Art Basel and its satellite fairs get a ton of buzz during Miami Art Week. But during the other 51 weeks of the year, Miami still boasts a vibrant art scene, largely supported by its galleries. Wynwood rightly gets much of the attention, but there are other parts of town with selfie-friendly galleries too. Here are just a few of the shows open this week that are well worth checking out.
The side-by-side neighborhoods of Wynwood and the Design District are home to the majority of Miami's gallery spaces. This week, the art world heads south to Miami, so why not start with "Southern Fried: Jeremy Chandler, John Byrd and Jeremiah Jenkins" at Wynwood's newest gallery, Mindy Solomon Gallery (172 NW 24th St., mindysolomon.com), in which the three artists examine the American South through photography of its waterways, sculpture that values taxidermy as highly as porcelain, and the relics of rural living as urban home goods.
Across the street, Emerson Dorsch (151 NW 24th St., emersondorsch.com) presents "Ideas Are Executions: Dave Hardy & Siebren Versteeg," in which the frequent collaborators have solo shows in tandem for the first time. Hardy's sculptures build deconstructed human bodies out of forgotten industrial detritus. Versteeg's show lines the gallery with digitally printed canvases whose images were generated by a computer program that produces the work of a nonexistent abstract expressionist artist.
David Castillo (2234 NW Second Ave., davidcastillogallery.com) welcomes back Xaviera Simmons in its current exhibit. Sculpture and photography tend to overlap in her work, whether it's a sculpture that borrows from the language of photographic exposures and displays, or photography marked by sculptural composition and content. She was recently added to the permanent collection of Pérez Art Museum Miami.
Locust Projects (3852 N. Miami Ave., locustprojects.org) has three very different shows, not even counting its booth at NADA. "Nicholas Hlobo: Intethe (A Sketch for an Opera)" mocks up the sound and costumes for an opera project that engages race and colonialism. There's also a sculptural work by Miami fabric artist Frances Trombly, and Locust has wrapped public buses with Angel Otero prints as part of its "Art on the Move" initiative.
Much of the gang from Spinello Projects (2930 NW Seventh Ave., spinelloprojects.com) will be at the main fair (see page 20), but Miami street-inspired artist TYPOE has a solo show at the gallery, for which the Spinello space has been transformed into a dark, glossy maze of neon signage, skulls in recessed vitrines, stretched Twister mats, and even a spot for a found painting of a clown.
At Gallery Diet (174 NW 23rd St., Miami, gallerydiet.com), ceramics master Betty Woodman examines her relationship with the vase in "Contro Versies Contro Versia," while Miami's Emmett Moore pays homage to the neon signage of the Magic City with a steel sculpture titled Since You Broke My Heart, the artist's first outdoor installation.
You might stop by the Wynwood Building (2750 NW Third Ave.) for a haircut or some laps in the New Times office swimming pool, but you'll stay for the galleries inside. At m+vART (Suite 11, mvart.co), Spanish painter Lluís Lleó brings fresco-inspired techniques to the aesthetics of abstract expressionism. Artmedia Gallery (Suite 12, artmediaus.com) has site-specific installations in which Patricia Van Dalen uses power lines and wires to sculpt empty space. And the UM Art Gallery at the Wynwood Building (Suite 4, miami.edu/art) showcases University of Miami MFA students.
Like paint? Waltman Ortega Fine Art (2233 NW Second Ave., waltmanortega.com) has two solo shows up. Richard Butler, whose other gig is fronting the Psychedelic Furs, subverts genteel portraiture with the addition of military gear and fetish wear. Jorge Enrique's paintings and sculptures borrow from the language of consumerism, particularly barcodes and CCTV.
Also, Dotfiftyone Gallery (187 NW 27th St., dotfiftyone.com) was one of the very first Wynwood galleries. For Basel week, it brings "Hernán Cédola: Untergehen," a new series of large paintings by the Argentine artist that are at once violent and childlike.
How about photography? Dina Mitrani Gallery (2620 NW Second Ave., dinamitranigallery.com) presents "Shen Chao-Liang: Stage," a study of mobile stage trucks used in Taiwanese cabaret. The garish, neon, flashing stages — captured devoid of performers and audience — are incongruously placed on city or rural streets to make for curious masterpieces of color and submerged narrative.
Dare to venture beyond sprinting distance from Panther Coffee? Wynwood galleries aren't the only option beyond the museums and fairs. Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art (158 NW 91st St., cjazzart.com), for example, is located in a converted garage on the grounds of a 1950s private home in El Portal. There, "Present Tense Future Perfect," a group show curated by Teka Selman, features media-benders such as Liz Magic Laser and Sadie Barnette.
Downtown at Dimensions Variable (100 NE 11th St., dimensionsvariable.net), Miami artist Kevin Arrow uses schoolroom projectors to make pop culture ephemera and detritus converse. The space is in the Downtown ArtHouse, which also houses the operations of Turn-Based Press, Bas Fisher Invitational, and the TM Sisters.
Make it to all of these shows and the fairs? If you still need something to do, you should extinguish your pants, because you, friend, are a liar.
