Can any work of art compete with the ocean? At Miami Art Week, thousands of beachside gallery walls dared to try. Some artists relied on simplicity to turn the tides in their favor. (The direct zap of a James Turrell light beam comes to mind, as well as Yoshitomo Nara’s goopy ceramic girls.) Others went big, with giant wall installations that didn’t just upstage the horizon—they subsumed it for a few hundred yards.
Other booths looked to the fashion world. At the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), that looked like an oil-painted love letter to Cristóbal Balenciaga’s early couture gowns. At Design Miami, Bottega Veneta’s leather animal chairs were on display in case weary guests—and brand fans—wanted take a load off. Then there was the (rather brilliant) Pucci option: The Italian swirl masters literally pounded the pavement, wrapping the entrance to Art Basel Miami Beach with their most famous catwalk motif.
Here are the highlights of the week, from life-size ballerina sculptures to pencil-drawn lions guarding a stash of designer jewelry. Rigorous, exciting, and a bit little weird, these works are more challenging than a sun-drenched day at the beach. Nevertheless, they shine.
Walking into Art Basel Miami Beach is fine. Strutting is better. Enter Camille Miceli, the artistic director at Pucci, who created a whirling print for the fair’s outdoor entrance. The sudden crash of swirls and sunshine is jarring in the best possible way. In other words, the perfect aesthetic reset before stepping into the high-profile art fair itself.
Łukasz Stokłosa at Amity Gallery
At once haunting and wistful, this painting of a vintage Balenciaga dress by Polish-born artist Łukasz Stokłosa takes a couture gown and separates its idealized shape and high-key craftsmanship from any human who wants to wear it. (And, for the record, we very much want to wear it.) Can a dress mean even more when it stands in for the woman who once twirled around in it? Stare at it and see.
You always knew your vintage Cartier ring was a masterpiece. At Miami Art Week, the French luxury brand confirmed it with a two-story exhibit dedicated to the iconic Trinity range, first launched in 1924 to bridge the gap between Europe’s avant-garde art scene and the rise of understated Parisian chic. Original 1920s rings, iconic 1970s ad campaigns, and a giant film strip sculpture featuring Paul Mescal’s face are all part of the show—he’s a model for the brand, after all—along with the chance to try on Cartier’s new Trinity Wild fine jewelry collection before it debuts in stores this January.
