X Contemporary "WOW's" Art Enthusiasts During Miami Art Week

X Contemporary – the forward-thinking art fair and exhibition platform – debuted its sophomore edition at Nobu Hotel Miami Beach during Miami Art Week. Among the offerings on view were presentations by returning exhibitor TIMEBAG and first-time exhibitors Urbaniza Studio Gallery, Emillions and The Bishop Gallery; an on-site historical exhibition, “The Women Who Made Modern Art Modern,” organized by returning consulting curator Michael Klein; and special artist projects by Rachel Lee Hovnanian, Ruvan Wijesooriya and Sandra Muss. A portion of proceeds from the ticket sales were donated to ProjectArt, recently named a winner of the Knight Foundation’s ninth annual Knight Arts Challenge Miami.

TIMEBAG presented Juan Obando’s “A Bird Without A Song,” a video-sculpture in the form of an oversized mobile phone displaying a looping Tinder-profile animation. The video was a geo-located rendition of the song “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Prince in the voice of Sinead O’Connor, lip-synced by animating profile pictures of users in the vicinities of the Chapinero neighborhood in Bogotá, Colombia.

Among the works presented by Urbaniza Studio Gallery were paintings by Julio Breff Guilarte, a self-taught Cuban painter who has been active since the mid-1980s. His practice is inspired by Primitivism, portraying whimsical agricultural, urban and bucolic scenes of Cuban life that nonetheless serve as subtly subversive allegories of the Castro regime.

Emillions, a boutique art consulting firm specializing in bringing the world of contemporary art and masterworks, presented Alain Beraud, whose neo-Cubist paintings are greatly influenced by 20th century Cubism, and who takes the quotidian moments of being—eating, bathing, reflecting—into new dimensions and perspectives. Also on view were paintings by Mercedes Lesarte, who is strongly influenced by the giants of impressionism and post-impressionism, as reflected in her use of Gaugin-inspired cloissonisme, a technique in which colors covering wide areas or flat surfaces are separated so that they do not touch or superimpose each other.

“Neptune’s Place: Early Works by Jean-Michel Basquiat” was a special presentation from first-time exhibitor The Bishop Gallery featuring thirty never-before-exhibited works curated by Al Diaz, aka SAMO©.

X Contemporary also featured the on-site historical exhibition “The Women Who Made Modern Art Modern.” Organized by Consulting Curator Michael Klein, the exhibition included works that passed through the collections of twelve influential women dealers active in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

New York-based multidisciplinary feminist artist Rachel Lee Hovnanian and Imago Galleries presented the FMLMBD Charging Station, in which the iconic symbol of a dying battery was transformed into a larger-than-life wall-mounted neon sculpture with text reading “FUCK MY LIFE / MY BATTERY’S DEAD.” In the glow of this sentiment, visitors were able to activate and disrupt a dormant formal arrangement of white boxes marked with red crosses by charging their “dying” digital devices.

“How to Buy Art” was an experimental self-service art booth at X Contemporary featuring photographs by Ruvan Wijesooriya. Fulfilling the impulses of our instant gratification culture, “How to Buy Art” was an innovative approach to art sales that allowed visitors to take the art off the wall. Taking its cue from the self-check out aisle of chain stores, this style of art buying removed the pesky human interaction part from the art-buying process. “How to Buy Art” gave consumers the agency to both sell and buy, creating an alternative model of exchange in which there was uncertainty and, the artist hopes, surprise.

Also on view was Sandra Muss’ new sculptural series “Permutations,” which incorporated re-used industrial doors that were scratched and nicked and weather-worn by decades of factory life. The artist repositioned these as structures that not only serve metaphorically as gateways to other dimensions, but that also collectively represented the experiences of life, both spiritual and emotional. With these new pieces, Muss became a visual alchemist who enjoyed the challenge of abstractly illustrating with her doors the choices we make throughout our lives; bringing us love, growth and life-transforming opportunities.

A portion of the proceeds from X Contemporary’s ticket sales were donated to ProjectArt, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that transforms public libraries into vital cultural hubs that offer students year-round visual art classes taught by emerging contemporary visual artists. ProjectArt is currently serving Miami's youth through five public libraries of the Miami Dade Public Library System. Adarsh Alphons, who founded ProjectArt in 2011 states, "We're pleased to have the support of X Contemporary and plan to use all funds directly to serve our free art programs for youth in Miami."

Olu & Company. (2016). X Contemporary’s Sophomore Edition Brings Historic and Timely Exhibitions to Nobu Hotel Miami Beach for Miami Art Week. [Press Release].