Art Basel in Miami Beach | Local Gallery Guide

Artwork © Lillian Bassman, courtesy of Dina Mitrani Gallery

As tens of thousands of art collectors, socialites, and celebrities descend on Miami Beach to take in the vast scope of Art Basel and two dozen satellite fairs, local galleries show out with the best. Crave spotlights some of this year’s best.

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

Awol Erizku: I Was Going to Call It Your Name but You Didn’t Let Me at Nina Johnson (November 28, 2016-January 14, 2017), the artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, features a selection of 20 paintings accompanied by a sound collage to create a sumptuous, immersive experience. Erizku, who is Los Angeles-based, draws from his local environment to create a transformative experience that transforms and transports the city’s energy into an aesthetic landscape designed to engage the senses.

Artwork © Awol Erizku, courtesy of Nina Johnson

Graciela Sacco: A donde va la Furia? at Diana Lowenstein Gallery (November 18-January 28, 2017) takes its title from the words of Georges Didi-Huberman who asks, “¿A dónde va la Furia?…la revuelta no significa emancipación. [Where does the fury go? …the revolt does not mean emancipation.]” Such poignant words could not be more on time, and find voice in the work of the Argentian photographer, video, and installation artist, who creates images that reflect on issues of the vast, global issues of government corruption, authoritarianism, violence, and crime.

Lillian Bassman: Elegance at Dina Mitrani Gallery (now through December 30, 2016) presents a selection of works by Crave fave, the Queen of 20th Century Fashion Photography. Bassman understood the complexities of the feminine better than most anyone else, able to convey the mystery, charm, and nuance of women in high contrast black and white. No less than Richard Avedon stated of her work, “It’s magical what she does. No one else in the history of photography has made visible that heartbreaking invisible place between the appearance and disappearance of things.”

Jorge Enrique: Borders at Waltman Ortega Fine Art (now through December 27, 2016) dissolves the boundaries we create to organize our perceptions of the world, offering a more integrated approach to dualistic thinking. By blurring the lines between object and void, painting and sculpture, image and object, Enrique invites us reconsider our attachment to preconceived ideas and enter into a more nebulous space, one which invites a new approach to freedom of thought.

Alexis Gideon: The Comet and the Glacier at Locust Projects (November 19, 2016-January 21, 2017) is a video opera and immersive installation that transforms the gallery into a surreal dreamscape. Gideon, who originally trained as a musician and composer, dips into his past to create a real and fictionalized multi-layered story. Centered on a fictional book titled The Almanac by imaginary author Frederick Otto Bühler, which is discovered by Alexis, a character based on the artist. The exhibition explores our relationship to memory, history, and storytelling, drawing the audience into a masterful weaving of déjà vu. Live performances will be held on November 19, and then again November 28-December 4.

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.