Miami Art Week draws celebrities like moths to a flame, so it was no surprise to see a phalanx of famous people at the launch of Star Compass, a series of three beachside installations. Florida royalty, such as pop couple Gloria and Emilio Estefan, popped along to see The Great Elephant Migration, a headline-hitting installation on the beach comprising dozens of life-sized Indian elephants, and Miami Reef Star, a humongous sculptural work by Carlos Betancourt and Alberto Latorre made up of 46 3D-printed star modules. The public-art celebrations kicked off with a regatta devised by Daniel Buren—raced by strapping Olympic sailors and local artists—launching on the steps of the Peréz Art Museum Miami. Meanwhile, among those browsing the aisles at the VIP preview of Art Basel Miami Beach yesterday, we spotted the singer and visual artist Jewel, and the actors Jared Leto and Leonardo DiCaprio.
A brush with fame: Connor makes his mark on a Bryan Adams painting
Courtesy of Save the Chimps
Bryan Adams rocks chimps’ world
Primate-popstar collabs are all the rage. Last year, members of the band The B-52s collaborated with chimpanzee artists from the Save the Chimp sanctuary to create a series of paintings. This year, the rock superstar Bryan Adams has teamed up with a troop of apes to produce 36 paintings in aid of the same charity, on show at Spectrum Miami. Adams painted the base coats, and simian artists added the brushstrokes; sales proceeds go towards Save the Chimp’s sanctuary. “Only about 10% of the chimps enjoy painting, which is one of many enrichment programmes,” the sanctuary staff point out (shame).
Dinner date: Hassan Hajjaj hosted Jimmy Butler at his pop-up event
Photo: Bre Johnson and Diana Zapata, courtesy of BFA
Moroccan artist’s sumptuous feast brings the Heat
Morocco came to Miami this week courtesy of the artist Hassan Hajjaj—dubbed the Moroccan Warhol—who has transformed a Lincoln Road venue into a technicolour warren inspired by the Souk of Marrakech called DAR MIAMI 1446. Guests including the photographer Maryam Eisler, the entrepreneur Yvonne Force Villareal and the beloved Miami Heat player Jimmy Butler feasted on mouthwatering dishes served up by the restaurateur Rose Previte, while Hajjaj’s head-turning works, such as his U-LOT 2010 video, shows defiant veiled women. “My eyes are popping, and my tongue is zinging,” said one guest at the sensory interactive experience, which is backed by The Cultivist club and Capital One bank. The Moroccan lounge is open to the public this week (the limited-edition merch designed by Hajjaj will no doubt be a draw).
On pointe: Bjorn Skaarup’s bronze Seated Hippo Ballerina (2021)
Courtesy of the artist and Cavalier Galleries
Dancing hippos win art lovers’ hearts
Animal art will lift anyone’s heart, so jaded art-world stalwarts may want to head to Art Miami this week for some beastly pieces by the Danish artist Bjorn Skaarup, whose voluminous Hippo Ballerinas—inspired by Degas’s Little Dancer—defy gravity. Cavalier Galleries will also be showing some characters from Skaarup’s Animal Circus, including a roller-skating polar bear. “I love the many intricate shapes, characteristics and attributes of the animal kingdom and the animalier tradition in bronze—from Giambologna to [Antoine-Louis] Barye and Bugatti,” Skaarup tells us.
Vuk Ćuk, Let me spoil you, 2024 Courtesy the artist and Eugster Belgrade
Memes, immortalised
A wall of cheeky, meme-like works by the Belgrade-based artist Vuk Ćuk at Nada Miami (until 7 December) is making people smile. Fairgoers at the preview were stopping and studying the wry 21st-century messages available with Eugster Belgrade gallery such as “friends with no kids be like: you wanna go to Africa this Friday”.
A clever Florida-themed piece made of beads asking observers to “select all images with palm trees” is also making waves. “I thought it would be funny to capture this everchanging and recycled content that gets produced today and forgotten tomorrow,” Ćuk says. “It’s not meant to be a painting—that’s why I painted it.”