Every year in early December, the art world descends on Miami for Art Basel in Miami Beach, the annual art fair that started in Basel, Switzerland. Collectors peruse through countless art fairs in search of their next purchase, while curators, celebrities, artists, art lovers, and more view exhibitions at museums, luxury stores, private collections, hotels, and throughout the city. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, most of the art world stayed away from Miami, although there was a small fraction of events and activations compared to previous years. Art Basel canceled its physical Miami Beach edition, instead presenting Art Basel Online Viewing Rooms from December 4 through 6. Here are the highlights of the virtual fair:
Reckoning, 2020, by Shahzia Sikander, at Sean Kelly
Watch Shahzia Sikander | Reckoning | 2020 | Online Exhibition Clip from Sean Kelly Gallery on Vimeo.
“The uprooted sinuous tree moving through water is about human displacement, alluding to the expulsion from the Garden of Eden while pointing to the sea as a space of peril, where in the annals of time and history colonial trade and theft occur,” said Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander about the work.
Standing in a Meadow, 2020, by Loie Hollowell, at Pace
As one of the premier abstraction artists, Loie Hollowell has portrayed the feminine form, pregnancy, and more in her seemingly abstract works.
Untitled (And, so...) by Kerry James Marshall, at Jack Shainman
Kerry James Marshall painted this portrait of a woman wearing Off-White, the clothing label helmed by fellow Illinoisan Virgil Abloh, for the September 2020 cover of Vogue.
The Answer is the Waves of the Sea, 2020, by Maia Cruz Palileo, at Monique Meloche
The Filipino-American artist made her Art Basel in Miami Beach debut with Monique Meloche in 2019 with a glorious painting that represented the magic of the Philippines. Her painting The Answer is the Waves of the Sea — on the right — also impressed many this year.
Portrait with Red Flowers, 2020, by Nicolas Party, at Hauser & Wirth
Nicolas Party often uses classical techniques in his very contemporary paintings, and this one portrays a pensive woman dressed in a captivating red floral print.
