Miami Art Week- Part One – Untitled Fair by Michael Farley
It’s that time of the year again! Its only Wednesday and I’m already feeling the beginnings of dreaded Basel-fatigue.
One of my favorite fairs, Untitled, opened on the 12th street beach Monday night. It’s a “curated” fair, and this year again that apparently means lots of neon and bold design-like work spanning nearly every booth. It’s a very pretty fair, but that sometimes make it a little hard to spend quality time with quiet, small pieces that get lost in a Technicolor sea. Not that I’m complaining. Some of my favorite work included:
![Whatever this is happening at Ana Christea Gallery’s booth. [Perhaps a better way to save on housing/exhibition space than the typical strategy of showing paintings on your hotel bed?]](https://bmoreart.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2ana-christea.jpg)
![ONESTAR Press, from Paris, France curated a selection of posters… including one with a reference to Baltimore’s very un-glamorous suburb Towson[!?]](https://bmoreart.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/7onestar.jpg)
Also from Spain, ADN Galeria showed a nice selection, including a piece with eyes from different currencies printed on gold. In another series, international currency featured contemporary photographic figures superimposed into them. Some kind of make sense- like Pussy Riot on a Russian note, but others, like a naked Caucasian woman on a South Korean bill left me scratching my head. I’m not sure what the message is, but I like them.
The artist made sure to tell me that she found the feather and no birds were harmed in the making of this piece. She’s as adorable and bubbly as her work, which makes me like it even more.
Also in the booth, Artag Gallery, from Helsinki, was showing these crumpled oil paintings in a plexiglass vitrine. I love that they turn the paintings into a sculptural collage.
And it wouldn’t be a Miami art fair without the obligatory “I’m in Miami, bitch!” work, like these pieces by Radames “Juni” Figueroa at Mexico’s Anonymous Gallery.
Author Michael Farley was born at John’s Hokpins Hospital, attended MICA for a BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculptural Studies, and recently received an MFA in Imaging Media and Digital Arts from UMBC. He has a complicated relationship with institutional critique. Although he went to digital art school, he has no website, but did switch to electronic cigarettes.
To find out more about UNTITLED Contemporary Art Fair:
UNTITLED. is a curated art fair for international galleries and nonprofit art spaces with a focus on emerging and midcareer contemporary art. The third edition of UNTITLED. will be held in Miami Beach from December 3-7, 2014.
Founded by Jeff Lawson in partnership with Alan G. Randolph in Miami, UNTITLED. has expanded its curatorial team for 2014, led by artistic director Omar Lopez-Chahoud. Christophe Boutin and Melanie Scarciglia, co-founders of the distinguished publishing houses onestar press and Three Star Books in Paris, will introduce a new perspective to the international focus and content development of the fair. onestar press will additionally publish a series of artist’s books focusing on a selection of galleries at the fair.
Carmen Ferreyra, an independent curator and art fair producer based in Brooklyn, has joined the team as Fair Director of UNTITLED. UNTITLED. also welcomes Sue Stoffel as Administrative Director.
Situated directly on the beach with natural light and ocean views, UNTITLED. is working with internationally recognized architecture firm K/R, under the direction of John Keenen, to reconstruct the design of its temporary pavilion in order to integrate international galleries and not-for-profit spaces, and a designated space for the fair’s programming.
