THE MOORE SPACE FEATURES NEW WORKS BY YOUNG MIAMI ARTIST HERNAN BAS
Miami – Soap-Operatic, an exhibition featuring new paintings, drawings, and a video installation by one of Miami's rising stars, Hernan Bas, will open at The Moore Space on December 3. Bas, 26, is known for his dark and dreamlike portrayals of androgynous boys in scenes of love, longing, or impending doom. In this exhibition, the artist continues to pursue those themes while exploring new modes of mystery and adventure. Organized by Silvia Karman Cubiñá, director of The Moore Space, Soap-Operatic will be on view through March 31, 2005. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, December 4, at 9 pm.
In conjunction with the exhibition, The Moore Space is producing Hernan Bas's first comprehensive catalogue, a 50-page, full-color publication with color plates and texts by Massimiliano Gioni, Nancy Spector, and Silvia Karman Cubiñá.
In previous work, Bas mined sources that included Greek mythology, 19th-century Romantic painting, the Hardy Boys illustrations, horror movies, and fashion ads in glossy magazines to depict tales of homosexual love and loss. For Soap-Operatic he borrows from Choose Your Own Adventure children's books, in which readers are given choices to how a story unfolds. In his images, Bas suggests a plot that can progress in different directions and end in what the artist describes as abstinence, rejection, rescue, or "to die at sea and end up in Elysian Fields." Fascinated by myth, fairytale, and melodrama, Bas uses a loose yet agitated brushstroke and a dark palette animated by passages of vibrant color and light to create his sumptuous images.
Hernan Bas (born 1978, Miami) studied at Miami's New World School of the Arts and was included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Other recent exhibitions include solo shows at Fredric Snitzer in Miami, Daniel Reich in New York, Sandroni Rey in Venice, California, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami. Bas has participated
in group exhibitions at the Victoria Miro in London, David Zwirner in New York, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The artist is currently in a group show at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris, through December 23, and his work can be seen at Art Basel Miami Beach (December 2-4), at the Fredric Snitzer booth.
The Moore Space is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to multi-disciplinary contemporary art practices. It offers a year-round program including exhibitions, educational programs, internships, artist residencies, lectures, and performances. Since its founding in 2001 by collector Rosa de la Cruz, together with Craig Robins, an integral part of its exhibition program has been to invite guest curators to contribute new ideas and new thought to the organization and the Miami arts community at large.
The Moore Space is located in Miami's Design District, at 4040 NE 2nd Avenue, 2nd Floor. Exhibition hours are Friday from 10 am to 2 pm and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, and by appointment. For more information, please call 305.438.1163, or visit our Web site at www.themoorespace.org.