George Lindemann Journal - "Neon Confidential" @wsj - By Mary M. Lane

George Lindemann Journal

image

Angel Without You (2012)
"Angel Without You," Tracey Emin's first show ever of her neons, is also her first U.S. museum show. It runs Dec. 4 through March 9 at Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami. Lehmann Maupin

It seems fitting that the first American museum exhibition of Tracey Emin is a display of neon. After all, she made her name in England with brassy artworks such as a tent listing all the names of her bedmates, platonic or romantic.

But the British artist points out that most of the works in her Miami show, which opens Wednesday, confront more spiritual topics that the casual viewer often overlooks.

"Because sex sells, they actually filter out the ones about love or God," says the 50-year-old Ms. Emin of casual onlookers who linger longer at the lurid works than at those that discuss uncomfortable topics such as depression. One such neon sign spells out "Its not me Thats Crying Its my Soul." The fourth neon she ever made, Ms. Emin says it reflects the pervasive, inherent depression she has felt her entire life.

The exhibition, running through March 9 at Miami's Museum of Contemporary Art and called "Angel without You," is also Ms. Emin's first show of neons. It's the result of a nearly two-decade collaboration with neon-sign maker Kerry Ryan.

Ms. Emin became a household name in her home country as the brashest female member of the Young British Artists. She pulled antics like showing up drunk for TV interviews and openly discussing her sexual exploits. Around the same time, Ms. Emin turned to a childhood fascination with neon. "People who grow up in the woods understand trees. I grew up with neons," says Ms. Emin, who was reared by a Turkish-Cypriot father and British mother in the coastal English town of Margate. Its "Golden Mile" is a seaside stretch bathed in the neon lights of fun fairs and gambling arcades.

She came to Mr. Ryan's shop in 1995 and asked him to make a pink neon entrance sign for "The Tracey Emin Museum." "She was so boisterous and bouncy. We thought she was a bit nuts," says Mr. Ryan of his colleagues' reaction when the feisty 32-year-old asked not to pay the deposit on her $650 sign.

But Mr. Ryan soon realized that behind the quirks was a dedicated artist. ("I spent a lot of my time when I was younger mucking around, not realizing the seriousness of the vocation," says Ms. Emin.) The two struck up a lasting friendship as Mr. Ryan turned her sentences and sketches into handblown neon glass signs that replicate Ms. Emin's sweeping, spindly cursive. That first sign, along with over 60 other neon artworks—mostly phrases culled from her writings and thoughts during relationships gone awry—shows up in "Angel without You."

Many of the neons Ms. Emin is famous for and that are present in the Miami show are highly sexually explicit, either pictures or phrases, and reflect her early struggle with her sexuality after being raped as a young teenager.

"If I"d have had a choice of not being born, I wouldn't have been born," says Ms. Emin, who believes her existence is an accidental result of the birth of her twin brother, Paul. "I think I got tangled up in his soul and pulled down," she says.

Ms. Emin' is quite open about her decision to not marry and eschew children for a high-powered career. Though she does not regret her choice, she is angry that she "felt used" by some men who viewed her as practice for future relationships, she says, a feeling reflected in the 2011 sign "I said Dont Practise ON ME."

The odd capital letters in the sign are cosmetic touches; certain letters such as "i" and "s" look better capitalized, Ms. Emin says. She perfected her process early on through trial and error, on the paper templates she gives Mr. Ryan to read before each neon is created.

Ms. Emin says that while many of her neons may come across to critics as "crass and corny," these qualities also make them honest. "Most people don't have profound philosophical thoughts all the time, they think like pop songs," she says. "That's how they get on in the world."

Write to Mary M. Lane at mary.lane@wsj.com

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  • 1 of 10

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    You Loved Me Like a Distant Star (2012)
    Ms. Emin's neons are all hand-blown by London-based sign-maker Kerry Ryan, who then fills the glass with a mixture of neon, argon and mercury using a century-old technique. Lehmann Maupin

    2 of 10

    image

    The Scream (2002)
    Many of the show's works, including "The Scream" from 2002, reflect Ms. Emin's struggle with feelings of depression. Ms. Emin believes her soul was "tangled up" in that of her twin brother, Paul. Tracey Emin/White Cube

    3 of 10

    image

    The Tracey Emin Museum (1995)
    Kerry Ryan made Ms. Emin's first neon, shown here, for her studio in 1995. The two are now close friends, but upon meeting the "boisterous" artist, Mr. Ryan says he initially thought she was "a bit off her rocker." Tracey Emin/White Cube

    4 of 10

    image

    I Can Feel your Smile (2005)
    The seemingly random capitalized letters in Tracey Emin's signs are cosmetic touches. Some letters such as "i" or "s" look better capitalized than others, she explains. Lehmann Maupin

    5 of 10

    image

    Meet Me in Heaven I Will Wait for You (2004)
    Ms. Emin became famous for brassy, sexually explicit work, which are themes in some of her neons in the show. But the vast majority of her works deal with topics like love, God and depression. Lehmann Maupin/Whitecube

    6 of 10

    image

    Only God Knows I'm Good (2009)
    The green used in this sign is similar to that used in the neon signs of apothecaries in Europe, because it also glows during the day, says Ms. Emin. Lehmann Maupin/Whitecube

    7 of 10

    image

    You Forgot to Kiss My Soul (2001)
    Ms. Emin has never held a show of neons before, partly because the process of putting it together is so expensive that most museums would require that the show then travel to recoup costs, says Ms. Emin, who refuses to do traveling shows. Lehmann Maupin/Whitecube

    8 of 10

    image

    Sorry Flowers Die (1999)
    MOCA Miami was the first American museum to purchase one of Ms. Emin's works, a film called "Why I Never Became a Dancer," whichi will be screened at the exhibition. Lehmann Maupin/Whitecube

    George Lindemann Journal - "Neon Confidential" @wsj - By Mary M. Lane

    George Lindemann Journal

    image

    Angel Without You (2012)
    "Angel Without You," Tracey Emin's first show ever of her neons, is also her first U.S. museum show. It runs Dec. 4 through March 9 at Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami. Lehmann Maupin

    It seems fitting that the first American museum exhibition of Tracey Emin is a display of neon. After all, she made her name in England with brassy artworks such as a tent listing all the names of her bedmates, platonic or romantic.

    But the British artist points out that most of the works in her Miami show, which opens Wednesday, confront more spiritual topics that the casual viewer often overlooks.

    "Because sex sells, they actually filter out the ones about love or God," says the 50-year-old Ms. Emin of casual onlookers who linger longer at the lurid works than at those that discuss uncomfortable topics such as depression. One such neon sign spells out "Its not me Thats Crying Its my Soul." The fourth neon she ever made, Ms. Emin says it reflects the pervasive, inherent depression she has felt her entire life.

    The exhibition, running through March 9 at Miami's Museum of Contemporary Art and called "Angel without You," is also Ms. Emin's first show of neons. It's the result of a nearly two-decade collaboration with neon-sign maker Kerry Ryan.

    Ms. Emin became a household name in her home country as the brashest female member of the Young British Artists. She pulled antics like showing up drunk for TV interviews and openly discussing her sexual exploits. Around the same time, Ms. Emin turned to a childhood fascination with neon. "People who grow up in the woods understand trees. I grew up with neons," says Ms. Emin, who was reared by a Turkish-Cypriot father and British mother in the coastal English town of Margate. Its "Golden Mile" is a seaside stretch bathed in the neon lights of fun fairs and gambling arcades.

    She came to Mr. Ryan's shop in 1995 and asked him to make a pink neon entrance sign for "The Tracey Emin Museum." "She was so boisterous and bouncy. We thought she was a bit nuts," says Mr. Ryan of his colleagues' reaction when the feisty 32-year-old asked not to pay the deposit on her $650 sign.

    But Mr. Ryan soon realized that behind the quirks was a dedicated artist. ("I spent a lot of my time when I was younger mucking around, not realizing the seriousness of the vocation," says Ms. Emin.) The two struck up a lasting friendship as Mr. Ryan turned her sentences and sketches into handblown neon glass signs that replicate Ms. Emin's sweeping, spindly cursive. That first sign, along with over 60 other neon artworks—mostly phrases culled from her writings and thoughts during relationships gone awry—shows up in "Angel without You."

    Many of the neons Ms. Emin is famous for and that are present in the Miami show are highly sexually explicit, either pictures or phrases, and reflect her early struggle with her sexuality after being raped as a young teenager.

    "If I"d have had a choice of not being born, I wouldn't have been born," says Ms. Emin, who believes her existence is an accidental result of the birth of her twin brother, Paul. "I think I got tangled up in his soul and pulled down," she says.

    Ms. Emin' is quite open about her decision to not marry and eschew children for a high-powered career. Though she does not regret her choice, she is angry that she "felt used" by some men who viewed her as practice for future relationships, she says, a feeling reflected in the 2011 sign "I said Dont Practise ON ME."

    The odd capital letters in the sign are cosmetic touches; certain letters such as "i" and "s" look better capitalized, Ms. Emin says. She perfected her process early on through trial and error, on the paper templates she gives Mr. Ryan to read before each neon is created.

    Ms. Emin says that while many of her neons may come across to critics as "crass and corny," these qualities also make them honest. "Most people don't have profound philosophical thoughts all the time, they think like pop songs," she says. "That's how they get on in the world."

    Write to Mary M. Lane at mary.lane@wsj.com

  •  

  • 1 of 10

    image

    You Loved Me Like a Distant Star (2012)
    Ms. Emin's neons are all hand-blown by London-based sign-maker Kerry Ryan, who then fills the glass with a mixture of neon, argon and mercury using a century-old technique. Lehmann Maupin

    2 of 10

    image

    The Scream (2002)
    Many of the show's works, including "The Scream" from 2002, reflect Ms. Emin's struggle with feelings of depression. Ms. Emin believes her soul was "tangled up" in that of her twin brother, Paul. Tracey Emin/White Cube

    3 of 10

    image

    The Tracey Emin Museum (1995)
    Kerry Ryan made Ms. Emin's first neon, shown here, for her studio in 1995. The two are now close friends, but upon meeting the "boisterous" artist, Mr. Ryan says he initially thought she was "a bit off her rocker." Tracey Emin/White Cube

    4 of 10

    image

    I Can Feel your Smile (2005)
    The seemingly random capitalized letters in Tracey Emin's signs are cosmetic touches. Some letters such as "i" or "s" look better capitalized than others, she explains. Lehmann Maupin

    5 of 10

    image

    Meet Me in Heaven I Will Wait for You (2004)
    Ms. Emin became famous for brassy, sexually explicit work, which are themes in some of her neons in the show. But the vast majority of her works deal with topics like love, God and depression. Lehmann Maupin/Whitecube

    6 of 10

    image

    Only God Knows I'm Good (2009)
    The green used in this sign is similar to that used in the neon signs of apothecaries in Europe, because it also glows during the day, says Ms. Emin. Lehmann Maupin/Whitecube

    7 of 10

    image

    You Forgot to Kiss My Soul (2001)
    Ms. Emin has never held a show of neons before, partly because the process of putting it together is so expensive that most museums would require that the show then travel to recoup costs, says Ms. Emin, who refuses to do traveling shows. Lehmann Maupin/Whitecube

    8 of 10

    image

    Sorry Flowers Die (1999)
    MOCA Miami was the first American museum to purchase one of Ms. Emin's works, a film called "Why I Never Became a Dancer," whichi will be screened at the exhibition. Lehmann Maupin/Whitecube

    George Lindemann Journal - "Remembering a Tragedy" @nytimes - by CAROL VOGEL

    George Lindemann Journal

    The Museum of Modern Art’s atrium has been home to any number of weird, wild and wacky goings-on. There was the time the performance artist Marina Abramovic sat there for 700 hours, and another when someone played a baby-grand piano from inside a hole that had been cut into it. There was also an installation of hazelnut pollen, and even a giant garage sale.

    For its next act, the Modern will install nine double-sided screens, measuring up to 23 feet wide and hung at different heights, that will project a work by the British artist Isaac Julien, “Ten Thousand Waves”; it will be on view starting Monday. The installation deals with the Morecambe Bay tragedy of 2004, when 23 Chinese cockle pickers drowned off the coast of northwest England. It incorporates archival footage from a police helicopter showing the rescue of one survivor from a sandbank. There are also audio recordings of distress calls and images of contemporary Chinese culture. (Through Feb. 17; moma.org.)

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/arts/design/remembering-a-tragedy.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Farts%2Fdesign%2Findex.jsonp&_r=0

    George Lindemann Journal "Art Public sculptures will remain after Art Basel 2013 is gone" @miamiherald - Siobhan Morrisey

    George Lindemann Journal

     Work by Michelle Lopez will be among the sculptures appearing in the 2013 Art Basel Miami Beach Art Public sector

    Work by Michelle Lopez will be among the sculptures appearing in the 2013 Art Basel Miami Beach Art Public sector.


    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/29/3763028/art-public-sculptures-will-remain.html#storylink=cpy

    Man is by nature a social animal…Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.

    — Aristotle, Politics

    Those of us who fall into the middling range of mere mortals may especially enjoy this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach Art Public sector, with works chosen especially to reflect the exhibition’s theme of “Social Animals.”

    Nicholas Baume, director and chief curator of New York’s Public Art Fund, selected two dozen works that play on the collective and social nature of a public park. The artists invited to show at Collins Park this year range from emerging to emeritus. There’s even a posthumous display by Charlotte Posenenske, a German artist known for her minimalist works — particularly her steel sculptures resembling ventilation parts. Gallerists Mehdi Chouakri and Peter Freeman are teaming up to recreate six works from her Vierkanthrohre (Square Tubes) Serie D, among the last works she created before abruptly ending her career in the late 1960s. Ironically, during her self-imposed exile from the art world until her death in 1985, Posenenske questioned the worth of public art.

    For Silvia Karman Cubiñá, that worth is not questionable at all. As executive director and chief curator of the Bass Museum – which once again joined Art Basel in Miami Beach to produce the outdoor exhibit outside the museum’s front entrance – Cubiñá has seen first-hand how the public interacts with the art previously displayed in Collins Park. Of particular note were six chaise-shaped concrete slabs created by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles, Cubiñá says, explaining how different groups of people would gravitate to the works.

    “They turned into a meeting point, which became lovely, because there would be different populations that would crowd around it,” she says. “Early in the morning we had a lot of homeless people that were having breakfast. Then a little later, the dog walkers. Then at 3 o’clock the students who came from the high school would gather there, and some of them started coming into the museum. Then again the dog walkers; then again the homeless people. So, there were different populations, and I just saw it as a gathering place that came together around art.”

    This year British sculptor Thomas Houseago is expected to provide visitors with a similar experience. In addition to his Striding Figure (Rome 1), Houseago plans to provide two studio seats and a chaise lounge, which will be an open invitation for the public to drape themselves across his sculptures. Danish artist Jeppe Hein also is expected to add a bit of interactive art with his Appearing Rooms, a constantly changing sculpture in which jets of water form a labyrinth of wet walls that can end up soaking those who get too close. Matias Faldbakken presents a full-scale adaptation of a Peterbilt 281 big rig truck.

    This year’s exhibit in the park, which fronts the museum and spans the area between 17th and 25th streets, is aimed to satisfy the senses from sight to sound and runs through March 31. According to Cubiñá, a grant from the Knight Foundation enabled the show to grow from its original four days to four months this year. As a result, she says, the museum plans to use the sculpture garden as a backdrop for its 50th anniversary in January, complete with a full orchestra in the park.

    On the days when there is no orchestra, visitors to the park may hear the chirping of crickets, as imitated by a clarinet player. That’s courtesy of American artist Mungo Thomson, whose installation goes by the working title of “Cricket Solo for Clarinet.”

    Abstract expressionist Mark di Suvero, 80, is the show’s oldest artist. His monumental work, Exemplar, was created in 1979 and consists of two intersecting I-beans. British land artist Richard Long will also be showing an earlier work. His Higher White Tor Circle was created in 1996 and is made up of Dartmoor granite chunks arranged in a mosaic-like circle.

    Other featured artists include Huma Bhabha, Carol Bove, Olaf Breuning, Aaron Curry, Sam Falls, Tom Friedman, Alicja Kwade, Michelle Lopez, Matthew Monahan, Scott Reeder, Santiago Roose, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Tony Tasset, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Oscar Tuazon, Maarten Vanden Eynde and Phil Wagner.

    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/29/3763028/art-public-sculptures-will-remain.html#storylink=cpy

    George, George Lindemann, George Lindemann art, George Lindemann art education, George Lindemann Bass Museum, george lindemann cultured magazine, George Lindemann Jr, George Lindemann Jr @GLLJR, George Lindemann Jr @GLLWATER, George Lindemann Jr Art, George Lindemann Jr Art Basal, George Lindemann Jr Art Education, George Lindemann Jr Bass Museum, George Lindemann Jr BC, George Lindemann Jr Facebook, George Lindemann Jr Forbes, George Lindemann Jr Google, George Lindemann Jr Lake Point, George Lindemann Jr Lake Point Restoration, George Lindemann Jr Miami, George Lindemann Jr Miami Beach, George Lindemann Jr Myspace, George Lindemann Jr Philanthropist, George Lindemann Jr Summer, George Lindemann Jr Tumblr, George Lindemann Jr Twitter, George-lindemannn, horse, http://artdaily.com/news/65368/Bass-Museum-of-Art-receives--7-5-million-for-expansion-celebrating-50th-anniversary#.UlRX4BZ_j7I, http://bassmuseumpres.tumblr.com/georgelindemannjrbio, http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/cultist/2013/10/bass_museum_to_build_new_wing.php, http://creativeeducationgeorgelindemannjr.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/george-lindemann-jr-2, http://creativeeducationgeorgelindemannjr.wordpress.com/tag/george-lindemann-jr-miami,

    George Lindemann is an American businessman and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Southern Union, a pipeline company.[2][3][4][5][6] He also owns 19 Spanish-language radio stations.[4][6]

    , http://hyperallergic.com/86669/art-movements-15, http://museumpublicity.com/2013/10/03/bass-museum-of-art-announces-planned-expansion, http://therealdeal.com/miami/blog/2013/10/04/bass-museum-of-art-gets-7-5m-grant-for-new-wing, http://www.allartnews.com/bass-museum-of-art-receives-7-5-million-for-expansion-celebrating-50th-anniversary, http://www.artandeducation.net/news/?currentYear=2013&currentMonth=10#news_8940724, http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/blog/morning-edition/2013/10/the-bass-museum-of-art-gets-75m.html, http://www.forbes.com/profile/george-lindemann, http://www.georgelindemannjr.me, http://www.georgelindemannjr.me/2013/04/lindemann-wins-inaugural-better-beach.html, http://www.georgelindemannjr.me/p/george-lindemann-jr-bio.html, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-solomon/the-love-of-liz_b_1245595.html, http://www.linkedin.com/in/georgelindemannjr1, http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/George/Lindemann+Jr, http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/02/3665208/with-75-million-grant-bass-museum.html, http://www.onenewspage.us/n/Press+Releases/74w2qqbcn/Bass-Museum-of-Art-Reveals-Planned-Expansion-of.htm, http://www.pamm.org/blog/2013/10/bass-museum-celebrates-its-50th-anniversary-2014-building-expansion, http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11193520.htm, http://www.sfgate.com/business/press-releases/article/Bass-Museum-of-Art-Reveals-Planned-Expansion-of-4876801.php, http://www.topix.com/forum/city/miami-beach-fl/T01GVI4BG7MC9EBDS, http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/georgelindemannjr, http://www.youtube.com/user/GeorgeLindemannJr1, https://plus.google.com/103463047172674086583, https://twitter.com/GLLJunior, https://www.facebook.com/pages/George-Lindemann-Jr/284564361662689, Jr George Lindemann, Lindemann, Lindemann Family, lindemann George, lindemann George jr, miami, Miami Art, miami beach, New York, New York Art, georgelindemann.com, georgelindemann.posthaven.com, Lindemann-George-Jr, George-Lindemann-Jr, Lindemann George, George Lindemann, Lindemann-George, George-Lindemann, horse, http://www.bassmuseum.org/about/presidentgeorgelindemannjr/, https://twitter.com/BassMuseumPres, http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/125anniversaryissue/lindemann.html, http://www.linkedin.com/pub/george-lindemann/b/945/78a, http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/celebrity-business/investors/george-lindemann-net-worth/, georgelindemannenvironment.posthaven.com


    "George Lindemann Journal" -Director sees Miami’s new art museum as ‘town center’ @indulge

    George Lindemann Journal

    For Thom Collins, director of the striking new Perez Art Museum Miami, the past couple of years have rushed by like the time lapse video of the construction project posted on the museum’s website: cranes moving in; rebar and concrete materializing; walls and columns shooting up; wrap-around terraces stretching out — all at dizzying speed.

    Collins spent five years as director of the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, N.Y., before taking the helm of Miami Art Museum in the summer of 2010, as the museum prepared to build a new home on the water’s edge. With the Herzog & de Meuron-design art house taking shape, he has lost count of how many groups he has taken on dusty tours, his white cowboy-style hardhat tipped against the blazing sun.
     Museum director Thom Collins walks among the works being installed on Tuesday October 29 2013 for the opening in December 2013 of the Perez Art Museum Miami
    Museum director Thom Collins walks among the works being installed on Tuesday October 29, 2013 for the opening in December 2013 of the Perez Art Museum Miami.
    PATRICK FARRELL

    View photos

    “When I was growing up in Philadelphia, we went to the art museum every month. I think the PAMM could emerge as that kind of institution for Miami, a culturally oriented town center where people and ideas meet, and where you know you will always find thoughtful, sophisticated programming.’’

    Soon after arriving in Miami, Collins, who favors skinny suits and square-framed glasses, moved to a working-class neighborhood bordering art-centric Wynwood, determined to understand from the inside this young city experiencing a modern cultural boom.

    “This is a place with such dynamic cultural diversity, and that gives it such potential. This is a city where the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the New World Center, the new science museum and the PAMM are all going up within a period of about 10 years. That’s remarkable. That’s instant cultural infrastructure.”

    The PAMM is scheduled to open during Art Basel week, on time and within budget — though not without its share of controversy over its name honoring Miami developer Jorge Perez, who in 2010 donated $40 million in cash and art. Still, Collins is celebrating the fact that the museum has locked in more than 90 percent of its $220 million fundraising goal ($100 million came from public funds).

    “There is a lot of aspiration in Miami. And a recognition that we are building a real repository for the city’s shared cultural heritage. You can see this in the support the museum is receiving.”

    Collins himself managed to gain broad support from the community almost from the time he arrived — which is no small feat.

    “Thom makes it all look easy,” says Michael Spring, director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs. “For the whole cultural community to move forward, you have to have top leaders at the flagship institutions who are steady professionals, who can earn the respect of the people around them.

    “When you talk to Thom, you get a sense of confidence. This is someone who is a national leader in the visual arts. And he is charming, funny, good in social situations, which is very important when it comes to building relationships with donors and collectors.”

    Perez Art Museum Miami opens Dec. 4 in downtown Miami’s Bicentennial Park. 305-375-3000; pamm.org.

    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/29/3782668/director-sees-miamis-new-art-museum.html#storylink=cpy


    George Lindemann Journal "No plans for repeat of Florida's massive python hunt" @miamiherald

    George Lindemann

    PythonsintheEverglades

    The event drew more than 1,500 would-be snake killers from across the United States. News crews arrived from around the world to film the spectacle. And it netted 68 Burmese pythons, the huge non-native constrictors that have challenged alligators for supremacy in the South Florida swamps.

    But there are no plans for a repeat of the Python Challenge, the two-month snake-killing contest that took place at the beginning of the year. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission called it a success despite its modest tally because it delivered a mountain of data to scientists and allowed the agency to more sharply focus the future fight against the snake.

    But once was enough.

    "Our primary goal for the Python Challenge was to raise awareness, and we felt like we reached that goal," said Kristen Sommers, the wildlife agency's Exotic Species Coordination Section Leader.

    Everglades National Park last week hosted a meeting of representatives of various state and federal agencies to discuss how to proceed in the fight against the snakes. They assessed various tactics, such as the use of dogs and fitting female snakes with transmitters.

    "All of the data is coming back and scientists are looking at it," said Linda Friar, spokeswoman for the park, the center of the infestation. "A number of these techniques work. The big challenge in South Florida is the landscape. They're very difficult to see. The challenge is how you find and remove snakes in this big wilderness that has so many protections. You have 2,400 square miles, and most of it is inaccessible. It's just a very challenging wilderness."

    Hunters have never been allowed to go after pythons in Everglades National Park because national parks don't allow hunting. But the park has tried many tactics to eradicate the snakes, which are blamed for taking a growing toll on the park's wildlife, from wading birds and alligators to the rabbits, raccoons and opossums that had once been common sites along the main park road.

    "It remains a high priority, and we're concerned," said Friar. "We are seeing less small mammals. We know through necropsies that they eat them, in addition to wading birds."

    During the state's Python Challenge, which took place on Everglades lands outside the park, it quickly became clear that the most successful hunters were the ones who had experience catching pythons. So the wildlife agency has begun meeting with hunting groups to train them in the rudiments of finding and killing pythons as they tramp through the woods during hunting seasons that run roughly from August through the middle of April.

    "Just because we're not having a Python Challenge, doesn't mean there aren't the opportunities for people to hunt pythons," Sommers said.

    It was one such accidental encounter in May that led to the killing of the state's record python, an eighteen-foot, eight-inch monster spotted in some bushes by a man riding an all-terrain vehicle near Florida City. He killed the 128-pound female with a knife, after a long struggle in which the snake wrapped itself around his legs.

    The wildlife commission has also established programs to train people who are out in the wild anyway – such as electric company workers and law enforcement officers – how to kill or where to report sightings of the snakes. Since 2010, they have trained 449 people, as well as an additional 1,000 or so in how to detect them.

    George Lindemann Journal - "A Blend of Beauty and Violence" @wsj -By Mary Lane

    George Lindemann Journal

     
     
    "A Blend of Beauty and Violence"
    By
    Mary M. Lane

    Updated Nov. 15, 2013 12:13 p.m. ET

    On a fall evening in 2007, New York-based dealer Arne Glimcher sat in a Sotheby's BID +2.46% Sotheby's U.S.: NYSE $51.99 +1.25+2.46% Nov 15, 2013 2:20 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 685,095 P/E Ratio 33.76 Market Cap $3.49 Billion Dividend Yield 0.77% Rev. per Employee $536,709 5352515010a11a12p1p2p3p 11/14/13 Peltz Holds On to Mondelez Sta... 11/14/13 'Pink Star' Diamond Fetches Re... 11/12/13 Stocks to Watch: Sarepta, Dish... More quote details and news » BID in Your Value Your Change Short position auction room in London and watched bidding soar for "Garden of Earthly Delights III," a fantastical painting by artist Raqib Shaw.

    The seascape—made with glitter, rhinestones and enamel—featured underwater fights between marine chimaera, including a toucan-headed man attacking a malevolent creature with piranha fangs. When the hammer fell, the painting sold for $5.5 million, almost seven times its $811,000 low estimate. (Mr. Glimcher had given up after $2.5 million.)

    Seeing the works convinced Mr. Glimcher that the Calcutta-born artist would be a perfect addition to Pace, his New York-based gallery. The dealer began wooing Mr. Shaw with an ambitious plan to fill three of Pace's four Manhattan spaces with the artist's work for his debut gallery show in America.

    That exhibition, "Paradise Lost," opened last week and runs through Jan. 11. It depicts bizarre fantasy worlds being destroyed by violent savagery through 10 paintings, three sculptures and three works on paper. The show has been drawing 1,000 visitors a day—a lot for a small gallery space—and represents four years of labor for Mr. Shaw, a self-described "recluse" who goes weeks without leaving his London studio. He lives there with his dogs Minty and Mr. C and a collection of over 50 indoor bonsai trees.

    "I don't do friends and family. I think they're a waste of time," he says, adding that he leaves the long-term safekeeping of his career to Mr. Glimcher, who nurtured the careers of heavyweight artists Robert Rauschenberg and Agnes Martin.

    At the Pace show in New York, Mr. Shaw's paintings run from $500,000 to $1.5 million, his works on paper are $275,000 and his sculptures are $375,000 to $3 million. All have already sold.

    Each of Mr. Shaw's works requires several months. The 39-year-old artist says that their painstaking detail has ensured that he hasn't taken a vacation in 15 years.

    He spends weeks crafting intricate drawings on vellum parchment before transferring them to absorbent, high-grain birchwood panels reinforced by metal. Then, Mr. Shaw uses flammable enamels including Mercedes-Benz auto paint to create fantasy characters in loud colors, including neon green and orange.

    In "Arrival of the Rain King—Paradise Lost II," Mr. Shaw depicts an imposing neoclassical edifice being torn apart by zebras with human arms and lion-like heads. The creatures also battle for dominance, tearing off chunks of each other's flesh.

    Mr. Shaw's inspiration was the contemporary clash between Eastern and Western cultures, the writings of John Milton and the apocalyptic paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, he says.

    The trio of sculptures by Mr. Shaw all feature athletic male nudes with smooth bodies that contrast sharply with the heads of reptiles, rams and rhinoceroses. Each creature wears a pair of trendy, lace-up boots, a reference to Mr. Shaw's original wish to become a fashion designer as a child.

    "I can't do scissors and stitching," he says.

    "Everglades restoration requires public pressure" @miamiherald

     RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF

    BY LIDA RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF

    LRTaseff@duanemorris.com

    Since the start of the Indian River Lagoon crisis this summer, there have been a variety of calls to action. Thousands of people raised their voices at protests, in the media, and to elected leaders to protect the ecosystems we love and depend on for Florida’s economy. The fever pitch of emotion from river advocates swelled to the halls of Congress and the state Capitol.

    Bravo to the public for making our politicians take notice. And believe it or not, they have taken notice.

    Let’s take a breath to take stock of what has been accomplished since the crisis started. And more importantly, take a step back to understand what remains to be done.

    Since this summer, the public’s voices have led to:

    • Increased funding for Everglades restoration projects.

    This summer, the State of Florida committed $40 million to a restoration project that will help clean water from the St. Lucie Basin, known as the C-44 project. In addition, the state committed $90 million over three years to help raise Tamiami Trail to flow water south into Everglades National Park.

    • Short term operational fixes to flow water south.

    The South Florida Water Management District came up with some innovative ways to flow extra quantities of water south to the Everglades. Are the quantities of water huge? No. But every bit helps.

    • Progress on the Herbert Hoover Dike Repair.

    Slow as it may seem, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is continuing progress on repairing the Herbert Hoover Dike, the levee that protects citizens from flooding in the cities south of Lake Okeechobee. Just a few weeks ago, new contracts were awarded to companies to help repair culverts around the lake.

    • Elevating the crisis to the national and statewide stage.

    Last week, 40 rivers advocates went to Washington D.C. to attend a bipartisan congressional hearing on the Indian River Lagoon crisis. Sen. Bill Nelson convened a scientist roundtable on solutions. And state Sen. Joe Negron held a marathon select committee meeting, aiming to come up with a set of recommendations by November.

    But we are nowhere near the finish line. So where do we go from here?

    • Clean up the water flowing into Lake Okeechobee and the estuaries.

    The continued pollution of the water north of Lake Okeechobee and in the estuaries is the 800,000 pound gorilla in the room. Actually, more. Annually, more than 4,000 metric tons of phosphorus enters the Okeechobee watershed — that is over 880,000 pounds, mostly from agricultural and urban sources from fertilizer, animal feed, stormwater and wastewater north of Lake Okeechobee. The state must crack down to make sure that the use of farm and lawn fertilizer does not harm water throughout the northern Everglades and estuaries. There are plans that purport to improve Lake Okeechobee’s water quality, but they are not working. Polluters should be held accountable. There should be quantifiable reductions through a mandatory program, with clear reporting requirements, on a clear timeline.

    • Store more water on private lands north of Lake Okeechobee and in the estuary basins.

    There should be more funding made available for projects that partner public agencies with landowners to store water on lands in the northern Everglades and estuary basins. There needs to be a clear, science-based plan to determine the most cost-effective and ecologically effective locations to store water from Orlando south to Lake Okeechobee.

    • Keep moving forward with Everglades restoration and Kissimmee River restoration.

    Everglades restoration is the largest ecosystem restoration project in the world. It will take decades to complete. A number of projects, like the Kissimmee River restoration, are nearing the finish line. To ensure progress, it is crucial for the public to keep pressure on state and federal leaders to authorize and fund projects like the Central Everglades Planning project, Indian River Lagoon South and the C-43 Caloosahatchee Basin Storage Reservoir. It is also critical to support the use of adaptive management to gain the most ecological benefits when the projects are completed.

    These solutions need decades of commitment and support. Fixing Florida’s water resources requires funding, political will, and realistic conversations. We must keep pressure on our leaders to protect our water for years into the future.

    Lida Rodriguez-Taseff is a lawyer in Miami and Audubon Florida board member.

    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/15/3691457/everglades-restoration-requires.html#storylink=cpy

    "Scott urges feds to step up funding for damaging Lake Okeechobee release" @ miamiherald

     Susan Werb right wears a protective mask as Gov Rick Scott and Sen Joe Negron tour part of the St Lucie River near Stuart

    Susan Werb, right, wears a protective mask as Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Joe Negron tour part of the St. Lucie River near Stuart.
    J Pat Carter / AP

    By CURTIS MORGAN

    Cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com

    Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday pledged $40 million to speed up a project intended to help clean up polluted Lake Okeechobee water that has poured into the St. Lucie River this summer, triggering toxic algae blooms, killing oysters and sea grass and angering residents and tourists.

    But the governor placed most of the blame for the worsening disaster in the St. Lucie, and a similar mess in the Caloosahatchee River on the southwest coast, on the federal government.

    In a letter sent Tuesday to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Scott criticized it for “inaction” on repairing the deteriorating dike around the massive lake and for failing to adequately fund water quality and Everglades restoration projects that could help reduce periodic damaging releases of lake water.

    “Sadly, had the federal government met all of its obligations in maintaining the Lake Okeechobee dike system . .. the environmental conditions of this region could have been improved and the crisis in the region today would have been mitigated,” Scott wrote in a letter to Corps Brig. Gen. Donald Jackson.

    Scott also called on the Corps and other federal agencies to pour $1.6 billion into South Florida environmental projects — “which you owe the state,” he wrote — under 50-50 cost-sharing agreements.

    Scott made similar comments later Tuesday after touring a massive flood-control gate along the St. Lucie River where the Corps is releasing about three billion gallons a day from the rain-swollen lake to ease pressures on the aging, leaky dike. The dumping has lowered the lake by several inches in the past few weeks, but massive slugs of nutrients and sudden influx of fresh water have decimated rivers and estuaries on both coasts.

    The Corps released a statement defending its work on the dike, which includes a recently completed $220 million project to shore up the most vulnerable 21-mile stretch of the massive earthen embankments and ongoing work to replace 32 culverts that more recent studies suggest are major weak points.

    The Corps, said Jacksonville district commander Col. Alan Dodd, can only build what Congress authorizes and agrees to pay for.

    “The Corps is disappointed in Governor Scott’s letter,” Dodd said. “However, we welcome the opportunity to better educate our partners and enhance our relationship.”

    The lake releases and declining conditions in the St. Lucie and the larger Indian River Lagoon system have become a major issue along the Treasure Coast. Several hundred people showed up to wave “save our river” signs as Scott toured the St. Lucie locks.

    Scott said he would ask lawmakers for $40 million next year to speed up completion of the C-44 reservoir and stormwater treatment area in western Martin County, which is intended to clean runoff before sending it to the estuary. The Corps is responsible for building the $225 million-plus project, which includes a 3,400-acre reservoir, but doesn’t currently expect to complete it until 2020.

    Scott didn’t address the protesters, but environmentalists were generally pleased with Scott’s announcement — and advocacy for increased federal support for Everglades and water quality projects.

    Julie Hill-Gabriel, Audubon’s director of Everglades policy, called Scott’s pledge of an additional $40 million a “positive sign.” But she also said that the C-44 was just one piece of a nearly $1 billion array of projects to store and clean up water flowing from the lake and other areas along the Indian River Lagoon. They can’t move forward without increased political support and funding from both federal and state leaders, she said.

    “It’s encouraging but we can’t forget that there are a whole lot of other things that still need doing,’’ she said.

    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/20/3575475/scott-urges-feds-to-step-up-funding.html#storylink=cpy