Art Basel Miami Beach and Art Miami

Miami art week is fast approaching and with, literally, hundreds of galleries participating in the events this year, navigating the 25+ fairs can become a daunting task. Booth after booth of paintings, sculptures, installations, drawings, photographs…! So here are the basics everyone should know. The two biggest and most important fairs today – Art Basel Miami Beach and Art Miami future blue-chip galleries from all over the world (read Acquavella Galleries, Gagosian, Pace Gallery, Matthew Marks Gallery, David Zwirner, Mary Boone, Gladstone Gallery, Ameringer McEnery Yohe, etc.) The [relatively] smaller venues Scope Miami, Context, Untitled, Nada: Miami, and Fountain  focus primarily on contemporary art and emerging artists.

Something to keep in mid as you plan your itineraries is that while some of the satellite fairs offer a great way to discover new talent, unusual venues and a new approach of creating and presenting work, you should probably start with the main fairs and then venture out. To help you navigate the principal fairs we distilled their exhibitor lists to aid you in focusing on the some of the best galleries.

Art Basel Miami Beach

Look out for Christian Marclay‘s “Cassette Grid” No. 16 & 17 cyanotypes, as well as Justin Matherly‘s Untitled inkjet monoprint at the Paula Cooper Gallery – booth F09. Also there – Sol LeWitt’s minimalistic geometric sculptures.

At the entrance to Tanya Bonakdar‘s space (booth E06), don’t miss a major new hanging sculpture by Ernesto Neto from his ongoing body of crocheted work. This is similar to the work shown during Neto’s solo exhibition at the gallery this past summer. “Using a series of small plastic balls to weight hand-woven sheets of colorful polypropylene and polyester cord, this sculpture illustrates Neto’s practice of using gravity, weight, and tension to dictate form and create dynamic interactive environments.” -TBG Also worth seeing is a new floor sculpture by gallery artist Sarah Sze, who will represent the United States at the 55th Venice Biennale 2013.

Mitchell-Innes & Nash (booth C09) will present a selection of horizontal Stripe abstractions from the 1960’s by a seminal Post War American artist and one of the central figures of Color Field painting – Kenneth Noland (probably better known for his circular, target-like paintings). “Noland began this series in the late 1960s and revisited the stripe motif in 2003 – works from 2003 will also be on view at the stand.” – MI&N

Classic early 20-th century abstractions, like Paul Kelpe’s Untitled compositions from 1928, Milton Resnick’s 1957 “Cargo” and José de Rivera’s delicate curvo-linear sculptures that appear to unfold in front of the viewer are a must-see at the Valerie Carberry Gallery (booth F01).

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, (booth K02) is focusing his display around a classic work by the founder of conceptual art – Marcel Duchamp. The gallery will be showing the 1915 photograph of the iconic “Nu Descendant un Escalier” (Nude, Descending the Staircase). The work is unique in that this photograph is hand-colored with pencil, watercolor, and white transparent pastel on luan plywood. The gallery is an authority on 20-th century American art, and a great place to discover works by the pillars of American modernism like Romare Bearden, Lee Bontecou, André Masson, Norman Lewis and others.

Jack Tilton Gallery, (booth A08) is the place to see Simone Leigh’s intricate and wonderfully tactile sculptures from the “Jam Packed and Jelly Tight” exhibition held at the gallery earlier this year. “Using pre-historical ceramic techniques, Leigh challenges the boundaries between art and craft, between past and present.” – JTG

New York and Zurich-based Edwynn Houk Gallery (booth D05) is bringing the sublime black and white photographs and photograms by the great Modernist – Emmanuel Radnitzky or as he is better-known – Man Ray. The gallery specializes in 20th-century and contemporary photography and represents some of the key figures in early 20th century photography like László Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Edward Steichen (the iconic Greta Garbo photograph) and Herb Ritts, among others. (galleryIntell will soon publish a video interview with Mr. Houk)

Gladstone Gallery (booth H12)is showing Anish Kapoor! Whatever you do, if this is the only work you see this whole week, find it and spend time with it! “These works linger in a state between coalescence and collapse, a relationship that speaks to Kapoor’s ongoing interest in the idea of “objectness” and the incomplete nature of the sculptural form.” – GG

It’s probably wise to carry a floor plan of the fair with you.

Art Miami

Visit Leila Heller Gallery (booth A33) to see the Istanbul-based Semercioglu Gulay’s wire, screw and wood sculpture “Split in Two”. The artist weaves vibrantly – colored metal wire onto wood plank and the result is more than twenty layers  created from one long piece of metal wire wound around numerous nails.

The Chicago-based Catherine Edelman Gallery (booth A17) is one of our top recommendations for Art Miami. Ask to see the wonderful photogravures by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison. The duo also creates sometimes humorous and highly imaginative photo collages, so request to see those as well!  Another gallery artist who caught our attention is Terry Evans. Her aerial landscape photographs are visually captivating, but look closer and you’ll see that behind the serene, watercolor-like bleeds of color lies a very different truth.

The star of “The Madness of Art” Jim Kempner  (Jim Kempner Fine Art – booth A12) is showing colorful pop-art. Jeff Koons, Jim Dine along with some sumptuous silkcreens by Chuck Close. It’s a really fun place and Jim is an art-world celebrity, so stop by and say hello!

Back to Abstract Expressionism. The Upper East Side/Palm Beach/Bridgehampton-based Mark Borghi Fine Art (booth B17)is showing Joan Mitchell’s signature bold-brush paintings and Eric Fischl’s stain-like figurative watercolors. These are classics, so make your way to the gallery after you’re done with the more contemporary works. The gallery also represents San Francis, Robert Ryman, Richard Tuttle and Ai Weiwei – all important artists to know.

Click here for the floor plan of the Art Miami – Context fairs.

So these are some of the pointers, but of course wander around and discover art for yourself!

Don’t forget to Tweet (@galleryIntell) and Instagram (@gallery_Intell) your pictures with hashtags #arteverywhere!

SEE YOU IN MIAMI!!

Image Credits:

Sarah Sze. © Sarah Sze. Image courtesy Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Untitled, Anish Kapoor © Anish Kapoor. Image courtesy Gladstone Gallery

Simone Leigh, Sculpture from the Jam Packed and Jelly Tight exhibition. © Simone Leigh. Image courtesy Tilton Gallery

Split in Two, 2012 Wire, screw and wood © Semercioglu Gulay. Image courtesy Leila Heller Gallery

Mountaintop removal coal mining in eastern Kentucky, October 2009 © Terry Evans / Image courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago.