Art Basel Miami Beach

For Art Basel Miami Beach 2023, Stephen Friedman Gallery presents a group exhibition that highlights artists who challenge conceptual and formal conventions in their work, while examining the impact of social and political issues on individual lives and collective experience. It explores diaspora and colonialism, gender and feminism, representation and identity. Artists in the presentation include Tonico Lemos Auad; Leilah Babirye; Jonathan Baldock; Claire Barclay; Caroline Coon; Andreas Eriksson; Manuel Espinosa; Denzil Forrester; Tom Friedman; Sky Glabush; Pam Glick; Wayne Gonzales; Hulda Guzmán; Izumi Kato; Woody De Othello; Ged Quinn; Anne Rothenstein; Yinka Shonibare CBE RA; David Shrigley; Jiro Takamatsu; Clare Woods; Yooyun Yang and Luiz Zerbini.

Highlights include a selection of new works by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, who will participate in the Nigerian national pavilion and exhibition 'Nigeria Imaginary' in the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale; two new still life paintings by Clare Woods, who recently joined Stephen Friedman Gallery and a new sculpture by Ugandan artist Leilah Babirye. As part of the fair's Kabinett sector, the gallery presents a selection of works by Caroline Coon, spanning over four decades. 

Two vibrant pictorial quilts and a playful free-standing sculpture, 'Sun Dance Kids' (2023) by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA are exhibited. In these works, Shonibare fuses various references that range from Victorian costumes to wooden replicas of commercialised African masks. He draws attention to the performative, constructed nature of identity whilst pointing to the objectification of African culture in Western societies.

Following Denzil Forrester’s solo exhibition at ICA Miami earlier this year, the artist’s painting, 'Jungle Run' (c.1996–2017) is exhibited for the first time. It depicts two technicoloured figures at the decks and pays homage to the London reggae and dub nightclub scene of the early 1980s. The dynamic composition is informed by Forrester’s gestural sketches, made in-situ within the semi-darkness of the clubs.

Debuting at the fair is 'On top of the world' (2023), a new painting by New York-based artist Pam Glick. The artist’s most recent works are notable for their rhythmic formal play whereby grid-like patterns are juxtaposed with looping gestural swirls.

Painted primarily in white against vibrant shades of blue, pink, orange, and yellow, Glick’s paintings create a visual contrast between movement and stillness, freedom and containment. Concurrent to the fair, her work is included in the group exhibition ‘The Place I Am’ at the London gallery. Glick will have a solo exhibition at the New York gallery in the spring of 2024.

A new sculpture by Leilah Babirye, titled 'Egindi wala nga tekuli mumanyi' (2023), forms part of the artist’s ongoing project imagining and creating a community of queer Ugandans. Babirye’s multidisciplinary practice transforms everyday materials into objects that address issues surrounding identity, sexuality and human rights. Her sculptures are often whittled, welded, burned and burnished and embellished with found materials. This wooden sculpture is adorned with aluminium, nails, bolts, bicycle tyre inner tubes, bicycle chains, welded metal and found objects. 

Other highlights in the presentation include a set of new works on paper by David Shrigley; new paintings by Andreas Eriksson, who will have an exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery in New York in January; and a large-scale landscape painting by Sky Glabush. 

A selection of paintings and works on paper by Caroline Coon is exhibited for Kabinett, ranging from 1981 to 2015. Coon, who was a trailblazer of London’s countercultural movement, gained recognition for unique paintings that contest binary notions of gender and oppressive patriarchal values. In works such as 'Adonis Beach' (1999), the artist rendered a group of five surfers on the shoreline who stand tall and statuesque, offering a glimpse of sexual liberation.