The annual art fair known as Art Basel Miami Beach draws a dazzling swarm of celebrities, models, deejays, collectors, gallerists and fun-seekers to party (Maxim’s bash is hosted by model Martha Hunt with a performance by Rick Ross), schmooze, and yes, actually check out some amazing new artists.
Jessica Davidson, the founder of Davidson Art Advisory LLC, a boutique fine art consulting firm, gave Maxim her top picks of ten emerging artists to watch this weekend and beyond.
Marco Santini + Maxim:
New York City-based up-and-comer Marco Santini brings his fluid and experimental style to Maxim’s December Miami Issue Party on Friday night, transforming The Plymouth Hotel’s windows into a geometric landscape and debuting his reimagined Maxim covers. Santini is the subject of an artist documentary series currently in development that follows four emerging artists around New York as they prepare for game-changing solo shows.
Bolo (Qinza Najm & Saks Afridi) | PLAY at Pulse:
Pakistani-American artist duo Bolo, which means “speak up” in Urdu, is Saks Afridi and Qinza Najm. Bolo’s 2017 Carousel video, selected out of hundreds of video and new media submissions by curators Jasmine Wahi and Rebecca Pauline Jampol, questions the duplicity of rhetoric in dictatorships and democracies, alluding to patterns of power cycles and ascendancy in human nature and human history.
Stanley Casselman @ Scott White Contemporary Art | Art Miami:
Admired by acclaimed art critic Jerry Salz, Stanley Casselman has spent the last 25 years developing his unique painting technique and producing works that embody ambient abstraction. The shimmering, lunar-like surfaces of his newest paintings undulate with varying densities and range from gestural abstraction to near monochromatic minimalism.
Dede Bandaid & Nitzan Mintz @ Meijler | Scope:
Works by street poet Nitzan Mintz and street artist Dede–highly visible and instantly recognizable in their native Tel-Aviv–are catching the eye of U.S.-based collectors, curators, dealers and art advisors.
Christoph Ruckhäberle @ Galerie Kleindienst | Untitled:
The New Leipzig School artist–well known in Europe and gaining traction in the US–is known for his bold, figurative paintings of youthful bohemians featured in various states of repose. Ruckhäberle’s large-scale canvases draw on facets of socialist realism, German expressionism, cubism, pop, and folk art.
Devan Shimoyama @ Samuel Freeman | Pulse:
Half of the new multimedia works on view in the 28-year-old Yale MFA-grad’s solo installation were sold within the first hour of the Pulse VIP Preview. Shimoyama uses the language of classical mythology, folklore and contemporary stereotype to illuminate his own search for identity and will have the first solo show of his career at the Andy Warhol Museum in 2018.
Sterling Crispin @ False Flag | Art Miami:
Some of the most original, timely and provocative sculpture around, each of Crispin’s four sculptures on view at Art Miami is attached to a publicly-traded industry stock. Small screens track the price of each and GPS monitors display the location of their counterparts at all times.
Allison Zuckerman @ Kravets Wehby Gallery | Untitled:
The 27-year-old gallery assistant turned rising art star was discovered by dealer Marc Wehby and shortly thereafter championed (and collected by) mega-collectors Don and Mera Rubell. Zuckerman’s paintings begin as digital collages and juxtapose colorful pop imagery with art historical references; on their surfaces emojis meet Old Masters.
Baseera Khan @ Participant, Inc | NADA:
NYC-based conceptual artist Baseera Khan uses multiple mediums to visualize patterns and repetitions of exile and kinship shaped by economic, social, and political changes in local and global environments. Her limited edition Psychedelic Prayer Rugs, made in collaboration with rug makers in Kashmir, India, were snatched up by multiple VIP guests during NADA’s private preview.
Enrique Baster @ Galerie Habana | Pinta:
The Havana-based rising star is represented by Galerie Habana and already in noteworthy collections throughout the U.S. and in Latin America. Baster’s complex, abstract paintings and mixed media works explore the issue of urban unease and the dystopian spirit that dominates so many contemporary societies.