A taste of things to come
From here on out until early December, art will be bursting all over. Many of the once-a-year, site-specific works, or once-a-year spaces, are already opening or setting up in time for Art Basel Miami Beach, as are the year-round galleries. Tomorrow night in Wynwood and the Design District, most (although not all) of the galleries will be unveiling their Basel shows, which often are some of the cream of the crop. We’ll be covering them here over the next several weeks, but as a preview, a few:
A common thread between Locust Projects and Spinello Projects will be artwork from Agustina Woodgate. For the first, Locust will be launching its second annual Billboard Project, a Knight Arts grantee, with billboard and bus-shelter art from Argentinean-born Woodgate. Look for her colorful landscapes, abstract and almost kaleidoscopic, around town (often high up in the air) as part of this outdoor series, “11:11.”
Woodgate will be one of three artists featured at the temporary space that gallerist Anthony Spinello has taken over, an uninhabited schoolhouse in the Design District. Woodgate is truly a multidisciplinary artist, working with sculpture (like her stuffed animal-skin rugs), performance and poetry. For her solo here, “If These Walls Could Talk,” she riffs off of the space itself, the abandoned classroom, and how global politics come into play in the teaching and learning environment.
Another Knight Arts grantee, Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI), will open its Art Basel show on Saturday, with another artist who uses non-traditional materials to create his art. Richard Haley’s first Miami solo will feature one if his Detroit “actions,” where volunteers wipe oil from their own skin on a western-facing wall, so the oils react in color and texture to the setting sun. Performance artist Mary Elizabeth Anderson will participate on Dec. 4.
Mixing even more forms again, down at the dance and performance studio Inkub8 (a Knight Arts finalist), will be “To Do or Not to Do,” a one-night only morphing of experimental music, dance and audience participation. Performer and choreographer Carlota Pradera collaborates with experimental musician Nicole Martinez to develop in two physically subdivided spaces, one “wet,” the other half of the space,”dry,” playing off the tensions of each physical state.
“Billboard Project” launching throughout town, from Agustina Woodgate “11:11,” by Locust Projects, 155 N.E. 38th St. (official reception Dec. 1); www.locustprojects.org. Triple solos at Spinello Projects, opening reception Nov. 12, 150 N.E. 42nd St.; spinelloprojects.com. “Richard Haley: Mary, Richard, Clouds and Dirt,” with a special performance by Mary Elizabeth Anderson, 180 N.E. 39th St., 210; www.basfisherinvitational.com. “To Do or Not to Do” open studio night performance, 9:00 p.m. on Nov. 12, Inkub8, 2021 first Place, Miami; www.inkub8.org.