site-specific works.

“The show will be very interesting for creative works in new mediums – digital, technological – new art forms that are fascinating. Keep your eyes and your mind open. You’ll see in person what is now on the Web.”

The work at Art Palm Beach will range from elegant works by established artists, such as Dale Chihuly, to more quirky, imaginative works that require the “open mind” to which Lester refers. She also said there will be large variety in price ranges and collector profiles.

“Many of the works are affordable, with prices ranging from $1,000 to $100,000,” she said. “We’ve seen a growth in the age and sophistication of our collector base. We see both younger collectors, as well as seasoned collectors buying new forms of art.”

For those that go merely to view art and learn, both fairs offer programs featuring leading curators, artists, and educators.
Highlights of Art Palm Beach include “The New Miami Art Museum at Museum Park,” with new museum director Thom Collins, and “Art Now: The Convergence of Photography, Video and Contemporary Art” led by Kara Walker-Tome, curator and moderator, and Elayne Mordes, collector and founder of Whitespace. [You can view the full program schedule here: http://www.artpalmbeach.com/program.html]

Different in scope, the AIFAF also features international dealers, but here representing fine art ranging from classical antiquity to contemporary, and a fine collection of haute and period jewelry. You won’t find quite as much of the quirky, if any, and this fair is fully vetted by leading museum curators and experts.

A key component of the fair will be a Renoir exhibit following on the heels of Renoir in the 20^th Century, which recently graced the galleries of the Grand Palais in Paris, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This single-artist exhibition recently premiered as the inaugural event for the Hammer Galleries opening at their new location at 475 Park Ave., New York, and will continue on for a three-month run at The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) show in Maastricht, Netherlands.

Luntz, who will exhibit at both fairs, views them as an extension of his nearby Palm Beach gallery space. For AIFAF, he will showcase new work by John Dugdale, a sight- impaired photographer who creates images that seem lit from within, and hard to conceive of as being done by a man with only 10 percent of his vision.

Luntz began collecting Dugdale’s “beautifully exquisite pictures” before he knew about his eyes. As the relationship developed, Luntz asked Dugdale how it was possible for him to create these images. Dugdale told him: “You don’t just see with your eyes. You see with your heart, soul, mind and spirit.”

Dugdale will be present to sign copies of his book, Life’s Evening Hour, as part of AIFAF’s program, providing a rare opportunity to speak to an artist whose work is collected by, among others, detail-obsessed, elegant-living guru Martha Stewart.

Alongside painting and photography, fine jewelers, such as Milan’s Scavia and London’s Graff, will exhibit sparkling gems, and antiquities dealers will showcase furniture and ceramics with historic provenance. The entire fair serves as a fantasy foray into the arena of finer living, Palm Beach-style.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of these fairs is that they foster relationships between art lovers, collectors and local art institutions. The Lesters, for example, are committed to the local scene, which is evidenced by the number of local galleries exhibiting in both fairs and their collaboration with local art institutions.

The Lester will collaborate with the Norton Museum of Art on Feb. 12 to mark the museum’s 70^th anniversary and provide complimentary admission and shuttle bus service for both venues. The event is being promoted as a “day of cultural events Palm Beach will never forget.” [The full program for AIFAF can be viewed here: http://www.aifaf.com/detailed_schedule.html]

Both fairs promise to help create another memorable and stimulating season for art, and in our very own backyard.

Jenifer Mangione Vogt is a marketing communications professional and resident of Boca Raton. She’s been enamored with painting for most of her life. She studied art history and received her B.A. from Purchase College.

Art Palm Beach takes place Jan. 21-23 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. Hours are Friday through Saturday, noon to 7 p.m.; Sunday, noon till 6 p.m. Admission is $10 in advance, or $15 at the door, for a one-day pass; $15 in advance, or $20 at the door, for a multi-day pass. Children under 12 accompanied by an adult are free. For more information, visit http://www.artpalmbeach.com.

American International Fine Art Fair (AIFAF) takes place Feb. 5-13 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. Hours are Friday through Saturday, noon to 7 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Admission is $10 in advance, or $15 at the door, for a one-day pass; $35 for a one-day pass with catalog; $15 in advance, or $20 at the door, for a multi-day pass; $45 for a multi-day pass with catalog. Student admission is $10. For more information, visit http://www.aifaf.com.

Two strangers in a museum find themselves sharing the same opinion about that thing facing them. They call it “thing” because they don't know what it is. And the brave one's loud comment (“What the heck is this?”) is the shy one's relief.

Such a flow of communication might be common at the Now WHAT? show, which opened recently at the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach in an attempt to bring to town a flame or two of the fire set in Miami Beach by this year’s Art Basel.

Out of that fair came the 31 pieces and 21 artists that compose Now WHAT? The selections were made by two of the museum's curators, who went south to pick the freshest, riskiest, most relevant art representative of our times. They then decided that the theme bringing it all together will be communication.

In that sense, and only in that sense, the Norton show is great. Nothing gets a conversation going like a piece that makes no sense. That conversation usually goes something like this: Is this art? Here it is provoked by plenty, such as Pigeon Holes, by Roxy Paine, in which plasters of paints appear inside plexiglas like dead insects pinned down waiting to be examined.

In Volumes from an Imagined Intellectual History of Animals, Architecture and Man, nothing was actually created, unless you consider the title of the piece or the order in which the books are placed a creative result. The work, by Julian Montague, consists of 10 old books, most of which have the image of a bug on the cover and hint at the effect small animals can have in the life of man.

Meanwhile with September 2010, Receipts, a 24-foot long strip of personal expenses, the artist, David Shapiro, is telling us that we are all artists. After all, as an observer pointed out, we all have collections just like this at home. Due bills? Receipts? Anyone?

One singular instant in which this dialogue ceases to be sarcastic comes courtesy of Bryan Drury and is titled Ali. It is a striking small portrait that calls us no matter where we stand in the room and made dramatic by its bright red background.

Once directly facing it, we marvel at how realistic and alive Ali is. Notice the pores of the skin, the imperfect flesh, the swollen lips and you will see condensed in this seemingly traditional/safe work the prints of a skillful artist.
Whenever I’m reviewing a show, I usually go alone. This time, however, I brought along company on purpose. I wanted to see if I’m alone in thinking that lately the concepts of simplicity and absence are being repeatedly presented as art. I saw it at Art Basel. It is here again.

A dark silver wood panel is all that Teresita Fernandez’s Nocturnal (Rise and Fall) is. Hers is the second piece to the right once you enter the gallery room. I can’t detect specific figures or a message. As it often happens with art, there is no explanation for it. All it seems to be is precisely what it is: solid graphite and pencil on wood panels.

In Allyson Strafella’s foundation (2005) and inverted red catenary (2010) art seems to take the form of holes resulted from typing underlines and colons over and over on carbon paper.

When it’s not holes, art here is vanishing, disappearing, hardly visible, almost a ghost. No other work here puts it better than Christopher Russell’s Ghost-Ship-Wreck, an 18-frame piece done mostly in silver. Thin and thick white lines give life to the ship, which in some frames appears sinking and in others marching ahead.

Could it be that artists are teaching themselves to create less or use less to create? Is the trendy minimalism wave to blame?

I don’t know that you can simplify art without affecting its very essence. A kitchen, for instance, has two factors that make it identifiable: appearance and use. Simplify or alter its look as you may and you would still be able to tell it’s a kitchen through the way it is used. Art is not an appliance or a closet. It has no use through which it can make itself present or known. It relies on what you can see to make itself identifiable, ideally, as art.

Simplify the only thing it is and you end up with less of what it is, or even worse, you end up with nothing: a thing forced to pose for an audience when really all it wants is to be put out of its misery.

Kim Rugg’s The Story Is One Sign seems to me an example of this. If we go along with her message, the story is sometimes a dollar sign, $, and other times a “J” or a “K.” The artist has grabbed a front page of The New York Times and placed the same 30 times next to one another. In each copy, the content and images have been stripped from the page only to leave a sign or a letter. On one page, we can only see the “Ks” as they appeared originally on the newsprint. The rest, most of it, is white. Nothing to be seen. Less to judge.

By the end of the show my guest and I had reached a conclusion: The artists here had great concepts, ideas, but either got lazy halfway into their projects or they didn't have much imagination to carry their creations to the very end. Or maybe, they simply didn't care.

Or you could say that present here are great conceptualists or philosophers, but not necessarily great artists. Unless you find yourself already in the museum, this is not something you need to see. If you don’t come, you won’t miss anything.

The show was intended to be full of delightful surprises. And Now WHAT? seems like something we would say to the person who keeps interrupting us in the middle of something delightful. But that’s not what I feel like saying.

I want to be interrupted, pulled aside and told the secret behind this exhibit: Is it art or is it a joke? And to the museum curators I want to ask: Why? How? I get a feeling those visitors who do come from now until March 13 will be asking the same.

Now WHAT? runs through March 13 at the Norton Museum of Art. Admission: $12, adults; $5 ages 13-21. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays; closed Mondays. Call 832-5196 or visit www.norton.org.