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Miami Art and Design week

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Miami Art Design Week hosted about 25 exhibitions located throughout the city, guaranteeing that even the most athletic of us was run off her feet. the best art museum in town, everything from abstract art to contemporary art that you could possibly imagine.

The all-day traffic jams were worthy of downtown Manhattan during rush hour. With all the madness, it is nearly impossible to compete for the attention of the crowds and attract them to another new exhibition in the city.

If you love art and design, you really must see Miami Art and Design Week at least once in your life. Flitting from exhibition to exhibition, awed by the works of art, chuckling at those people who insist on taking pictures everywhere, talking about art with everyone, everywhere. Then, at night, jumping from restaurant to party, because the sky is the limit when you are in exactly the right place in your profession.

Collier Or, 2017,Murano glass, gold leafs, stainless steel,149 x 50 x 18 cm
©Philippe Servent, Gallery Kukje Gallery

The oldest and most prominent exhibition in the city is Art Basel, an exhibition that used to be held in Basel, Switzerland until the tragedy of 9/11. When for a time the major art buyers stopped flying, the exhibition relocated to Miami Beach.

It seems like the intention of the art on display at Art Basel does not seem to be to make the viewer happy. Some of the works were actually disturbing, while most of them are intended to draw the viewers in and develop a complicated relationship; some even enable viewers to become part of the work by taking selfies at different angles and in changing colors.

Gone are the days when we used to leave our cameras at the museum’s coat check. Now exhibitions are dying for visitors to take pictures and tag them. Perhaps we have taken it too far and, while laughing at others, we ourselves have become absurd, taking selfies with every sculpture in the hopes of becoming the next viral Instagram post.

Collectors are invited to VIP days to personally invest and bet on which artists will be hits in the future. The works mostly start at prices of five figures or more (in US dollars, of course). A work of art is not intended to bring joy or happiness to the viewer; art is a valuable tradable commodity, like a stock market gamble. Either way, it took me four hours to wander around the exhibition. I probably would have spent longer there had I had the guilty realization that I needed to get back to work. Without a doubt, this was the best art gallery I have ever visited in my life. Yes, I know I said the same thing about the previous exhibition – my standards and expectations are only increasing.

The other large art exhibition in the city is Art Miami, whose organizers are also responsible for Aqua and Context, meaning that there was shuttle between the three exhibitions, making things easy for visitors.

Orit Fuchs is a talented Tel Aviv artist who exhibited at Aqua Miami, and I was lucky to come back home with one of art art prints

Design Miami is a required visit for anyone who loves design. More than any other, this exhibition perpetuates the subtle nuances that, by definition, differentiate between design and art.

Many more exhibitions jumped on the fantastic vibe of the Miami Beach Art and Design and set up along shows along the beach. I was lucky to visit Scope and Untitled, each which was fascinating in its own way.

Untitled:

scope:

Art seems to sustain itself from our everyday lives. Just as if Vermeer painted daily life, e.g. Girl with a Pearl Earring, in his era to immortalize himself and his work, today there is an obsessive preoccupation with concepts borrowed from our daily lives, whether smiling poo emojis, bright, colorful dollar bills, Pantone color strips or antiquated painting styles to express criticism of the good old aristocracy. Was it once really so good, or is it that I was just too young to care?!

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

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About Author

Inbar Shahak is a textile designer by profession, graduating from the Shenkar University of Fashion in Israel, where she majored in weaving, knitting & printing. After working in the garment industry for Calvin Klein, the urge to create handmade textiles art drove her to establish her own succesfull brand of textile jewelry. Inbar’s jewelry is inspired by delicate tracery patterns and her greatest passion is combineing ancient textile-making traditions with new modern techniques. Inbar’s collections are all drawn by hand and printed over metal at her atelier in Kibbutz Maagan Michael. She regularly collaborates with fashion designers around the world, making bold and theatrical costume jewelry design made for Runway fashion projects and fashion shoot productions. “Inbar Shahak” Studio has been widely displayed in galleries, elite jewelry shops, and fashion designer shops and in exhibitions around the world, including the Premiere Classe in Paris, the IJL Show in London, The Atelie and the Moda show in NY and the Norton art Museum in Florida.

15 Comments

  1. Melissa Boutilier on

    Really interesting point about being able, and even encouraged, to take photos of the art! This is such a nice change for those of us in really rural areas. I would never be able to see these pieces if it wasn’t for social media and bloggers such as yourself, and my guess is tourists are all sticking to the big name museums and displays. This is a great way to get lesser known artists recognized! Thanks for sharing!

  2. The work of those artists are amazing! They’re so creative (and not to mention, their works are so instagrammable!). I, for sure, will visit Miami Art and Design Week when I get the chance.

  3. Ana De- Jesus on

    Isn’t it crazy how time progresses and thus expectations transform as the years go by? You are right in saying that just 10 years ago taking photos of art or design would have been frowned upon, yet now no one bats an eyelid. Out of the pieces you have featured I have to say that I like Orit Fuchs’s work and interesting to hear that they are an artist from Tel Aviv, as I have a friend from there!

  4. Mommy Jhy on

    Art imitating life… or was it, life imitating art? I like this post, your photos are eye candies. I am not an artist but I
    do love going to exhibits.

  5. Thanks for sharing! This seems like a nice collection of art. I especially liked the little green hunter lady and the portraits with the popcorn and gum! HAHA!

  6. Renata Green on

    Oh my gosh, how I’d love to visit the Art Basel in Miami! I’m a big, big, big art aficionado and was in Switzerland one week before the Art Basel in…Basel and since there were so many art events this year in Europe, I didn’t bother to go back. And Miami seems to be at least as cool as the original.
    Talking ’bout disturbing: I often like especially the disturbing pieces ?
    The works on your pix look super-interesting – I’d appreciate captions telling me who made them ?

  7. Vanessa Costa on

    Nice art design and full of creativity, I loved them! You have a stunning photo skill.

  8. These modern are makes me more curious and at the same time fall in love with them. I love it when you said “art is a valuable tradable commodity”. Nowadays the prints and those on the internet always have a price tag on them.

  9. There are life and stories behind those arts and design. My favorite is person eating popcorn.

  10. Laura Dove on

    I don’t pretend to know a lot about art but I really do appreciate galleries and all of the beautiful art work. Some art I just can’t see the beauty in but I admire the talents of the artist.

  11. This looks really interesting, art exhibits with all the pictures you posted seems very unique – some poster humor and mostly are really creative.

  12. Anonymous on

    I’m not an artist but I appreciate all the paintings. They are so beautiful, the artist are so amazing. I wish I have a talent like them.

  13. The design week looks like a fabulous event and something to do in Miami that does not include a beach or a nightclub. It’s amazing how social media has affected even the more rarified industries that they can now see the benefit of publicizing and marketing their events by encouraging visitors to take pics with art installations.

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