Miami art galleries embrace the abandonment of summer to show artist’s extraordinary inventiveness.
Moira Holohan, Head Bang I, 2023, Diptych woven hemp cord on drawn and painted wood panel. Private collection in Miami PHOTO BY FRANCESCO CASALE, COURTESY OF EMERSON DORSCH AND THE ARTIST
Quiet months no longer exist in Miami, yet summer still provides art galleries with seasonal stimulus to experiment. Four gallerists pay homage to artists whose eclectic inspirations bring new meaning to traditional artmaking processes. These “out of the box” exhibitions are spirited summer must-sees.
Sam Stewart at KDR305
Before opening in Allapattah, Katia David Rosenthal founded her gallery in her Little Havana home in 2021 to showcase contemporary painters and ceramicists. This summer, Rosenthal changes directions to feature an exhibition of wooden models and casts by North Carolina artist Sam Stewart. Titled “Anonymous Sculpture,” the exhibition is an ode to the austere photographs of the often-overlooked industrial buildings by a renowned German artist couple, Bernd and Hilla Becher. Stewart interpretatively sculpts the depicted structures, attempting to capture the essence of these wonderfully curious visual monuments. Sam Stewart: Anonymous Sculpture is on view at KDR305, 790 NW 22nd St., from May 10-Jun. 8,kdr305.com
Jasmine Little, Caly x Crater, 2023, ceramic; Jasmine Little, Little Shop of Horrors, 2023, stoneware and glaze PHOTO: COURTESY OF NINA JOHNSON AND THE ARTIST
Moira Holohan at Emerson Dorsch
Moira Holohan’s process starts with creating videos, in which she selects a single frame to translate into weavings and paintings. These static wall pieces often include Chroma Green blocks depicting the green screen backdrop used when making the video. Inspired by the Punk movement, Holohan’s videos have also included her head-banging. Once made static, her movement and image appear abstract, playfully prodding at the stylistic approaches of 20th Century abstractionists and commiserating with their, and “punk rock’s,” counter-cultural sentiments in favor of free expression. Often sculptural in texture, Moira Holohan: Ergo Argot is on view at Emerson Dorsch, 5900 NW 2nd Ave., from Apr. 18–Jun. 1,emersondorsch.com
Jasmine Little at Nina Johnson
In addition to four artworks based on classic Dutch paintings, Los Angeles-based artist Jasmine Little exhibits 12 carved ceramic and stoneware vessels in the gallery’s exhibition library. Although her vessels stylistically recall Greek carvings, Renaissance paintings, and ancient manuscripts, their subject matter and clay composite are uniquely contemporary. Mythological figures interact with female protagonists between patterned planes, suggestive of various realms of reality. At first glance, Little’s applications are gestural and appear rudimentary but are layered with carefully placed texture, color and narrative whimsy—stirring curiosity. Jasmine Little’s ceramics are on view at Nina Johnson, 6315 NW 2nd Ave., from May 23–Jul. 13,ninajohnson.com
Harold Mendez, Whatsayer, 2023, charcoal, collage, frottage, archival print, dried cacti and ceiba tree flowers, tea leaves, cotton, aluminum, pigment, goat skin, thread, and oxidized copper on paper, lacquer frame. PHOTO: COURTESY OF VOLOSHYN GALLERY AND THE ARTIST.
Haunted I and Haunted II at Voloshyn Gallery
Have you ever felt the eyes of a portrait follow you around the room? In two connected exhibitions, curators Omar Lopez-Chahoud and Gean Moreno explore the notion that artworks are carriers of ghostly forces. Haunted I and Haunted II aim to reframe our understanding of the past by featuring contemporary artists whose works question historical narratives. These artists also propose new methods for self-definition and navigating the boundaries that social conventions impose. Haunted I and Haunted II is perhaps a nod to Voloshyn Gallery’s primary location in Kyiv, Ukraine. Haunted I and Haunted II are on view at Voloshyn Gallery, 802 NW 22nd St., from Apr. 4-May 12 and May 17-Jun. 29, respectively,voloshyngallery.art
Photography by: Photo By: Francesco Casale; Courtesy of Nina Johnson and artist; Courtesy of Voloshyn Gallery and artist
