A Look Back on Miami Art Week 2024

By Brooke Harker — Every December the activities of Miami Art Week amplify the global spotlight on an already lively city and 2024 was no exception. Even with the best planning, it is impossible to see all of the artistic presentations made in one week.

Miami Art Week

With twenty fairs that host around 1200 galleries and works by thousands of artists from around the world, the city becomes flush with VIP openings, private events and an array of other opportunities for art collectors and lovers of the culinary arts, music and fashion. Some just go for the parties. However if you are there for the art, put on your walking shoes and be prepared to clock miles a day in steps.  

art Basel Miami

The Miami Beach Convention Center hosts the flagship event Art Basel Miami Beach. It brought 286 of these galleries from 38 countries in 2024. 

Luis De Jesus Los angeles

One of my first stops was the solo exhibition Breaking News, of NY based artist Mimi Smith. Luis De Jesus Los Angeles presented this stirring exhibit. The mini-retrospective from her nearly six decades of making art addressed topics that continue to be relevant to conversations years later. A pin stripe suit hung on the wall trimmed in steel wool was a the central part of the installation, “Slave Ready Corporate.”

A Moving Exhibition

Mimi Smith is the first known woman to use clothing in sculpture to communicate her shared experience of being a woman. The subtext behind one garment told the story of millions of women. Mimi Smith said in a statement, I believed that women knew how to look at clothes and that if I made sculpture in the form of clothing, I could say something about events and concerns in my life as a young woman and communicate the shared experience of being female in society.

Her Clocks series which shared messages of world issues exhibited along with her rarely seen Television Drawings. These transcriptions of the daily news into drawings inspired her as she stayed at home to raise small children in the 1970s. Whether or not a gallery tells the story of an artist as masterfully as Luis de Jesus, noted as one of the “Best Booths at Art Basel” by Art News every piece of art, however complex or minimal contains layers of stories. The gallerists as narrators pass along tales that could otherwise be lost in time. 

Berry Campbell Gallery

A prominent gallery in the Chelsea District in New York, Berry Campbell Gallery brought stories from the Abstract Expressionism movement to the conversation of Art Basel Miami Beach 2024. Two women Christine Berry and Martha Campbell founded the gallery. These women connected over their love of post-war American art, and are historians in their own right. They have also worked directly with artist’s families and estates to sort through attics, under beds and through storage units to bring to the public these voices in art history.

Christine Berry

I had a chance to speak with gallerist Christine Berry and her eyes lit up when she spoke about their work, There can be a lot of darkness and corruption in the art world. I can sleep at night knowing we are doing good work telling the stories of artists, primarily women, from the Abstract Expressionism movement who’ve traditionally been underrepresented and marginalized by the art market. Some people have thought that we were inserting artists into history, however these artists were already there and painted alongside the most recognized men of their time. These women made significant contributions that often went overlooked, and beyond that it’s good art. Now it is being seen, appreciated and has made record breaking sales.

Artists featured by Berry Campbell included: Mary Abbott, Janice Biala, Bernice Bing, Lilian Thomas Burwell, Niki de Saint Phalle, Dorothy Dehner, Lynne Drexler, Perle Fine, Judith Godwin, Nancy Graves, Grace Hartigan, Beverly McIver, Ethel Schwabacher, and Yvonne Thomas.

Victoria Miro Gallery

Another noteworthy artist from Art Basel Miami Beach to keep an eye on is Flora Yukhnovich. She is represented by Victoria Miro Gallery out of London. The richness of color and fluidity in her brush strokes paired with a softness in energy created a magnetic effect in her work. 

Art Miami

Art Miami kicked off with Opera Gallery at the entrance. It has been a fixture in the Miami art scene for over twenty years. The well-respected international gallery has locations in London, Paris, New York, Geneva, Hong Kong and Seoul. It brought a museum quality exhibition to the fair featuring historical greats such as Picasso, Botero and Chagall. Bold contemporary and paintings and sculptures of Manolo Valdés were exhibited. The artist is known for his work in a variety of unusual materials. Valdés’s re-imagined interpretations of legendary masters can be found in notable museum collections around the world. These artworks were a delight to witness in person.

Off Site Opera Gallery

In tandem to Opera Gallery’s presence at Art Miami, they featured an additional show at the gallery. Unveiling Masters in the City debuted at the Opera Gallery in the Miami design district. The exhibition brought together artists known for their artistic genius and will run until January 2, 2025. Featured artists include: Karel Appel, Fernando Botero, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Cho Sung-Hee, George Condo, Tony Cragg, Carlos Cruz- Diez, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Dubuffet, Juan Genovés, Philippe Hiquily, Alex Katz, Yayoi Kusama, Fernand Leger, Roberto Matta, Joan Miró, Julian Opie, OSGEMEOS, Pablo Picasso, Anselm Reyle, Jean Paul Riopelle, Antonio Saura, Kenny Scharf, Pierre Soulages, Frank Stella, Mickalene Thomas, Manolo Valdés, Bernar Venet, Andy Warhol and Tom Wesselmann.

Whatever path you find yourself on in pursuit of viewing art, there is always fun in the hunt for what remains memorable in a sea of greatness and mediocrity. 

More Notable Artwork at Art Miami

I could have easily spent hours in front of the paintings of Alireza Varzandeh. Galerie Barbara Von Stechow out of Frankfurt Germany featured these exceptional works. The expressive use of gestural brush strokes blended recognizable images with abstraction in a way that felt effortless and transportive. 

Scope Art Show

Next I came upon Risa Murakami Nihonga with Transmit Studio out of Tokyo at the Scope Art Show. These mineral pigment paintings on paper created an oasis at the art fair. It allowed me to recharge in a room full of chatter. Her art carries a profound depth in stillness. It offers viewers a place to rest in a world where the opposite is often promoted.

Square One Gallery out of St. Louis brought the work of Lisa Ashinoff to Scope Art Show. Gallery owners Max Berman and Tanner Steslow shared the story of the artist’s childhood. Architecture was a big inspiration for her father which encouraged her own love of the art form. They spent time in New York and Miami which further influenced Ashinoff’s work. Her paintings explore the concept of home. While the theme is universal, the work is meticulously executed. Ashinoff’s brightly colored architectural paintings brought both skill and a curious nostalgia to the exhibition.

Additional Art Fairs & Gallery Spotlights

At Red Dot the art of Jean-Pierre Kunkel stood out for technical skill, composition and undeniable beauty. Based in Hamburg, Germany, Kunkel’s underwater portraits in my eyes were the crown jewel of Red Dot. 

Beyond the fairs, sometimes the best discoveries are by chance. On the final day of Miami Art Week, I learned that an artist whose work I adore was exhibiting nearby.

I visited this artist’s studio in Cuba back in 2017 and felt deeply moved by his paintings. So I was excited to visit his solo exhibition Children of God at Duende Gallery in Miami. The art of Osvaldo Ferrer is a must see for anyone going to Miami who has an appreciation of portraits. There is an intangible energy Ferrer manages to capture in his oil paintings that is the result of true mastery. 

Duende Gallery, Osvaldo Ferrer

Ferrer’s art acknowledges with reverence traditions from the Santeria religion in Cuba, which had previously been banned. Therefore the paintings on display in this Miami exhibition feature religious leaders. Ferrer met these inspirational people on multiple trips around the island. This is where he learned about African customs and traditions in the religion brought to the Caribbean through slavery.  

Spiritual Cradle, Ferrer’s largest painting to date stretched ten feet in height and fifteen feet in width. It made its debut during Miami Art Week. Ferrer stated that the scale of the painting wasn’t meant to impress. The size represented the magnitude of the history behind the art. 

Ferrer’s story to create these paintings is also one of perseverance and heart. Beyond his years of study to achieve a level few artists ever reach, the procuring of art materials to preserve these legacies was no small task. Access to art materials in Cuba is almost unheard of. It requires a network of friends and their friends to source supplies that many Americans would take for granted. The largest painting alone took four years to dry before it was safe to transport to Miami.

A Miami Art Week Wrap Up

Often we will never know the story behind a piece of art until we get curious and ask. Every piece isn’t for everyone, hence the benefit of going to a place where there are so many choices. So if you see yourself joining the annual cultural extravaganza of Miami Art Week, start planning now. Many are already making plans for December of 2025. You too can lace up your sneakers and see what stories you’d like to take home.

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