Miami Art Week is back, which means the crowds are on the way to enjoy the beach, the sun, the stunning hotels, and the most coveted art the market has to offer. For those of us visiting from New York, the warm weather couldn’t have come at a better time. Throughout the week, Artillery will be taking you to the major fairs and public events, as well as a few VIP openings and private parties, in what we hope will be both an entertaining and enlightening daily report. 

Before jumping into the commerce and culture of Miami, we’re starting with some art and philanthropy a few hours north in Palm Beach for the 5th anniversary of New Wave Art Wknd. Founded by gallerist Sarah Gavlak, the weekend-long gathering features a vibrant roster of public programming and events to showcase the flourishing artistic community and commercial art scene in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. This year’s edition featured thought-provoking panels, studio visits, gallery tours, museum visits, and artist talks, all of which engaged with the theme “Freedom of Expression.” In addition to the public-facing events, the weekend featured a robust Patron Program, including visits to private collections, galleries, and museums, as well as panels and celebratory dinners. A fundraiser for New Wave’s year-round programming and artist residency, the Patron Program helps foster creativity and continued community engagement. 

Emanuel Hahn, installation view from America Fever.

The weekend was packed with inspiring events and programming from the start. Gathering in The Square in West Palm Beach, visitors had the opportunity to join New Wave’s open studio hours, including a visit to the current artist in the residency program, Emanuel Hahn, a Korean-American photographer and director from Los Angeles. Hahn’s work explores the immigrant experience and cultural identity through Western and Korean art, personal memories and experiences, history, and ephemera, such as archival photography. Like other artists selected for the program, Hahn received an unrestricted $5,000 stipend and housing and a studio space for up to eight weeks in Downtown West Palm Beach. The initiative has supported fifteen artists from underserved communities since its launch. 

While in his residency, Hahn has been working on America Fever, a photography series that explores the complex experience of the American immigration process and assimilation. Included in the show are photographs focusing on Asian women “learning” to be American after the Vietnam War. In these works, a woman sits in her home wearing a bright orange dress and surrounded by oranges, a nod to the fruit ubiquitous in Florida. A single persimmon is included with the oranges, a symbol of luck in some Asian cultures. Hahn has also included a newspaper that reads “Vietnam War Ends,” and a bright green plate of jello, one of the “meals” considered emblematic of American cuisine. Though the war has ended, the image suggests continued strife for immigrants. 

After the studio visits, the public programs began, including Challenged: Art and the Freedom of Expression, a panel featuring Hahn alongside artist Nekisha Durrett and scholar and activist Pranoo Kumar, and moderated by former Brooklyn Museum director Arnold Lehman. The inspiring talk touched on questions such as, who gets to tell history; how can we ensure a future of equality and freedom of expression; and how do we tell the stories that are censored or erased? Following the talk was a celebration with the local Palm Beach Lake High School marching band for the unveiling of Durrett’s public sculpture Genius Loci, a monumental RCA-inspired gramophone made of copper sheeting over charred wood. Inspired by the historic Sunset Lounge that was a significant space for the Black community and within the history of jazz, the work serves to uplift and amplify Black voices and their history in Palm Beach.

The evening concluded with a visit to the Norton Museum of Art for the opening of Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder, a new show featuring some of the biggest names in the history of photography, including Sally Mann, Irving Bennett Ellis, Richard Avedon, and Dorothea Lange. Pulled from the artist and philanthropist Judy Glickman Lauder’s personal collection, the show is an impressive walk through 20th century photography. 

Rachel Lee Hovnanian, Mind the Body, 2023. On view at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens through May 1, 2024

Nearby was the big private fête of the weekend, the glamorous Patron Dinner and celebration of The Divine Feminine at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens. Curated by Gavlak and Allison Raddock, the exhibition explores the contributions of women sculptors. Featuring works by figures like Judy Chicago, Leilah Babirye, Kiki Smith, and Niki de Saint Phalle, the exhibition provides a broad look at some of the techniques and materials these artists use and some of the myriad ways women artists have pushed the boundaries of the discipline. 

New Wave Art Wknd continued on Saturday with a packed day of public and private tours, panels, gallery visits, and artist talks. Showcasing some of the many galleries in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, the gallery tours and talks were highlights of the weekend. Included in the private visits (which welcomed public visitors on Sunday) were Acquavella Galleries, TW Fine Art, White Cube, and the newest arrival to the growing community, London and Berlin-based gallery Kristin Hjellegjerde. A highlight was A Landscape Retrospective, a solo exhibition of paintings by Damien Loeb at Acquavella Galleries. Spanning fifteen years of his career, the show highlights Loeb’s ongoing interest in landscapes and technology and themes of extraterrestrial activity, fear, hope, sex, and death. Planets and cosmic references feature prominently in the show, including paintings based on craters that have been found on the surface of Mars. Imbuing a message of hope, Loeb painted the area around one crater in bright blue hues, a nod to NASA’s discovery of evidence of water on the planet. 

Andrew Brischler, Self Portrait (as Leeloo), 2023.

Anchoring the public visits was a trip to Andrew Brischler: Self Portraits at Gavlak Gallery with a lively conversation between Brischler and artist Deborah Brown. The paintings in the show feature cropped faces of various cinematic references that influence Brischler, including my personal favorite, Milla Jovovich in “The Fifth Element”. Centered on horror films and thrillers, the shows explores how the genres acted as tools for Brischler to escape, heal, grow, or simply parse reality in transformative periods of his life, including as a young, gay boy and as life became interior during the pandemic.

Michele Pred performing Reproductive Freedom at The Bunker Artspace.

On Sunday, we rounded out the weekend at The Bunker Artspace, the exhibition space opened in 2017 to show the collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody. Located in an Art Deco building that formerly served as a toy factory and munitions storage in World War II, the sprawling building now displays DeWoody’s vast collection of contemporary art, furniture, and collectible items. New Wave Art Wknd coincided with the opening of the latest exhibitions, including Family Affair, a group show curated by Peter Harkawik of the Los Angeles and New York gallery Harkawik. Exploring the complexities of family relationships, the exhibition features several artist families and partners, including Betye Saar and daughter Alison Saar, Deborah Kass and wife Patricia Cronin, Jim Nutt and wife Gladys Nilsson, and Hank Willis Thomas and mother Deborah Willis. Offering a unique perspective on each practice individually and within the context of their families, the show was refreshing and innovative.

To celebrate New Wave Art Wknd and the opening exhibitions at The Bunker, artist and activist Michele Pred performed Reproductive Freedom, a new sculpture and performance project that builds a “feminist army” and raises awareness about crucial issues in healthcare. As Pred lined up her toy soldiers, she declared “this is an emergency” before sharing facts about abortion pills and bodily autonomy with the crowd.

As the weekend came to a close, New Wave visitors eagerly discussed the busy week ahead in Miami. While the commercial objectives of many Miami Art Week events are what drive the industry, it’s important to remember some of the messages from this past weekend, in particular the power of art to connect communities and inspire change and the importance of supporting the artistic visions behind it. From the panels and artist talks to the community of creatives and leaders that the event brought together, New Wave Art Wknd was a remarkably invigorating experience. “Everything is from the heart,” Gavlak shared as we reflected on the event. “That’s how I am as a person and in my work. I’m in it for the artists; that’s what drives me, and that’s what drives New Wave.”