The 20th edition of the grande dame of art week season in Miami, Art Basel Miami Beach 2022 is the largest edition yet at the Miami Convention Center November 29th – December 3rd.
Featuring 282 exhibitors from 38 countries and territories, it serves as a dynamic platform uniquely bridging the art scenes from across the globe. In addition to its Galleries, Positions, Nova, Survey, and Edition sectors, the fair will host 20 large-scale projects as part of the Meridians sector, 29 curated installations within exhibitors’ booths in the Kabinett sector, as well as nine panels with leading art world voices in its renowned Conversations series.
One of my favorites, the Jenkins Johnson Gallery, will be at Art Basel Miami Beach, Galleries Sector November 29 – December 3, 2022 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, Booth G8.
Presenting both established and mid-career artists who explore social and political issues by connecting past and current moments, this year’s lineup includes works by: Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Gordon Parks, Aubrey Williams, Jae and Wadsworth Jarrell, Ming Smith, Kevin Cole, Lisa Corrine Davis, Enrico Riley, along with emerging artists Patrick Alston, Alex Jackson, and Raelis Vasquez.
Also located within the booth will be their Aubrey Williams Kabinett presentation:
Aubrey Williams (1926 Guyana – 1990 London), is a key figure of Post-War painting in Britain, and a founding member of the Caribbean Artists Movement. Williams uses abstraction as a cross-cultural translation drawing on his transatlantic presence (time in Guyana, the Caribbean, Florida, and London). His paintings unite references ranging from astronomy, ecology, pre-Columbian iconography, and music. In Kabinett works presented will be from the 1960s-1980s when he traveled the Atlantic, and from his iconic series Olmec-Maya and Now (1982-1987). His work was the focal point of Tate Britain’s recent exhibition Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s-Now.
Learn more about Art Basel Miami Beach and purchase tickets here.
Images courtesy Jenkins Johnson Gallery Aubrey Williams, Chakmul IV, 1975, oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 41 3/8 in Ming Smith,Self-Portrait (Self-Portrait Series), 1972, collaged c. 1990s, reprinted and painted 2019, archival pigment print with hand painting in oil, 24 x 18 in, unique edition of 10 Jae Jarrell, Gents Great Coat, 1973, suede, 60 x 21 x 12 in Wadsworth Jarrell, Together We Will Win, 1973, acrylic and foil on canvas, 60 x 72 in Lisa Corinne Davis, Reticulated Tale, 2022, oil on canvas, 60 x 45 in Enrico Riley, Together, Reflection Seen, 2022, oil on canvas, 58 x 53 in Kevin Cole, Can’t find my way home, 2022, mixed media on wood, 57 x 38 x 8 in
The Robot Heart Foundation will host a public art showcase featuring a Brandt Brauer Frick Art installation, entitled “Multi Faith Prayer Room,” at The Annex Miami during Art Basel Dec 1st-3rd.
“Dance music culture has always served the purpose of bringing people together in almost a post-religious cathedral type setting – the club. A very open space, open to freedom of expression. The idea for ‘Multi Faith Prayer Room’ came about when I was at Heathrow Airport in late 2020,” said Daniel Brandt. “I had always seen signs for Multi Faith Prayer Rooms but this time the term stuck with me. I wanted to create a physical space that brings people together, brings different opinions together, without judgment.”
The art showcase, created through a significant grant from the Robot Heart Foundation, will be held over three days; from 3:00pm–8:30pm. It will feature three 30 minute shows at 3:30pm – 4:00pm, 4:30pm – 5:00pm and 5:30pm – 6:00pm. There will also be evening parties, from 7:00pm-8:30pm, with a sold out show featuring Afro House DJ Layla Benitez on November 30th. Shows featuring Brandt Brauer Frick will be on December 1st and West African DJ and producer AMÉMÉ will be performing on December 2nd, and play within the 360 surround sound experience.
Disruptions: a new exhibition in Miami Beach as part of the Art Basel Cities partnership with Buenos Aires
During the Art Basel Miami Beach 2019, Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires will present a series of large-scale sculptures by Argentine artists in Collins Park. Based on the curatorial vision of Diana Wechsler and Florencia Battiti, the park will be host to sculptural works exploring the concepts of context and site, and its potential to interfere with everyday life. Participating artists include: Matías Duville, Graciela Hasper, Marie Orensanz, Pablo Reinoso, Marcela Sinclair and Agustina Woodgate.
In the last phase of the partnership with Buenos Aires, Art Basel Cities has sought to bring Argentine artists of different generations, formations, and outputs to an international platform such as Miami Beach during Art Basel – allowing for new artistic discoveries, highlighting the strength, dynamism and vibrancy of the Argentine art scene. ‘Disruptions’, as its title suggests, focuses on intervening in an urban landscape enabling the viewer to interact and be confronted with works outside the more traditional exhibition space. More than a merely aesthetic proposition, art in this space can become a tool for encountering, interacting, and questioning potentially overly familiar environment.
“While we appeal to the curiosity of the public, to their capacity of amazement, reflection, complicity, and surprise, ‘Disruptions’ also necessarily implies a commitment to the unknown, a rupture of the status quo,” explain curators Diana Wechsler and Florencia Battiti.
Further details on the artists and individual works can be found here.
Accompanying ‘Disruptions’, Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires will be presenting the following artist talks; all talks are free and open to the public.
Thursday, December 5, 2019: 4pm to 5pm: Marcela Sinclair and Agustina Woodgate in conversation with Florencia Battiti and Diana Wechsler
Friday, December 6, 2019: 2.15pm to 2.45pm: Pablo Reinoso; 4.15pm to 4.45pm: Matías Duville
Saturday, December 7, 2019: 2.15pm to 2.45pm: Graciela Hasper; 4.15pm to 4.45pm: Marie Orensanz
For 2019, in the newly opened 60,000+ sq ft Grand Ballroom at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach (MBCC), Art Basel will launch the inaugural edition of the Meridians sector, a platform dedicated to large-scale sculptures, paintings, installations, film and video projections that promises to disrupt the usual art fair layout.
Curated by Magalí Arriola, Director of Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Meridians will include 34 large-scale projects on display by renowned and emerging artists, like John M. Armleder, Sam Francis, Isaac Julien, Theaster Gates, Tina Girouard, Luciana Lamothe, Candice Lin, Ana Mendieta, Mario Merz, Portia Munson, Woody De Othello, Adam Pendleton, Laure Prouvost, Torey Thornton, and Oscar Tuazon.
Of course, I will be making a beeline first for the Theaster Gates directed and produced video ‘Dance of Malaga’ (2019) that addresses the complex and intertwining issues of race, territory, inequality, and sexuality in the recent history of the United States.
Then on to Laure Prouvost’s immersive installation ‘DEEP TRAVELS Ink’ (2016-ongoing), a pseudo-functional Miami travel agency complete with water coolers, plants, posters, office desks, waiting area and corporate infomercials. Hopefully it will not cause flashbacks to some of my earlier jobs in the corporate alternate universe.
Also of on my list to see are the works from younger artists like La Charada China (Tobacco Version)’ (2019) by Candice Lin, utilizing symbolically and historically significant materials to reflect on the global histories of exploitation and colonial violence; ‘Cool Composition’ (2019), an installation by Miami-born artist Woody De Othello that touches upon the anxieties around global warming as well as the aesthetics of the African diaspora; the ‘Ishmael in the Garden: A Portrait of Ishmael Houston-Jones’ (2018) video by Adam Pendleton; and a new painting on wood panels by Torey Thornton.
With it’s strong focus on artists and works from the Americas, Meridians is a welcome vaccine against the xenophobic, anti-immigrant distemper that has plagued us these past three years.
Included is work by Sam Moyer, who is also currently on show in a solo exhibition WIDE WAKE at Sean Kelly’s New York space, Antony Gormley who has just had a significant monograph by Martin Caiger-Smith published by Rizzoli and Kehinde Wiley, who has been selected to paint the official presidential portrait of Barack Obama.
Additionally, there are a selection of works from artists Marina Abramoviç, Los Carpinteros, James Casebere, Julian Charrière, David Claerbout, Jose Dávila, Iran do Espírito Santo, Antony Gormley, Laurent Grasso, Callum Innes, Hugo McCloud, Mariko Mori, and Alec Soth.
