NADA Miami 2023 Hosts a Dynamic Show
Open through December 9 at Ice Palace Studios in Miami is the 21st edition of the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) Miami fair. Filled with presentations from over 150 galleries from more than 50 international cities, the show elevates contemporary art through a dynamic roster of booths—from galleries and non-profits to other nontraditional art spaces. In addition to 85 NADA members and 34 first-time presenters, the fair also welcomes its Curated Spotlight platform, presented with support from TD Bank, selected by Jenée-Daria Strand, Assistant Curator at Public Art Fund.
Hyegyeong Choi at Harper’s Gallery, photo by Eliza Jordan.
This week, in past the palm tree-surrounding setting hosting hammocks, we enjoyed a walkthrough of the fair. First to catch our eye was works by the South Korean artist Hyegyeong Choi in Harper’s Gallery’s booth, where we were drawn into neon colors and nude paintings. Showing full figures in washes of ultra-warm or super-cool colors, the artist revealed layered scenes of labor, joy, curiosity, and beauty through scenes of subjects smoking, walking a tightrope, and towing a bushel of other characters spotted in bright florals.
Highlights from NADA Miami 2023
White Columns is showing work by Na Kim, an artist who began painting just a year ago. Stemming from an illustration practice, her solo show debuted portrait paintings of one woman with a smooth silhouette and a relaxed gaze on varying background colors.
In Nathalie Karg Gallery’s space was a booth taken over by the London-based artist Scott Young. Aspirations of American culture were illustrated in scenes inspired and reminiscent of the show Dynasty. The backdrop was an enlarged photo of a shopping mall fountain, anchoring the show in the architecture of the mind, where Americans release their aspirations—at the mall.
Goldfinch is showing fabric works by Azadeh Gholizadeh like, Citron Yellow (2023), made of wool, silk, and cotton on canvas mesh. Showing a natural scene in natural colors of green, blue, black, and grey, the bottom of the work featured the dangling ends of the threads from the work above.
NADA Miami 2023.
A Spotlight on Female Painters at NADA Miami 2023
After taking in two works in Rebecca Camacho’s booth—Melissa Joseph’s Waffle Fries with Archie and Ludovic and Andy Mister’s Now & Then—we turned to the solo show by Katie Hector in Management’s booth. The New Jersey-born and Los Angeles-based artist works in a reverse creative process, reliant on chemical reactions and unpredictable outcomes. On canvas, the pigments of layered colors are somewhat removed with bleach using an airbrush technique, revealing bright, muted, and blurred hues. For the show, new works show psychological suspense in the faces of Hector’s subjects, showing the real-life navigation of isolation and disassociation.
Katie Hector at Management, photo by Eliza Jordan.
In Lubov’s presentation, the rich colors and distraught expression in a painting named Self Portrait in Red Dress by Vanessa Gully Santiago drew us in, guiding us to paintings by Xingzi Gu like Rouge, Picnic, and Hill.
We were struck by Hanah Murray’s Ceremony oil on linen painting in Marinaro before savoring the sight of large-scale textile wall works by Josefina Concha at Galeria Patricia Ready. Nearby in Galerija Alma’s booth—hailing from Riga, Latvia—was a solo presentation by Rasa Jansone named “Your Foot on My Hand; Always, Raphael.” Showing the relationships between art history references—from Western painting to Leonardo da Vinci and Virgin Mary’s portrayal—we enjoyed the cheeky collaged images of bright colors, historical figures, and contemporary objects like cookies, rainforest frogs, bulldogs, and eyelash extensions.
Xingzi Gu at Lubov, photo by Eliza Jordan.
An International Lineup at NADA Miami 2023
After stopping into the Warsaw-based Galeria LETO’s booth and swaying with Polish artist Xawery Wolski’s woven metal works hanging above, we enjoyed paintings by Brittany Shepherd in Pangée gallery’s booth. A painting of a woman with her eyes and mouth covered by a silver scarf joined another piece of a female covered in muddy water, holding her shoes—Swamp, 2023.
Brittany Shepherd at Pangée, photo by Eliza Jordan.
Further into NADA’s presentation was the fair’s Projects sector, where we found paintings by artists in the Seoul-based Gallery Afternoon booth, stimulating pieces in the Miami-based gallery Homework’s show, and acrylic paintings of horses by Sam Newton like Argument (with Bystander) at Savannah-based Cleo the Gallery.
In New York-based Latitude Gallery’s booth, we couldn’t look away from the chopping block stools made by Jinhau Zhou. Atop folded paper stools, a wood cutting board created the flat top of a stool, featuring intricate, detailed scenes. From live piglets nibbling on greens to a character sleeping atop a slice of ginger, the small stories in acrylic and oil showed a look at the artist’s surroundings with witty and intimate miniature atmospheres.
Rasa Jansone at Galerija Alma, photo by Eliza Jordan.
Our Last Look at NADA Miami 2023
On our way to the fair’s exit, we took in a few more visual treats: Erick Medel’s polyester thread on denim embroidered work—featuring a bucket holding a floral arrangement, with “Do It Right” on its front—in Austin-based Martha’s booth; James Jessiman’s painted bronze and enamel flower sculptures in The Artist Room’s booth from London; and Michael Haight’s works, like Ten Directions (27 Narratives #1), presented by la BEAST gallery.
And with the holidays approaching, Sean Gannon’s Field of Trees (Christmas) gave us something to cherish in Cleaner Gallery + Projects. Showing an acrylic on canvas painting of Christmas trees adorned in bulbs and topped with stars, it was perfectly framed in walnut wood, prepping us for the special holiday ahead.
Josefina Concha at Galeria Patricia Ready, photo by Eliza Jordan.
James Jessiman at The Artist Room, photo by Eliza Jordan
