From a legendary choreographer finally gaining recognition in the mainstream art world to a young tapestry phenom, here’s who to watch.
Sure, art fairs have their faults—but they also have their benefits. Chief among the latter is the ability to get to know a bevy of new-to-you artists from galleries across the country and around the world in the space of one afternoon. There are plenty such artists who deserve your attention at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach. But we’ve narrowed it down to six figures who happen to be reaching new heights in their careers right now and who create work that specifically benefits from an in-person encounter. Get a primer on these talented creators below.
Qualeasha Wood
Who: Wood investigates the complex realities and possibilities of Blackness, femininity, and queerness by channeling traditional craft techniques and new-media savvy into striking works across a variety of media. She is best known for her tuftings and tapestries (the latter of which seem to answer the question, “What if you could take the aesthetic and tone of Tumblr in its heyday and feed them into a loom?”), but her practice contains multitudes.
Based in: Brooklyn, New York
Notable Resume Lines: Standouts on her artistic C.V. include recent group exhibitions at buzzy London gallery Pippy Houldsworth, New York’s star-minting CANADA, Los Angeles’s rising New Image Art, and the Trout Museum of Art in Wisconsin. The itinerant New York gallery Kendra Jayne Patrick also included Wood’s work in the collaborative project she curated for Metro Pictures in 2020.
Where to See It: Wood will be the featured artist in Patrick’s booth in ABMB’s Nova section.
Fun Fact: She has a past as a video game designer.
Up Next: Wood was recently named one of the 2021–22 residents at the Studio Museum in Harlem, one of the most sought-after residencies in the art world. She also appears in the just-opened group show “Alter Egos/Projected Selves” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (through May 2022); the piece included there graced the May–June 2021 issue of Art in America, guest edited by Antwaun Sargent.