BmoreArt

Tuesday, December 3

On Tuesday afternoon our two favorite fairs, Untitled and NADA, have their respective openings. Untitled is always the best and brightest appetite whetter for a week of binge-viewing art, right on the beach, with a thoughtfully-curated, colorful selection of galleries from across the globe—this year with a focus on including more Asian art while retaining the fair’s strong ties to Latin America. 

We’re pleased to see that 2020 Sondheim Prize Finalist Miguel Braceli (read BmoreArt’s interview with the artist here) is showing at Untitled through the Tulsa Artist Fellowship in booth C3 with timely works that confront ideas of nationalism and geopolitics. Braceli will also be speaking on a panel in the Untitled Podcast Lounge at noon on Wednesday, Dec 4 about La Escuela, a trans-national art and education initiative.

When you manage to pry yourself away from all the visual smörgåsbord that is Untitled, head across the bay to the mainland. The cheapest, most low-stress way to accomplish this is via the #100 bus that departs about every 10 minutes from the southbound side of Washington Ave at 13th Street. You can even pay the fare by tapping your phone, so no exact change required. You’ll thank yourself for not sitting in an Uber or taxi to cross the causeway, watching your fare slowly inch up as you sit in an endless traffic jam of other people making the exact same trip, each in their own car. (But you can haughtily tell everyone you took transit not because you’re cheap but because you really care about the environment and will be so sad when the ice caps melt and drown Miami Beach due to our society’s decadent fossil fuel addiction!)

Pro tip: hop off at Biscayne Blvd and 13th once you get to the mainland, one block from Art Miami.

In all honesty, we usually do not recommend Art Miami (which I, Michael, once described as being akin to decor that rolled off the assembly line at a Spencer’s Gifts sweatshop) but this year C. Grimaldis Gallery (booth 528) is showing Chul Hyun Ahn, Jae Ko, Heejo Kim, John Ruppert, and Jane Manus. Heejo Kim’s larger-than-life figurative works are the kind of paintings you really have to see in the flesh, with layers of unexpected color combinations that push and pull and vibrate. If you really love painting, it’s worth braving a few rows of schlocky rhinestone Marilyn Monroes to bask in the presence of Kim’s work. 

From there, it’s a quick walk or free, charmingly retro-futuristic Metromover ride above the traffic to NADA. But we recommend walking, because there’s a totally irresistible pit stop right along the way: Fredric Snitzer Gallery, which is showing utterly seductive mixed-media paintings by Assume Vivid Astro Focus. We checked these out the other day, and were blown away. Layers of cut cardboard, various textures of acrylic paint, and unexpected materials from shredded tires to aquarium sand form riotous compositions evocative of an electron microscope looking at the germs people might swap via a kiss at a rave. It’s the perfect, complimentary warm-up to the innovative, colorful vibe we’ve come to expect from NADA.

This year marks the 22nd edition of NADA’s Miami iteration, once again housed in the converted factory space Ice Palace Studios, where the fair has taken place for 14 years of these two plus decades.

NADA is always a favorite of the city’s fair line-up, offering encounters with edgier and more experimental work than you find at the main and more-manicured fairs, without sacrificing quality. We’re excited to see the presentation of 150 galleries, art spaces, and nonprofit organizations, including a Spotlight section curated by Jasmine Wahi, the co-founder and co-director of the Newark-based organization Project for Empty Space.

Among the galleries represented in the Curated Spotlight is Baltimore-born Cierra Britton’s eponymous, NYC-based gallery, showing a solo presentation of paintings by Bre Andy. Another Baltimore native, Andy’s figurative portraits are an insistently tender romanticization of the intimacies of young women’s interior lives. With huge variations in scale and many works with tight crops, this body of work feels simultaneously hyper-personal and universal. These paintings are essentially proof of the oft-debated existence of the female gaze.

Then we’re heading to the Rubell Museum’s annual bash—where the consummate collectors (and friends of BmoreArt) are unveiling their recent acquisitions, including work by Murjoni Merriweather, (read our profile of the artist in our “More is More” issue) and an epically-scaled, unsettling queer cyberpunk sculpture by Cajsa von Zeipel. The party starts at 8pm, but try to arrive a little early and pre-register for the free tickets, because this is always a popular event.

Wednesday, December 4

Art Basel Miami Beach is the mammoth fair that needs no introductions. The doors technically open to the public on Thursday, but honestly, if you’re the kind of person who is reading this blog, you’ve likely got at least one friend who’s either working or showing at a gallery and can probably snag you a VIP guest pass for the Wednesday preview (when all the action happens) if you ask very nicely (and not when they’re stressed out!).

This is the first edition under the leadership of new Director Bridget Finn, and we’re looking forward to seeing how the Detroit native—who has an extensive history working in the nonprofit and artist-centric worlds from New York to Berlin—makes her curatorial mark. That being said, it’s always a good idea to have a loose idea of “must-see” artworks to guide your meandering around the cavernous Miami Beach Convention Center. Here are a handful of the things we’re excited for.

São Paolo-based Verve Gallery will be joining the ABMB lineup for the first time, presenting a body of mixed-media works on fabric by Brazilian artist Randolpho Lamonier at booth P14. The playfulness and hyper-maximalist glamour of Lamonier’s approach has its obvious aesthetic appeal; glitter, patterning, text and popularly identifiable brands and objects lure viewers in before presenting them with far more somber themes. It’s through this visual gratuity that Lamonier appropriates international languages of mass consumption to interrogate realities of the queer Brazilian experience, and more largely how it relates to broader social, class, and national politics.

It’s kinda an unspoken rule of good taste in the Artworld of 2024 that we’re all only allowed to be interested in figurative painting by young white guys if they render stylized queers with perky butts. (Hey, don’t look at us! We don’t make the rules, we just document them for posterity!) Thankfully, MICA has produced quite a few stars of this genre, and alum Kyle Dunn is one of our favs. Here he’s showing at LA gallery Vielmetter’s booth (H18) with a dreamy painting that’s so endearing. Come for the obligatory butt, stay for the artist’s playful attention to detail. Just look at that little Maltese doggo casting a confused/voyeuristic gaze at the sleepy lovers from around the corner at the top of the stairwell!

Whatever day you end up going to ABMB, be sure to give yourself a lot of time. It feels nearly impossible to see the whole fair, and half the fun is getting lost, discovering something unexpected, and running into people.

That being said, we’re going to try to make it out before 5 pm to catch what will likely be the most memorable art fair opening of the week: the scrappy, artist-run Satellite Art Fair, which this year is conveniently located just a few blocks away.

Oft-proclaimed by the alt press as “MIAMI’S BEST ART FAIR,” Satellite Art Show is definitely the weird, (queerdo?) younger sibling of Miami Art Week’s fair programming. This year it’s celebrating its 10th anniversary and taking over two vacant commercial locations on South Beach’s  pedestrian strip Lincoln Road. The 2024 presentation promises to be as out-of-the-box as ever. In fact, when the press release sounds this compellingly unhinged, we wouldn’t dare try to put it better ourselves:

“HIGHLIGHTS BEING: a “Florida Man Man Cave” hosted by WWE superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vaping Sculptures, an ice cream glory hole queer disco bathroom installation, clown art by serial killer John Wayne Gacy, KFC chicken bucket lanterns, a cash grab leaf booth, a shrine to the metal gods made of boar bone, a Barbie surveillance system, a “PORN THEATER” honoring the disabled body, an installation in homage to the cocaine bathroom at the club, a presentation from the naked gallerist, virtual reality on exercise bicycles, a performance art den for wild outlandish acts… AND SO MUCH MORE.”

But beyond the chaotic clashes of high and low that seem to define Satellite, it’s also beloved for its relative approachability and fostering of community. It feels like everyone knows each other at Satellite. It’s also one of the only relatively-affordable fairs in town. Last year, for example, Dylan’s mom/Michael’s big sister (yes, we’re technically niece and uncle) bought two gorgeous square-foot paintings cut from a roll like yardage off a bolt from the Swiss artist Rachel Romanowsky for a fraction of what the work would cost at any other art fair.

Thursday, December 5

Thursday morning/afternoon is the time we always try to not overbook so plans can stay nimble. It’s the day a lot of people coming for the weekend arrive. It’s also the day that—despite best intentions—everyone is likely behind schedule on their “must-see” itineraries. Maybe you didn’t score tickets to the ABMB VIP day. Maybe you went straight to the NADA opening on Tuesday and missed Untitled. It happens. Thursday is the perfect day to play catch-up. But we think it’s a good day to stay on Miami Beach.

Check out The Bass Museum, where Assume Vivid Astro Focus’ “XI” is currently on view.  The maximalist, multimedia installation was originally commissioned twenty years ago for the Rosa and Carlos de La Cruz Collection. It was recently donated to the museum and re-staged and re-vamped—serving as a defiantly optimistic monument to queer resistance and subculture, which, given the current political climate, feels more urgent now than two decades ago. Again, an AVAF show also serves as a nice tone-setter for the rest of the evening.

At 5 pm on Thursday, I (Michael) am recommending the opening of Art Gaysel at the Hotel Gaythering. I know, I know: the name is goofy. But over the past few years, I’ve actually found a lot of quality work here at very reasonable prices. Mostly, I appreciate that the fair feels like a throwback to Miami Art Week’s wilder days—when the possibilities seemed endless and artists and young galleries took over hotel rooms to stage charmingly DIY shows that felt like a party.

Just make sure to leave in time to catch the most epic queer event of the week…

For the past few years, the Tribeca Film Festival has thrown a Miami mini edition to coincide with ABMB (because everyone thought wow, we could really use some more time-based media this week to make our schedules more complicated!). The four nights of screenings, talks, music, and parties kick-off on Wednesday, but we’re most excited for their Thursday screening of The Birdcage to mark the iconic film’s 28th anniversary.

The Birdcage (itself an adaptation of the 1978 French film La Cage aux Folles) came out in 1996 and is a loving time capsule of pre-gentrification Miami Beach’s neon sleaze, but it feels weirdly timely given the state of the culture wars. Robin Williams and Nathan Lane play a gay couple who run a drag club on Ocean Drive. Their son falls in love with the daughter of a right-wing Republican politician. Hilarity ensues. I think our family has watched this movie every Christmas we’re all together, and it’s a big part of the reason they moved to South Beach!

The screening will be followed by performances by Miami drag legends Tiffany Fantasia, Missy Miyake Lepaige, and Olga Dantelly. Don’t tell Ron Desantis! Doors are at 6:30 PM, and the festivities go to 10. Bear in mind: the venue is all the way uptown at the iconic midcentury modern Miami Beach Bandshell, so be sure to factor in awful traffic. Pro tip: take the free Collins Express trolley to save yourself from what can turn into one VERY expensive Uber, and don’t contribute to the traffic we all hate.

Friday, December 6

On Friday morning, head to the Little River Arts District for a brunch at Dimensions Variable (9 a.m. – 1 p.m.). It’s one of our favorite unpretentious, artist-centric art spaces in Miami, and a good starting point to check out other galleries and events in either Little Haiti or the MiMo District.

We had planned to head to this part of town for the brunch before we even saw what was on view, and I (Michael) was presently surprised to see that my old undergrad Senior Thesis classmate from the MICA Sculpture department, Jamilah Sabur, has work on view in the group show Stratified Gestures, curated by Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova. Other participating artists include Nicole Burko, Bruno Castro Santos, Yanira Collado, Regina Jestrow, Karla Kantorovich, Jenene Nagy, and Gerbi Tsesarskaia.

At night, we’re heading back to South Beach for the party Succulent at The Wolfsonian. The Wolfsonian’s art week party (7 p.m-10p.m.) is always one that we look forward to. The relatively small university museum is housed in an unreal Mediterranean Revival building from the 1920s, and consistently puts on a quality of exhibition that you’d expect from a much larger institution. An Art Basel or Art Miami VIP pass is all you need to join the festivities.

We’re looking forward to sipping some complimentary cocktails and exploring their current exhibitions The Big World: Alternative Landscapes in the Modern Era and In Balance by Hettler.Tüllmann, to the sounds of a live performance by Takuya Nakamura. The small but expertly curated gift shop is also a great place to holiday shop for loved ones—so you can feel productive about your partying.

Saturday, December 7

You need to purchase a ticket in advance for The 23rd Annual Sagamore Art Brunch, but it’s worth it. It’s one of those very glamorous-feeling “Only in Miami” settings that made us fall in love with the city’s Art Week years ago when we were relative newcomers to the scene. The historic art deco hotel is known for its arts programming, and their annual brunch was one of the first parties to achieve legendary networking status in the city. Granted, we haven’t been for the past few years so we can’t guarantee it’s as fun as it used to be, but it’s hard to beat poolside mimosas and snacks after an exhausting week.

If you’re leaving Miami later in the day on Saturday, I recommend heading back to Allapattah on your way to the airport. It’s always nice to revisit the Rubell Museum for some quality time with the expansive, surprising collection without the crowds.

Be sure to swing by the nearby KDR Gallery to check out the phenomenal solo show Tierra Retumbante from Elyla, the artist who represented Nicaragua at this year’s Venice Biennale. Gorgeous, cinemagraphic video and photos document garments and performance in volcanic landscapes—blending indigenous and European aesthetics and gender signifiers. A row of terra cotta platform shoes is so charming we didn’t want to leave the gallery when we swung by the other day while trying to cram in too many openings. It’s hands-down one of the best things we’ve seen since we’ve been in town.

There are plenty of other galleries that are walking distance from KDR and the Rubell in the area. One of our picks is Mindy Solomon Gallery—which has  a whole “secret” room in the very back of the space that’s jam-packed with luscious, drippy, painterly ceramics that look so good you’ll want to lick them (other pro tip: that’s probably frowned upon.)

Speaking of which, a lot of art fairs can leave a bad taste in some visitors’ mouths—the crass commercialism, the corporate sponsors, the hoards of clout-chaser and selfie sticks—but our number one piece of advice this week is to remember that you really love art. That’s why we sometimes skip the closing day of fairs and/or publicity parties at luxury hotels.

Head to local galleries or institutions like these for the palate-cleansing goodness of art made and presented by people who care about art and artists. Remember that Miami is a real place, not just an Instagram tag, and the artists and cultural workers who are here year-round appreciate and deserve your attention and patronage a hell of a lot more than many of the out-of-town gallerists—who in 20+ years of wheeling-and-dealing at hotel bars—have never set foot a block off Collins Ave.