New Alternative And Non-Commercial Contemporary Art Fair Makes Its Mark On Miami

Miami’s art scene is more than high priced Basel bounty. We found an art fair — named FAIR — that eschews commercialism altogether, and galleries that have sprung up behind bars in sketchy neighborhoods.

Anthony Spinello, of Spinello Projects sells his curated stable of serious artists out of a heavily guarded warehouse in Miami’s Little River neighborhood. Twenty blocks South, in Liberty City, Orly Kadosh, an artist herself, started ArtHood56, in a space that was once a Mosque, to showcase emerging artists from the local and international art world. Their debut Basel show was curated by Edith Shiro.

Now there is FAIR: a new alternative and non-commercial contemporary art fair featuring public works and surprise performances by some of the world’s most iconic and trailblazing women artists, curated by Spinello and Faena Director of Exhibitions Zoe Lukov. And nothing is for sale!

“It’s the first all women alternative, non-commercial art fair,” Lukov told us. “There are no booths and women across all generations, all over the world are represented with many different kinds of media, but mostly text based works and works which are focused on messaging.” Much of this show’s messaging has to do with the inequality of representation of the sexes in the art world.

Their debut show, selected by Spinello and Faena curator Zoe Lukov was in a 5,000 square-foot raw storefront at Miami’s new Brickell City Centre (BCC), designed by Peruvian architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia and made possible by Swire Properties Inc. Yoko Ono, Guerrilla Girls, Pia Camil, Jillian Mayer, Ruby Rumié, Juana Valdes and Micol Hebron were among the featured artists. Suzi Analogue, Tara Long (POOR GRRRL) & Virgo performed.

We asked Lukov about the confluence of the “Me Too” movement taking center stage as her show was about to debut. “Behind closed doors, women have been talking about inequality, the hurdles it takes and the effect on their careers and injustices they face in industries for a long time,” Lukov told us. “We’re at a moment that might be a sea change in that people in the media are responding to it. The broader public is interested discussing the issues and hopefully that will mean something.”

Guests included Fair curators Zoe Lukov and Anthony Spinello, Fair artists Agustina Woodgate, Anna Garner, Antonia Wright, Cara Despain, Jen DeNike, Jillian Mayer, Jill Weisberg, Juana Valdez, Katya Grokhovsky, Micol Hebron, Nathalie Alfonso, Paloma Teppa, Pia Camil, Radioee.net, Reed Van Brunschot, Taja Lindley & Zoila Darton and Swire Properties’ president Kieran Bowers with Jorge & Darlene Pérez, Albert “Aldo” Bensadoun, Creative Time’s Alyssa Nitchum, Alyson Cafiero, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Enrico Marone Cinzano, Douglas Bensadoun, Eddie de Vita, Emanuel Sebag, Guillermo Rozenblum, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Lady Liliana Cavendish, Lara Shriftman, Lucrezia Buccellati, Lorenzo Kappa, Lisa Cortes, Madison Ibargüen, Maggio Cipriani, Maria Buccellati, Natalie Kovacs, Polina Proshkina, Piero Lissoni, Pierre Falempin, Scott Drevnig, Ugo Colombo, Valerio Morabito, Virginia Maksymowicz and Ximena Caminos.