Paola Pivi: Art with a View / Aaron Curry: Tune Yer Head / The Haas Brothers: Ferngully

Paola Pivi: Art with a View
October 13, 2018–March 10, 2019

Paola Pivi’s artistic practice is diverse and enigmatic, appearing to have been formed through multiple creative minds. Art with a View at The Bass presents Pivi’s anthropomorphic feather-covered polar bears; canvases of cascading pearls; video showing fish in flight on a passenger jet; and a 65-foot inflatable ladder. Each piece poses questions and is defined by its openness to interpretation, through the appropriation of cultural symbols. 

Aaron Curry: Tune Yer Head  
October 13, 2018–April 21, 2019

Tune Yer Head presents new and recent work by Texas born, LA-based artist Aaron Curry. Though Curry gained early recognition as a sculptor, making a “return” to painting in 2015, his practice is deeply rooted in the painterly. The exhibition at The Bass surveys the diversity of his practice in terms of materiality and form, highlighting the interplay between painting, sculpture and collage. Curry’s work reads as a dialogue with the artists and creative producers that have influenced him throughout his life. From Modernist artists like Picasso, Picabia and Calder, to cartoonist Basil Wolverton, to BMX and skate culture, Curry draws inspiration from a wide array of sources, which manifest as an explosive mashup of color, texture, and scale on the gallery walls.

The Haas Brothers: Ferngully
December 5, 2018–April 21, 2019
Press preview: December 4, 10am–12pm, to RSVP, please contact Katherine Wisniewski, katherine [​at​] suttonpr.com 

The Bass presents The Haas Brothers’ first solo museum exhibition, Ferngully. The exhibition of new work by the LA-based designers, explores the precarity and regenerative possibilities of the natural environment. Ferngully, named after a 1992 animated film of the same title, invites visitors into a utopic setting that exemplifies The Haas Brothers’ return to nature through design. Blurring the lines between art and design, The Haas Brothers’ body of work frequently subverts the materiality of its media, departing from the functional, and moving towards the exclusively sculptural. Ferngully takes form as an immersive installation comprising diverse elements such as beadwork, ceramics, velvet, and blown glass. Ceramic tree trunks with copper leaves and blown glass coconuts illuminate biomorphic, sculptural seating elements and velveteen cacti. A padded floor evoking a forest floor, along with ambient sounds and lighting further evince a sumptuous, yet fragile environment.

2018 Acquisition​s
The Bass is pleased to announce the acquisition of major contemporary works by living artists Sanford Biggers, Mark Handforth, Karen Rifas, Mika Rottenberg, Pascale Marthine Tayou and Lawrence Weiner to the museum’s permanent collection. These acquisitions are made possible by the John and Johanna Bass Acquisition Fund, launched in 2016 to expand the museum’s international contemporary art collection. Spearheaded by Executive Director and Chief Curator Silvia Karman Cubiñá and Board President George Lindemann, the program aims to forge a strong connection between the collection and the museum’s changing exhibition program, which features established and mid-career international contemporary artists.

Sanford Biggers’ interactive piece Poteau Mitan transforms the traditional use of the mandala into a physical experience, while Lawrence Weiner’s iconic text-based works play with the relationship between language and object. Mika Rottenberg’s work pays homage to South Florida, transporting the state’s ubiquitous air conditioning units into a white box exhibition space. The Bass is also pleased to acquire works by significant Miami-based artists Mark Handforth and Karen Rifas.

Art with a View is curated by Justine Ludwig, former Chief Curator at Dallas Contemporary. The presentation at The Bass is organized by Leilani Lynch, Assistant Curator, The Bass. Aaron Curry: Tune Yer Head is curated by Leilani Lynch, Assistant Curator, The Bass. The Haas Brothers: Ferngully is organized by Silvia Karman Cubiñá, Executive Director and Chief Curator, The Bass, along with Leilani Lynch, Assistant Curator, The Bass.