The last time I did the rounds at Art Week Miami, Art Asia was hands down the best show I attended. Not too big — not too small. Great works hanging but also interactive works and performances. Everything about the show was executed to perfection. If you have a limited number of shows to attend, this should be one of them.

The focus of the show is art from Asia which, of course, has been a hot market for investment for many years but this show is also about conversations between people. Collected here are gallerists representing work from around the world (Japan, China, Vietnam, the list keeps going). If you don’t know much about art in this market — ask questions.  This is a great opportunity to visit with people about artists, economies, and social issues regarding countries you may have never travelled to. Art fairs like this provide a space where dialogue can happen. Take advantage of that.

Expanding upon its program last year, Art Asia is dedicating a significant amount of space to contemporary art from the South Asian subcontinent. This independently curated space, Salaam Bombay: Beauty and Chaos Within the Urban Environment, is inspired by the Mira Nair film and includes works from 22 artists.

On to my picks!

I am in love with highly stylized, narrative driven photographs. That’s why I can never stop looking at Alex Prager or Julia Fullerton-Batten’s work, both of whom I discovered on one of my art adventures in Miami. Here is a photographer that I am dying to see, Quentin Shih, represented by Art Lexing.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I really like that many artists are going back to basics and exploring some of the most fundamental processes in art making. This drawing by Sergei Svetlakov, represented by Gallery G-77 is sublime.

Hopefully Gallery Tomuro will be bringing works by Kazuki Takamatsu. This ethereal girl is equal parts serene and subversive.

AiBo is a gallery that  focuses on contemporary art from Vietnam and I was particularly interested in their discussion of the influence of impression, expressionism, and Beaux Arts on work in the region. Here is a wonderful portrait “Dancing Girl” by Nguyen van Cuong.  I upload this in the hopes that I will be doing some dancing myself.

There is so much more I could share here, but go to Art Asia yourself.

Visitor information

Location: ART ASIA Pavilion 110 N.E. 36St. at Midtown Blvd.

Hours: 12/5 – 12/8 (11 am – 7 pm) 12/9 (11 am – 6 pm)

Cost: $20