by Patrick Ogle

Untitled Art (Miami Beach) 2021, not only has an excellent selection of artists who, in turn, have an outstanding selection of artists, the venue itself is always bright, without the lights so often required to  illuminate pieces at art fairs and  shows. It is spacious too which is comforting in the current climate.

Unfortunately some art translates less to photos even in such a well lit environment than others. Reader by Sylvia Maier is one of several pieces shown by the artist at the Malin Gallery (New York) booth.  In the previous piece an artist was compared to Hieronymous Bosch. Maier calls to mind Renaissance artists and even Rembrandt. This isn’t referring to some attempt to copy or even necessarily stylistic similarities but intent. These are portraits not just of people but of their context, of their time. You need to see them in person

You can go to her page at the gallery website to see and read more. Go HERE.

The bat’s below were created by Aiden Rumack and shown by Bertrand Productions (Philadelphia). Hopefully there will be an interview with the artist going into the details. One tantalizing part is his use of the same material used in scratch off lottery tickets. You can see that in some cases he has done some “scratching off” on these pieces.

Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art (Milwaukee) showed work by Shari Urquhart. The artist is a Wisconsin native and her rug hookings span a period of over 20 years and use a variety of materials ranging from hand dyed yarn to mohair and metallic fibers (and more). It wasn’t all that long ago that such textile work was not considered fine art by many. Now? Such marvelous work is embraced as it should be.

This is likely one of the half dozen most eye-catching pieces at Untitled Miami Beach 2021.

Demetri Broxton‘s pieces here are boxing gloves adorned with a variety of items.
 
The pieces are shown by Patricia Sweetow Gallery (San Francisco). The closest glove is adorned with cowrie shells which were often used as currency in West Africa. The particular cowries here were from a species from other areas (including the Philippines where one of the artist’s grandmother came from). The title of this piece is Worst Come to Worst and is inspired by hip hop artist, Dilated Peoples. Another of the gloves was inspired by a Kendrick Lamar song. These are not just complex in construction but in conception as well.