SCOPE Art Fair (in its varying forms in London, the Hamptons, Basel, New York, and Miami) has always distinguished itself as an art fair dedicated to something sadly lacking in Art Basel Miami Beach and, indeed, most of the related satellite fairs: fun. Once inside the giant pavilion in Midtown Miami (shared with Art Asia Miami, a fair exclusively devoted to works spanning the Asian and sub-Indian continent and the Middle East), the heavy presumptiveness of the Basel giant was lifted. There young, emerging galleries were nurtured and celebrated.
In its 11th edition, SCOPE featured works in a wild range: from intellectual rigor tightly contained (an echo from the challenging work seen at the Convention Center) to pure saccharine in real space. The show was underpinned with strong representations of graffiti culture, performance, and Pop iconography informed by the collective “cool” of the late fifties to early seventies. Overall, glimpses of the weirdest or most grotesque aesthetic formations drew instant attention. Examples were video installations resembling a woman swimming in a pool surrounded by sculpted teeth by Swiss artist MARCK, the recurring sight of Carole Feuerman's uncanny, oversized swimmer sculptures presented by Gallery Biba, and the highly disorienting Jane and Will installation (with video projections of talking heads on mannequins in front of a TV set) by Gagliardi Art System's duo Glaser/Kunz.
But the genuine draw of the fair was work with elements of humor, drawing heavily on Pop sensibilities both new and old. Late-sixties lounge lizard conversations were laid out in brilliant spectrums thanks to the collaborative Mulherin | {CTS} creative thriftshop. Cooper Cole hailed from Toronto with the macabre, hypnotic work of Cleon Peterson, illustrative black-and-white panels delivering violence and mayhem in the guise of the norm. Pop was available candy-store-style thanks to the efforts of Jonathan Levine (bringing crochet celebrity OLEK with him) and Robert Fontaine (with the contemplative stained-glass-like works from C. Finley and the petrified pill canvases of Tina La Porta). The most challenging work seemed to take the form of complex – both logistical and elemental – installations. Jacob Karpio's dual installation at the front of the fair featured a mountainous Soccer Field by Pricilla Monge as the foreground to a massive flat screen-installation depicting an aerial view from Mount Fuji, an entirely new direction for Miami-based photographer David Rosenbloom. Primary Projects transported L.A.-based Kenton Parker's Taco Shop tiled with blue and white porcelain and stocked with nightclub detritus and markers fit for graffiti. New York-based curator Daria Brit Shapiro presented a multimedia frenzy courtesy of Brent Birnbaum with a clever neon sign which flickered back-and-forth from “That's what he said” to “That's what she said” alongside jam-packed magazine imagery set atop ritualistic sundials and a series of baseball caps collectively spelling out phrases like “A Salaam Alaikum.”
Amidst the self-induced “serious” nature of Art Basel Miami Beach (that doesn't even hold a candle to the suffocating atmosphere of its older sister in Basel, Switzerland) or the home-ready decor of Art Miami, SCOPE was a breath of fresh, mischievous air. What is its future? You may, for a dollar, have asked “The Amazing Ultran,” otherwise known as Miami-based performance artist David Rohn donning the classic theme park-fortune teller turban in a glass box.