MIAMI BEACH.- A new work by Richard Tuttle will be unveiled on Friday, December 3, 2004, at The Wolfsonian–Florida International University, in celebration of Art Basel | Miami Beach.

‘Beauty-in-Advertising,’ a totally executed exhibition space inside and outside the museum, is inspired by nest magazine’s great designer, Joe Holtzman, the Wolfsonian’s collection of objects, rare books, and archives from 1885 to 1945, and a boyhood dream of New York and New Mexico-based artist Richard Tuttle—a tour de force made possible by a grant from the Fernwood Art Foundation, with additional support from kate spade new york, Sperone Westwater Gallery, NY, and Urban Investments Advisors/Starwood Urban Group. It was commissioned by the Miami Beach museum especially for this occasion.
“Nine separate streamers will be seen cascading from the many-tiered exterior of The Wolfsonian, like rivulets of colors caught in breezes and searchlights will intertwine in the never-repeating journeys on the opening night,” commented Tuttle.

Richard Tuttle, the museum’s first guest curator, will also create a small exhibition in one of the galleries. Tuttle is “using the Wolfsonian signature ‘troupe’, wedding ethnicity and labor as well as design, enlightening a room with history, advertising, and design to enlarge, question, and develop original premises and liberal aesthetics.” Selections will include objects from the Wolfsonian’s collection and pages pulled right out of contemporary magazine advertising. The work will be unveiled at the museum on December 3, 8 to10pm. A street party honoring Tuttle, will take place in the courtyard of the Best Western South Beach, across from the museum. The event is open to Art Basel VIP pass holders, Wolfsonian members, and invited guests. The Best Western is located on Washington Avenue, between 10th and 11th Streets, in Miami Beach. A spectacular fireworks display from the museum’s roof by the internationally acclaimed Grucci Fireworks of New York kicks off the celebration at 8pm.
The festivities are being designed by Kate and Andy Spade of kate spade new york. Internationally acclaimed photographer Martin Paar will chronicle the party, and his clandestine images will be sold to benefit the museum. Designer Todd Oldham has volunteered to DJ. The party is being presented in cooperation with San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, where a retrospective of Tuttle’s work will be shown next year.

The party also honors and celebrates the contributions of nest magazine, founded by Joseph Holtzman, which recently ceased publication after 26 issues and is now a collector’s item. Holtzman helped conceive the Wolfsonian’s Art Basel event.

The Tuttle commission and celebration are sponsored by the Fernwood Art Foundation, kate spade new york, Sperone Westwater Gallery in New York, Urban Investments Advisors/Starwood Urban Group, and Continental Airlines with additional donations from Jakob Gerhardt Wines, International Wine Brokerage, and IZZE Sparkling Juices, Perrier Jouet Champagne.

Art Basel | Miami Beach, the American sister of Art Basel in Switzerland, is now in its third year and has become known as the most important art show in America, drawing 30,000 collectors, designers, gallery owners, press and cognoscenti from around the world.

“We are honored to be working with an artist of Richard Tuttle’s stature, especially in a year when he is to be the subject of a major retrospective, organized by San Francisco MOMA and touring the U.S.” noted Cathy Leff. “From his first visit to The Wolfsonian, Richard seemed to respond to the complexities and spirit of our collection, and I know our chief curator Marianne Lamonaca and exhibit designer Richard Milter have enjoyed engaging with this distinguished artist.”

About Richard Tuttle - Richard Tuttle, known primarily for his sculptures, drawings, and installations, combines an interest in Minimalism with love for irregular materials. His delicate, intimate works are produced from pencil marks, wire, shad effects, wood, and paper. A native New Jerseyan, Tuttle studied at Trinity College, Connecticut, and at New York’s Cooper Union. He first showed at the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1965; since then he has had more than 150 gallery exhibitions and more than 50 museum exhibitions. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Zurich, New York, Chicago, Brussels, Madrid, London, Amsterdam, Florence, Milan, Vienna, and Paris. His work is widely collected by institutions around the world.
‘Richard Tuttle: A Retrospective,’ the first full-scale museum show of this important contemporary American artist, has been organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and will on view there from July 2 to October 23, 2005. It will then travel to the Whitney (autumn 2005), the Des Moines Art Center (spring 2006), the Dallas Museum of Art (summer 2006), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (autumn 2006), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (spring 2007).