Travel Review
Winter 2021/2022
Miami Art Show 2021
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I was immediately introduced to what was to come after walking up on a very dark-looking exhibit featuring a dog. I then heading towards what I believed was the main entrance to the exhibit but was given a slight run around as I was told to go over here, then there, then here again before I ran into a nice gentleman named Juan at the Art Miami entrance who was working the event and was nice enough to allow me to enter that pop up tent then walk to the CONTEXT area in a different section of that enormous tent.

Once inside the CONTEXT tent I was immediately impressed by the atmosphere, art enthusiasts, and the greeter that furnish me with a really slick Art Circuits Guide that detailed all of the major fairs taking place in Miami by area. I then proceeded into the exhibit and encountered my first "stop here inkling" that featured what appeared to be a bronze horse but turned out to be actually crafted with wood. The artist is Deborah Butterfield who was born and raised in San Diego, CA, and began creating sculptures in the form of horses in the 1970's first from mud, clay, and sticks; then scrap metal and found steel, and today bronze work cast from "stray, downed pieces of wood." Her work was presented by the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery of Chicago, IL.

My next stop here inkling came as a result of what I interpreted as a mind trick piece that featured black and white spirals that were somewhat reminiscent of one of my favorite throw-back scary shows The Twilight Zone starring Rod Serling. The presenting gallery was Espace Meyer Zafra of Paris/New York which has a track record dating back to 2000 and focuses on Latin American and European artists who specialize in optical art, kinetics and geometric abstraction. Next up was an exhibit that got my interest because it featured my favorite color Black in the form of a forest. The presenter was the Galleria Alfredo Ginocchio of Mexico City Mexico which has been in business for 30 years and has displayed the works of 46 artists.

I could not help but stop at this next exhibit as I was drawn to it by a set of eye balls curiously staring at me from a framed piece of art. At first it appears to be one set of eye balls but they double as you draw closer. I am not quite sure of just how this illusion has been accomplished but suffice it to say that it is a stroke of genius. The presenter of this whimsical work was Spoke Art of New York City. I am an Army Veteran so this next exhibit was a no-brainer as it caught my attention primarily because it features familiar folks in uniform ascending steps while distracted by a pretty girl wearing a bathing suit. The presenter was SAY Art Space based in Seoul South Korea (we did some training near there back in the 1980's) and Los Angeles, CA; who provide space to artists "regardless of their nationality, age, or genre."

This next exhibit caught my attention because I thought that I was seeing things when it appeared to actually move. It features sunflowers in the foreground and ships on the ocean in the background. If you stare at it for a minute the flowers seem to move either by imagination or for real. I could not figure out which theory was true but the title "Moving Flowers" suggests the latter. The presenter of this puzzling work was the Blink Group Fine Art Gallery located right here in Miami and not too far from this area off Biscayne Boulevard. Their "mission is to ensure that every detail and every aspect of our artist and client relations is perfect."