Omar López-Chahoud Picks His Favorite Artworks at Untitled
As the highly anticipated fair’s most international edition kicks off during Miami Art Week, its artistic director shares his highlights exclusively with Surface.
A pioneer in the field of digital art, Mohr’s liquid symmetry creates captivating artworks using live generative algorithms. In P3020-A, intricate diagonal paths through an 11-dimensional hypercube are projected in 2D as dynamic white and gray lines, accompanied by a red symmetry line. These lines rotate in 11 dimensions, leaving behind mesmerizing color traces in a visually engaging display of computational artistry.
Jung’s “photo sculptures” are each composed of a self-portrait on printable chiffon fabric with life-casted plaster hands. These mixed-media sculptures draw inspiration from her experiences as an Asian immigrant woman in the U.S., addressing various stages of empowerment, healing, and self-liberation while emphasizing the redefinition of her identity on her terms. Jung invites viewers on a journey of assimilation and inhabitation, fostering reflection and conversation.
The Nigerian artist skillfully combines digital and tactile experimentation, aiming to blend visual and spatial design elements seamlessly. His work delves into the intricate interplay between identity, fantasy, technology, and the globalized world. Through his digital collages, Obanubi reconstructs fragments from everyday life experiences, placing the subjects within a unique and displaced environment, creating a captivating exploration of these themes.
The Franco-Brazilian artist duo presents an immersive presentation titled Ajax Vera ACDC Fantabulosa (Private Dancer). This presentation creates a playful nightclub atmosphere that comments on our disconnected reality with neon phrases, printed carpets, wood paneling, and a one-way mirrored monolith at the center. The monolith activates hanging neons and a localized sound system above the viewer, providing a solitary “one-person disco” experience that replicates the communal and liberating aspects of club culture.
Cousin is known for creating paintings and works on paper featuring figures engaged in what appear to be private games or interactions with each other. The figures in Cats Cradle form a circuit or interconnected system, suggesting that together, they function as a collective entity that articulates a particular system or dynamic.
Niru Ratnam (booth B8)
Neither Created Nor Destroyed (2023) by Cian Dayrit
The Filipino artist uses embroidery and mixed media to create cartographic art that exposes patterns of imperialism and feudalism while proposing alternative narratives. His work transcends geographical boundaries, delving into themes related to colonialism, ethnography, and history, critiquing and reimagining the language and structures of institutions like the state and museums.
The Dutch artist innovatively employs craft techniques to convey personal narratives in immersive installations using textiles, sculptures, ceramics, papier-mâché, and sound. Her solo booth explores characters and imaginary friends, blending sensuality with playful interaction, creating an inclusive space for intimate conversations. Through her work, Eisma seeks to counter feelings of uneasiness, isolation, and exclusion, embracing femininity to alleviate afflictions and promote shared experiences.
Presenting work for the first time outside of the digital sphere, Victoria Miro Projects’ group show includes recent works by London-based Nigerian artist Richard Ayodeji Ikhide, whose work explores the creation of personal mythology and the significance of myth in contemporary society, with a particular emphasis on drawing to express abstract concepts in a tangible form.
Under the Special Projects sector, Barcellos’s Epidermic Scapes is an outstanding collection of images that challenges our conventional perception of skin. The Brazilian artist magnifies the images of her skin, as well as other people’s, to such an extent that their original purpose is no longer recognizable. This results in a more abstract representation that resembles earthly landscapes. Barcellos’s aim is to transform these images into grand displays that can be installed on walls or floors.