Arthouse of Austin TX presents Corner Store by Okay Mountain in the IMPULSE section of this year’s PULSE Miami Contemporary Art Fair.  Commissioned by Arthouse specifically for PULSE, the installation is  elaborately researched and accurately realized.  Corner Store envelops the visitor within the environment of a gas station or convenience store typical to Texas and the Southern United States.  All elements of Corner Store’s retail environment are realized by Okay Mountain, including wall murals, posters, video (surveillance camera), lighting, musical and ambient soundtrack.  Multi-media sculptural elements define the space and include the counter, coolers and products for sale like cans of ‘Shit with Beans’ and the ‘Sans L’Enfant Morning After Peanut’.  All of the items and their prices are listed in a products flyer available to each visitor.  The contents of the store can be purchased from appropriately attired clerks behind the counter.

Okay Mountain humorously critiques the consumerism that defines the art fair, while making typically inflated art prices accessible to all visitors with some products priced under $10.  Brazenly referencing Claes Oldenburg’s The Store (1961), the concept of Corner Store is nonetheless relevant through its placement in the contemporary art fair environment and through the completeness with which it executes the convenience store prototype.  Corner Store’s immersive quality is thoroughly engaging and creates an uncanny familiarity for the American visitor.

PULSE Contemporary Art Fair is dedicated solely to contemporary art, with its IMPULSE section dedicated to solo artist presentations.  PULSE takes place annually in both Miami and New York.  This year’s PULSE Miami is located at The Ice Palace through 6 December.

Nonagon 2008, Courtesy the Artist and the Third Line

Dubai’s Third Line Gallery presents new work by Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Nova section.  Farmanfarmaian’s series of mosaics of mirrors succeed, according to the Third Line Gallery, in combining ‘the intricate ornamentation of Iranian architecture with the aesethetic of modern abstract expressionism’ – both of which appropriately reflect this artist’s background.  In creating these mosaics, Farmanfarmaian worked closely with Iranian craftsmen whose skill set is traditionally passed from father to son.  Individual mirror pieces were carefully constructed and painted then arranged and applied to a wooden backing to create each elaborate geometric shape according to the artist’s design.  All of the mosaics in this series fit within the diameter of a 100 cm circle.

Pentagon 2008, Courtesy the Artist and the Third Line

Aside from being aesthetically compelling through shape and the brilliant reflection of light, Farmanfarmaian’s works in mosaic contain profound symbolic meaning.  In Persian culture, the mirror represents life.  Furthermore, the carefully designed geometric shapes reference abstract ideas of creation and existence.  The circle is an important symbol that is representative of origin and of eternity; the triangle evokes the concepts of harmony and the human soul.  Numerical symbolism derived from Islamic geometry applies further meaning to the shapes.

Square 2008, Courtesy the Artist and the Third Line

Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian attended the Fine Arts College of Tehran and later the Parsons School of Design (1949).  The artist has shown extensively internationally and was included in the exhibition East-West Divan:  Contemporary Art from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan at the 2009 Venice Biennale.  The artist’s work can be found in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Queensland Art Gallery, Australia – in addition to other important institutions.  Farmanfarmaian lives and works in Tehran.

Art Basel Miami Beach continues through 6 December 2009.