Miami Beach, Fla.
When you think of the Miami of yesteryear, many things come to mind: surf, sun and sand; comfortably shabby Art Deco buildings; cafecitos and cubanos; bright colors, smiling faces and a sense of community at once international and local. The Miami of today—and the Art Week that turns the city into a paint-splattered bacchanal every December—retains less and less of that character, replacing it with hangarlike spaces and bumper-to-bumper traffic; luxury hotels whose rates can make oligarchs blush; overbooked Michelin-starred restaurants; and a snobbery that’s a race to the bottom when it comes to making meaningful connections. Untitled Art is a thankful reminder that even in the whirlwind of Miami Beach circa 2023, there is still plenty to love about this place and the art world’s annual invasion of it.
Untitled Art Ocean Drive and 12th Street, through Dec. 10
Located directly on the beach, Untitled is the rare event that reminds you straightforwardly and unpretentiously where you are, and at this year’s edition many of the exhibitors—over 160 from 38 countries showing some 600 artists, making this the largest and most international iteration to date—have eagerly embraced the locus operandi. Which is to say that the work is enthusiastically fun, proving that looking at contemporary art need not feel like a penitential slog. And at albertz benda, Kongo power figures—wooden totems shot through with nails and screws—got a 21st-century makeover courtesy of Sharif Bey, who rendered them in stoneware as functional vessels.
Mr. Bey’s works were just a few of many on display that showed, while the canvas may still reign supreme among collectors, artists continue to embrace three-dimensional pieces.
