5 Artists to Watch from Art Basel Miami 2018

The Haas Brothers: Marianne Boesky Gallery

Long established names in the interior design world for their functional design objects, LA-based twins Nikolai and Simon Haas were more likely to be found across the street at Design Miami. But the pair has been making waves for their whimsical sculptures, from fantasy creatures to otherworldly, organic shapes. Along with a playful survey at The Bass Museum in Miami Beach, they made their major Art Basel Miami premiere this year with four new porcelain works, displayed by Marianne Boesky Gallery.

Marguerite Humeau: Clearing, New York/Brussels

Celebrating Marguerite Humeau’s first U.S. solo show at the New Museum this past September, Clearing Gallery brought three pieces to Art Basel Miami from her landmark exhibit, Birth Canal. A kind of speculative anthropologist, the french sculptor interprets organic forms that feel part stone age and part science fiction. The Birth Canal sculptures on display were inspired by Paleolithic female figures like the Venus of Hohlefels, but with a reimagined evolutionary path for humanity.

Derek Fordjour: Josh Lilley Gallery

With tons of locally-sourced pea gravel and rusty zinc siding, the London-based gallery Josh Lilley transformed their booth into an urban backlot for their exhibit on new works by the Ghanaian-American artist Derek Fordjour. Transforming the typical white-wall gallery space into an industrial wasteland feels right for the new works’ reflection on labor, from the textured painting of a tailor’s workshop, to the steel gears of his ferris wheel sculpture, Burden Cycle (2018).

Claudia Martínez Garay: Grimm Gallery

Grimm Gallery dedicated a solo show to the works of this exciting Peruvian artist, who graduated just last year from the prestigious Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. Titled ¡Kachkaniraqkun! / ¡Somos aún! / ¡We are still!, the installation features a tableau of fragmented ceramic and metal sculptures. The pieces invoke the artist’s exploration of Pre-Columbian indigenous art, especially Inca ceremonial iconography, and the impact of colonialism on cultural artifacts.

Tschabalala Self: Thierry Goldberg

For her solo show in the Thierry Goldberg Gallery’s booth, the New York artist transformed the space into a surreal city bodega, complete with checkered flooring, security convex mirror, illustrated ads on the walls, and even fiberboard sculptures that resemble milk crates. It’s the perfect milieu to explore the artist’s ongoing reflections on black identity in contemporary culture, celebrating the iconic black and Latino corner stores. The paintings and drawings on display depict the colorful goods on sale and the customers as bodies moving within these spaces.