Untitled, Miami Beach Shines with a Stellar Fifth Edition

Untitled, Miami Beach is one of the must-attend fairs in Miami this week. With new and emerging talent from all over the world, the fifth edition in Miami is the largest offering of the fair to date with an expanded floorplan to accommodate 128 international galleries from 20 countries and 48 cities—37 of which are new to the fair this year. Among a strong presence of Latin American and European galleries, the fair is also welcoming galleries from Iceland, Sardinia, and South Africa.

The large on-the-beach space was designed by OK-RM—a design studio by Oliver Knight and Rory McGrath that specializes in the art, culture, and commerce worlds. Brooklyn-based artist Daniel Gordon also created Jungle Lounge, an immersive lounge with banana motif wallpaper, palm trees, and Acapulco chairs and tables for guests to kick back and relax.

Through the efforts of its artistic director Omar López-Chahoud, and curators Christophe Boutin and Melanie Scarciglia from onestar press, Untitled offers a well-rounded selection of galleries, artist-run exhibition spaces, non-profit institutions, and other organizations—and we’ve highlighted a few of our favorites.

Upon entering the space, Miranda Bosch (Buenos Aires) kicks things off nice and smooth with sculptures that are easy on the eyes by artist Cristina Schiavi. Not far, we caught bright pops of color from Luciana Caravello Arte Contemporanea (Rio de Janeiro) in Pedro Varela’s paintings, paper flower sculptures, and vinyl adhesives, and in Carolina Ponte’s crochet pieces. Nearby, we saw gloves that read “LOVE” on the right hand and “HATE” on the left hand next to ashtray art by We Do Not Work Alone (Paris).

There’s an offering unlike any other at Fredericks & Freiser (New York) with Jocelyn Hobbie’s breathtaking paintings of females, such as Chimes, alongside work by John Wesley and Mary Reid Kelley. Lucky for us, and perhaps luckier for the gallery, we caught work at The Hole (New York) before the art was shipped out to its new homes—the gallery sold out of artwork in the first three hours at yesterday’s opening. There, we were inspired by the brilliant strokes of London artist Matthew Stone, who had a solo presentation. Luis De Jesus Los Angeles (Los Angeles) is showing several noteworthy pieces, such as Jose Lerma and Josh Reames’ He Hath Founded It Upon The Seas, I.

At Eugenio Merino (Houston) we marveled at some politically-charged pieces, like the red- white-and-blue fists protruding from megaphones, middle fingers sticking out of rivaling Pepsi and Coca-Cola cans, and a sculpture of Donald Trump’s face drowning in letters. At SOCO Gallery (North Carolina) & Dittrich & Schlechtreim (Berlin), we saw two of artist Robert Lazzarini’s brilliant pieces, and were particularly drawn to bouquet, which showed a reflective wall sculpture of an angular bouquet of flowers. Modern Forms (London) also showed wonderful crochet works and sculptural pieces titled The Invisible Men by Zak Ové. 

It was utterly impossible to pass by Monique Meloche (Chicago) without stopping for at least a few minutes to take in its glory—there were New York-based Sanford Biggers’ pieces, and Jamaican artist Ebony G. Patterson’s multimedia works dedicated to black youth. Out of curiosity, we wandered across the way to a very specific painting by Dean Byington at Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects (New York) titled Divided City—a painting in which the artist uses his personal drawings, along with illustrations from books, prints, and objects, in a series of photocopying, photographing, silk-screening, and painting on linen canvases.

Eric Firestone Gallery (New York) is showing some of the best sculptural work we’ve seen in awhile, with stellar sculptures from Mia Fonssagrives-Solow and Jen Stark, and a mind-blowing drawing from Kelsey Brookes titled Continuous Line 4. Galerie Laurent Godin (Paris) gave us a taste of nostalgia and thought-provoking messages through five pieces by artist David Kramer: Balloons, Night Moves (real estate), Hopelessly Optimistic, Counter Culture, and Appropriately Inappropriate.

The entirety of the Kabe Contemporary (Miami) booth is a true sight, with its tall, silver cylinder centerpiece and purple, blush, red, and baby blue walls. onestar press (Paris), decidedly not a newcomer to the fair, presents pieces by Daniel Gordon and paintings by Sean Micka, as well as take-away posters on the way out. Finally, Sandra Gering Inc. (New York) stunned with works like Explosion by Peter Halley, Permanent Thirty-Three by KAWS, Ikon (Infinity) by Karim Rashid, Dependent Improvisation by John F. Simon Jr., Cherries (Gold) by Vincent Szarek, Debora by Xavier Veilhan, and Buckyball by Leo Willareal.

We gave a wave to the Wynwood Radio tower perched high in the center of the fair, had a quick sit in the “Do Not Ever Work” chairs, and tore ourselves away for the afternoon to digest the artistically wild and culturally-charged fair.

 

Untitled, Miami Beach is open until December 4, 2016.