Contemporary is a Season

Culturally, Miami celebrates contemporary art. Congruently, September kicks off the art season with two exhibitions that progressively historicize (post) contemporary art. Breaking auction records at Christies this past May, the work of the late Jean-Michel Basquiat is emblematic of this evolution. Traveling from the Brooklyn Museum to Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) the exhibition Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks showcases rarely seen sketches, doodles and artworks to further establish this artist as iconic. Continuing from Basquiat’s creative timeline NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale’s exhibition Belief + Doubt focuses on contemporary art from the 1990’s, and comprises selections, including many female artists, from the Francie Bishop Good and David Horvitz collection. Situating contemporary art in the present subconscious, The Space Between on view atThe Screening Room, shows three abstract videos by Alba Soto, David Gumbs, and Edison Peñafiel that explore subjective states of recognition as they relate to water, femininity and politics. Also addressing these themes, among others, Antonia Wright’s solo exhibition at Locust Projects is curiously titled “Under the Water Was Sand, Then Rocks, Miles of Rocks.” Based in Miami and known for her boundary-pushing performances, Wright shares that her exhibition comprises over 150 live plants suggesting a provocative exploration of the elements.