Monday, November 2, 2009

Knight of Mischief

Nicolas Lobo is arguably the leading proponent of Miami Fringe.
With ramshackle cleverness that defies the Brittoesque doldrums of Miami's art image, we hereby crown Lobo the Fox in the Swamphouse . One can overlook Lobo only if blinded by mundane and contrived notions of what sculpture aught to be. In these times the evidence is abundant, wildly new artworks are popping up with regularity. These daring expressions of things to come deliver more than meets the eye, but admittedly the stuff is not for everyone.




Mess Gets in you Eyes

If you have not heard of Nick Lobo it is because he is intent on destroying the things he makes.
Such was the case with this life-size diorama made entirely from homemade play-dough mixed with cough syrup. The monochrome depiction is inspired by a somber photo of a meth-head's living room he found on the web. If you thing anyone can do that, try going to CVS to buy all the cough syrup on the shelf and you will quickly understand the complexity of Lobo's endeavors.




Well That's Just Chippy

Lobo has perfected a brand of brash and irreverent sculpture that transcends convention. It take a particular kind of disposition to be comfortable with the goings on inside the ingenious ignoble minds of artists that are not squeamish or concerned with predictable works of art. Be it Soylent Green or live fish eggs in popcorn, Lobo redefines the artist palette with the confidence of a mad scientist and the results of a seasoned composer of experimental noise.




Deep Miami Bass

Native of Miami, home-schooled Lobo is most comfortable outside the boundaries of the enclaves of fine art. But somehow the work is apropos for todays sensibilities. His most resent WTF is perfectly at home in the open air courtyard of the tony Bass Museum on Miami Beach. A quasi-public space, the concrete island surrounded by a placid water feature is often a makeshift shelter for the ever pungent and unsavory homeless transients known to haunt SOBE. With precise Lobo form, the tropical igloo creation provides a disconcerting visual to the otherwise uninviting institutional facade.



100 Points of Departure

What I can't show you about this partial geodesic enclosure is the audio component. For that you will have to actually visit. The buttery bungalow is outfitted with a battery of transistor radios tuned to every kind of station, creating a veil of noise that blankets the auditory senses with a jumble of sounds and information at a decibel found in elevators. The orientation, the scale, material choice and vulnerability define this sculpture as a seminal work for Lobo.




Dome Away from Home

I was fortunate to encounter this fascinating freaky homeless dancer fluttering about the place. Our transient butterfly guy was kind enough to allow for a few snaps of the old camera obscura in return for a caring smile and a couple of bucks to keep things equitable. If i didn't know better, I would think the clever cretin had built himself a manic makeshift deluxe nomadic tent right under the ski-slope nose of the Bass Museum.


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