When we think of Miami Palm Beach, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the luxury mansion on the edge of the sexy beach. For a long time, almost only the Norton Museum (Norton) in Palm Beach will occasionally exhibit contemporary art works. There are not many local galleries, and they are all located on high-end shopping streets, side by side with luxury brands such as Chanel and Dior, selling highly decorative art.
Palm Beach is an out-and-out rich neighborhood
But that all began to change six years ago, when Beth Rudin, a collector and curator with a collection of tens of thousands of pieces, DeWoody founded The Bunker Artspace in West Palm Beach and began exhibiting her bold and challenging collection.
Beth Rudin de Wooddy and Her Collection
The bunker was built in the 1920 s in the architectural style of Art Deco, which was popular at that time. It was built as a toy factory and later used as an ammunition depot during World War II. So the energy of the Bunker Art Space comes not only from de Woody’s art collection, but also from the building itself.
01 From Luxury estates to art streets
Bunker Art Space and previous exhibitions
The establishment of the Bunker Art Space provides a new perspective on contemporary art in Palm Beach. Not only did it attract local residents, but even the international art “migratory birds” who came to participate in the Basel Miami Beach Art Fair (Art Basel Miami Beach) also came to Palm Beach, a small town only more than an hour away from Miami. Visit.
Gallery founder and curator Sarah Gavrak
Sarah Gavlak, who loves contemporary art, is the founder of art-appreciative galleries. She owns two Gavlak galleries in Los Angeles and Palm Beach.
When she first moved to Palm Beach 15 years ago, it was almost impossible to see contemporary art here. With the establishment of the “Bunker Art Space”, many local artists, collectors of contemporary art and museums have begun to increase projects on contemporary art.
Thanksgiving is a weekend away from Art Basel Miami Beach, and is it just right to use that gap to host a Palm Beach Art Weekend? Gavrak, after the idea came to him, would not miss such a natural opportunity. She approached DeWoody and asked about the opening time of the then-high-profile Bunker Art Space.
Originally, Dwoody planned to hold the opening event in March 2019. After listening to Gavrak’s idea, the two hit it off and moved the opening event directly to December 2018, during the Art Fair in Miami Beach, Basel. Palm Beach New Wave Art Weekend was officially launched in 2018.
New Wave Art Weekend takes place every December.
Gavrak planned the implementation of Art Weekend, and with the support and help of people who also love contemporary art, he decided to make Art Weekend a more appealing brand.
She felt: “Florida is not just a place for vacation and retirement as people think, especially Palm Beach. There is forward-thinking here. The best artists and emerging artists are here. This place is setting off a new wave., So we call it-Palm Beach New Wave Art Weekend!”
In addition to holding various exhibitions and forums, “New Wave Art Weekend” also has party activities with different themes (this is a reserved project in Miami), and visiting buildings and collections in luxury houses worth millions and tens of millions of dollars is also one of the projects. Neighbors are exchanging life and art to make Palm Beach residents more aware of art and willing to contribute to contemporary art: seeking support from non-profit organizations and raising money for artist residency programs.
Welcome Dinner for New Wave Art Weekend
Starting in 2020, New Wave Art Weekend offers year-round residency programs for emerging artists, including six weeks of apartment and studio space provided by related companies, as well as a $5000 unlimited stipend. Let more artists, especially those representing minority groups, stay in Palm Beach and have more space to develop their creative talents.
The artist who just ended his residency in December was a Korean-American photographer and director based in Los Angeles, Emanuel Hahn. Hahn’s father had been sent to Saipan for a tour company in South Korea.
Hahn was born on Saipan, but soon after his father’s career collapsed, the family emigrated to Singapore, where his parents studied at a seminary to become missionaries. After graduating from the seminary, they found missionary work in Cambodia, so Hahn began to grow up in Cambodia at the age of 8, and was later sent back to Singapore to study in high school, then to New York to study in university, and now settled in Los Angeles.
2023 Artist in Residence Hahn at Art Weekend
Hahn’s upbringing led him to pay special attention to the Asian immigrant community. During his stay in Palm Beach, Hahn exhibited the different experiences of immigrants he chronicled in Los Angeles South Korea City, telling the story of South Korea City through the personal experiences of local store owners and small business owners.
The story of South Korea City recorded under the lens of Hahn
Before him, the new wave artists in residence in 2023 include Gonzalez (Manuela Gonzalez) from Colombia, Puerta (Lina Puerta) who grew up in Colombia, Song Jia from Singapore, and musician and visual artist Nina Sarnelle.
These artists come from different cultural backgrounds and engage in different creative media, but they have one thing in common: they all come from diverse and minority groups. This is also what the new wave is looking at and changing to elevate those voices that are still trying to be suppressed by the masses.
02 Support resident artists to give voice to minority groups
Not only are artists focused on diversity and minorities, New Wave also hosts a dialogue around diversity, inclusion, immigration, and equal rights for women, BIPOC (black, indigenous and people of color) and LGBTQ + communities.
I asked Gavrak if the New Wave project would cause discontent among some of the more conservative residents in the area. She explained, “While Palm Beach has always been a place for the wealthy to vacation or retire, Florida’s population has increased by 13 percent over the past 10 years, many of them young, diverse families, because it doesn’t pay state taxes and attracts many businesses.”
In addition, not all of today’s Palm Beach residents are millionaires. According to the 2021 statistics, in the northwest of the city, near the historic Sunset Lounge (Sunset Lounge), African Americans accounted for nearly 80% of residents, white accounted for only 10.6 percent, and other residents are Hispanic, Latino, Asian or other ethnic groups. This shows that the whole region is embracing a diverse blend.
On Saturday afternoons of Art Weekend, the Palm Beach Lake Senior high school Marching Band organized a unique show and parade from downtown to Heart and Soul Park across from the Sunset Lounge to celebrate the unveiling of Genius Loci, a public art by artist Nekisha Durrett.
Many curious passers-by followed the parade and followed it all the way to the park. Residents along the way kept waving to the parade from their own doors or balconies. It was very warm to watch. The tolerance and enthusiasm for art will be passed on to the next generation. In life.
Palm Beach Lake Senior high school Parade Show
With the popularity of “Bunker Art Space” and “New Wave Art Weekend”, they have their own appeal in the field of contemporary art, and international galleries and more types of exhibitions have also come to Palm Beach:
This past “Art Weekend”, Gavrak exhibited the solo exhibition “Self-Portrait” by Brichler (Andrew Brischle) in his gallery.
Brichler is introducing a solo exhibition.
In addition, the art weekend also arranged to visit and eat in the homes of private collectors Genser and his wife (Joan & David Genser), Gotchman and his wife (Becky Gochman), Perry and his wife (Lisa & Richard Perry).
In addition to seeing their beautiful house, the Gensers mainly collect prints, while Gotchman focuses on the creation of aboriginal artists. Fashion and interior designer Lisa Perry and her husband’s collection are a blend of design and art, each with its own characteristics.
Guests visit the collection at the home of the host
The culmination of the art weekend was the opening of the new exhibition “Bunker Art Space”-the “Family” exhibition.
Works in the Family Exhibition
Curated by Peter Harkawik, founder of the Harkavik Gallery in New York and Los Angeles, and through D’Woody’s extensive collection, Family Affair highlights the delicate familial relationships between generations of artists, challenges traditional notions of lineage, mentorship, and referential relationships, and shows the subtle bilateral influences between partners, parents, children, and friends.
In addition, the “Bunker Art Space” also exhibited a series of works that rewrote the history of Western art in “Odalisk (odalisque).
Paintings and installations in the “Odalisk” exhibition
“odalisque” is a French word that originally referred to the concubines of the harem. In the 19th century European Oriental art, “Odalisk” became a very popular subject.
These scantily clad, showy-looking Odalisk pose in the picture as if they were being shown to a (presumably) male audience. However, “Bunker Art Space” presents the audience with different genders and races of Odalisk, providing a new perspective for this art form.
In addition, there are many chairs across different cultures and ages, art and design in the exhibition. The chair designed by the famous architect Lina Bo Bardi is juxtaposed with the neon tube device in the shape of the chair of the artist Carl Hopgood. In addition, the multiple identities of the furniture “chair” are reconsidered under the humor.
“Chairs” of different cultures and characteristics
American artist Randy Polumbo’s installation The Bunker (Bunker)
Also currently on display at Bunker Art Space
At the opening ceremony, Michele Pred (Pred) also brought the audience a performance entitled “reproductive freedom” to explore the abortion policy in the United States.
03 Diverse Blend Art weekend for men, women and children alike
Pred’s Performance Art Performance
Gavrak admits that not everyone wants to hear about the topics presented and discussed at New Wave Art Weekend. They are providing a platform for those who are willing to listen or want to join in. At the same time, the “bunker art space” attracts a large number of people with different beliefs and orientations. No matter which side they are on, they have the opportunity to hear or see the message conveyed by the artists.
The new wave hopes to sow this seed, even if it cannot change people’s inherent ideas, it can also raise people’s attention to suppressed voices and social inequality.
The important thing is that “New Wave Art Weekend” is not just a small sidekick of the Basel Miami Beach Art Exhibition. Through the artist residency and dialogue throughout the year, Gavrak’s greatest and most valuable achievement is to let different members of the community-Regardless of men, women, old and young, rich or poor, all participate in art.
After all, without artistic and cultural connotations, a community, even as rich as Palm Beach, would be destitute!
(Source: Harper’s Bazaar Art)
