The Betsy Hotel – Must Attend Art Exhibits for Miami Art Week 2022
The Betsy-South Beach, one of the preeminent global arts hotels, announces exhibits for Miami Beach Art Week 2022, curated by Betsy co-owner Lesley Goldwasser. Works include photography by Tamary Kudita (Zimbabwe), Nadia Huggins (Trinidad/Tobago), and Eric Kroll (USA), and a mixed media collection by Ray Tenorio (Cuba). Also exhibited is new work by conceptual multi-media artist Sri Prabha (India) and a dance work by Peter London (Trinidad/Tobago). The Betsy will also celebrate new artist books by Alessandro Sarno and Carlos Andres Cruz.
The Betsy Hotel is well regarded for programs and partnerships that paint a portrait of Miami both old and new by embracing diversity through artist selection, subject matter, and cultural framework. Since 2018, The Betsy has exclusively focused on global photography in all but one of its 9 public galleries; the remaining gallery features the work of emerging artists working in sculpture, painting, illustration, and mixed media.
Tamary Kudita (photo): Back at The Betsy after a successful US debut of ‘African Victorian’ at The Betsy’s 2021 Miami Art Week, Kudita presents a new collection, Fabrics of Man, Family, and Society, that explores “the impact of her country's colonial experience on African life and identity today.” Kudita’s new work specifically reflects “on the intersectionality of the cultural and ethnic fusion of lifestyles from the past and present, and how that is expressed in body language, facial expression, and gestures, as well as the use of clothing as a necessity, social status, and cultural emblems.”
Nadia Huggins (photo): The Betsy features Strange Territory, Huggins’s underwater photography, in its BBar Gallery, an underground space with 26 light boxes; its mylar ceiling producing a mirrored effect, making viewers feel they are under water. Huggins’s cinematic underwater landscapes contain colorful flora environments and human beings interacting with nature, inviting viewers to reflect not only on “what I put within an image, but also what I choose to leave out of that frame.”
Eric Kroll (photo): A titanic figure in contemporary photography, Eric Kroll has published high profile best-selling art books with houses like Taschen, and his work has featured in countless magazines. This exhibition contains images from his new art book, The New York Years 1971 to 1994 (the book!). “There is no discipline in my life. No order. I used to think that chaos helps creativity—I’m not so sure about that anymore... I shot Grace Jones performing at Studio 54… I also photographed Kenny Scharf with his wife and daughter, Keith Haring, and Andy Warhol in his art car…”
Sri Prabha (multi-media): Commissioned by the City of Miami Beach and using multi-media in 3 outside areas surrounding The Betsy Orb, Sri will create a locus of attraction with this message: “We are but a small part of the cosmos, with energies linked to ideas of regeneration, growth, and sustainability emerging from the cocoon of the pandemic to be deployed internally and for the world around us. In our existence, we ask ourselves about our responsibilities to the universe.”
Ray Tenorio (mixed media): With art collections influenced by Ray Tenorio’s Latin roots, Expressionism, urban mythology and fashion, Mythological Africa and the Transcultural Influences in the Americas inspired The Betsy to break out of its exclusive commitment to photography to provide space for an emerging youthful – and colorful – global artistic voice.
Art Books by Carlos Andres Cruz, Alessandro Sarno, and Eric Kroll: With text written by Miami-based children’s author Pablo Cartaya, international dog photographer Carlos Andres Cruz contributed images for a book entitled Rosa’s First Day as CEO; Alessandro Sarno will release a new artist book called Miami: Jungle Island, with a foreword by Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibarguen. These books will be exhibited in Betsy gallery spaces and available for purchase at the front desk – as will Eric Kroll’s new art book, The New York Years 1971 to 1994 (the book!).
Peter London Global Dance Company: The Betsy’s Miami Art Week 2022 also features ‘random and repeated’ performances of a new dance work created by former Martha Graham dancer Peter London in response to Tamary Kudita’s new collection, Fabrics of Man, Family and Society. This work is presented in partnership with the City of Miami Beach and the Miami Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs by the Peter London Global Dance Company.
Other 2022 Miami Art Week installations @TheBetsyHotel include (1) The Betsy’s Outdoor Sculpture Garden exhibiting Zimbabwean stone carved sculptures inspired by traditional Shona mythology; (2) The Betsy Poetry Rail, presenting the words of 12 writers who ‘shaped Miami,’ located between Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue at 14th Place; (3) more than 300 historic images of The Beatles and Rolling Stones (the Paul Saltzman and Bob Bonis Collections), situated in hallways and stairways; and (4) work from architectural photographer Robin Hill, Miami Beach documentarian Andy Sweet, Hollywood set photographer Robert Zuckerman, and travel photographer Alessandro Sarno.
The Betsy Hotel exhibits art in 20,000 square feet of gallery space located throughout the property with nine galleries as well as halls and stairway areas open during regular business hours (9 AM – 11 PM) during Miami Beach Art Week 2022.
The Betsy’s exhibiting artists will host individual openings with details forthcoming at thebetsyhotel.com/calendar.
ABOUT EXHIBITIONS AT THE BETSY HOTEL – Exhibitions at The Betsy are curated by co-owner, Lesley Goldwasser, as a component of the hotel’s commitment to arts and culture – with other programming in literature, music, and community. Since 2009, Betsy exhibitions have provided a portrait of Miami both old and new by embracing diversity through artist selection, subject matter, and cultural framework. Since 2018, The Betsy has exclusively focused on global photography in all but one of its 9 public galleries; the remaining gallery features the work of emerging artists working in sculpture, painting, illustration, and mixed media. Partners have included The Art of Black (GMCVB) The City of Miami Beach No Vacancy Program, Prizm Art Fair, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Untitled Art Fair, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, James Danzinger Gallery, Yossi Milo Gallery, Leila Heller Gallery, Jill Newhouse Gallery, Museum of Art and Design, Centro Cultural Espanol, Miami Dade College, Florida International University, Women’s Photographer’s International Archive, ForFreedoms, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. More info on Betsy exhibits here: https://bit.ly/3g3XIMX
MORE ON THE BETSY HOTEL
A family-owned and operated luxury beachfront gem and one of the preeminent arts and culture hotels in the world, The Betsy anchors the quiet end of Ocean Drive in the historic Art Deco District. Inside, guests find an award-winning restaurant, rooftop pool deck suspended in midair, artist-residency program, property library, Panther Coffee Bar, live jazz nine times a week, and curated exhibitions. Random acts of art are also often part of a Betsy guest experience including Opera on The Betsy’s front terrace, concerts in the park, dance programs, and poetry readings. Public Art includes #TheBetsyOrb, a unique design element that connects the hotel’s two historic wings, located adjacent to The Betsy Poetry Rail containing the words of 12 writers who shaped Miami culture.