Artillery is back with Day 3 in Miami Beach. The fairs are in full swing, the collectors are fighting for first access, and the tiny glasses of overpriced champagne are on offer at every opportunity. Yesterday, we started with the design highlight of the week: Design Miami/.

Located just outside the Convention Center where Art Basel Miami Beach takes place, Design Miami/ is a refreshing counterpoint to the art-centric events of the week and offers the best opportunity to see the biggest names in contemporary design, as well as innovative rising stars. Opening Wednesday and running through Sunday, this year’s fair is the 19th edition and centers on the theme of “Where We Stand.” Highlighting the role of design in responding to and reflecting issues of the world both in the past and the present, the theme celebrates objects inspired by heritage, identity, and place, as well as the beauty and strength of connectedness. 

 

Chris Wolston’s blue shearling Oro desk chair and desk at The Future Perfect’s booth. Image from The Future Perfect

 

A highlight of the fair is The Future Perfect, the design gallery known for its chic exhibition spaces in homes in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. With a vast curated collection of new designs totaling more than 130 pieces, the presentation is the largest The Future Perfect has brought together and celebrates its 20 years of design experience. Among the talented figures from the gallery’s roster on view are Autumn Casey, who reimagined the iconic Tiffany lamp design and Leena Similu, whose work reflects the fair’s theme of heritage and interconnectivity by celebrating the artist’s West African heritage. The presentation also features a playful desk and blue-shearling chair resembling a reception area and designed by rising star Chris Wolston.

Bringing a note of futuristic wonder to Design Miami/ is Tuleste Factory’s presentation entitled “The Zone.” Featuring designers Brandi Howe, Facture, Kouros Maghsoudi, Sten Studio, Timbur, and Yonathan Moore, the presentation explores the potential of an invisible, parallel world with themes including the intersections of the present and future and the technological and the physical. Colorful floor-to-ceiling illuminated resin tiles draw visitors into the booth and provide a luminous background for the designs on view. A favorite are Sten Studio’s new pieces in the form of spheres of semi-precious stones sitting inside round metal holders. Attached to the wall, the playful, yet elegant display of colorful stones is part of Sten Studio’s Sprawling Galaxies series and resembles small planets dotted across the wall.

 

Rive Roshan’s Composition Panel 3, 2023 at Rademakers Gallery’s booth. Image from Rademakers Gallery

 

Exploring the designs of duo Rive Roshan, Amsterdam’s Rademakers Gallery is presenting furniture and objects that highlight the interplay of color, light, and space. Using colorful, rippled glass on geometric panels and surfaces of furniture, such as side tables, vibrant hues and fluted textures, the designs intend to captivate while also inspiring curiosity. 

Reflecting the increasingly nebulous boundaries between the world of art and design, in particular as seen through fiber art, New York-based gallery Superhouse is presenting “The Subversive Hand.” Featuring 11 artists and designers from diverse backgrounds and with different approaches to fiber art, the presentation illustrates the breadth of materials and artistic potentials that people working in the discipline can achieve.  

 

View overlooking Art Basel Miami Beach 2023

 

After Design Miami/, visitors can head over to Art Basel Miami Beach, the cornerstone of the week that draws the biggest crowds, most eager buyers, and best opportunity to see the most prized works on the market. The fair is also the best place to brush elbows with the art world’s biggest names, from dealers to curators and museum directors. Also inevitably in attendance are the leading collectors, including a handful of pseudo-incognito celebrities. The fair also runs Wednesday through Sunday and will host several free, public programs throughout the week, as well as several public and private events at galleries, museums, and collections across the city. 

 

Vian Sora’s painting “Abzu” in the Meridians Sector

 

Located in the sprawling Miami Beach Convention Center, Art Basel Miami Beach has the luxury of being able to showcase a range of different sectors. One of the most exciting is the Meridians Sector, which allows for large-scale, immersive, and experimental projects that might not otherwise have the chance to be exhibited at an art fair. A highlight of this year’s Meridians Sector is “Abzu”, a new, monumental painting by Vian Sora presented with Los Angeles-based gallery Luis De Jesus. Inspired by her experiences of loss and displacement growing up in Iraq, Sora creates vibrant, abstract paintings with bursts of energy that intend to uplift the artist and the viewer. Now based in Louisville, Sora considers additional themes of body autonomy and women’s rights in her work, using her colorful hues and lively compositions to inspire hope. 

Also staging an impressive presentation in the Meridians Sector is Miami-based gallery Spinello Projects, which is exhibiting The Cellist, a sculptural installation by local artist Reginald O’Neal. Composed of a large-scale reproduction of a figurine jazz cellist, the sculpture brings to life themes from O’Neal’s paintings, in particular his ongoing Entertainer series featuring New Orleans jazz players. Set in a dimly lit environment, the sculptural installation invites viewers to immerse themselves in his work. 

In the Positions Sector devoted to young galleries presenting solo booths of emerging artists, Spinello Projects is exhibiting a suite of paintings by Esaí Alfredo featuring intimate night scenes. Inspired by popular culture, science fiction, and cinema, the works explore themes of queer culture and the gay male gaze. Also exhibiting in Positions is the Rio de Janeiro-based gallery, Galatea. Bringing together new and recent work by Allan Weber, the presentation considers the everyday experience of life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro’s outskirts. 

 

Elizabeth Kley for the Kabinett Sector

 

In the Kabinett Sector, exhibitors present curated selections of work, often with an art-historical lens. A highlight of this year is the New York-based gallery Canada’s site-specific display of new sculptures and paintings by Elizabeth Kley. With ancient Egyptian-inspired architectural details, the presentation, dubbed Café Cleopatra, incorporates trompe l’oeil effects to create an immersive environment. Kley also pulled inspiration from other sources, including modern art and The Weiner Werkstätte in designing the work.

In the main Galleries Sector, mid-level and blue chip dealers like Hauser & Wirth, Gladstone Gallery, and White Cube are showcasing work by some of the biggest names on their rosters. With prices in the tens of thousands to tens of millions, this sector hosts the most important and expensive works of modern and contemporary art on offer today. 

 

Nohemí Pérez’s work in mor-charpentier’s booth

 

This year’s Galleries Sector did not disappoint. In the Paris-based gallery mor-charpentier’s booth, artists are exploring themes of absence and disappearance, including the ephemerality of memory and nature. A highlight is a monumental, nearly 17-foot long painting by Bogotá-based artist Nohemí Pérez. Featuring a dense, verdant jungle, the work highlights the important ecological benefits that rich, biodiverse areas like those of her hometown in Catatumbo can provide for the planet. At the same time, she invites visitors to consider the fragility of the natural world and the importance of protecting it. 

While visitors might not be able to walk away with one of the works on view, the fair does have a unique partnership this year with the brand On. Debuted at the fair, On and Art Basel Miami Beach released a limited-edition sneaker designed by rising star Pamela Rosenkranz, the Swiss artist who has made a name for herself with her largest physical public artwork to date, a stunning pink and red tree installed on the High Line in New York. Tied to Rosenkranz’s interest in the human condition, the tree’s wild branches and bright hues resemble the nervous and circulatory systems. In the process of making this tree, Rosenkranz produced digital renderings based on trees and actual scans of human blood, muscles, and tissues, which in turn informed her design for Healer Scrolls (2022), the drawing from which the partnership with On takes inspiration. Applied to the brand’s Cloudnova Forms sneaker model, the shoe is perfect for the marathon/sprint of Miami Art Week. 

After Hours

With a busy day at the fairs complete, VIPs spread out across the city to the various events and private parties on offer. I went to the Le Labo-filled halls of the EDITION Hotel to join a special celebration with the legendary artist Mickalene Thomas and renowned singer and actress Janelle Monáe, in partnership with Google. Included in the packed crowd were industry leaders and curators from The Broad and the New Museum, as well as artists and celebrities. As guests sipped on Whispering Angel rosé and Belvedere vodka, Monáe put on a special performance for the crowd. 

As Day 3 comes to a close, I’m looking forward to another packed set of events on Day 4. Stay tuned as I finally fight the traffic across the bridge and head to the New Art Dealers Alliance fair and Pérez Art Museum Miami.