Art Basel in Miami Beach | Must-See Exhibitions

Artwork: Mary Ellen Mark. Tiny blowing a bubble (during “Streetwise”), Seattle, 1983. Gelatin silver print; printed later, 11 x 14 inches. From an edition of 25. Numbered in pencil with estate stamp on print verso.

With 269 galleries exhibiting at Art Basel in Miami Beach this year, the Miami Beach Convention Center will be transformed into intergalactic experience of art. With so many shows under just one roof, Crave spotlights must-see exhibitions in this year’s edition.

Also: Art Basel in Miami Beach | Everything You Need to Know

Gjon MIli. Picasso Space Drawing, France (vase of flowers), 1949. Gelatin silver print; printed c. 1949. 9 1/2 X 12 1/4 inches. Mounted. Annotated with credit, title and date in an unknown hand in ink and pencil, with credit and ‘LIFE Magazine ‘ stamps on mount verso.

Gjon Mili at Howard Greenberg Gallery

Howard Greenberg Gallery is home to some of the finest photographers, including Crave faves Mary Ellen Mark, Lisette Model, and Edward Burtynsky. One of the few photography galleries in attendance at Art Basel in Miami Beach, Howard Greenberg will present a dynamic collection of historical and vintage works, with a strong showing of mid-twentieth century women artists. Among the gems is “Picasso Space Drawing,” by Gjon Mili, made in 1949 for LIFE Magazine. This particular work reveals the magic that happens when two masters align their talents in search of delving into uncharted realms, exploring the space where photography and painting become one through the act of creation itself. It is an inspiration to us all, a reminder the limitless possibilities that exist within the vast expanses of human imagination and ingenuity.

JEAN (HANS) ARP. Sans titre c. 1964 – 1966, Painted wood relief 13 5/8 x 13 inches (34.5 x 33 cm) © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Outer Space at Dominique Lévy

Artists are among the few who dare to travel into the worlds of the unknown, to explore the dark corners of the mind and bring forth a new vision of the world, sharing their discoveries in an act of courage that inspires and encourages us to go beyond the socially proscribed boundaries of existence.

In celebration, Dominique Lévy presents Outer Space, a selection of works by artists that travel through the mysterious portals of consciousness in an effort to articulate the ineffable. Featuring works by Lee Bontecou, Alexander Calder, Lucio Fontana, Frank Stella, Jean Arp, and Tony Smith, among others, Outer Space is a profoundly provocative contemplation of the nature of art and the way it can inform thought.

Alexander Rodchenko, Composition, 1917, Courtesy Galerie Gmurzynska

“The Future is Our Only Goal” at Galerie Gmurzynska

On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, curator Norman Rosenthal looks back at the avant-garde artists who revolutionized the visual arts with an aesthetic so bold and powerful it continues to resonate.

As major museums including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Tate Modern, London, prepare to dazzle the world with the timeless work of the Suprematists and Constructivists, Galerie Gmurzynska provides a preview of their brilliance in abstraction, advertising, architecture, cinema, construction, design, fashion, figuration, music, poetry, and posters in a booth designed by Claude Picasso. Featuring works by Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Rodchenko, Sonia Delaunay, and Olga Rozanova, among others, “The Future Is Our Only Goal” holds true in more ways than one.

DAVID HAMMONS. Untitled. c. 1986, beads and feathers in wine bottle. 12 x 3 x 3 inches (30.5 x 7.6 x 7.6 cm). Artwork © David Hammons. Courtesy Mnuchin Gallery. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

David Hammons at Mnuchin Gallery

Over the past five decades, David Hammons has grown to become one of the most innovative and influential artists of our time, combining the spirit of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements with the found-object assemblages of Dada and the humble materials of Arte Povera. Earlier this year, Mnuchin Gallery presented David Hammons: Five Decades, a career survey tracing the evolution of the artist’s entire oeuvre from the late 1960s to the present day. A selection of his works will be on view during Art Basel in Miami Beach.

LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE. Sing Songs to Any Sinner, 2016, oil on linen, 78 3/4 x 47 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches. ©Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Courtesy of the artist, Corvi-Mora, London, and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Jack Shainman Gallery

Hailing from London by way of Ghana, painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a rising star in the artwork. Her sumptuous portraits recall the Romanticism and Realism, combined with equal grace, evoking the spirit of Francisco Goya, Edgar Degas, and Edouard Manet in equal part. She is a painter of society, of the people and how they live, directing her gaze upon black lives and rendering the beauty and soul she discovers here with the hand of a poet. Her painting, Sing Songs to Any Sinner, will be on display at Jack Shainman Gallery, brilliantly evoking the soft, subtle, and sensuous humanism that is inherent to every image she creates.

Fabienne Verdier, Mutation, 2016, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 72 x 160 1/4 in / 183 x 407 cm

Fabienne Verdier: Rhythms and Reflections at Waddington Custot

French artist Fabienne Verdier brilliantly crosses the boundaries of the sensual world, dedicating herself to the visualization of sound. She observes, “Everything in this world is vibration: forces in constant movement, combinations of rhythms and reflections of the real. We ourselves are rhythms steeped in the great universal rhythm. As the Mexican poet Octavio Paz once said: ‘Rhythm is not a tempo: it is a vision of the world.’”

In conjunction with Rhythms and Reflections, her first solo exhibition in London, currently on view through February 4, 2017, Waddington Custot brings the work of Fabienne Verdier to Art Basel in Miami Beach. Her paintings come alive as they sit quietly on the walls, invoking the beat of the heart that mirrors the beat of the drums. It is truly a breathtaking experience to behold.


Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.

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