Scene, by All: Miami Art Week 2013
Highlights from the city’s annual art bonanza captured on Instagram
Dave Wilfert of The World’s Best Ever never misses Miami Art Week. The founder of one of the internet’s top arts and culture sites and a seasoned fair-goer, Wilfert grabbed our eye with a picture of this perforated piece of “motivational blotter art” by David Shrigley. The work is officially titled “Strive for Excellence,” and Wilfert tells us, “I took this photo because I bought the print and wanted some type of documentation. Plus, David Shrigley is funny, and I like the idea of motivational acid trips.”
Staple Design founder Jeff Ng came across South African street artist Faith47’s tiger in downtown Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. He tells us, “I love kinetic art. Artwork where you can feel the physicality of the work (see: Jose Parla). This wall piece by Faith47 is a perfect example. At first glance, it’s just paint drippings. But she literally ‘carved’ the tiger out of the drips. You can see this at The Wynwood Walls. So often in the art world, the hype you hear about simply cannot compare to the feeling you get when you see the actual artwork itself. Not the case in Wynwood—there, you feel the energy all around you and The Wynwood Walls are at the epicenter of this.”
Art and design writer LinYee Yuan stopped by The Standard hotel’s vintage digs for a chance to pick up some hard-to-find publications. “All Day Every Day, the creative agency behind the Newsstand, brought their collection of independent artist zines to Miami with a four-day pop-up installation at The Standard and a roving bicycle-powered bookmobile on the South Beach boardwalk. I loved the selection of vintage punk zines from San Francisco’s Goteblud and ended up picking up a beautiful zine from illustrator Marilyn Rondon.”
Former Opening Ceremony buyer, model and fashion advisor Kate Foley cast her distinct vision on the Massimo de Carlo installation at Art Basel, which was curated by Fluxus artist John Armleder. “I loved it because this booth felt totally different to all the other booths in the show. I love that they went one step further and used the space to create a piece of art in itself. I’m also a big fan of clashing prints and colors.”
Brooklyn-based artist Maria Kozak came across artist Richard Prince’s “Jerry’s Girl” at Art Basel, which is a clever composite comprised of 57 of famed TV character Jerry Seinfeld’s girlfriends. Prince made the image early this year after winning a copyright battle, but Kozak stopped to snap a pic, “Because Richard Prince is a goddam brilliant genius.”
“Not only was this Oriol Vilanova postcard installation at Parra & Romero‘s booth a highlight of my Art Basel experience, it also served as an all too perfect moment to poke fun, lovingly of course, at Instagram and its users’ (me included!) love of the sunset snap,” explains Refinery29’s Associate Fashion Editor Willow Lindley.
Sight Unseen co-founder Monica Khemsurov found Justin Samson’s perfectly nostalgic piece at Kravets Wehby. “Just before I took this photo at the Untitled art fair, I turned to my boyfriend, laughed, rolled my eyes and said, ‘Obviously that’s going on Instagram!’ Sight Unseen is all about creativity—not trends—but that said, we do have a little ongoing obsession with ‘80s post-modernism, and faces too. The colors and airbursh effect on this reminds me a lot of Ron Nagle. I especially love the commenter who compared it to a Trapper Keeper!”
One of the myriad galleries that Cool Hunting enjoys visiting in both NYC and sunny Miami each year also tops the list for artist and illustrator Kiji McCafferty. He tell us, “I took a photo of the Geoff McFetridge piece at Joshua Liner Gallery‘s booth at Project Miami. I also liked the showing in the booth overall. With great pieces by Thomas Campbell, Kris Kuksi, David Ellis, Serena Mitnik Miller, Ed Templeton, Eric Cahan, Richard Coleman and Steven Powers.”
Miami Rail editor Hunter Braithwaite took a different approach to the Miami art extravaganza. He tells us, “Since having a genuine aesthetic experience (whatever that is) at an art fair is near impossible, I spent the week in search of the absurd and the overlooked. This was from a series of feminist icons adorned with penis jewelry. Considering the artist’s politics makes my head hurt, but I can’t deny this piece’s WTF power.”
Social media strategist Alex Simons captured some of the creative fashions happening in Miami during the week of fairs with an Instagram-based pictorial of interesting shirts. “Art fairs tend to feature pretty amazing fashion and I’m a sucker for shirts with sweet patterns and graphics. I was working in the convention center every day I just kept seeing these amazing looks in every direction. I do social media strategy and was there for a client, so I was already attached to my phone for the week. As a side project, I tried to capture the best men’s shirts in town and ended up with enough looks for a ‘Favorite Shirts of ABMB2013‘ series [1 of 3] that I shared via Instagram. This was my first year at the show and it was an incredible experience. The whole city is filled with incredible art and fun, passionate, intelligent people from all over the world. Can’t wait for next year.”
CH’s own David Graver snapped a serious number of Instagram shots over the course of the week. He says of coming across Jake and Dinos Chapman‘s “In Our Dreams We Have Seen Another World” work, which was encased in glass, “I found the piece to be a terrifying sub-world mashing iconography with chaos. I’m also quite drawn to miniatures.”
Editor of Eyes Towards the Dove and FlashArt contributor Katy Hamer captured a classic work from revered artist John Baldessari. She explains, “The Instagram photo is a print by John Baldessari and was on view at the ICI (Independent Curators International) booth at NADA. Aesthetically, I love the symmetry and the use of pearls. The result is not immediately recognizable as a Baldessari piece but is a nice cross between fashion, art and design; a good way to sum up the overall Miami experience.
Scene, by All highlights festivals, openings, parties and other events through multiple perspectives of people who were there. Our editors select social media posts by participants, guests and our own contributors, pairing images with quotes, history, audio and other relevant content, to create multimedia collages that dynamically capture a moment in time.
