The Buzziest Artists of Miami Art Week 2023
Alejandro Piñeiro Bello, installation view of Tormenta Solar, 2023, at the Rubell Museum, 2023. Courtesy of the Rubell Museum.
Sallisa Rosa, installation view of “Topography of Memory,” at Collins Park Rotunda, Miami Beach, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Audemars Piguet.
The overwhelming onslaught of art during Miami Art Week makes it difficult for any one artist to stand out, which is why it’s impressive when there are those who do. Across Miami’s fairs, galleries, institutions, and private collections, we sought out the rising artists who were showing at multiple venues, generating chatter, and making notable debuts across the city.
Alejandro Piñeiro Bello
B. 1990, Havana. Lives and works in Havana and Miami.
Alejandro Piñeiro Bello, installation view at the Rubell Museum, 2023. Courtesy of the Rubell Museum.
It was hard not to catch a glimpse of Alejandro Piñeiro Bello’s stunning paintings in Miami this week. In the midst of growing career momentum following a solo show with Pace Gallery in Seoul this past June, this week was a major moment for the artist. In addition to debuting his hulking, color-soaked landscape paintings at the Rubell Museum, where he was an artist in residence this year, the artist opened a solo show nearby at local gallery KDR. Plus, his work could be found at Marquez Art Projects, the private collection space of John Marquez, as well as within Pace’s Art Basel Miami Beach booth. Piñeiro Bello was also among the Pace artists feted at the gallery’s dinner, a star-studded affair cohosted by Venus Williams at COTE Miami.
Melissa Joseph
B. 1980, Saint Marys, Pennsylvania. Lives and works in New York.
Melissa Joseph, Olive’s Hair Salon, 2023. Photo by Daniel Greer. Courtesy of the artist, UBS, and ARTNOIR.
Melissa Joseph, First Aid, 2023. Courtesy of the artist, UBS, and ARTNOIR.
On the heels of her much-lauded solo show at Margot Samel in New York, Melissa Joseph and her enchanting felted textiles had a mighty presence in Miami. In addition to showing work with San Francisco gallery Rebecca Camacho Presents at NADA, she had her figurative, fuzzy pieces featured in a group show, “The Poetics of Dimensions,” curated by curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah and presented by ARTNOIR at the UBS Art Studio in Art Basel Miami Beach. Plus, her work 2 miles behind the chicken truck, Bentonville AR (2023) was on view at ICA Miami in a showcase of the museum’s recent acquisitions. The artist herself was a speaker on a panel about South Asian artists at the ICA, and an event thrown by fashion label anOnlyChild was held in her honor. Clearly, the enthusiasm for Joseph’s works is only growing.
The program of esteemed Miami-based gallery Spinello Projects is always a highlight of Miami Art Week, but this year’s slate of its artists’ shows and projects was especially impressive, and testament to Spinello’s growing influence.
Making full use of the home-turf advantage, Spinello mounted a series of five solo shows across the city, collectively titled “GAY ERA” and featuring, according to the gallery, “artists whose works embody the rich tapestry of queer experiences, narratives, and artistic expressions.” This included three solo shows at the gallery, featuring Barnaby Whitfield, Giorgio Celin, and Juan Arango Palacios; and a show of Adolfo Rene Sanchez, presented in collaboration with fellow gallery Swampspace. Perhaps the crowning jewel of the series was a knockout solo booth of artist Esaí Alfredo in the Positions sector at Art Basel Miami Beach. The rising Puerto Rican artist’s captivating figurative paintings sold out in the first hour and a half of the fair, with one work acquired by ICA Miami, with the support of collector Hal Philipps; two going to The Hort Family Collection; and two going to local Miami collectors Pilar Crespi and Stephen Robert.
Reginald O’Neal, installation view of The Cellist, 2023, presented by Spinello Projects at Art Basel Miami Beach, 2023. Courtesy of Art Basel.
On top of all this, Spinello collaborated with Fringe Projects to present commissions by three more of its artists’ works across the city. Cuban artists Elliot and Erick Jiménez’s public mural Reclining Mermaid (2023), supported by the Knight Foundation, shimmered along the side of the iconic Moore Building. And Miami-based artist Reginald O’Neal (who was featured in The Artsy Vanguard 2021) debuted two giant sculptures this week: The Cellist and The Saxophonist (both 2023), blown-up versions of porcelain figurines of jazz musicians that the artist purchased in New Orleans. The Cellist was a standout work in Art Basel’s section for large-scale work, Meridians, where it was sold to Jorge Perez for El Espacio 23, his private collection space in Miami. Meanwhile, The Saxophonist debuted across town in the talked-about group exhibition “Gimme Shelter,” co-curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody, Zoe Lukov, Maynard Monrow, and Laura Dvorkin, at the Historic Hampton House Museum of Culture & Art in Brownsville, Miami. And somehow, O’Neal also presented a new solo show of paintings at Spinello’s gallery space.
Camila Falquez
B. Mexico City. Lives and works in New York.
Camila Falquez, Samantha Siagama, Trans-Indigenous Leader, from the series “Compañera,” 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Hannah Traore Gallery.
Camila Falquez, installation view in Hannah Traore Gallery’s booth at NADA Miami, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Hannah Traore Gallery.
In the midst of a solid edition of NADA Miami, New York–based photographer Camila Falquez captured the spotlight as her work Samantha Siagama, Trans-Indigenous Leader (2023) was acquired by the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) for their permanent collection, part of the annual NADA Acquisition Gift for PAMM. Hannah Traore Gallery presented a solo booth of the artist’s work, which continues her focus on recognizing and empowering the Colombian trans community. The striking photograph that was acquired by PAMM features Samantha, a Colombian community leader and activist who works as a coffee picker on a farm; her flowing white skirt was fashioned by Falquez and stylist Lorena Maza from curtains at the farm. Falquez had her first solo exhibition with Hannah Traore in 2022 and her photographs have been published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and others. Earlier this year, she was named Fashion Photographer of the Year at the Latin American Fashion Awards.
Sallisa Rosa
B. 1986, Goiás, Brazil. Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.
Sallisa Rosa, installation view of “Topography of Memory,” at Collins Park Rotunda, Miami Beach, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Audemars Piguet.
Brazilian artist Sallisa Rosa made a strong U.S. solo debut this week with “Topography of Memory,” a large-scale installation that transformed the Collins Park Rotunda into a serene cavern. Commissioned by Audemars Piguet Contemporary and curated by Thiago de Paula Souza, the installation is made up of more than 100 hand-built, fired clay forms, which were installed on the ground and suspended from above to create an enveloping, meditative environment. The work brings together caves and the cosmos, with stalagmite-like forms stretching up from the floor and planet-like orbs hung from the ceiling. Rosa sources her clay herself from regions of Rio de Janeiro, connecting her work to the earth itself, as well as the ancestral memory of the land. A calm respite during a particularly frenzied week, the installation caught the attention of notable curators Adriano Pedrosa and Glenn Adamson. The work is on view in Miami through December 17th and then will travel on to be shown at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo in 2024. Rosa’s work was also featured at Art Basel Miami Beach this year in A Gentil Carioca’s booth.
Katie Stout
B. 1989, Portland, Maine. Lives and works in New York.
Katie Stout, installation view of “Olympia” at Nina Johnson, Miami, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Nina Johnson.
Deftly straddling the art and design worlds, Katie Stout is often a favorite of Miami Art Week—due in no small part to her Miami gallery Nina Johnson. Her latest solo show, “Olympia,” is her fourth with the gallery, yet the work feels more wondrous than ever. The star works are a series of glimmering vessels that range from pieces perched on pedestals to nearly lifesize forms that sit on the floor, adorned with blooming flowers and tiny ladies that leap from shiny glazed surfaces streaked with gold luster. Brilliant, too, are a series of bulbous glass and steel lamps: One, Bubble Gum Venus (2023) playfully riffs on the ancient fertility figure Venus of Willendorf, while nodding to the recent birth of the artist’s first child. A palette of pastel pinks, greens, and blues floods the show with warmth, as does the return of some of Stout’s signature forms, like tall, whimsical pieces made from female and animal figures stacked on top of each other. Stout’s work is also on view at Nina Johnson’s NADA booth.
Sukeban
Saki Bimi and Konami at Sukeban, Miami, 2023. Photo by Rachel Miller. Courtesy of Sukeban.
Queen of Hearts and Maya Mamushi at Sukeban, Miami, 2023. Photo by Rachel Miller. Courtesy of Sukeban.
Okay, Sukeban is not an artist, but I think it’s fair to call the women of this Japanese wrestling league performance artists. And their presentation of five theatrical wrestling matches was certainly one of the buzziest things to happen in Miami all week. Following a successful first outing in New York this fall, Sukeban took place at Miami’s Lot 11 Skate Park, beneath an underpass, where droves of attendees huddled around a wrestling ring roaring gleefully as pairs of wrestlers faced off late into Wednesday evening. Billed as a novel combination of art, fashion, design, and sport, it ticked all of these boxes. Notably, the event incorporated artistic talents: The wrestlers’ looks were designed by Olympia Le-Tan—who is Sukeban’s co-founder and artistic director—alongside makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench; and Marc Newson designed a cloisonné belt that was awarded to the winner.
