SCOPE Miami Beach (December 5–10) is back, and better than ever this year. With 140 international exhibitors from 25 countries and 60 cities, the show welcomes guests to must-see contemporary art from around the world. As usual, it’s hard choosing favorites, but we’ve outlined some not-to-miss pieces at the fair.
As soon as guests enter the space, they’re greeted by an enormous blown-up artwork, shining in gold, by The Directed Art Modern. Around the bend, we caught sight of the soothing colors in Ivan Alifan’s Paradise piece, the striking illumination of colors from Peter Gronquist’s Orlane 36, and Kip Omolade’s Kitty Cash II—all presented by Joseph Gross Gallery. It was hard to walk by Fort Works Art without being mesmerized by the dripping Dan Lam pieces First Bite (polyurethane foam and Styrofoam), and Milky and Show Girl (foam, Swarovski crystals, and resin).
Flore at Art Angels.
With adoration, we paused by John Grande’s Where I End And It Begins piece, seen in the open Licht Feld Gallery space, and made a stop in front of the playful Bubble gum Girl, and the contemplative The Lady Reading a Book—both by Hae Sun Hwang, in the booth of Seoul-based art space SAY. Hunter & Gatti presented a few mesmerizing large-scale pieces of pigment print on sculpted forex at HG Art Gallery, and we were caught in an abyss of New York apartment facades, presented in large photographs, by Jean Philippe Kadinski at Emmanuel Fremin Gallery. At Art Angels’ booth, we wandered around fun neon installations by Beau Dunn, such as Need Money For Birkin and Need Money For Art, and one from Lauren Baker entitled Everything is Going To Be Fucking Amazing. We also caught sight of Flore’s ultra-contemporary creation Human, made in black and white with the word “human” in yellow, red, blue, and green. Vanity Fair by Brandon Lewis at ZK Gallery gave us a chuckle, as did Daniel Cherbuin’s cutout digital art—with double-paneled artworks featuring cutout videos of women blinking—at Laurent Marthaler gallery.
Sergio Garcia strikes us again with his Hey, It’s All We Had (an automotive paint on cardboard and resin sculpture) at Thinkspace Projects, and we were swooning over Cuban artist Esterio Segura’s painted steel piece Hibrido de un flechazo de amor in Havana Art Gallery’s booth. Vofelsang Gallery showed a few other fun neon pieces, including one heart-shaped one with darts by Rubem Robierb, and another large-scale $100 bill with a talk bubble including “sorry, not sorry” next to an alternating flash of horns and a halo above the late president’s head. Dorielle Caimi’s …And They Danced gave us the most wonderful modern Adam and Eve vibes, appropriately presented by Modern Eden gallery.
Kip Omolade at Joseph Gross gallery.
And Alejandra Atarés’ Paisaje de cactus (an oil and acrylic on linen piece) beckoned us to stop and stare at the calmness of cacti and color, presented by Victor Lope Arts Contemporaneo. On our way out, we caught the soothing Italian riviera in peaceful photographs by Joshua Jensen-Nagle at Modus Art Gallery, and luckily, some rare pieces by Tom Fruin across the way at unaffiliate.us gallery. The Boston-based gallery’s choice to present Fruin’s iconic stained glass pieces (in miniature forms) next to lesser-known works, like neon nooses and sewn-together collages, was a smart offering to end with.
Leaving, we grabbed the newest copy of Whitewaller Miami, available at the check-in desks, and parted with our pretty new finds. For now.
Sergio Garcia at Thinkspace Projects.
SCOPE Miami Beach is open to the public from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. through December 10.
Esterio Segura at Havana Art Gallery.
