Art Basel Miami Beach is one of the largest art fairs held in the country every December. These art fairs also include Aqua Art Miami, Art Miami, CONTEXT Art Miami, Art Spot Miami, Design Miami, Form Miami, Fridge Art Fair Miami, Pulse Miami, Scope Art Show, Spectrum Art Fair and many more!
Art Miami and CONTEXT Art Miami are two of the art fairs shown under the umbrella of the Art Basel week in Miami Beach that I visit. Unlike last year, this time many galleries have emerged representing figurative realism. Also, there were more Asian galleries as well as galleries showing photography. Let’s dive in.
Art Miami and Context Art Miami at Miami Art Basel Week 2017
This video is a visual roundup of Miami art galleries, international galleries, 3D art and figurative realism art in Art Miami 2017. You’ll find the images and artists’ names in the article below.
Figurative realism artists and galleries
Brad Kunkle
In Brad Kunkle’s figurative paintings the feminine is symbolic of the intuitive that helps us connect to our purpose. By teaching us to study and to interpret artwork, the artist wants us to be more conscious of life and intuition and to feel the magic of life through his paintings. Brad Kunkle depicts women in a palette of warm browns set against the shiny silver leaf to express his idea of female softness and confidence.
To learn more: bradkunkle.com
Yigal Ozeri
Yigal Ozeri’s figurative realism is so stunning, it takes a while to believe that these are realistic oil paintings. Born in Israel in 1958, the artist works in New York creating large-scale paintings of women set in lush landscapes. The cinematic quality of his work forces us to stare and study every inch of the oil painting to believe that these are in fact realistic paintings. The artist is represented by Zemack Contemporary Art Gallery.
Clio Newton
Born 1989, Swiss artist Clio Newton creates hyperrealist, gigantic drawings of women in charcoal that are larger than life. The artist captures women with unbelievable anatomical accuracy in black and white that become towering statements of the artist’s talent. to To learn more: www.clionewton.com
Alonsa Guevara
Alonsa Guevara, Fernanda’s Ceremony, 80×32 in, oil on canvas | Anna Zorina Gallery, NY.
Originally from Chile, Alonsa is one of young figurative painters who shows her work during the Miami art fair. Alonsa’s fruit portraits are about desire. The desire to move people. Paintings of nude women that are often self-portraits are mixed with lush fruit and flowers that represent the fertility and life, mystery and birth.
To learn more: www.alonsaguevara.com
Mr. Brainwash
If you wish to understand how this street artist Mr. Brainwash made a name for himself and sold art for millions without any previous knowledge or background in art, you must watch the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, 2010. His work continues to appear during the Miami art week to capture the art enthusiasts.
Mary Jane Ansell
Mary Jane Ansell is a British artist, who presents figurative realism in a new way, mixing up the baroque influences with military costumes and emotion. She creates the narratives around strong women that appear lost in their own quietness and self-reflection.
Mike Dargas
Oversized, hyper-realistic paintings of German artist Mike Dargas depict women’s faces soaking in either chocolate or honey. Discovered on Instagram, the artist often exhibits at the Opera gallery now. To learn more: mikedargas.com
Bernardo Torrens
A self-taught Spanish artist paints female nudes in monochromatic colors. He is represented by Louis K. Meisel Gallery.
Carlos Rolon
Carlos Rolon, decadence upon decadence, oil and gold leaf on canvas. Born in Chicago, the artist paints stylized yet delicate floral compositions heightening the baroque luxury with shiny gold leaf.
Fernando Botero
Colombian artist Fernando Botero is one of the most popular representational painters and sculptors today who is known for his humorous ‘fat’ figures that are also expressions of political criticism.
Marco Grassi
Playful and colorful, figurative realism art by Marco Grassi is a visual treat. He’s a popular contemporary artist often shown at big art fairs internationally. These portraits of girls have freshness and vigor heightened by the gold leaf shine.
Silvio Porzionato
Italian artist Silvio Porzionato paints large-scale portraits with amazing skill, dragging paint across the background to reveal the humanity of the face and hands.
Bringing Korean artists to the Miami art fair, this art gallery is a pleasant surprise. Figurative realism art becomes a lot more than painting where non-glamorous people star in paintings made of scratches and aluminum.
3D art, sculpture and animation
In the video you see some animation paintings/digital media represented by the Priveekollektie Contemporary Art and Design gallery located in the Netherlands. In Bloomed wall, we study the movement of nature reminiscent of the Dutch still life painting in a series of ‘paintings’ that play animated flowers, birds, and more.
To learn more: www.priveekollektie.art
Carole A. Feuerman
American artist Carole Feuerman belongs to the Hyperrealism movement making life-like sculptures. She casts real people to produce sculptural hyperreal artk that symbolizes strength, survival, and balance. To learn more: www.carolefeuerman.com
Josepha Gasch-Muche
German artist Josepha Gasch-Muche makes glass sculptures from razor-sharp industrial liquid crystal display glass pieces! She breaks and arranges thin sheets of glass into strands to make geometric shapes. The artist is presented by the Heller gallery at Art Miami 2017.
Metis Atash
B.1979, German artist Metis Atash comes from the consultancy business in Germany to become the creator of sculptures that represent the duality of life and beyond. To learn more: longsharpgallery.com
Peter Anton
Peter Anton is a popular sculptor whose obsession is chocolate, ice cream and sweets! To learn more: www.peteranton.com
Liquid Art System
Photography
Jeff Robb
British photographer Jeff Robb experiments with three-dimensional imaging by taking pictures of the female nudes frozen in action and placing them in his lenticular photography. The lenticular photographs give us a mirage of volume and slight movement of a figure depending on the spectator’s point of view.
Ruud van Empel
This is one of few photographs that stood out from a crowd of paintings at the Miami art fair. The unusual part is seeing a black kid set in a beautiful, not diminishing way. And even more surprising part is that the artist is white – Dutch photographer Ruud van Empel. A child with mesmerizing eyes doesn’t really exist because the artist’s pictures are multilayered images. Photoshoped from many photographs, these black girls look like painted figures – symbols of childhood innocence. This deliberate deconstruction and reconstruction of digital imagery gives the art a mesmerizing quality.
To learn more: www.ruudvanempel.nl
Javier Bellomo Coria
Javier Bellomo Coria is an Argentinian artist who finds his influences in photography and architecture to create figurative paper sculptures. Realistic portraits look like gigantic puzzle paintings seen from the distance, yet when you walk around one, you find another image – a landscape printed on the other side of the artwork. The multi printed image is cut into numerous pieces and assembled again to reveal human fragility and multiplicity.
To learn more: www.javierbellomo.com
Russell Young
Russell Young, Marilyn, acrylic screen print Femme Fatale series. Russell Young’s oversized and glamorous depictions of iconic celebrities and figures are chosen based on a personal tragedy of each celebrity. Death, addiction or other fatalities brought them down only to glamorize their status even more. Just like Warhol, the artist knows how to attract attention to his work, combining the diamond dust with the iconic imagery everyone is more than familiar with.
This painting concludes my explorations in figurative realism at the Miami Art Basel Week 2017. Hope you like discovering new figurative painters and gain some insight into contemporary Miami art scene and beyond!
