Scope Miami Beach, Miami Art Week 2019
Highlights, installations, and works on display at the 2019 edition of the SCOPE art show at Miami Beach during Miami Art Week.
Miami Art Week is one of the most popular contemporary art events in the world, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the globe to the city and beyond to attend some of the most prestigious gallery shows and exhibitions. One of the highlights from the 2019 edition was a visit to SCOPE, a contemporary art fair that spans over fifteen years with destinations in Basel, New York, and Miami Beach. With a vast array of works and installations on display, view just a few favourites, along with a video tour below.
OASIS with works by Anthony Lister, HOTTEA, Qunitessenz, Okuda San Miguel.
One thing that stands out about SCOPE in comparison to other exhibitions is the brand's presentation and embrace of art. While there is a classic format exhibition space, guests enter the space, greeted by vivid colours, and striking installations in an open-plan area, complete with a bar and DJ playing upbeat music. The interior also backs out onto an impressive view of South Beach and the sea, utilising the location and what makes this destination so unique.
Australian artist Anthony Lister creates a unique inflated installation for the exhibition, showcasing his gritty yet colourful 'street-style' art on two inflatable objects perching on South Beach.
HOTTEA captured the attention of visitors with their brightly coloured yarn works suspended in the centre of the Pavillion and glass box entrance to the show.
Deriving from Graffiti and Street Art culture, the German artist-duo Qunitessenz exhibited a bespoke and interactive floor piece for the show; a large installation that challenges the spectator's perception of space as they walk around and engage with the piece.
Instantly recognisable, Okuda San Miguel's work injects even more vibrancy and humour into the fair with a life-size work 'throwing up' creativity along with large murals and fascinating works that one could stare at for hours on end.
Rizomi
Works on display at the Rizomi stand immediately attract the eye with their unique, colourful and sometimes morbid themes relating to death, drugs and the cycle of life. Hundreds of smaller pieces branch out to create each sizeable sculptural work of art, giving the spectator an impressive amount to absorb, ranging from butterflies preserved within pieces of perspex to coxes of beetles and scorpions. One even contains a pink skeleton surrounded by bananas and flowers, keeping the viewer engaged and fascinated by the story portrayed. What is so impressive about these works is the story they create by building layers upon layers of smaller artworks, intricately assembled by hand.
Gallery Tableau
All is not what it appears when walking into Gallery Tableau's exhibition space. Several impressive works adorn the walls, each creating a distinctive optical illusion. Colourful bowls extend out of their canvases and into life, adding depth and tricking the eye while other works use surrounding light to cast reflections on the walls to create new patterns and designs that change with the light as if it is a stormy sea frozen in motion. The final piece; a collection of three designs forges glass panes into different thicknesses, allowing the glass to use the light to draw out the shapes of bowls.
Steidel Contemporary
American artist and sculptor Kevin Champney was a topic of the show with several of his works displayed at the Steidel Contemporary gallery show space, with his designs blurring the boundaries between traditional artwork, photography and sculpting. The American Flag piece titled 'Loaded' was created by using 17,000 sculpted and hand-cast urethane bullets, making up the instantly recognisable flag of the United States of America. Others on display titled 'Fifty Shades My Blue Heaven' and 'Faded Pink' follow a similar format but with gradient canvases from a distance revealing their true identity, being created from thousands of sculpted roses and skulls.
