Perfume on the Beach: Nyehaus Presents Rebels in Paradise during ABMB

It’s not a gurney… but you very well may need one.

When I began this blog a short while ago, there was no way that I could foresee the enormous overlap between art, the subject of my professional life, and perfume, a subject of my personal one.  It gave me great joy to receive an email from Nyehaus, a New York gallery run by art dealer, curator, and entrepreneur, Tim Nye, announcing their upcoming exhibition, “Rebels in Paradise,” in a bungalow at the Delano Hotel on Miami’s South Beach.  The centerpiece of the cryptic announcement is “Where am i?–Bungalo No. 5,” a short film starring none other than Mr. Nye himself, spoofing the now infamous Chanel No. 5 commercial with Brad Pitt:

“Rebels in Paradise” features works by thirteen American artists working within a movement called Light and Space art from the 1960’s.  These artists were rebelling against the hegemonic old boy’s club of East Coast Abstract Expressionism, creating objects using industrial fabrication (and forgoing the so-called genius of the artist’s hand) to present sleek, polished surfaces with hard edges, swathed in colors only California culture could inspire.  Featured are works by John Altoon, Peter Alexander, Judy Chicago, Craig Kauffman, and the granddaddy of them all, John McCracken.

Nyehaus is known for its solo exhibitions of artistic renegades, including Martin Kippenberger, Georg Baselitz, and Sherrie Levine, but the strength of the gallery’s program are the ambitious group exhibitions Nye has curated.  He explores the history and culture around famed art galleries and exhibitions like the Ferus Gallery and Indica, and resuscitates careers of important artists who have been lauded by history but were rarely seen in galleries or museums.  Nyehaus’s recent focus on West Coast art has brought about “Bella Pacifica,” a sprawling multi-gallery exhibition on art made in San Francisco during the time of the Beat poets, and “Venice in Venice,” which brought art by southern Californian artists to the 2010 Venice Biennale.

There’s more perfume news here.  During the run of “Rebels in Paradise,” Nyehaus has organized concerts and parties to draw visitors to the Delano, not really a problem during Art Basel Miami Beach.  One of the co-sponsors of the event is Ulrich Lang New York, who will feature his new scent, “Lightscape,” during the exhibition.

“Rebels in Paradise” at the Delano Hotel runs from December 4 to December 8.  For more information, see the gallery’s website: http://nyehaus.com/rebelsinparadise/.