Antonio Pio Saracino, Hero, USA, 2013, Danby Stone, 6.5′ x 2.5′ x1.5′
Grimanesa Amorรณs, Light Between the Islands 4, USA, 2013.
Diffusion Material, Silkscreen, Resin, LED Custom Lighting Sequence, 3’7”x 6’11” x 1’4”
K. Gretchen Greene, Underwater, USA, 2014. Welded Steel and Lacquer.
Underwater I 88” x 55” x 15”, Underwater II 77” x 50” x 18”, Underwater III 92” x 58” x 12”
Beth Katleman, Hotel Mirana, USA, 2014. Porcelain and Mirror, 48” x 30” x 5’โ
Molly Hatch, Worcester Imari, USA, 2014, Italian Earthenware plates, Glaze, 11K Gold, 90″ x 110″ x 1.5″
Greeting all the guests to Art Miami, Todd Merrill Studio Contemporary is thrilled to announce itsย representation of Antonio Pio Saracino with the exhibition of his critically acclaimed masterpiece,ย Hero, selected by the Art Miami committee for prestigious placement at the main entrance of the fair.
Perfectly befitting Art Miamiโs coastal setting, Todd Merrill Studioโs booth presents a striking curationย of contemporary studio pieces reflecting themes of nature, light, and water. The booth will feature fourย light installations by Grimanesa Amorรณs based on the Uros Islands and steel works by K. Gretchenย Greene inspired by coastal life and riptides. The booth will also exhibit contemporary reinterpretationsย of historical decorative arts with new works by Beth Katleman, Molly Hatch, and Shari Mendelson.
Antonio Pio Saracinoโs marble sculpture The Guardians: Hero is a reinterpretation of Michelangeloโs David, the defender of the city of Florence. After the Italian government commissioned Saracino to produce a symbol of Italy to commemorate the Year of the Italian Culture (2013) in the United States, a 13-foot-high, 8,000-pound version of this sculpture was placed on permanent exhibition in New Yorkโs Bryant Park. Hero has also been included in the 2014 exhibition in the Gallery of the Academy in Florence, Italy, honoring the 450th anniversary of Michelangeloโs death. The present Hero, standing at 7โ feet tall, was configured especially for presentation at Art Miami. Saracino is a four-time winner of Interior Designโs Future Furniture design competition was named one of the worldโs โ25 most interesting trendsettersโ by ARTnews and was recognized as one of the โTop Ten Italian Architects Under 36โ by New Italian Blood. โHeโs among the most prolific Italian industrial designers abroad and has been beatified by serial accolades.โ VOGUE, Italy, 2010 – Benedetta Pignatelli.
Todd Merrill Studio is proud to represent Grimanesa Amorรณsโ work for the first time with a series of light installations inspired by the Uros islands in Lake Titicaca. These works reflect the natural elegance of the seaโs foam, bubbles, colors, and movement. The installations are composed of shimmering white resin bubble islands of various sizes, each handmade from different molds and covered with silkscreened drawings. Amorรณs has multiplied and arranged these units into structures that are monumental in scale yet weightless in appearance. Powered by a technologically ingenuous LED custom lighting sequence, the installationsโ color schemes and intensities continuously transform: at times the works seems buoyant and ethereal, while at other times they appear as solid mass.
Paying further homage to the movement and memory of water as Amorรณsโ works do, K. Gretchen Greeneโs new triptych, Underwater, captures the artistโs reflections on environmental and economic impacts on coastal communities. Welded steel and lacquer sculptural waves are poised to crash, to engulf the viewer while reflecting the movement of memories as they appear and fade away. Underwater is comprised of three panels, from which torched text and plasma cut curling forms narrate the artistโs recollections. The booth will also debut Greeneโs most recent piece, Riptide, a welded steel and plasma-cut sinuous table.
Todd Merrill Studio will also premier Beth Katlemanโs newest work, Hotel Mirana, developed after her critically acclaimed porcelain works, such as Folly (2010), a monumental three-dimensional porcelain wallpaper. Channeling Nabokovโs Lolita, Katleman has created an opulent mirror that immerses the viewer in a private universe, with moments from the novel brought forth in 1950s Americana. Porcelain figurines cast from flea-market trinkets, corporate mascots, and souvenir pencilย sharpeners become stand-ins for the characters in the novel. On the occasion of Art Miami, Todd Merrill Studio will publish an updated catalogue of Beth Katlemanโs repertoire.
The booth will debut Molly Hatch’s most recent work, Worcester Imari, composed of 99 hand-painted Italian Earthenware plates with underglaze, glaze, and 11-karat gold details. The intricate pattern and colors painted on the plates is Hatch’s contemporary interpretation of a pair of 18th century painted vases, currently on display at the Atalanta Frances and Emory Cocke Collection in the High Museum
of Art. It is the first work in the series of an edition of four.
Additionally, the booth will feature a series of sculptural hand-made vessels created from recycled materials and based off of ancient vessel artifacts by Brooklyn-based artist Shari Mendelson, whose works displayed at Todd Merrill Studio at Art Miami 2013 were directly acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for their permanent collection.
