NADA Miami, open through December 9, has returned to Ice Palace Studios for its 16th edition. This year, the international fair is showing 125 exhibitors from 23 countries, including 37 first-timers, several solo booths, and 26 project spaces. Outside the fair visitors relaxed in hammocks, sipping cocktails in the sun. Inside, the energy and art was amplified.
In a shared booth, Safe Gallery and Soloway presented colorful work by three artists that caught our eye. One painting by Billy Grant featured eel-like trails of red, and on the other side of the booth were paintings in purples, greens, and blues. Wallace Whitney (also the owner of Canada Gallery) presented sweet sweeps of yellow, sky blue, baby pink, and lavender pastels in some paintings that put us at ease. And Serban Ionescu welcomed us to a sit and stay with his fun sculptural furniture pieces in yellow, blue, and light teal.
Safe Gallery’s booth at NADA Miami 2018.Courtesy of Eliza Jordan.
At the shared booth of Situations gallery and Fierman were some beautifully intimate works by Jimmy Wright (represented by Fierman)—five framed ink on mylar pieces that showed characters in vulnerable states, as well as an oil on canvas piece entitled Silhouette that we loved for its dark swirls of color. On the neighboring wall, Casting Out Sevens by Corinne Jones (represented by Situations) struck us with a beautiful blue hue and a its shaped canvas structure.
At Derek Eller Gallery’s booth, we first heard a shout from Despina Stoukou’s piece, made up of streaks of color and all-caps words like “FOR” and “PEOPLE.” We were mesmerized by a creation of Peter Linde Busk. From afar, we sensed a scene of four figures, and up close, saw their incredible makeup of what appeared then to be of colorful paper, cardboard, and staples. Other pieces in the booth included a bright geometrical work of pink, yellow, green shapes anchored by a black border by David Korty, and a surreal painting by Melissa Brown.
Fierman’s booth at NADA Miami 2018.Courtesy of Eliza Jordan.
Night Gallery presented a playful oil stick, crayon, and graphite work on canvas by Robert Nava entitled Devourer. Attracting our inner-child, the piece pleased us with a tiger made up of orange, red, white, and black lines. Additionally, we loved the flashe vinyl paint and oil piece on canvas entitled Ways and Waves by Andrea Marie Breiling.
Lastly, we caught ourselves spending time at the Alden Projects booth, with art by Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, and Roy Lichtenstein. The works wielded creativity in the form of words, photographs, and advertising materials from the past. Our favorite? A side-by-side comparison of the poster Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat made for the ultra-famous club Palladium, and the one its said to have been inspired by—a screenprint poster for a boxing event in Tompkins Square Park by Richard McGuire.
Fierman’s booth at NADA Miami 2018.Courtesy of Eliza Jordan.
