MIAMI — I have made it to Friday without forgetting my press pass in an Uber or developing cafecito-related heart palpitations, and by Miami Art Week standards I’d call that a win. Yesterday we discussed serious matters, like the financial sustainability of the art-fair ecosystem, but today we are tired and regret having that third margarita at Bacara, so we will look at art.
I saw a dizzying amount of standout work at Art Basel Miami Beach, NADA Miami, and Untitled Art, but the week’s most underrated ticket was the Open Invitational, a new fair for nonprofits and galleries focused on artists with disabilities, or “progressive art studios.” Co-Founder David Fierman, whom I caught up with during Monday’s opening night, emphasized the importance of centering different ways of seeing the world.
“There’s a lot of purity in this work that is lacking in some of the higher echelons of the market,” Fierman told me. “Let’s have a story where people make a positive impact on people’s lives and do it in a really sustainable, human-to-human way.”
On that note, and without further ado, I’m sharing below my favorite works at Art Basel Miami Beach, NADA, the Open Invitational, and Untitled Art — from Mapuche artist Seba Calfuqueo’s ceramics to Michael Angelo Mangino’s pithy text paintings and Alissa Alfonso’s whimsical sculptures.
Hop and Lydia Peternell, co-founders of Studio Route 29 in New Jersey, a “progressive art studio” that supports the creative practices of adults with developmental disabilities
Archaeologists excavating at the ancient Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey have uncovered the remains of unbaked, leavened bread dating to around 6600 BCE. Within a furnace structure in the ancient proto-city, archaeologists found wheat, barley, pea seeds, and the remains of spongy globs of unbaked but fermented bread. Though the discovery adds to […]
From jobs to clothing to colors, and more, there’s a lot of variety in our list this week. While our critics are enjoying historical shows focused on labor in the United States and women’s workaday clothes, an exhibition that proposes different ways of looking at color is well worth a visit, as is one that […]
In “Northern April” (1928), the great American poet, playwright, and feminist Edna St. Vincent Millay writes: “O April, full of blood, full of breath, have pity upon us!” Millay’s dramatic reference to the capricious month of April endures as we witness the seasons wrangle, intermingle, and ultimately give way to the welcoming warmth of spring. […]
