Mary Addison Hackett’s final Miami round-up.

Guest contributor: Mary Addison Hackett

Let me tell you about my boat.

Sunday 12:35 pm.
I’m sitting on a shuttle patiently waiting to go to Miami Projects. It’s air-conditioned. A catchy pop version of Deck the Halls is being piped in. There’s wi-fi. Conceivably, I could spend the day here. Given traffic, I might.

I made seven fairs in four days: Art Basel, Nada, Untitled, Aqua, Art Miami, and Context. I wrapped up the week with Miami Projects and a double capp in a courtyard listening to beats and starring vapidly at glitter paintings. Standouts? I collected about 500 images. They’re living happily on my iPhone where I’ll spend the next few days reliving the past before sending them to The Cloud for storage or flipping them on the secondary market.

Overall, every fair had its share of shiny fractured objects and for-the-love-of-god-can-we-please-leave-the-90’s-in-peace, works of self-referential irony. There was no shortage of art about excess and glam, but even at a breakneck pace, I saw more than enough works of substance to balance it out.

[Image at top:  Ariel Dill, Hunter�s Den Painting, 2013, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches.]

Most of the smaller fairs had a better shot at being even with regard to the caliber of the work shown, while the larger ones felt weighted down with commercial appeal. (Exception, Aqua was almost without redemption). By the end of the week I was hypothetically curating the fair equivalent of a Fantasy Football team, but the sensory overload was too much and I opted for an hour at the beach instead.

As for paintings, I tried to be bi-partisan…

Stumbling upon a Chantal Joffe at Art Miami after navigating the crowds was a pleasant reward.

Lisa Adams, The Magic Hand, 2013, oil on canvas over panel, 24 x 20 inches@ CB1 Gallery

Devin Powers, Torn, 2013 oil on canvas 72 x 48 inches @ Leslie Heller Workspace.

Locust Projects at Nada had something for everyone. 

Cordy Ryman, DODGEgallery, Booth A03, Untitled. Miami

courtesy of the artist and DODGEgallery, NY

Photo: Adam Reich

Patton Hindle and Kristen Dodge of Dodge at Untitled

Claire Sherman, no title, 2013, oil on panel, 10 x 8 inches.

Nicole Van Beek, The Two of You, 2013, acrylic and fiber paste on canvas, 15 x 15 inches

A wall of intimate works by Matthew Schofield at Blunt Collective

Someone’s got the right idea. Personal space at the airport. 

I missed a few connections and spent way too much time in the back seat of a cab, but I had a fantastic time. 

Until next year…

Related posts:
Mary Addison Hackett: Report From Miami, Day 1: Basel (2013)
Report from Nashville (2012)