His Ballship sphere outside the Bass was inspired by the globe from the 1939 World's Fair in New York. During the day it appears to be solid white; at night it glows and dims, becoming translucent. And then there are those sensitive microphones he installed inside. "Night and day it picks up your voice and the sounds of the trees and the wind and the cars. And it records and plays it back all instantaneously. It engages people. Street people will come up and talk to it, tell it all their problems."
Now Chambers the democrat was jumping head and heart first into the "No Shows" project. "The concept came from the idea of home and privacy," he says. "If people don't vote No, your home and privacy will be invaded, and the long-term repercussions will be very ugly. If you don't get out and vote No, it's just wrong, wrong."
Bill Cooke
As Kevin Bruk knows, to exhibit Robert Chambers you have to find him first
Details
The No Banner Show, through September 22 on the north wall of Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, 3550 N Miami Ave, Miami.
The No Performance Show, 6:00 p.m.September 8 at El Solar Arts House,356 Malaga Ave, Coral Gables.
The No Home Show, 7:00 p.m. September 9 at the home of Eugenia Vargas, 890 NE 90th St, Miami Shores.
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The home theme led him to Eugenia Vargas and her house, which she periodically turns over to artists as a kind of three-dimensional canvas. Initially Chambers wanted to squeeze 100 artists into Vargas's modest Miami Shores home, but within 48 hours of that inspiration, 100 had become an underestimate. So he asked Snitzer if he too would open his doors to accommodate the overabundance of artists for a one-night benefit "happening" at the gallery. The event at Vargas's home evolved into a month-long exhibit.
Chambers reaches into a big cardboard box he's been carrying around, one overflowing with papers covered in scribbled names and numbers. As he pulls out a list of confirmed artists, Chambers the orisha opens the doors further. "There's going to be a Website as well, and people can see who's in the show. And then if an artist wants to be in the show, and they have a good reason, then I will put them in."
The paper he has retrieved has women's names on the left side, men on the right, and as he reads some of them it's apparent that many artists from the Bass show will reappear: Luis Guispert, Wendy Wischer, Paul Stoppi, Martin Oppel, Pablo Cano, to name only a few. "The DNA of Miami will be there," he concludes in crescendo.
Like at the Bass, juggling all this art will take Chambers's brand of que sera sera. "Things will be spilling out, things will be in the bathroom, wherever. Artists will come and mark their space, but you know, artists are very good at cohabiting and adapting to the environment."
Maybe a nude covered in foliage, such as Naomi Fisher is wont to frame, will be shoved next to an aggressive, demanding image from Jordan Massengale, or almost literally on top of a cityscape crafted by a profusion of charcoal lines from Glexis Novoa. Who knows if whatever Cooper produces will make noise, if Tao Rey's will make sense, if Carlos Betancourt's will end up in that bathroom.
The artists indeed will have to adapt to the environment -- to that unique impromptu one created by Robert Chambers.
Three days after plotting at Scotty's he was on a plane again, this time for a residency in Maine. When he returned he added the performance-art night and the mural at Bernice Steinbaum's. Then he left for Oregon. But you'll know where to find his spirit, and that of local art, come September 3.
The No Banner Show, through September 22 on the north wall of Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, 3550 N Miami Ave, Miami. The No Performance Show, 6:00 p.m.September 8 at El Solar Arts House,356 Malaga Ave, Coral Gables. The No Home Show, 7:00 p.m. September 9 at the home of Eugenia Vargas, 890 NE 90th St, Miami Shores.
