Phyllis Stephens at Richard Beavers Gallery (photo by Vittoria Benzine)
Brooklyn artists hit the beach at Untitled and Scope art fairs
Art Basel may be the bigger name, but there was plenty to soak in at Miami's other art fairs this week
The Untitled Art Fair and Scope Art Fair both take place during Miami Art Week, on the actual sands of South Beach. Throughout the weekend, each event holds its own at the same time as heavyweight Art Basel, with renowned artists blazing their own way in the international community. As with Basel, Brooklyn-based artists abound.
Untitled Art Fair
Since 2012, Untitled Art Fair has inhabited that sweet spot between unorthodox and intellectual, ushering in the art world’s new vanguard. Running through December 4, it is one of the best events during Miami Art Week revelry to get a glimpse of the hottest rising talents.
Pakistani-born, Brooklyn-based artist Hiba Schahbaz is here. The classically trained painter works in the tradition of miniature painting, translating a sense of intimate and delicate detail to canvases of all sizes. She joins DeBuck Gallery at Untitled to share her work “Night Bathers” which reinterprets her attention to detail onto a full-sized canvas.
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“Miami is always fun,” Schahbaz says. “I’ve been incubating at the studio for a few months and painting a lot, so I came for the community, to see my friends and some great art.”
Painter Andrew Woolbright is also here, having partnered with Richmond, Virginia-based ADA Gallery to present a work with a mouthful of a title: “Haruspex of the digital sublime… (the sandcastle shrinebeast) (the shaman Doomer wojak has a beach day).”
‘Haruspex’ by Woolbright (photo by Vittoria Benzine)
“To explore the digital sublime, I am trying out a form of digital grotesque, confusing bodies and boundaries with digital information from doom scrolling on your phone, invasive advertising, image swarm, and soul dizziness,” Woollbright tells Brooklyn Magazine.
Meanwhile, Chelsea gallery stronghold Albertz Benda is showing works by two Brooklyn artists at their Untitled booth. Brie Ruais offers an incredible 130-pound artwork of glazed stoneware titled “Spreading Outward, Opening Inward.” In an Instagram caption, Ruais notes, “Sometimes a piece turns out more floral than I anticipate, and though it is never really the intention, I do find it interesting that this circular form I work with conjures the ephemeral beauty of flowers.”
Chloe Chiasson is also showing a multimedia portrait titled “Southern Belle,” depicting an androgynous figure rooted in the liminal space between society’s binary gender matrix.
‘Southern Belle’ (photo by Vittoria Benzine)
Richard Beavers Gallery is at Untitled with a huge booth displaying works by several artists on the contemporary gallery’s roster, including Phyllis Stephens and Marcus Jansen. The gallery has already started popping up on roundups of the past week’s top exhibitions, and if miss them in Miami, you can catch “In Search of the Fraternal,” the latest show on view at their Bed Stuy location through December.
Phyllis Stephens at Richard Beavers Gallery (photo by Vittoria Benzine)
Scope Art Fair
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Scope returns to Miami Beach to share an edgier array of artists with the public through December 5. Those with a taste for urban contemporary art like graffiti and NFTs gravitate towards its experimental programming and curation.
New Orleans-based Mortal Machine Gallery boasts one of the most recognizable names in this urban contemporary art space. Their booth brings together internet icons Roxy Peroxyde and Alex Schafer, alongside the best of Brooklyn’s homegrown talent including Beau Stanton and Hydeon. Stanton’s “Nautilus” unites stained glass, sea creatures, and fractals as part of an oeuvre rooted in classicism and climate consciousness. Hydeon’s storybook figures in “The Grapes” add a new chapter in the ongoing Gothic fairytale of this artist’s practice.
‘Nautilus’ (photo by Vittoria Benzine)
Meanwhile, Myles Bennet brings his woven canvas compositions to Scope through Haas Contemporary. Though he’s shown at Miami Art Week before, this is Bennet’s first time presenting a robust body of works in the city. “Often, artists only get one or two pieces of work curated into a booth, which has obvious limitations for representing what’s happening in the studio,” Bennet says.
“This year I am fortunate enough to bring a group of new works that explore light and landscape within the structure of raw canvas,” he continues. “Ultimately, the larger goal is to take a more active role in where the work belongs as a more international perspective comes into view.”
Myles Bennet (photo by Vittoria Benzine)
Red Hook-based gallery Peninsula Art Space brings two mid-career artists (Graham Durward and Michael Kirkham) and two emerging artists (Georgia Elrod and Amy Butowicz) to Scope. Kirkham’s inverted portraits glow in all the wrong places, resolving into their own soft hypnotism. On the opposite wall, Butowicz’s “Leg Day” also incorporates high contrast, this time through abstraction.
Michael Kurkham at Peninsula Art Space (photo by Vittoria Benzine)
“These four provide a great balance,” says Peninsula Art Space owner Eric Fallen. “They each bring a very separate stylistic and cultural point of view, but at the same time, there is a unifying interest in the body.”
This year marks Peninsula’s first appearance at Art Week. “My goal is to attempt to get a tan, but that won’t happen,” he jokes. “I also just want to expose these brilliant artists to a broader audience.”
For more from Miami Art Week, go here.
