Art Basel 2019: Scope Miami Beach
Art Basel returns to Miami Beach (December 5-8, 2019) once again serving as a centerpiece for the biggest week of art in the USA. If you haven’t been before (or haven’t heard of it before), don’t worry, you’re not alone. Last year I quickly covered the basic gist of Art Basel — regardless, it is an experience. And with social media bringing to light so many things this country has to offer, Art Basel should definitely be a bucket list item to experience! So I suggest you arm yourself with a strong Cuban cafecito before starting Art Basel, it is quite the art journey.
There are so many questions around Art Basel, especially with the infamous $120,000 banana (that I felt was all people could talk about) quickly became viral. Although Vogue does a great job at explaining the banana piece, titled Comedian, by Maurizio Cattelan. True”old-school” Art Baselers question if Art Basel Miami is still fun — meanwhile I am here to say that I personally still enjoy attending. Its an accumulation of public art and installations, events, parties, and of course, the fairs — big fairs like Art Basel, small fairs, satellite fairs like PULSE and Scope, and everything else that could be even loosely described as art. This year I had the pleasure of touring through the different art fairs as press — which may seem small, but it was a first time achievement on my end!
Scope Art Fair
For Day 1, I figured what better way to start Art Basel than with a view of Miami Beach from Scope Art Fair. Right on South Beach, near the hustle and bustle of Ocean Drive, sits the Scope fair (rainbow) structure. Every year, Scope Art Fair comes to Miami Beach (literally on the beach), and each year I fall in love with the art. Since I had already missed so much of Art Basel week, I jumped right into it with “Big Girls Need Big Diamonds” (by Isabelle Scheltjens) of Audrey Hepburn as the first piece I came across. Scope is such a huge mixture of art, that even through conversations with others who attended, I quickly realized you could walk around for hours yet always find something new! From Audrey Hepburn, to Sveta Esser’s take on pixelated paintings of Lady Liberty and Frida Khalo, (which reminded me a bit of the Chuck Close art I find in museums). Writing this all now, it seems like the pieces that really made in impression on me, were the ones featuring powerful women.
I adore contemporary art, but I appreciate conceptual art the most. This goes back to when I first started learning about art in high school and came across Marcel Duchamp’s famous “What Is Art?” question that changed and challenged the art world entirely. So, if you’ve kept up with Art Basel, most likely you’ve heard of the $120,000 duct taped banana (and the performance artist who ate it)… As a friend of mine said in an Instagram message “I love his comic approach to art” — referring to the artist, Maurizio Cattelan. With that said, I appreciate art that makes me think and question.
The strongest concepts are those that are relatable to life, so when I came across Tim Okamura’s series called “The Message” I was mesmerized. He is known for his depiction of African-American and minorities subjects in urban settings. His pieces at Scope all featuring diverse women (rocking the curls I might add) looking just as girls you’d find in real life. I even wondered where one of the painted women got her “Everybody VS Injustice” hoodie from. Pieces that make you think or feel are the strongest ones in my book and Scope Art Fair did a wonderful job at featuring so many.
Another artist I came across goes by the name Porkchop, he's from New Jersey of all places! He creates his art from found objects, although they look like ceramic pieces, he said it is a mixture of wood, styrofoam etc. He molds, shapes, and sands them down then paints and covers it in resin to give it a finished look. The inspiration behind each piece is a mixture of different religious motifs and any found object he finds interesting. How do I know this? Well he was literally standing right by all his artwork. What I love most about Scope (and all Miami art fairs) is the up close connection you can get with the artist and/or the gallery representing them. If you’ve ever walked through an art museum and wondered what the concept or story behind the art is — well at Scope… you can just ask.
SPOEK 1 by Ralph Ziman
That was all Day 1 of Art Basel 2019 (at least for me, because I was late!!). It was a crazy hell of a day, but I loved it all. Scope 2019 did not disappoint. Aside from the art, of course, Miami Beach can do no wrong — we lunched, we danced, we went out for dinner. Art Basel as a whole is an experience. (Which bears far better fruit than a banana…)
