Art Basel Miami Beach rolls into town this week bringing with it (besides a host of celebs and debauched pre-Christmas cheer — we like to think) some rather fantastic art. Here are some of the highlights from around the world.
New York’s P.P.O.W have a particularly sensual, tense and commanding group of works which are dominated by black and white. A herd of buffalos trip and fall over the side of a steep cliff in David Wojnarowicz’s photograph Untitled (Buffalos), 1988-89, four powerful bodies tumbling into the abyss against a backdrop of rocky mountains and distant river-cut hills. Annabeth Rosen’s ceramic work Cherry, (2015) is part sexy, part dog poop, a mound of mock cream and cherry that would actually break your teeth on attempted consumption. Carlos Motta’s Inverted World, (2016) prints and film display a more expected view of kink and power, arms and wrists tied tightly in rough ropes, nudes suspended upside-down — almost Christ-like — by their feet and eyes covered with black ties.
Edouard Malingue Gallery from Hong Kong are presenting an altogether more vibrant affair, Miami’s sunshine and vivacity reflected in Wing Pong’s kooky animation Jungle of Desire, (2015) and Tromarama’s stop motion work Psilocybin (adoption series), (2010). Animation isn’t such a present medium on the fair circuit — indeed, video work in general can be tricky — which makes these works an interesting injection. Sun Xun’s moodier Reconstruction of the Universe, (2016) extends the fantastical elements of the other works in a different direction, moons and spooky branches lining the path of a top-hatted single figure.
Colourful elements are present also with LA’s Freedman Fitzpatrick, with some dark twists. An especially depraved painting (looking not too unlike a 5am Miami afterparty — again, so we love to imagine) from the excellent Amelie von Wulffen is a grimy mix of bright colours and bleak emotion, light beginning to penetrate the corners of a darkened room, faces slipping into the floor, bug-like creatures clinging to the shadowy spots as their glowing neon edges fade into sludgy greens.
Sprüth Magers (Berlin, LA and London) offer a crisp alternative, bringing some long established artists into town with an eclectic selection of impactful works from Frank Stella, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Craig Kauffman and more. Words and letters pop against clean single colour backgrounds and are emitted in light alongside large-scale mixed media works. Galeria Marilia Razuk from São Paulo are similarly punchy, with many sculptural works from Ana Luiza Dias Batista and an injection of light from Wagner Malta Tavares. New York’s Two Palms also offer a stylish response to this big name fair, with a selection of work from Stanley Whitney, Jeff Koons, Peter Doig, Cecily Brown, Carroll Dunham and Mel Bochner that feels incredibly hands-on.
‘Art Basel Miami Beach’ is open to the public from 1-4th December 2016.
