Miami Artwork Week is upon us, and that will help you lower by way of the noise, right here’s a tidy checklist of artwork festivals, exhibitions, and extra, which I narrowed down from a mountain of press releases by excluding the search phrases “yacht” and “crypto.”
However first, a site visitors report.
It’s not wanting good, of us. Ongoing roadwork round Biscayne Boulevard on the mainland is predicted to trigger slowdowns for vehicles leaving the seaside on the MacArthur Causeway. Add within the regular congestion on Collins Avenue and Alton Highway and commuters on I-195, and the vibe shall be extra bottleneck than poppin’ bottles.
Luckily, there are lots of miles of motorbike lanes and a good quantity of motorbike parking. You’ll be able to cycle from Downtown Miami to South Seaside on the Venetian Causeway, as an illustration — simply please experience fastidiously and put on a helmet. There’s additionally free water taxis throughout Biscayne Bay this week, with shuttle buses between the cease and the Miami Seaside Conference Heart the place Artwork Basel is held (see a map of those companies right here). Even the Miami Seaside Trolley (sure, that’s a factor) is working time beyond regulation this week, with an expanded schedule.
Worst case situation, you’ll simply be actually late to all the pieces, not not like most of Miami the remainder of the yr. (I can say that as a result of I’m from right here.) Cójelo suave — take it straightforward — and lean into the chaos.
Artwork Basel Miami Seaside
December 6–8 | artbasel.comMiami Seaside Conference Heart, 1901 Conference Heart Drive, Miami Seaside, Florida
Sonia Gomes, “Untitled” (2024), varied materials, stitching and bindings on bronze, 6 3/4 x 14 1/8 x 6 1/4 inches (17 x 36 x 16 cm) (picture by EstudioEmObra, courtesy the artist and Mendes Wooden DM)
This yr’s iteration of Artwork Basel Miami Seaside will characteristic 34 first-time exhibitors — up from final yr’s 24, and the largest cohort of newcomers in a decade. As in previous editions, this truthful is split into six completely different sectors: Galleries, Meridians, Nova, Positions, Survey, and Kabinett. My recommendation is to disregard these classes totally, hand over on attempting to learn the truthful map, and let your self amble with no plan or vacation spot — except you’re an artwork advisor with a shopper, wherein case: godspeed. Two highlights on my checklist are Mendes Wooden DM’s large sales space of works by over two dozen of the gallery’s artists, together with the ingenious creations of Brazilian sculptor Sonia Gomes similar to “Untitled” pictured above, and Mexico Metropolis-based OMR gallery’s targeted presentation of works by the late artist Adolfo Riestra. This yr, the truthful may even debut a brand new app that includes “AI-powered” options courtesy of Microsoft, which may very well be both fairly cool or a whole catastrophe.
Untitled Artwork
December 4–8 | untitledartfairs.comOcean Drive and twelfth Avenue, Miami Seaside, Florida
Plunked proper on the sands of South Seaside, Untitled Artwork is a breezy truthful that feels much less claustrophobic than others. This yr’s theme is “East Meets West,” with extra exhibitors than ever earlier than from Japanese Europe, Southwest Asia and North Africa, and the Asia-Pacific Area. I’m itching to see Huang Baoying’s work in individual; the artist’s dreamlike explorations of household, nostalgia, and diasporic life shall be proven in a solo sales space introduced by the Hong Kong-based MOU Tasks.
New Artwork Sellers Alliance (NADA)
December 3–7 | newartdealers.orgIce Palace Studios, 1400 North Miami Avenue, Miami, Florida
Nefeli Papadimouli, “Cocoon (Sardine)” (2023), turquoise recycled leather-based, cloth, 49 1/5 x 23 3/5 x 39 2/5 inches (125 x 60 x 100 cm) (picture courtesy Nathalie Karg)
NADA returns for its twenty second Miami version with over 150 exhibitors from 37 nations. Nefeli Papadimouli’s paper, textile, and leather-based sculptures — such because the oddly riveting mermaid-esque quantity pictured above — are a must-see at Nathalie Karg Gallery’s sales space. For the “Curated Spotlight” part, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this yr, the truthful tapped Jasmine Wahi, founding father of the Undertaking for Empty Area nonprofit in Newark, New Jersey. Her collection of eight galleries spanning Mexico Metropolis, Cologne, Philadelphia, Seoul, and past will “revel in the reality of difference.”
Open Invitational
December 2–8 | openinvitational.com140 NE thirty ninth Avenue, Third Ground, Miami, Florida
Get up babe — new artwork truthful simply dropped! Co-founded by New York supplier David Fierman and humanities patron Ross McCalla, the Open Invitational in Miami’s Design District makes its debut this week with 11 US-based galleries and nonprofits targeted on artists with disabilities. Its ethereal area and manageable structure make it an ideal place to seek out surprising gems at cheap costs that even I, an arts journalist, can afford.
Prizm
December 3–7 | prizm.artIce Palace West Studio, 71 NW 14th Avenue, Miami, Florida
This annual present devoted to artists from Africa and its diaspora is again with a thematic concentrate on the “architecture of liberation,” plumbing the manifold methods wherein artwork, design, and the constructed atmosphere have influenced social justice actions. Prizm additionally has one of many extra fascinating program line-ups of this week’s festivals — much less predictable art-market panels and extra thoughtfully curated occasions, like a free screening of Rosalynde LeBlanc’s documentary Can You Carry It: Invoice T.Jones and D-Man within the Waters (2020) on Saturday, December 7 (RSVP right here).
Artwork Miami + CONTEXT Artwork Miami
December 3–8 | artmiami.comOne Herald Plaza (NE 14th Avenue and Biscayne Bay), Miami, Florida
Kenny Nguyen, “Eruption Series No. 45” (2024), hand-cut silk cloth, acrylic paint, canvas, 83 x 113 inches (210.8 x 287 cm) (picture courtesy Sundaram Tagore Gallery)
Right here’s a enjoyable Miami artwork historical past reality you should utilize to interrupt the ice at a stuffy cocktail get together this week: Opposite to standard perception, Artwork Miami — and never Artwork Basel — is town’s longest-running up to date artwork truthful, relationship again all the best way to 1989. Together with its sister present, CONTEXT Artwork Miami, it presents a gargantuan collection of artwork from all over the world, similar to Kenny Nguyen’s “deconstructed paintings” made from tons of of silk strips, pictured above.
Ink Miami
December 3–8 | inkartfair.comSuites of Dorchester, 1850 Collins Avenue, Miami Seaside, Florida
To not be confused with the well-known tattoo store, this truthful showcasing works on paper takes place in an open-air courtyard, a pleasing break from Artwork Basel’s mammoth Conference Heart — and it’s fully free. You can too reserve complimentary tickets for the playfully named “Pulp Party” on Thursday, December 5 from 7pm to 9pm.
Extra Gala’s:
Jeff Martin’s “Sarcophagus 11 Console Table” introduced by Goal Gallery at Design Miami (picture courtesy Jeff Martin Joinery)
Design Miami
December 3–8 | designmiami.comConvention Heart Drive and nineteenth Avenue, Miami Seaside
SCOPE Miami Seaside
December 3–8 | scope-art.com801 Ocean Drive, Miami Seaside
Aqua Artwork Miami
December 4–8 | aquaartmiami.comAqua Resort, 1530 Collins Avenue, Miami Seaside
Fridge Artwork Truthful
December 3–8 | fridgeartfair.comVarious areas in Miami Seaside, see web site for particulars
Rachel Feinstein: The Miami Years
The Bass Museum of Artwork, 2100 Collins Avenue, Miami Seaside, FloridaThrough August 17, 2025
Set up view of Rachel Feinstein: The Miami Years on the Bass Museum (picture by Zaire Aranguren, courtesy the Bass Museum)
South Florida native Rachel Feinstein explores the area’s perpetual contradictions — pure magnificence and local weather catastrophe, refuge and overdevelopment — on this exhibition spanning practically 30 years of her work. The present is anchored by the newly commissioned 30-foot set up “Panorama of Miami” (2024), a quasi-apocalyptic imaginative and prescient of architectural glory and damage that includes Miami “landmarks” such because the Resort Breakwater on South Seaside and the ill-fated Miami Seaquarium.
Elyla: Tierra Retumbante
KDR305 Gallery, 790 NW twenty second Avenue, Miami, FloridaThrough January 11, 2025
Of their transferring exploration of mestizaje in Nicaragua, artist Elyla deconstructs the varied methods wherein this classification each encompasses and flattens the complexity of id. The video set up “Tierra Retumbante” (2024) channels the ardor and symbolism of the Masaya Volcano, a caldera south of Managua that represents a fusion of previous and current, mixing parts of the post-colonial Nicaraguan satirical drama El Güegüense and the historical past of LGBTQ+ rights within the nation.
Natalia Chavarria: Cuando Caigo del Cielo
Baker—Corridor, 101 NW 79 Avenue, Unit A, Miami, FloridaThrough December 21
Natalia Chavarria, “Fade” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 14 x 18 inches (~35.6 x 45.72 cm) (picture by Zachary Balber, courtesy Baker—Corridor)
Mexico-born, Miami-based artist Natalia Chavarria finds inspiration within the fleeting wonders of nature, from the ripples of a feather gently touchdown on a stream to a handful of autumn leaves dancing within the air. The tender, hazy surfaces of her work are the results of an airbrush approach that enables her to seize these quietly charming vignettes.
Rose B. Simpson and vanessa german: IT INCLUDES EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, ALWAYS
Nova Southeastern College Artwork Museum, One East Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FloridaThrough April 13, 2025
This exhibition explores the cross-pollinations and mutual influences of two distinct artists who share a deep instinct and social consciousness. Simpson articulates her connections to Homeland and ancestral historical past primarily by way of the fabric of clay from New Mexico, whereas german harnesses discovered objects to craft monumental sculptures impressed by the Nkisi N’kondi figures of the Kongo peoples from whom she descended. Embedded in each of those practices is a priority for the dynamics of marginalization and artwork’s potential to empower.
José Parlá: Homecoming
Pérez Artwork Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FloridaThrough July 6, 2025
José Parlá, “American Mindscape” (2024), acrylic, oil, enamel spray paint, paper collage, and plaster on canvas, 96 x 168 x 3 inches (~243.8 x 426.7 x 7.6 cm) (picture courtesy the artist and Parlá Studios)
José Parlá builds up his monumental abstractions in a dynamic course of that entails gestural mark-making, layering, erasing, and repeating. The outcomes are mighty, textured canvases that includes collage parts that pay energetic homages to the artist’s passions for music, dance, and graffiti. This present, the primary solo museum presentation in Parlá’s hometown, features a site-specific mural painted in real-time in October and a recreation of the artist’s Brooklyn studio, full with a Cuban-inspired report assortment and private objects.
Billie Zangewa: Discipline of Goals
Patricia & Phillip Frost Artwork Museum at Florida Worldwide College, 10975 SW seventeenth Avenue, Miami, FloridaThrough April 13, 2025
Billie Zangewa’s collage tapestries are hand-stitched utilizing fragments of uncooked silk in an evocation of themes of reuse and reclaiming. This exhibition of latest works, first introduced as a part of SITE Santa Fe, alerts a shift away from the artist’s earlier home scenes and towards extra common, existential, and sociopolitical sensibilities. Via the addition of antiqued beveled mirrors, Zangewa constructs a harmonious atmosphere of dialogue and reflection.
Girls Photographers—Shared Documentary Narratives
HistoryMiami Museum, 101 West Flagler Avenue, Miami, FloridaThrough Could 4, 2025
Sofia Valiente, “Untitled (Rooming House)” (2016) (© Sofia Valiente; picture ccourtesy the artist)
The works of three eminent ladies photographers from South Florida — Maggie Steber, Silvia Lizama, and Peggy Nolan — are paired with these of three younger artists who contemplate them their mentors — Elisa Benedetti, RemiJin Tenting, and Sofia Valiente, respectively — on this intergenerational present. Centering quintessential Miami themes, moments, and locations, the exhibition celebrates town’s wealthy visible and photographic historical past.
Extra Exhibitions:
Ross Caliendo: Twin Behavior
Ross + Kramer Miami Seaside, 1910 Alton Highway, Miami Seaside, FloridaDecember 3–January 18, 2025
Glenda León: Solely Lovers
Galería La Cometa, 1015 NW twenty third Avenue, Unit 2, Miami, FloridaThrough February 8, 2025
Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares, “Banned Pending Investigation”
Zilberman Gallery, 25 NE thirty ninth Avenue, Miami, FloridaDecember 4, 7pm
Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares, “Banned Pending Investigation” (2024) (pictures courtesy the artists)
On this public efficiency, Miami natives Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares look at the alarming rise of ebook bans in Florida, which had over 4,500 titles prohibited within the 2023–2024 faculty yr alone. Native highschool college students will collaborate with the artists to construct a wall of traditionally and presently banned books that they are going to then run by way of as a approach of symbolically and bodily dismantling this barrier. The efficiency is in dialogue with the gallery’s ongoing group exhibition Reality, Previous Previous, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud.
Nicholas Galanin, “Seletega (run, see if people are coming/corre a ver si viene gente)”
Faena Artwork, 3201 Collins Avenue, Miami Seaside, FloridaThrough December 8
Tlingit/Unangax̂ artist Nicholas Galanin’s colossal set up “Seletega (run, see if people are coming/corre a ver si viene gente)” emerges from the sands of Faena Seaside this week. The 45-foot-tall recreation of a Spanish galleon’s masts and sails options spray-painted questions meant to stir reflections concerning the occupation of Indigenous land and useful resource extraction.
“Elements of Being”
The Carter Undertaking, 3333 NW sixth Avenue, Miami, FloridaDecember 7 and eight, 12pm–5pm
Components of Being with Gentry George (picture by Cornelius Tulloch, courtesy ARIE)
Produced in partnership with activist artist Diana Wege’s WOVEN nonprofit and Artists In Residence In Everglades (AIRIE), this video set up is described as a “multisensory experience” that addresses ecological crises and the chances of environmental justice. The general public is invited to view the work at artist Christopher Carter’s residence, studio, and exhibition area in Miami’s North Wynwood neighborhood.
