The Miami Beach Convention Center has been newly renovated, and completed, since last year’s Art Basel. Meridians, curated by Magali Arriola, presented 34 large-scale projects that cannot normally be shown at an art fair. Directly upstairs (via an escalator) from the exhibition hall of Art Basel were large-scale sculptures and paintings, live performances, installations and video projections in about 60,000 square feet of space. This was the first year for Meridians. I hope they continue to do it as it was cool to see work of this scale. Just thinking about the installation of the pieces in the room is mind boggling. Click on the links in green to get more information.
Let’s start with a photo of the incredible carpet they installed in the Grand Ballroom. They did a beautiful job on the renovation.
Porcelain sushi plates: 432 sushi plates in 3 sections, each plate 22.5 x 30 x 15 cm: Overall dimensions 275 x 1,280 cm
Acrylic on canvas, 310 x 635 cm
stainless steel; 680 x 4420 x 243 cm
Deconstructed law books on canvas: Group of 33 panels, 104 x 97 cm each: Overall dimensions 320 x 1,102 cm
Single-channel video, sound, six wooden stools: Duration 35’4″: edition of 3
I was lucky to see this beautiful video in May, at Theaster Gates’ first solo exhibition in France, at Palais de Tokyo. I was thrilled to see the video again. If you don’t know anything about Theaster Gates you should definitely look him up. I’m a big fan. I’ll circle back and post on the Paris show once I’m done with Miami.
Canvas, lacquer stain, varnish, silicone adhesive, caulking, dye, boat caulking, acrylic paint
dimensions variable
Black float glass, antiqued gold painted wood frames, Murano-blown glass
dimensions variable
Indigo-dyed jute, wood; dimensions variable
Acrylic on canvas; 281 x 666 cm
Bronze, clay, ceramic stools, citrus trees; dimensions variable
Mixed-media installation; dimensions variable
While we did stop to see the infamous banana (before the crowds descended upon it) at Art Basel, The Garden (at Meridians) created quite a stir in the art world as well. This is a good article to read describing the excitement surrounding The Garden.
“The Garden” is cool, probably even better in person. But you’d probably have to hire a part-time gardener to tend your “Garden” if you bought it. It looks like it would deteriorate pretty quickly, otherwise.