Estrellita B. Brodsky, collector, curator, and philanthropist, New York
Guadalupe Maravilla, artist, Brooklyn
Moderator: Coline Milliard, Executive Editor, Art Basel, Basel
The relationship that develops between an artist and a collector is at the heart of the art world. Artist Guadalupe Maravilla and the collector, curator and philanthropist Estrellita B. Brodsky discuss their respective commitment to championing diverse perspectives from Latin America and the challenges they have had to overcome. This discussion offers insights into how connections between individuals are shaped by their shared vision of art.
Estrellita B. Brodsky, PhD, is an internationally known art historian, collector, and philanthropist who has advanced the presence of art from Latin America and its diaspora on the global stage.
Brodsky holds a doctorate in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, and a Master’s from Hunter College. She has curated exhibitions and written extensively on post-WWII Latin American artists including Jesus Soto, Carlos Cruz-Diez and Julio Le Parc. A founding member of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Latin American Art Initiative, a trustee of the Hirshhorn Museum and Tate Americas Foundation, she has endowed curatorial positions in Latin American art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), Tate, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). In 2015, she founded ANOTHER SPACE, a program and not-for-profit exhibition gallery established by the Daniel and Estrellita B. Brodsky Foundation, to broaden international awareness and appreciation of art from Latin America.
Art Basel 1901 Convention Center Drive Miami Beach
Thu, Dec 7, 2023
1pm – 2pm (Miami Beach)
Franklin Sirmans, Director, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami
Moderator: Crystal Williams, President, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
María Magdalena Campos-Pons discusses her influential career as an artist and teacher with Franklin Sirmans, Director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and Crystal Williams, President of the Rhode Island School of Design. Exploring her multimedia practice, which considers how history, memory, gender, and religion inform personal identity, they chart Campos-Pons’s trajectory over the last 4 decades, from her youth in Cuba to her acclaimed retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum and US tour 2023- 2025.
BIOGRAPHY
The art of María Magdalena Campos-Pons (b. 1959, Matanzas) addresses history, memory, gender, and religion, investigating the role of each in identity formation. Her practice intermixes photography, painting, sculpture, film, video, and performance.
Campos-Pons is a descendant of Hispanic and Chinese immigrants to Cuba and of Nigerians brought to the island and enslaved in the 19th century. She grew up with the legacy of slavery. As a child, Campos-Pons learned about Santería, a religious tradition that originated in the Yoruban nations of West Africa. Informed by the traditions, rituals, and practices of her ancestors, her work is deeply autobiographical. Using herself and her Afro-Cuban relatives as subjects, Campos-Pons creates historical narratives that illuminate the spirits of people and places, present and past. She makes personal history universally relevant. Invoking narratives of the transatlantic slave trade, her images and performances honor Black laborers on indigo and sugar plantations, renew Catholic and Santería practices, and celebrate revolutionary uprisings in the Americas. The sea as a repository of memory and site of identity formation is a frequent theme, allowing her to explore topics ranging from the Middle Passage to the contemporary migrant crisis. Campos-Pons writes that she collects and tells “stories of forgotten people in order to foster a dialogue to better understand and propose a poetic, compassionate reading of our time.”
From the beginning, Campos-Pons has combined traditional artmaking mediums with installation and time-based mediums including video, film, and performance. In the 1990s, she began making large-format Polaroid photographs that elaborate the complexities of the themes she addresses. Campos-Pons’s performances often unfold as ritualistic processionals that physically and spiritually fill the spaces in which they take place while asserting their relevance beyond the boundaries of those spaces.
Since 2020, Campos-Pons has witnessed a surge of excitement as demonstrated by recent acquisitions of her art by the Museum of Modern Art (New York); Princeton University Art Museum; Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC); Speed Art Museum (Louisville); Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University; J. Paul Getty Museum; Museum of Fine Arts (Boston); Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston); and other public and private collections. In addition, her work has appeared in Thinking Historically in the Present at the Sharjah Biennial 15 (United Arab Emirates) and soft and weak like water at the 14th Gwangju Biennale.
Campos-Pons’s art is also in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York); Art Institute of Chicago; Victoria and Albert Museum (London); Pérez Art Museum (Miami); and Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge). She has presented performances at venues including the Venice Biennale; documenta 14; Havana Biennial; Dakar Biennale; Johannesburg Biennale; Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA; and (in collaboration with composer and sound artist Neil Leonard) Guggenheim Museum and National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC).
In the fall of 2023, the Brooklyn Museum and J. Paul Getty Museum will present María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold, a major traveling multimedia survey of her work, the first since 2007. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog published by the Getty.
Campos-Pons graduated in 1980 from the National School of Art in Havana, Cuba. She went on to study painting at Havana’s Universidad de las Artes (ISA). In 1988, she earned an MFA in Media Arts from Boston’s Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In the late 1980s, she taught at the Universidad de las Artes (ISA) in Havana. There she gained an international reputation as an exponent of the New Cuban Art movement, which arose in opposition to Communist repression on the island. In 1991, she immigrated to Canada and onto Boston in 1993, where she taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University and received numerous prizes and honors for both her teaching and her artistic practice. In 2017, she became the Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed Chair of Fine Arts at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she now resides.
Campos-Pons has founded or cofounded several nonprofit arts organizations including the Engine for Art, Democracy and Justice, a collaboration between Fisk University, Frist Art Museum, Millions of Conversations, and Vanderbilt University. In addition, she has launched Intermittent Rivers, an artistic intervention in Matanzas, Cuba, as part of the Havana Biennial, and When We Gather, a multifaceted art project in Washington, DC, celebrating the vital role of women in the progress of the United States.
Márcio Botner, co-founder, partner and director, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro
Luisa Strina, gallery owner, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo
Moderator: Oliver Basciano, writer, São Paulo and London
The Brazilian art market is the largest by size in Latin America. With president Lula’s government reinstating the ministry of culture and increasing funding to the arts, how is the market developing? This panel examines shifts in the Brazilian art scene since the beginning of 2023 through the voices of gallerists, collectors, and experts. Has a renewed prioritization of the arts already had a measurable impact?
Fri, Dec 8, 2023 3pm – 4pm (Miami Beach) 1901 Convention Center Drive Miami Beach
Conversations | Renewing the Institution: How Do Museums Remain Relevant?
Silvia Karman Cubiñá, Executive Director and Chief Curator, The Bass, Miami Beach
Jillian Jones, Deputy Director, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo
Tonya M. Matthews, President and CEO, International African American Museum, Charleston
Moderator: András Szántó, author and cultural strategy advisor, Brooklyn
Many significant US art museums have just completed or are completing redesigns and extensions. These institutions are not only adding more welcoming facilities, they are also adapting to new times. From integrating new technologies to finding new ways of working and engaging audiences, museums are seeking to reassert their relevance today. Here, three leaders reveal how they are resetting their institutions.
Courtesy of Saype | 2021 New Contemporary Installation
The New Contemporary returns to the SCOPE pavilion with an experiential multidisciplinary program located in our expanded Atrium. The New Contemporary will present daily programming featuring large-scale installations, music performances, and panel discussions during the day while continuing our long-standing commitment to wellness. Guests are encouraged to attend morning healing programming and guided meditation against the backdrop of beautiful South Beach. This multi-day destination will transform after-hours into a premium nightlife experience, offering a world-class music program.
TOMISLAV TOPIC | INSTALLATION | ENTRANCE
The German artist Tomislav Topić uses large-scale color and form to create site-specific art installations that derives from graffiti writing. Topić will install a large-scale immersive work at SCOPE’s front entrance, using shapes and patterns found in architecture to transform visitors’ perception of space.
BK ADAMS | INSTALLATION | ATRIUM
Courtesy of the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
BK Adams’ The Messenger, Time, A Blue (Collar) Horse stands at 25 feet tall and 20 feet long. Conceived as a modern-day “Trojan Horse,” Adams’ large-scale sculpture employs the vernacular of welding and manufacturing to create a large-scale, three-dimensional artwork that inspires self-reliance and empowerment. Hand fabricated by the artist and his team, there are over 7,000 running feet of welds created entirely from steel; the work is painted with industrial blue car paint and draped with a blanket of 130 clocks, symbolic of the constant passing of time and our relationship with it. This handcrafted work echoes a history of manufacturing while posing the question, “Who is selling us the dream now?” The Messenger, Time, A Blue (Collar) Horse is intended as a mantra to encourage the next generation to self-improvement, self-love, and actualization.
CONNOR TINGLEY | INSTALLATION | ATRIUM
Courtesy of Connor Tingley Studio | Photographed by Quinn Matthews
Connor Tingley’s installation in collaboration with Curren Caples explored the unstable relationships between culture and nature in a liberated union of shared messaging between painting and skateboarding. Bridging gaps between three disciplines, DIY is an art collaboration between the mediums of music, skateboarding, and painting. The conversation is rooted by the subject matter of Southern California Americana in a work that is ultimately about man’s effect on earth and the limits of our creations in light of nature. They want to inform the gravity and the day-to-night transition that we all experience which is described by the mark-making from the skateboard wheels. They connect the domain of painting (on the wall) and skateboarding (on the ground). Each discipline is not compromised in approach but affected in their outcomes as they participate together.
JEREMY POPE | INSTALLATION | ATRIUM
Artist and two-time Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee, Jeremy Pope, will join SCOPE in a conversation with Oscar-winning screenwriter and playwright, Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight), around his photojournalism series, FLEX(bitch). Growing up with a preacher and professional bodybuilder father, this series opens a dialogue about Pope’s journey to manhood, masculinity, and self-love. What began as a self-funded creative project transformed into a therapeutic journey and a profound excavation of self. Pope and McCraney will discuss the confrontation of fears, unexplored thoughts, and the unraveling of internationalized homophobia. FLEX(bitch) challenges preconceived notions, urging us to bend what we believe about ourselves, our convictions, and how we show up in the world.
TEAROOM | INSTALLATION | ATRIUM
The Way of Tea, or Chanoyu, is a Japanese-born experiential installation art. It units hosts and guests in a ritual of sharing a bowl of tea, symbolizing harmony among individuals, craftsmanship, and society. In this gathering, we’ll feature the works of artist “Takahiro Koga”, known for his philosophy of ‘NEO Wabi-Sabi’, celebrating the beauty found in both luxury and simplicity, which may seem contradictory at first glance.
DAÀPÒ RÉO | INSTALLATION | ATRIUM
Made possible by SCOPE
daàPò réo is a Nigerian-born and naturalized U.S. citizen. His artistic practice draws on autobiographical material and his subject matter deals with shifts in perspective, reversible identities, and interactions as humans. He features the American flag as a recurring motif. It’s one of the most recognizable national banners worldwide, the U.S. flag epitomizes a sense of home and pride in one’s identity, but also the face of the Western world, of its imperialistic liberalism and recent drift to the political right. He uses it as a catalyst for conversations, a canvas to crystallize ideas and feelings.
MONOLITH | INSTALLATION | ATRIUM
A monumental example of the future of public art, the Monolith, will illustrate the power of public digital art installations’ ability to bring connectedness and wellness to communities. The Monolith will feature emerging and blue-chip digital artists within this monumental sculpture piece.
SCOPE WALLS | INSTALLATION | BEACHFRONT
SCOPE continues to bring the world of art to unconventional settings. This year the SCOPE Walls, a series of murals, will be featured at SCOPE on the sands of Miami Beach. This project is a continuation of SCOPE’s mission to work globally while thinking locally, impacting the art industry as a whole with a profound respect for the surrounding community. The works this year are a black and white monochrome highlighted with select, powerful, colors from a rainbow. This is a way of drawing a broad but simple ‘line in the sand’ as it were. This line though is not an ultimatum but rather an invitation. Through the righteous aid of all the participating artists. NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE, is our effort at a beach front venue that sparks dialogue and discourse. Our world is rapidly changing and evolving and through art and through conversations we move together. This joint project between SCOPE Art Show and STRAAT Museum brings together two leading international art institutions with a shared commitment to promoting diversity, inclusion, and social justice. STRAAT Museum in Amsterdam is the world’s largest Street Art and Graffiti focused museum. The collaborations created a unique platform for artists to showcase their work, engage with a global audience, and participate in important conversations about contemporary social issues.
Artists THE LONDON POLICE HOXXOH PREF ID BISCO SMITH MANDO MARIE ELLE ANTHONY GARCIA SR. VALFRE
JEFFREY HENSON SCALES | INSTALLATION
Courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery
Jeffrey Henson Scales recently discovered lost negatives from his early days in the Black Panther Party; this series of photographs reveal to us, 56 years later, an intimate peek at an organization that has long been misunderstood and misrepresented. Henson Scales visited Huey Newton in jail frequently while he was on trial for murder in the killing of an Oakland police officer during a traffic stop. The Black Panther Party chairman, Bobby Seale, encouraged Jeffrey to be the official photographer for the party’s newspaper, The Black Panther, and this became the first place his photographs and illustrations were ever published at the age of 13.
LUCY SPARROW | INSTALLATION
Internationally acclaimed artist Lucy Sparrow returns to Scope Art Show, Miami this December to present Feltz Bagels, an artistic homage to New York’s legendary culinary delicacy. Feltz Bagels will be a fully immersive experience where visitors can buy their favorite bagel handmade in felt and served personally by Sparrow herself. Feltz Bagels will offer thirteen varieties of bagel – each hand-sewn and available filled or plain with a sewn selection of NY staples; choose from a poppyseed bagel with a schmear, a colorful rainbow salt-beef bagel or the everything bagel filled with pastrami and pickles.
AARON T. STEPHAN | INSTALLATION | PATRON LOUNGE
Courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery
Luminous Twist, in its simplest interpretation, is a light fixture. The sculpture comprises a cluster of streetlights in keeping with familiar public lighting features. Here, however, the lights come to life. Rising from a single foundation, the light poles gradually diverge into individual intertwining paths, abandoning a static vertical posture to join into a vibrant, life-like spiraling form. Representing a tree, a swarm, or a choreographed dance, Luminous Twist literally illuminates but also suggests that the ordinary can become extraordinary and, in fact, that the ordinary itself is extraordinary. Luminous Twist both illuminates and creates a visual anchor in the center of the SCOPE Miami 2023 tent.
Lauren Fenserstock’s Manifest Lands Like This is a series of seven wall-hanging obsessively detailed mosaic sculptures inspired by the energy centers of the chakra system. The sculptures showcase two elements crashing together – with one merging together explosively and another tentatively testing the boundaries of difference – and the shapes bring together an esoteric cast of forms from Buddhist texts and contemporary science. Each sculpture’s title is a loose interpretation of the original Sanskrit, embodying each chakra’s emotional and energetic nature.
“Manifest Lands Like This” is a cosmos of collisions. A pair of stars merge explosively. Another duo tentatively tests the boundaries of difference. A glittering sun longingly rips a wound as it devours its partner. These sculptures bring together an esoteric cast of forms from Buddhist texts and contemporary science including supernovae, lotus blossoms, black holes, and root systems. Moving from the tiny to the incalculable, they pull from the farthest reaches of our universe and the ground below our feet, to reveal an equality in all things.
LILLIAN BLADES | INSTALLATION
Made possible by SCOPE
Lillian Blades’ works are predominately mixed media assemblages on wooden panels or wired together to form moving tapestries. Her childhood home of The Bahamas, her ancestral background of West Africa, and her late mother, who was a seamstress, influenced her art. These influences appear through the use of her color palette and objects that evoke memory and history. The assemblage format of collected and curated bits and pieces is like a quilt or family heirloom.
MAIN STAGE
The SCOPE Main Stage will host events throughout daily programming. In the morning, guests are encouraged to attend yoga and guided meditation. Afternoon activations include daily talk series and performance programming. At night guests have a chance to loosen up and blow off some steam with a-list talent that is respected worldwide. All of this is occurring alongside large-scale installations, music, and VIP tours, creating an unforgettable experience for those attending.
SCOPECIRCLE
SCOPE is proud to reintroduce the SCOPEcircle with a new initiative that invites top collectors to host an artwork presented by our flagship New Contemporary program. Large scale sculptures will be loaned to collectors in the spirit of building emerging artist patronage.
SECTORS
James Reyes, Untitled, 2023 | Courtesy of Ki Smith Gallery
We’re thrilled to present three sectors of outstanding galleries for the 22nd edition of our flagship Miami show: Futures, photo basel + SCOPE and CORE.
Futures Stellar emerging galleries who are new to SCOPE featuring solo exhibitions.
CORE A front-of-show selection of dynamic established galleries that are magnifying diverse voices.
photo basel + SCOPE Top photography galleries presenting solo or thematic exhibitions: in partnership with photo basel.
CURATORIAL AWARD
Greg Allen-Müller, Hyper-Realistic Straight Lines, Sculpture | Courtesy of Bahnhof Gallery
Curatorial Awards are given to exhibitors featuring an extraordinary program through solo or focused thematic curation.
SCOPE International Art Show is proud to present galleries from over 25 countries in 2023. Our commitment to diversity in our program is exemplified by the generous Travel Grants that we offer to exhibitors who are traveling from overseas.
MORNING WELLNESS | ALO YOGA
After the success of their partnership in 2022, Alo Yoga returns to SCOPE to present daily health and wellness programming. Guests will be encouraged to attend morning healings, yoga classes, guided meditations and more – all against the backdrop of beautiful South Beach.
AFTERNOON | TALK SERIES
SCOPE presents a dynamic series of talks and events in partnership with prestigious publications, institutions and strategic partners.
SUNSETS | LATE AFTERNOON MUSIC PERFORMANCE AND ACTIVATIONS
Sunsets transform experiential afternoons into exclusive live evening performances. SCOPE’s stage will ignite with top music performers who will add a new dimension to our pavilion.
EVENING | PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS
SCOPE’s multi-day destination will transform after-hours to a premium nightlife experience and feature world-class music talent at night.
ASHLEY | CLARE CELESTE
Ashley partners with international collage artist, Clare Celeste, to create an immersive exhibit at SCOPE Art Show that highlights the delicate balance between nature and nurture while showcasing furniture from Ashley’s new leather collection launching December 2023.
FILM RESIDENCY | SCREENING
New York City underground art gallery ‘The Locker Room’ unleashes Winnie Cheung’s documentary-horror film, RESIDENCY, at SCOPE Art Show.
Is it a documentary about making a horror film? Or a horror film about making a documentary? Artist and Filmmaker Winnie Cheung crafts a haunting metafictional tale about women artists pushed beyond their limits.
Screening will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Art21’s Nick Ravich with director Winnie Cheung, producer Samara Bliss, and artist Manuela Viera-Gallo.
Following the screening, we will showcase a video of Connor Tingley’s installation. This installation in collaboration with pro skater Curren Caples explores the unstable relationships between culture and nature in a liberated union of shared messaging between painting and skateboarding.
Untitled Art Announces Programming for 12th Edition
2023 Programming includes new artist projects and performances, as well as panel discussions as part of the Untitled Art Podcast, among others.
Untitled Art is pleased to announce a program of curated Special Projects, performances, podcast conversations, and events for its 2023 edition. This year marks the fair’s most international presentation to date, focusing on collaboration across the art community. Untitled Art’s programming is part of a curatorial platform spearheaded by Artistic Director Omar López-Chahoud and Director of Development and Curatorial Affairs Clara Andrade Pereira in support of the wider arts ecosystem – both globally and locally in Miami. Selected artists, galleries, and non-profits will highlight topics from gender and diversity, digital initiatives, historical positions, and celebrate new and underrepresented voices, in line with this year’s curatorial themes of “Gender Equality in the Arts” and “Curating in the Digital Age”.
Special Projects, presented throughout the fair, call attention to key issues and new artistic voices. This newly designed sector is an opportunity for exhibitors and artists to expand their curatorial presentation in Miami and connect with a wider audience. Highlights this year include:
bitforms (New York, NY) is bringing a selection of Manfred Mohr’s earliest computer-generated plotter drawings (circa 1970) showcasing his first implementation of the hypercube through his algorithmic computer-generated 16mm film, Cubic Limit (1973-74). This special project distinguishes Mohr’s pioneering use of algorithms decades before it became a tool of contemporary art.
Henrik Godsk will construct an interactive sculpture titled Carousel 1884 (2023), a modernist reworking of a family heirloom. The work will be clad with both inward- and outward- facing portraits that refer to family lore in lieu of the expected vibrant panels of a fair ride. Presented by Vigo (London, United Kingdom), this work is a continuation of Godsk’s practice that infuses folkloric and high art, drawing from his heritage as a seventh-generation traveler growing up in fun fairs in Denmark.
Gerd Leufert’s NENIAS (1965-1985/2023) is a wall installation, presented by Henrique Faria Gallery (New York, NY). The term “nenias” was used by the artist since the early 1960s to identify a series of figures he developed. The conventional meaning of the term comes from music, referring to certain old songs or lamentations reserved for funeral rites. These forms, now adapted for new space and spectator, fuse together ancestral cosmogonies with contemporary figures able to transcend the diverse currents of anthropological and indigenist thought.
For Freedoms has commissioned new signed and numbered and hand-embellished limited edition prints by April Bey, Petra Cortright, Christine Sun Kim, and Hana Ward that will be displayed in the podcast lounge and available online on the For Freedoms website. In tandem, the artist-led organization will present a panel discussion titled Imagining a Culture of Listening, Healing, Awakening, and Justice that will explore the role of artists in shaping society and politics on December 5.
Ediciones Marea, in collaboration with the Pedro Reyes Studio, have produced five works from the repertoire of the late Luis Ortiz Monasterio (1906-1990), with the support of the artist’s family. This project, consisting of an exceptional collection of limited-edition pieces, marks the first-ever presentation of these works by Ortiz Monasterio’s outside of Mexico.
Epidermic Scapes (1977-2022) by Vera Chaves Barcellos showcases a series of images of the artist’s and other people’s skin enlarged to such an extent that their indexical function is lost as they take on a more abstract appearance, presented by Zielinsky (Barcelona, Spain / São Paulo, Brazil). The artist’s intention is to expand the images to such an extent that they could be displayed on the floor or wall in a monumental way and as if they were terrestrial landscapes.
El Kilómetro (San Juan, Puerto Rico) presents Awilda Sterling-Duprey’s Blindfolded (2020-present), part of her series of dance drawings where the artist blindfolds herself to make abstract marks on wall-mounted paper in response to salsa and/or jazz improvisations. Blindfolded was included in the 2022 Whitney Biennial where the artist created the work via performance within the installation itself. Similarly, as part of this year’s Special Projects sector, this iteration of the series will be activated during the artist’s performance at 11:30am on Wednesday, December 6th.
YI GALLERY (Brooklyn, NY) spotlights Open Sky, Mirage (2023), an ongoing exploration by Karian Amaya into the transformations of matter and its effects when placed in varying geographical contexts. Inspired by the aesthetics of exploitation and extraction of natural resources, this presentation seeks to encapsulate the passage of time, serving as both a record and memory of a place. As the minerals in the copper pools change and evaporate, they create distinct pools, each capturing a unique visual representation of time.
Kelley Johnson Studio will present a functional sculpture within this year’s Untitled Art Podcast Lounge. In conjunction with the awarded Rado Production Prize sculpture in the fair’s interstitial space, Fleeting Fragments of Time 15/45 (2023) features an interplay of light over the chrome surfaces, so that participants interactions will continuously reshape the work’s interpretation.
Ten live performances will also accompany the fair, continuing Untitled Art’s support of non-commercial genres and multi-disciplinary art practices. Highlights include New York Performance NOW! a series of performances by artists Ms. z tye, Alexa West, and Mayfield Brooks during the VIP and Press Preview, curated by Kyla Gordon, and presented by the New York City-based artist-run initiative 99 Canal; an audience-activated performance by Trueson Daugherty in which the artist serves slices of a symbolic mass wedding cake meticulously adorned with over 100 custom-made bride and groom figurines, presented by curator and multidisciplinary artist, Kalup Linzy and with the support of The Tulsa Artist Fellowship; supported by Gallery Meessen De Clercq (Brussels, Belgium) and developed in collaboration with the Ringling College of Art and Design faculty and students, Lieven De Boeck’s ongoing performance parade, What’s going on?, celebrates mixed gender and queer identity, and explores art as an interactive experience that can only happen through personal activation (a concept tied to the work of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica); Software for People v2 by Erick Antonio Benitez presented by Selenas Mountain (New York, NY) and supported by Y.E.S. Contemporary connects the physical, mystical, and digital through dance; presented by Negrón Pizzaro (San Juan, Puerto Rico), David Correa’s Death in Dade is an ongoing series of performances depicting desperation, resentment, and sorrow of the Latin laborer; presented by Miami-based non-profit cultural partner Locust Projects, an audiovisual performance and installation by Nicki Duval and Robbie Trocchia titled bout (2023) deconstructs competitive boxing and the work of American realist painter George Bellows, breaking down the boundaries between arts and athletics, and challenging gender stereotypes through boxing and queerness; and GeoVanna Gonzalez will present an iteration of her performance installation, PLAY, LAY, AYE: ACT 6, presented by Commissioner, in partnership with Chief.
The Untitled Art Podcast returns for its fourth year to support the fair’s 2023 Exhibitors within a dialogue showcasing the wider art ecosystem. Over 20 conversations are scheduled on-site during the fair, with participation of figures within each facet of the art community: including renowned artists Antonio Andrews, Ashanti Chaplin, Jeffrey Meris, Alyssa Klauer, Kalup Linzy, Sharif Bay (presented by albertz benda (New York, NY / Los Angeles, CA)), Manfred Mohr (presented by bitforms (New York, NY)), LaKela Brown, and Kacy Jung (presented by Jonathan Carver Moore (San Francisco, CA)); and influential art professionals and institutional curators Natasha Becker, curator for the Arts of Africa at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; NXTHVN’s Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Programs, Marissa Del Toro; Rachel Delphia, the Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator at Carnegie Museum of Art; Kate Green, Ph.D., Chief Curator & Nancy E. Meinig, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, Philbrook Museum of Art; and Carolyn Sickles, Executive Director of Tulsa Artist Fellowship.
Highlights in this sector include two Spanish speaking panels, one of which features DeMartini Family Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Untitled Art Ambassador Marcela Guerrero in a discussion with Latin American and Caribbean galleries from the Nest sector; a dialogue on the market for women artists by Casey Lesser, Director of Content of Artsy, and Julia Halperin, Cofounder of the Burns Halperin Report; a conversation supported by Vortic between the platform’s founder, Oliver Miro and Untitled Art Ambassador and Dallas-based art advisor, Adam Green; Curator Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas and Artistic Director Neville Wakefield to discuss Programming Partner Desert X 2025’s themes and socio-cultural concerns with Zoe Lukov, reflecting on past projects, desert conditions, gender equality, and the impact of technology on art and daily life in the Coachella Valley; a panel by Atlantic World Art Fair, an annual online experience featuring contemporary art makers in the Caribbean, the Atlantic Islands and the region’s wider diasporas; and a series of panels covering the art market for female artists, the impacts of new technologies, and new collecting models hosted by Untitled Art’s Education and Programming Partner Sotheby’s.
Returning to the SCOPE pavilion this year is The New Contemporary, an experiential multidisciplinary program located in our expanded Atrium. The New Contemporary will present daily programming featuring large-scale installations, music performances, and panel discussions during the day while continuing our long-standing commitment to wellness. Guests are encouraged to attend our morning healing program and guided meditation against the backdrop of beautiful South Beach. This multi-day destination will transform after-hours into a premium nightlife experience and feature world-class music talent at night.
NFT TICKETING
SCOPE is proud to partner with Creative Artists Agency and YellowHeart on a diverse curation of innovative NFT-minted SCOPE VIP tickets. These minted tickets feature artwork celebrating SCOPE’s The New Contemporary Program.
SCOPE will partner with digital marketplace YellowHeart for a second year to create the first-of-its-kind blockchain ticketing solution.
MONOLITH | INSTALLATION | ATRIUM
A monumental example of the future of public art, the Monolith, produced by ArtRepublic with curatorial guest Superchief, will illustrate the power of public digital art installations’ ability to bring connectedness and wellness to communities. The Monolith will feature emerging and blue-chip digital artists within this monumental sculpture piece.
THE SANCHEZ BROTHERS | SCULPTURE | ATRIUM
TEMPEST is a new installation by Canadian fine art photographers Carlos & Jason Sanchez who are known for their large-scale dramatic work. A storm will rage within a large glass box where metallic pieces collide to resemble the movement of a starry night or perhaps the universe unraveling and then coming back together.
KEN NWADIOGBU | SCULPTURE | ATRIUM
Nigerian artist Ken Nwadiogbu personifies the migrant experience through his thoughtful and engaging artwork. Constructed using cardboard boxes, Migrant acts as a visual metaphor for the trauma of dislocation from one’s roots. His work will be on view in The New Contemporary Atrium during the show this year.
JEN LEWIN | SCULPTURE | ATRIUM
Interactive artist and engineer Jen Lewin has created a towering 12-foot-tall lighted infinity mirrored bear. Inspired by the dazzling natural phenomena of Polaris (the North Star) and its constellation Ursa Minor, the sculpture’s multi- paneled infinity mirrored body reminds viewers to look up in amazement and wonder. Ursa Minor’s grand scale serves as a glowing landmark for navigation as we maneuver through uncertain times and our current moment of climate crisis.
HOTTEA | INSTALLATION | ATRIUM
Acclaimed street artist HOTTEA uses brightly colored yarn to create larger-than-life hanging installations. On the heels of national and international praise, he returns to SCOPE Miami Beach for another iteration of his monumental work in the SCOPE Pavilion.
SCOPE WALLS | INSTALLATION | BEACHFRONT
SCOPE continues to bring the world of art to unconventional settings. This year the SCOPE Walls, a series of murals by local artists, will be featured at SCOPE on the sands of Miami Beach. This project is a continuation of SCOPE’s mission to work globally while thinking locally, impacting the art industry as a whole with a profound respect for the surrounding community.
Artists Brendan Monroe Ron English Nemo Librizzi Art Bullyz DELVS Dr.Dax Hyland Mather Jona Cerwinske RISK
SUPERCHIEF NFT | SCULPTURE
Time To Be Happy 00:01 is a collaborative project by BENZI, curated by GMONEY and presented by SUPERCHIEF GALLERY NFT. Benzi’s process transforms incredibly rare 100 year old IBM punch-in / punch-out clocks into sculptural canvases for iconic artists Jen Stark, Jake Fried, Micah Johnson, Ron English, Bryan Brinkman, Jack Butcher, and Swoon. These legends came together to create artwork that tells their stories of artistry, journey, and inspiration.
LUCY SPARROW
Lucy Sparrow is one of the most exciting and original artists working in the UK today. Her practice is quirky yet subversive, luring the audience in with her soft, tactile, colorful felt creations before hitting them hard with her comment on subjects from the demise of the traditional high street to censorship in pornography. This year Lucy Sparrow will return to SCOPE Miami Beach for another incredible installation.
MAIN STAGE
The SCOPE Main Stage will host events throughout daily programming. In the morning, guests are encouraged to attend yoga and guided meditation. Afternoon activations include daily talk series and performance programming. At night guests have a chance to loosen up and blow off some steam with a-list talent that is respected worldwide. All of this is occurring alongside large-scale installations, music, and VIP tours, creating an unforgettable experience for those attending.
EXQUISITE MOVING CORPSE
Conceived as a collaboration by Chip Lord, Jack Massing and Sean Miller. In planning The Exquisite Moving Corpse (2022) Lord, Massing, and Miller made decisions to alter the methodology from a drawing strategy and apply it to video. They invited sixty artists to create a one-minute video based on the last frame of the previous minute.
Lord, Massing, and Miller made the first three minutes and then handed it off to an evolving list of artists whom they invited – a jump into the unknown! Some artists produced their one minute of footage within hours whereas others took weeks to complete their minute. The final product is a cohesive sixty minute film.
PRACTCIAL ARTS
PRACTICAL ARTS is the creative collaboration and utopian playground of Lilah Friedland and Polina Malikin. They work with other makers to create beautiful, useful objects, instigate and nurture caring relationships, and seek out soulful and ecstatic experiences. PRACTICAL ARTS works with other makers to illuminate the everyday through artistic practice in service of joy and the power of intention.
SCOPECIRCLE
SCOPE is proud to reintroduce the SCOPEcircle with a new initiative that invites top collectors to host an artwork presented by our flagship New Contemporary program. Large scale sculptures will be loaned to collectors in the spirit of building emerging artist patronage.
The SCOPEcircle is a contemporary version of a program that SCOPE built years before. The SCOPEcircle was a committee for artworld luminaries that curated and supported emerging artists projects and Emerging Artist Grants.
CURATORIAL AWARD
Greg Allen-Müller, Hyper-Realistic Straight Lines, Sculpture | Courtesy of Bahnhof Gallery
Curatorial Awards are given to exhibitors featuring an extraordinary program through solo or focused thematic curation.
SCOPE International Art Show is proud to present galleries from 23 countries in 2022. Our commitment to diversity in our program is exemplified by the generous Travel Grants that we offer exhibitors who are traveling from overseas.
MORNING WELLNESS | ALO YOGA
Join Alo, SCOPE’s official wellness partner, and start each day feeling your best. The L.A.-based activewear and lifestyle brand is bringing mindful movement to Miami Beach with energizing morning beachside yoga classes and sound baths held daily. Find your flow, tap into your power, and get centered at the start of each day before heading out to experience all that SCOPE Miami Beach has to offer.
Alo is a pioneer in mind-body wellness, with offerings designed to promote physical and mental health, and an ethos of eco-responsibility. From athlete-approved, studio-to-street clothing to clean beauty, to streaming thousands of fitness classes on the Alo Moves digital platform, the Alo brand has become synonymous with a healthy lifestyle and balanced mindset.
Programming Schedule
Morning Yoga Flow + Sound Bath | 10AM – 11AM Wednesday, November 30th Thursday, December 1st Friday, December 2nd Saturday, December 3rd Sunday, December 4th
VIP STAGE | BRAND INNOVATORS
Brand Innovators is thrilled to be the Official Content Partner at the 21st annual SCOPE Art Show. Our program – on both the Main Stage and VIP Stage – will feature a wide variety of artists, creators and other talent, as well as many senior brand marketers from Fortune 500 and other leading brands positioned at the intersection of art and culture. In addition, our Culture Shifter Awards will honor some of the most innovative and influential people shaping the future of sports, fashion and entertainment. Open your heart, mind and soul to some of the most exceptional and fascinating speakers working in front of and behind the canvas. We look forward to seeing you in South Beach!
AFTERNOON | TALKS
SCOPE presents a dynamic series of talks and events in partnership with prestigious publications, institutions and strategic partners.
Take a step into the metaverse at V, a celebration of art, culture, and technology in Web3, powered by VaynerX. The token-gated V event will transport guests to the future for an unforgettable experience, where they can explore immersive installations throughout the day, then enjoy electric entertainment all night. Presented by Johnnie Walker and featuring programming by St. Jude Children’s Hospital, AXE, One37PM, Coinbase, and PepsiCo.
SUNSETS | LATE AFTERNOON MUSIC PERFORMANCE AND ACTIVATIONS
Sunsets transform experiential afternoons into exclusive live evening performances. SCOPE’s stage will ignite with top music performers who will add a new dimension to our pavilion.
EVENING | PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS
SCOPE’s multi-day destination will transform after-hours to a premium nightlife experience and feature world-class music talent at night.
GREY GOOSE PRESENTS BAR BLEU
Grey Goose presents Bar Bleu
GREY GOOSE®, the exclusive vodka partner of SCOPE Miami Beach 2022, invites you to an immersive celebration of the martini, daily from 2PM to 8PM. A whimsical French garden comes to life on the sands of South Bach, showcasing martinis crafted by local Miami bartenders and sunset DJ sets, with moments captured in a surreal and sleek fashion for guests.
DELILAH DAY LOUNGE
Come swing and jive through this homage to the roaring ‘20s at SCOPE Miami Beach 2022. Delilah is a modern-day supper club with a vintage aesthetic. Nostalgic touches offer a warm and welcoming atmosphere as guests dine on refined American fare. Eating, drinking, and dancing converge in this luxury space as guests enjoy lounge style bottle service as the affair unfolds. Elegant yet alluring, the charm and vivacious energy of Delilah is like stepping back in time.
BOOTSY BELLOWS
Step into the residential haven that is Bootsy Bellows. First introduced in 2012 by actor David Arquette and The h.wood Group, the space mirrors Frank Sinatra’s 1940s Palm Springs home. From the pink banquettes to the lush greenery, the venue breaks the mold on traditional nightclub aesthetics with its luxurious, residential feel. Combining a variety of live entertainment, including DJs, music performances, and puppets, the locale is a decadent playground for adults. Named after Arquette’s mother, a burlesque dancer and pinup model in her time, Bootsy Bellows is a spectacle in a class of its own.
NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE LOUNGE
Experience tranquility at SCOPE 2022 as you enjoy the elevated ambiance of Norwegian Cruise Line. Take in the breathtaking views of Miami Beach from our Observation Lounge as you discover the impressive art collection featured on our ships as you sip coffee, wine, or handcrafted cocktails.
At Norwegian, we believe that each journey is unique to the individual, so we’ve created a lounge to explore, discover, connect, or relax – the choice is yours!
GALDERMA VIP LOUNGE
Immerse yourself in a true artistic experience with Galderma’s aesthetic products Restylane® and Sculptra® at SCOPE Miami Beach 2022. Come see an immersive installation by acclaimed street artist HOTTEA who uses brightly colored yarn to create larger-than-life hanging installations. In addition, express yourself with makeup by a celebrity makeup artist and receive on-site consultations and treatments.
Learn more at www.RestylaneUSA.com and www.SculptraUSA.com.
ORIGIN LOUNGE
Come experience a natural oasis designed by ORIGIN™ at SCOPE Miami Beach 2022. Take time to relax and hydrate with spring water samples at our premium bar, or unlock your creativity and work with an artist as they create a custom sketch that speaks to your ORIGIN™ Story. No matter what you choose to enjoy, expect a refreshing experience all while taking in the atmosphere of the South Beach Lounge.
THE FUTURE PARTY
Experience the future of NFT art and culture at Automatic Magic. Presented by Magic Eden and Polygon, this special event is a celebration of the passionate communities that exist across the NFT world.
Connect with leading creatives and web3 personalities who will be discussing the massive shifts occurring in the landscape and the blueprint for what’s to come. In the backdrop of Scope’s world-renowned art fair, enjoy premium drinks and food as well as unique NFT artwork available for minting at the Media Lounge.
CURATED FOOD EXPERIENCE | RESY X SHOKUDO
Discover restaurants to love in Miami, with Resy as your guide. Check out the RESY x SHOKUDO collaboration at the SCOPE Miami Beach to enjoy special bites and drinks. (Pro Tip: if you love sushi, don’t miss the Resy Roll!).
FRIDAY SUNSET | WHITE CLAW
White Claw Hard Seltzer, the official hard seltzer at SCOPE Miami Beach, is continuing its event series supporting emerging artists, Next Wave powered by BMI. Originating in Nashville, TN, this program was built to merge White Claw’s admiration and passion for music’s rising talent. This one-night show will highlight Miami’s diverse talent scene with a sound unique to the waves down in South Beach.
Writing an artist statement is an important part of being an artist. It is a way for you to communicate your ideas about your work to others. It can also be a helpful tool for you to reflect on your own practice and to identify your goals
There is no one right way to write an artist statement. In fact, it is important to make your statement your own and to reflect your unique voice and perspective. However, there are a few tips that can help you get started:
Brainstorm your ideas. Before you start writing, take some time to brainstorm your ideas. What do you want to say about your work? What are your goals as an artist? What are your influences? Once you have a good understanding of your ideas, you can start to organize them into a coherent statement. Start with a strong introduction. The first sentence of your artist statement is important. It should grab the reader’s attention and make them want to learn more about your work. You can start with a strong statement about your work, or you can tell a story about how you became an artist. Be specific. Don’t just say that you are an artist who is interested in exploring the human condition. Be specific about what aspects of the human condition you are interested in exploring. What are your thoughts on the human experience? What are your hopes and fears for humanity? Use clear and concise language. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that your audience may not understand. Write in a way that is clear, concise, and easy to read. Proofread your work carefully. Before you submit your artist statement, be sure to proofread it carefully for any errors in grammar or spelling. You should also have someone else read it over to give you feedback. Here is an example of an artist statement:
“I am a painter interested in exploring the human condition. My work often focuses on themes of isolation, alienation, and loss. I am inspired by the work of other artists who have explored these themes, such as Edward Hopper and Frida Kahlo.
In my paintings, I often depict figures in empty or desolate landscapes. These figures are often alone and isolated. They appear to be lost in thought or contemplation. I am interested in the way that these figures represent the human experience. We are all alone in our own way, and we all experience loss and alienation at some point in our lives.
My work is not meant to be depressing or hopeless. It is simply a reflection of the reality of the human condition. I hope that my work will resonate with others who have experienced similar feelings of isolation and loss. I also hope that my work will inspire others to think about the human condition in a new way.”
LINCOLN ROAD WILL BE HOME TO ART WEEK’S CENTERPIECE WITH MONUMENTAL 45-FOOT-TALL BURNING MAN SCULPTURE DURING MIAMI ART WEEK
Artist Marco Cochrane Debuts Bliss Project’s “R-Evolution” for First Time in Florida on Lincoln Road
with Official Lighting Ceremony Nov. 14
R- Evolution 4, Photo Credit_ Eleanor Preger
Lincoln Road, the iconic outdoor shopping, dining and cultural destination situated in the heart of Miami Beach, announces the arrival of a monumental 45-foot-tall, 32,000-pound kinetic sculpture during Miami Art Week named ‘R-Evolution’, that will glow in the sun and illuminate at night thanks with RGB LED lights. The towering nude female sculpture, which will be showcased on the East Coast for the first time ever, first debuted at Burning Man and was designed by Marco Cochrane, the artist behind monumental sculptures seen at the Smithsonian Art Museum and the $4.3 billion Resorts World.
‘R-Evolution’ will be on display on the 400 Block of Lincoln Road starting November 14 and will be on display through April 2024. The ‘R-Evolution’ sculpture symbolizes feminine strength and liberation, featuring 16 motors in her chest to simulate breathing and demonstrate how her energy radiates into the world by involuntary forces. Using a Pantograph – a medieval-era enlargement tool – the sculpture was built by hand by Marco using classical sculpting techniques starting with a life-size original, enlarged first to 15 foot clay version, and then to her final metal form. The completed 45 foot sculpture is made of steel rod and tubing, utilizing two layers of geodesic triangles (necessitating 55,000 welds) covered by a stainless steel mesh. ‘R-Evolution’ is the third and final sculpture in Cochrane’s “The Bliss Project” series, intended to catalyze social change by challenging bystanders to see past the sexual charge surrounding the female body. To actualize the series, Cochrane worked with singer, songwriter, dancer, model, humanitarian and farmer Deja Solis as a collaborator and model and called upon hundreds of volunteers to take part in the creation. “Lincoln Road has been the epicenter of art and culture of Miami Beach since the 1960s and has strengthened since Art Basel began here more than 20 years ago,” said Anabel Llopis, executive director of the Lincoln Road Business Improvement District. “Every year, we curate game-changing exhibits that push the boundaries of what has been done on Lincoln Road, and we can’t wait to bring Marco Cochrane’s ‘R-Evolution’ to Miami Beach residents and visitors. Our mission is to be the largest public art museum and to provide access and engagement with art to all. The piece will draw thousands to the destination with her energy and the magnitude of her presence. Being steps away from the most iconic art show, Art Basel at the Miami Beach Convention Center and Design Miami, Lincoln Road will continue to serve as a premier hub for modern culture-seekers to discover free public outdoor art.” Lincoln Road’s broad public walkway is embellished with splashing fountains, tropical gardens, and an amphitheater, influenced by Modernist Architect Morris Lapidus who was commissioned in 1960 to redesign the road by creating a shopping esplanade in the Art Deco Style. Located just steps from the Miami Beach Convention Center, Lincoln Road is the most-visited open-air destination in South Florida, with over 8 million visitors annually. Lincoln Road showcases free outdoor public art year-round, displaying permanent works and pop-up installations by famous local, national and international artists at every turn. Works include Dan Graham’s “Steel-and-Glass Concave,” a fun house-like homage to architect Morris Lapidus; a mural inside H&M by local self-taught Cuban-American artist ABSTRK that bridges the gap between Miami Beach’s art deco architecture and the compositional lines of gestural graffiti; and a captivating work by contemporary artist Bradley Theodore on the exterior wall of Chotto Matte that celebrates the restaurant’s Peruvian roots with colorful icon depictions. This exhibition continues the rich history of previous exhibitions on Lincoln Road including 2020’s “Botero on Lincoln Road” public art show, a series of monumental bronze sculptures by world-renowned Colombian artist Fernando Botero, whose work has been showcased in famous destinations such as the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Yebisu Garden Place in Tokyo, the Lustgarten in Berlin and Park Avenue in New York City, and 2022’s open-air activation featuring bright, geometric, life-size animal statues from French artist Richard Orlinski’s Champs-Élysées exhibition.
R-Evolution 3, Photo Credit_ Eleanor Preger
About the Lincoln Road District
Situated in the heart of Miami Beach, the Lincoln Road District is a premier retail, lifestyle and cultural destination that is home to about 200 restaurants and shops, entertainment, and arts and cultural offerings. Lincoln Road ranked as the most-visited open-air destination in South Florida, with over 8 million visits in 2022. Affectionately referred to by some as “Miami’s living room,” there is nothing as quintessentially Miami Beach as Lincoln Road. It’s the street where models walk their dogs after runway shows, where stylish boulevardiers stroll past window shoppers, and where café culture overrules standard business meetings. Music and entertainment lovers will find refuge in the Lincoln Road District, home to the New World Symphony, Oolite Arts, Colony Theatre and Regal South Beach movie theater. Steps away is the newly remodeled Miami Beach Convention Center, which welcomes world-renowned Art Basel Miami Beach every December. For more information, visit lincolnroad.com
INTERVIEW WITH RICARDO CARBONELL/CONTEMPORARY COLLAGE
BY MILAGROS BELLO *
Venezuelan artist Ricardo Carbonell has been developing his work for over ten years. Quietly and patiently, intimately, and privately, without fanfare or demonstrations, the artist quietly carries out his creative work at home, where each day he dedicates time to his discoveries in contemporary collage, experimenting with new methods. One of his most active fronts currently he is working on a particular technique of contemporary collage that brings together objects from everyday life: stickers, commercial labels, luggage tags, tax stamps, stamps, beer cans, wine bottles, envelopes, ice cream sticks, bottle caps, business cards, maps, packaging, credit cards, out-of-circulation banknotes to restore time and give an identity to the collective memory characterized by consumption, accumulation, capitalist production strategies, and brand creation. The objects in Carbonell’s work function as remnants of time and as relics. Carbonell also uses, in his collages, an unorthodox approach that goes further: the meticulous cutting of electrical tape into small strips, which he “glues” in geometric numerical sequences, creating expansive and changing rhythmic visual pathways. He also incorporates crayons and markers in abstract interventions traced with rectilinear geometries in columns and spiral, triangular, and cubic shapes. A notable fact is that these lines and marks always hide structural numerology, the number 11 and its multiples, as a sharp political reference that marked the world and him, which were the events of September 11, 2001, in the USA. He works indistinctly on paper or canvas, paving the way for reflection on new directions that can be explored in contemporary collage. In a creative, systematic way, his works are produced in sets and series, each time linked by a conceptual thread. The work is meticulous and focused, requiring long hours of patient and determined labor. His studio is an intimate space no larger than a room, where in addition to his work desk, there are books, paintings, markers, crayons, and objects collected for over ten years, the product of a discerning eye honed in the throwaway society. Since 2019, he has consecutively participated in curated exhibitions at Curator’s Voice Art Projects and MIA Curatorial Projects. He has also been part of fairs such as West Palm Beach, Hamptons Art Fair, and ICFF New York. His work has been featured in two biennial editions at the European Cultural Center in Venice, Italy, in the context of the Venice Biennale (2019, 2022).
MILAGROS BELLO: What led you to use contemporary collage as a technique in your artistic work?
RICARDO CARBONELL: The root of my inclination for contemporary collage dates to a constant search for images. Since childhood, I have collected objects that captured my attention in a special box. They were all sorts of found elements, a passion for collecting, for preserving. Memories of the collages I admired at MOMA during the 1960s remain vivid, those by Picasso, Duchamp, Marx Ernst, and Kurt Schwitters. I was struck by how they repositioned fragments of different images. I was discovering a new reality.
Similarly, I was impressed by the iconic works of Andy Warhol. The famous Campbell’s soup cans were essentially a reappropriation of an image borrowed from another context that Warhol transferred to a new setting, creating new meanings. I was also impressed by the skill of artists like Alejandro Otero, who used newspapers, brushes, and saws in their works, a great creative technique I saw at the Museum of Fine Arts. Otero broke with traditional methods and opened a new avenue for the unrestricted use of materials, proceeding with great creative freedom. In the 1970s, I kept copies of the newspaper “El Nacional” for years, along with product labels, which planted the idea of storing materials for future use. For years, I maintained this practice of saving material that I could use later. I’ve been collecting them with an almost obsessive insistence, like anthropological collecting. Elements such as stamps, seals, luggage tags, packaging, and everything considered waste accumulate a history, reveal a historical or social moment, and show the permanence of realities and circumstances over time. There was a need to gather objects that represented experienced moments and then give them new life in a new narrative, as the “collagists” of the 1960s or Warhol did, harmonizing elements into unique units and blocks of new meanings. Discovering the existence of collages gave me the confidence that collecting could be effective. Patience has been my constant ally in creating each piece. However, I still want to tackle the challenge of producing large collages using heavier and more complex materials.
MB: What is the significance behind incorporating labels, luggage tags, consumer products, and other elements in your artwork?
RC: Within my artworks, I find meaning in the inclusion of a variety of elements: labels from cans, cardboard boxes, tax stamps on alcoholic beverages, fragments of sweetener packets, ice cream sticks, stickers, candy wrappers, credit cards, product packaging, and coins, as well as luggage and parking tickets, invoices, business cards, stamps, pens, wine labels, and metal plates. The purpose behind this choice is to resurrect and give new life to objects that have served their original purpose, allowing them to become a crucial part of my artistic compositions. I am intensely fascinated with collecting tax stamps; their presence evokes memories of when I discovered them at fifteen. Similarly, parking tickets, legally known as “tarjas,” old banknotes, and broken fragments of sweetener packets have obsessively captured my interest. Emphasis is placed on broken shards, as they reflect life’s unpredictable and non-linear nature. Just as we, as individuals, are composed of various elements and experiences that gradually come together, we are like a puzzle in constant formation. This amalgamation of elements finds cohesion in our values and the dimensions we can encompass.
MB: How would you describe the meticulous technique of cutting straight strips of electrical tape in various sizes in your creations?
RC: The technique I employ in my creations involves skillfully cutting electrical tape into various sizes and rectilinear shapes but always aiming for the organic nature of the cut, allowing subtle irregularities that reveal the movements of the hands rather than the cold precision of a machine cutting material. Making these cuts goes beyond the surface; it involves an inner challenge that tests my skill and perseverance. Each cut demands strength and concentration, serving as a self-evaluation exercise. Each cut requires dexterity and precision. The scissors become an essential tool in this process, demanding a more intensive skill set than what might be needed for a simple brush in other forms of artistic expression. Each cut is like a stroke on the canvas. The entire construction of my work is based on the pre-selection and arrangement of these “strokes” that exist in my mind before they are physically executed. My goal is to achieve visual surprises in the accidental tracing of cuts as an expression of the nature of human movement. Currently, I’m exploring the possibility of establishing a deep connection between my series of electrical tape-cut columns and the world of musical composition, seeking to create a unique and meaningful amalgamation of both artistic expressions.
MB: What role do the colors available in the industrial tape market play in your artistic process?
RC: In my artistic process, the colors available in the industrial tape market play an essential and unique role. I have developed a numerical system that allows me to categorize different colors. Despite the inherent limitations of the color palette of these industrial tapes, I have managed to transcend these restrictions and use them as a creative starting point rather than an inhibiting obstacle. In every new country I can visit, I explore the variations and options of adhesive tapes available in the local market. This constant research enriches my expressive possibilities. Currently, I am working on a series of canvas pieces where I blend colors, meticulously placing adhesive tape to form grids or networks. Collage transforms into something else, a leap into a different visual context.
MB: How do you use numbers to determine the organization of the rectangles of adhesive tape in each artwork, and what importance do these numbers hold in your creative work?
RC: Using numbers in the arrangement of adhesive tape rectangles within each artwork has a profound and multifaceted meaning in my creative approach. In particular, I have adopted the number 11 as a symbol in honor of the victims of September 11, 2001, an event that transformed the course of our civilization and marked a turning point in our history. My choice of this number seeks to pay tribute and remember its influence. The consistent presence of the number 11 in my work establishes an organizational system or method. It drives me to maintain regularity in my series without restricting my ability to explore other alternatives. In addition to the 11 series, I have developed the 46 and 19 series, each with its own set of implications and variations. Using numbers serves a pragmatic function by avoiding distractions and ambiguities in identifying my works while infusing a sense of order and coherence throughout them, similar to how the assigned numbers to Jackson Pollock’s works impacted their visual presentation. One of my most significant works is Symphony #21, a composition on paper that spans 10.08 meters (399 inches). This piece consists of 21 parts, each formed by seven segments of 3 columns, and each column is further divided into five parts, representing different colors. Each piece within this visual symphony carries harmony and meticulous balance, resonating throughout the composition. My approach to contemporary collage is where I’m venturing into new coordinates.
**Curator Milagros Bello holds a Ph.D. in Sociology with a doctoral thesis in Sociology of Art from the University of Sorbonne (Paris VII-Jussieu) and a master’s degree in art history from the University of Sorbonne (University of Paris I), both located in Paris, France. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, specializing in Clinical Psychology, from the Central University of Venezuela and pursued postgraduate courses in Family and Individual Counseling in her home country, Venezuela. Dr. Bello is an art critic, a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), and a member of the National Federation of Psychologists of Venezuela. She is an independent curator and directs MIA Curatorial Projects (formerly known as Curator’s Voice Art Projects, founded in 2010 in the Wynwood Art District of Miami). From 2010 to the present, Dr. Bello has curated numerous contemporary art exhibitions at both the national and international levels. During April-November 2022, as part of the 59th Venice Biennale, she curated the exhibition “Americans: Current Imaginaries,” which was on display until November 2022 at the European Cultural Center in Venice, Italy. She is a lecturer at museums and art institutes, a writer for local and international art magazines, and a former editor-in-chief of the art magazine Arte Al Dia International. For fourteen years, from 2000 to 2014, she taught as an art professor in various theoretical areas of specialization, including Critical Theories, Art History, Modern and Contemporary Photography History, and Sociology, at the postgraduate and undergraduate levels at American universities such as Florida International University (FIU), Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Miami International University (The Art Institute/Miami), and Istituto Marangoni/Miami. She is the director and chief curator of MIA Curatorial Projects in Miami (formerly Curator’s Voice Art Projects, founded in the Wynwood Art District in 2010). Dr. Bello is also a mentor and motivational coach for artists. You can find her on Instagram at @milagrosbellocurator and @miacuratorial, and you can contact her at [email protected].
Courtesy of Saype | 2021 New Contemporary Installation
Courtesy of the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Courtesy of Connor Tingley Studio | Photographed by Quinn Matthews
Made possible by SCOPE
Courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery
Courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery
Made possible by SCOPE
James Reyes, Untitled, 2023 | Courtesy of Ki Smith Gallery
Greg Allen-Müller, Hyper-Realistic Straight Lines, Sculpture | Courtesy of Bahnhof Gallery
Angèle Etoundi Essamba, Deploiement, Photography | Courtesy of Galerie Carole Kvasnevski
Angèle Etoundi Essamba, Deploiement, Photography | Courtesy of Galerie Carole Kvasnevski
