Dispatches from Miami Art Week: Volume 1
Ross Karlan, Director of Art Muse LA and Miami
Art Week in Miami is in full swing and the Art Muse team is here to share our thoughts and insights on the ground. To kick us off, Miami-based Director Ross Karlan shares some of his highlights from The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami and Untitled Art Fair.
In a whirlwind few days as fairs are now open, parties are in full swing, and galleries make their mark on the contemporary art scene, there are a few sights that stand out to me from MOCA North Miami’s reception, officially opening their two exhibitions, as well as a hidden gem from Untitled.
While not on the beaten path of South Beach or the Downtown, this newly-energized world class museum has two shows that really deliver on every level: they are relevant and current, thoughtful, and beautiful. The first is Juan Francisco Elso: Por America, a show curated by Olga Viso of the Phoenix Art Museum that highlights Elso’s impactful yet short career. He died at 32 years old, was active in the 1970s and 80s, and his influence echoed in the decades following his death. The show does more than just highlight him, however. It brings together over 30 other artists—many of whom are Cuban— like José Bedia, Ana Mendieta, Los Carpinteros, Magali Lara, and more.
The gem of the show for me, however, is a work by Belkis Ayón, the famous Cuban printmaker active during Elso’s time and known for her explorations of Afro-Cuban identity and the Abakuá subculture. Her work Dando y dando from 1997 is a large collagraph whose presence feels even bigger than the size of the work itself. The work includes six pieces of paper collaged together, on one side is Saint George standing over a black serpent, and on the other one of Ayón’s signature Abakuá figure. The work is fascinating because of its size and detail, and its evocation of a sense of mysticism and spiritualism that gets to the core of Cuba’s syncretic religious nature.
The second exhibition at MOCA North Miami is a solo show of the work of Jamea Richmond-Edwards, a Detroit-born artist who captures images of fantastical worlds and African American pop culture. Her piece Lullaby for Shooting Star from 2023 uses acrylic, gold leaf and collage, and depicts a young woman blowing a conch shell while riding a dragon. In it she intertwines questions of mythology and history, indigenism, colonialism, liberation, and fantasy, with a muralist style that captures the attention of the viewer for quite some time.
On the beach at Untitled Art Fair, I was particularly struck by the work of Laura Gorski, a contemporary Brazilian artist who is showing with The55Project, a local projects and curatorial collective dedicated to promoting works by Brazilian artists abroad. The55Project is a sort of local celebrity for me as I am a huge fan of Brazilian art and thrilled to see their mission take hold in Miami, so I was excited to meet their team and see what they had on display for the fair. Gorski’s work is fascinating in that soil is her medium and she uses the earth as paint, as well as some leaves for collage, to create simple yet stunning images.
With so much to see, our team will continue to share Miami’s art highlights during Art Week.