Hands down, the center of attention during Miami Art Week is Art Basel Miami Beach and the 25 or so satellite art fairs that transform Miami and Miami Beach into the only place to be during the first week of December for those interested in art. Art in Miami doesn't appear and disappear when the fairs do. Following are five exhibitions (and one extra pick) that shouldn't be missed and give a taste of Miami's art scene.
"Warcraft" by Nevet Yitzhak at The Screening Room
"Warcraft" is a new-media installation by Israeli artist Nevet Yithak, curated by Tami Katz-Freiman. The piece is two single-channel video animations based on Afghan war rugs. Yithak's project aims to encourage a dialogue on the ways violence is represented and made visible through artistic means, according to the gallery. The art aims to bring to the light the paradox of entwining violence and decoration and highlight contrasts between traditional and new, local and global, and conscious and commercialization, according to the gallery. The exhibition opened on November 30, 2014 and continues through February 5, 2015.
The Screening room is located at 2626 NW 2nd Avenue, Wynwood Miami, FL 33127. www.thescreeningroommiami.com.
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Artwork by nevet yitzhak. Courtesy of The Screening Room.
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"Welcome to the Future" by Daniel Arsham at Locust Projects
“Welcome to the Future” by Daniel Arsham is a sprawling site-specific that transforms the Locust Project's main exhibition space into an excavation site. That’s just the beginning. Expect to find a 25-foot wide trench cradling thousands of calcified “artifacts” excavated from 20th century media devices. His art is known for having a strong architectural bent that lead down unexpected roads. Playfulness, daily experiences, and unnatural engineering and historical explorations are part of the paradoxes of his work. Arsham grew up in Miami and is currently living in New York.
Also on view in the Project Room are Simón Vega: Sub-Tropical Social Sculptures and Ron Terada’s public art commission Art on the Move, curated by Dominic Molon. The exhibitions remain on view through January 2015.
Locust Projects is located at 3852 N Miami Ave, Miami, FL 33127. www.locustprojects.org.
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Detail of "Welcome to the Future" by Daniel Arsham. Courtesy of Locust Projects, Miami. Photo by Zack Balber with Ginger Photography.
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"Thirty Years on the Road" & Studio Crawl at ArtCenter South Florida
ArtCenter South Florida is putting on a retrospective of its days of being a mover and shaker in the Miami art community with a show that rivals the art fairs. Titled "Thirty Years on the Road", the show occupies both exhibition spaces and fans out to the windows of Lincoln-Meridian and select windows at Walgreen stores. The exhibition is curated by Edouard Duval-Carrié, an artist and curator based in Miami who was based at the ArtCenter in the early 1990s. His artist picks number around 100, giving out-of-towners and locals a crash history in artists who have worked in Miami and the surrounding areas.
Check the website for the complete list and a breakdown of the show's installation locations. "Thirty Years on the Road" remains on view through February 1, 2015.
If you're looking to combine visiting the exhibition with something extra, consider attending ArtCenter's Studio Crawl on Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. It's held the first Saturday of every month but during Art Basel Week, special performances have been added to the mix. Expect to find performances by Tatsuya Nakatani featuring Matthew Evan Taylor and members from Unbound Improv Ensemble with Audiotheque.
The Richard Shack Gallery is located at 800 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139. ArtCenter South Florida Studios are located at 800, 810, and 924 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139. Windows@Walgreens locations include 100, 2300, 6700, and 7340 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL. For information, visit www.artcentersf.org.
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Installation shot of "Thirty Years on the Road." Image courtesy ArtCenter/South Florida.
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“Beatriz Milhazes: Jardim Botanico” at Pérez Art Museum Miami
“Beatriz Milhazes: Jardim Botanico” is the first major U.S. retrospective for Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes (b. 1960). The show presents her large-scale abstract paintings inspired by Brazilian and European Modernism, Baroque forms, popular culture, and the decorations of Carnival. Also included are works made over the last 25 years that allow a look into the work's evolution from soft and decorative works into harder-edged abstraction. “Beatriz Milhazes: Jardim Botanico” continues through January 11, 2015. Pérez Art Museum Miami is located at 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33132. www.pamm.org.
RELATED: "ART REVIEW: A Rough and Ravishing Garden by Beatriz Milhazes Grows in Miami" by Elisa Turner.
HAMPTONS INSIDER: If you're familiar with the Hamptons, don't be surprised to find something familiar: Buckminster Fuller's Fly's Eye Dome. The piece, as well as Konstantin Grcic's Netscape, have been installed at the museum to help celebrate Design Miami art fairs. The 24-foot Fly's Eye Dome was previously installed at the fair in 2011 as a satellite installation. Netscape was commissioned for the design fair as part of his 2010 Designer of the Year Award.
Fly's Eye Dome can typically be found on the Second Lawn of LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton, NY. Pérez Art Museum Miami is located at 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33132. www.pamm.org.
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"Beatriz Milhazes: Jardim Botânico" Installation view. Pérez Art Museum Miami. Photo: Oriol Tarridas Photography.
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“4409.72 miles / 9125 days / 25 Years of Art Discourse from Buenos Aires to Miami” at Diana Lowenstein Gallery
Another show that presents a survey of the Miami art scene is an exhibition at Diana Lowenstein Gallery in the Wynwood Arts District. Presenting over 50 artists is “4409.72 miles 9125 days 25 Years of Art Discourse from Buenos Aires to Miami”. Curated by Ombretta Agró Andruff, the works are presented in eight groups representing Color, History, Human Body/Portraits, Material and Forms, Patterns, Symbolism, Text; and Vacío.
The gallery opened in 1989 as Der Brücke in Buenos Aires and relocated to Miami in 2000. Over the years, the gallery has presented a range of artists from masters to emerging in mediums that include paintings, sculptures, photography and installations. The gallery currently represents over 30 artists that include international, national and local. For a list of exhibiting artists, visit www.dianalowensteingallery.com.
“4409.72 miles 9125 days 25 Years of Art Discourse from Buenos Aires to Miami” is on view through January 31, 2015. Diana Lowenstein Gallery is located at 2043 North Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33127. www.dianalowensteingallery.com.
The gallery is also exhibiting at Art Miami.
FURTHER AFIELD EXTRA
“Café Dolly: Picabia, Schnabel, Willumsen” and “American Scene Photography: Martin Z. Margulies Collection" at Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale
We're cheating a bit with this two-for-one pick. The shows are presented in Fort Lauderdale, a manageable drive away from the Miami's Ground Zero. Radically different, both exhibitions are presented at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale at Nova Southeastern University. Tying the show to the Art Basel Miami Beach week is the availability of a free shuttle running from the Miami Beach Convention Center and the Margulies Warehouse.
"Café Dolly: Picabia, Schnabel, Willumsen" presents connections made across history and geography between French artist Francis Picabia, New York artist Julian Schnabel and Danish artist J.F. Willumsen. The show is curated by visual artists Claus Carstensen and Christian Vind with Ann Gregersen, PhD., researcher at the University of Copenhagen. Taken together, the exhibition explores the different paths modern art moved into paintings made in the 20th century.
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"Autoportrait" by Francis Picabia, ca. 1940-42. Oil on cardboard. Lucien Bilinelli Collection, Brussels / Milan. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
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"American Scene Photography: Martin Z. Margulies Collection" traces some of the journey made by Miami-based collector Martin Z. Margulies during the building of his modern and contemporary art collection. Considered one of the world's most significant, it was amassed over two decades of collecting. The show was curated by Bonnie Clearwater, Director and Chief Curator, NSU Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale.
Focusing on photography, the exhibition presents over 190 images by 74 photographers, revealing a story of American history from the early 20th century and the role the photographs made in inciting social reform. Photographers exhibited works are Berenice Abbott, Gregory Crewdson, William Eggleston, Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Ed Ruscha, Aaron Siskind, Alec Soth and others.
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"Charles, Vasa, MN" by Alec Soth, 2002. C-print. Martin Z. Margulies Collection. Image courtesy of Alec Soth and Weinstein Gallery.
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"Café Dolly: Picabia, Schnabel, Willumsen" remains on view through February 1, 2015. "American Scene Photography: Martin Z. Margulies Collection" remains on view through March 22, 2015.
Also on view are selections from the museum's Williams Glackens Collection. The traveling show "William Glackens" is currently on view at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia through February 2, 2015. The show launched at NSU Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale from February 14 through June 1, 2014 and traveled to the Parrish Art Museum in the Hamptons. It was exhibited there from July 27 to October 13, 2104.
NSU Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale is located at One East Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. www.moafl.org.
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Ongoing coverage of Art Basel Miami Beach and Miami Art Fair Week continues at Hamptons Art Hub. Check back for daily dispatches.
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RELATED: Critic’s View: “Art Basel Miami Beach: Happy Days are here Again” by James Croak
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