“Tattoos have always carried an air of rebellion with them. Throughout history, they have been both demonized and romanticized, and that polarizing effect is what’s so attractive about them,” says Javier Betancourt. A world-renown tattooer and owner of Ocho Placas Tattoo Co., the young man is passionate about tattoos. “The…
During Miami Art Week, anything goes. And despite the artistic free-for-all during the week, ordinary patrons don’t necessarily get to participate. Gawk, drink, and party — sure. But actually make art? Not so much. A new sound art experiment, however, wants the public to get intimately involved. Fordistas is an…
Jenny Brillhart gestures around the stark industrial interior of her Little River studio to explain the visual inspiration for her paintings of cool, dark shapes and empty urban scenes. “My previous work was much more insular within this space only,” Brillhart says, calling the works “pretty abstract.” Fairgoers at Pulse…
Between the selfie sticks, the paparazzi, and the endless Instagram hashtags, Art Basel Miami Beach might be the most narcissistic place on Earth this week. Which is why it’s appropriate that among the highlights at the fair’s 14th edition is a trippy piece by Tomás Saraceno. Titled One Module Cloud…
Firelei Báez’s whole identity is a political tug-of-war. Born to a Dominican mother and a father of Haitian descent, the 34-year-old artist and self-described “Caribbean hybrid” was raised in Dajabón, a market city on the Dominican Republic’s border with Haiti. As a child, Báez recalls seeing the landscapes of both…
Devonté Hynes has a fraught relationship with Miami. The last time the London-born singer, better known as Blood Orange, was in town in 2013, he was outside the Electric Pickle when police raided the club over a liquor license issue. When he tried to retrieve his equipment inside, an officer…
Chickens poke around in the grass as cars fly down NW Second Avenue past a bustling laundromat, botanicas packed with votive candles and cascarilla, and — just near 63rd Street — the neon-purple ampersand in a window that marks the contemporary art gallery on the corner. The gallery is the…
With projections putting significant swathes of South Florida underwater within the next 100 years, MDC Live Arts’ presentation of “Holoscenes” seems particularly prescient. Taking place on the Wolfson Campus’ Kyriakides Plaza over the course of Miami Art Week, the exhibition is a performance installation that explores life underwater. Spanning the…
Every year, it seems the “art” of Art Basel becomes ever more eclipsed by parties, but what if the art was the party? Such is the mission of Basel House, a one-stop shop for day-to-night action in the form of live mural painting, live music, good food, friends, and fun…
In typical big city fashion, Miami isn’t giving anybody a breather between all the holiday happenings. Hydrate and flush out that Thanksgiving tryptophan, ’cause it’s Miami Art Week. Whether you keep it all museums all the time or bounce from fair to fair, the annual Art Basel madness is officially…
Move over Basel, there’s a new art fair in town. The brainchild of New York creative collective FAME, Superfine! House of Art & Design will showcase a curated line-up of independent designers and visual artists who blur the lines between art and design. With a goal of fostering accessibility while…
Art Basel Miami Beach eclipses most of the events surrounding the first week in December. Yet, despite the financial heft carried on by the behemoth, the satellite art fairs, gallery and museum shows, and various other functions that surround ABMB actually fall under the auspices of Miami Art Week. At…
‹ Left Center Right Resize Cancel Crop 745 x 593 ?i › Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection, Miami Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still #21, 1978 Gelatin silver print, ed. 2/3 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm) Every year gallery owners, fair organizers, artists, and attendees crowd around…
As more museums come into bloom, the challenge becomes how to retain an institution’s individual identity while speaking to the immediate environment. “Sun Splashed,” the latest exhibition at the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), goes a long way towards establishing a relationship with South Florida’s Caribbean roots while retaining a…
Oh, Basel. Despite popular belief, doing Miami’s infamous art weekend right isn’t just about getting into the best parties, but a chance to gain firsthand knowledge of who’s who in the contemporary art world. With countless galleries putting their best foot forward at over 20 satellite fairs around the city,…
Among the many art fairs that surround Art Basel Miami Beach, NADA always manages to stand out. The satellite fair is particularly focused on highlighting artists that are underexposed and looked over by the established art market. Unlike the commercial behemoths around them, these art fairs are less interested in…
With Art Basel and Miami Art Week a month away, Miami starts to take on a foreign feel. As gallerists and organizers start trickling in, year-round locals tend to be displaced by the seasonal art world crowd. The number of outsiders dwarf the Miami scene, making it easy to forget…
When artist Magnus Sodamin was young, his grandfather would take him fishing in Norway before sunrise. His grandmother would accompany him into the forest to hunt for mushrooms and into the mountains with a spike and hammer to look for cool rocks. Before flying home to Connecticut, he would fill…
In many ways, Scope was the original satellite art fair. Founded by a Lower East Side artist looking to bring recognition to the work he and his fellow art-world ruffians were making, the fair has gradually taken its place as an Art Basel Miami Beach fixture. Last year, Scope Miami…
Collaborations are what Basel is all about. This year the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is celebrating its second year as a Miami institution with something special: a performance by artist and choreographer Ryan McNamara, and new-age R&B musician Blood Orange (aka Devonte Hynes). While both are Miami outsiders, the…
Since she was appointed director of Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Helen Toomer has redefined the typical Basel exhibition. When she took the helm of the commercial behemoth, the fair was comprised of a long and disjointed selection of galleries and artists from around the world, held far afield on Miami’s…
Miami’s art climate is changing rapidly, fueled not by hydrocarbons but by an ever-expanding global market hungry for the Magic City’s scene. With last year’s messy birth of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) — which acrimoniously broke away from the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami — Miami now…
