Just as NADA Miami opened downtown Tuesday, Untitled Art opened its fair on the sands of Miami Beach. The week’s two main satellite fairs both opened the day before the main gun in town, Art Basel Miami Beach, and have seemingly been duking it out for exhibitors, with Untitled trying to lure participants to its tent with the promise of higher foot traffic for collectors unwilling to make the traffic-laden trek across the causeway.
Having been to both fairs on Tuesday, that competition seems more healthy than nasty. Untitled historically attracts some closely watched galleries but often rounds out its tent with exhibitors whose presence makes you question the selection committee’s standards. Thankfully, there was less of that this year. Sure, a significant enough portion of the art in the aisles wasn’t for me, but plenty of that work will find buyers.
For this edition, Untitled has rejiggered its floor plan, with some galleries in the center row taking much larger booths than usual—perhaps to compensate for losing longtime exhibitors to Art Basel, which the fair touted in a pre-fair release. The fair also expanded to Houston this year, and one booth has been given over to a gaudy promotional sign for the city that would look much better left blank. The Nest section, which offers subsidized booths to emerging galleries, appears rotated roughly 45 degrees off axis from the rest of the layout. (If I had to guess, they took the “Nest” name literally.) While painting was in heavy force at NADA, Untitled offered a strong showing of fiber-based work and sculpture.
Below, a look at the best booths at Untitled Art, Miami Beach, which runs through December 7.
