On Monday night, visitors to the District descended upon the Gagosian x Jeffrey Deitch show 100 Years, the sixth pair-up between the mega gallery and the curator-dealer. This year, the collab moved from the Moore Building to the Buick Building, where, upstairs, Design Miami cofounder and Design District developer Craig Robins showed off his collection of contemporary art and design.
The following evening, the art and design crowds put on their finest cocktail attire for a soiree at the Arca showroom in Wynwood. There, the stone supplier had teamed up with power players from both worlds for two installations in and around the sprawling space. Outdoors, amidst a swirl of tacos and mezcal cocktails, Polish sculptor Alicja Kwade unveiled a massive sculpture, Pretty Pity, resembling several scoops of ice cream melting in the blazing Miami sun. “When I was asked to do something with Arca here for Miami [Art Week], I thought it would be a perfect match to do something ironic, something sublime, something sarcastic,” Kwade says of the collaboration. “Of course, it looks like ice cream, but it’s melting. It’s about our lives, about how we consume under capitalism, about energy.” Still, the liveliness of the activity surrounding its debut was not lost on Kwade: “It’s a beautiful and funny piece. It’s colorful, and people enjoy it.”
Inside the showroom, AD100 Hall of Fame designer Kelly Wearstler made her Miami debut with a line of sleek stone furnishings, which the designer presented in a big-top–like setting of lush draperies, wall-to-wall carpet, and peekaboo mirrors. The limited-edition collection—called Nudo and now for sale on the designer’s website—included benches, occasional tables, lounge seating, and accessories hewn from colorful stone species sourced around the world. “They all speak the same language, taking this very dense, heavy, hard material and making it really soft and feminine,” Wearstler says of the line. “And having these large gestural movements with all the incredible nuances and movement of the stone really adds to the sex appeal.”
Gerardo Cortina Wiechers, CEO of Arca, says collaborations with creators like Wearstler and Kwade are all a part of the company’s approach to luxury. “We knew from the beginning that working with Kelly, we would need to do a big release,” he explains. “It would be a big challenge and would make us a better company and a better team.” When consumers’ appetites for daring and bold stones seems to be reaching a fever pitch, Arca’s strategy to tap into collabs like these seems to be well-timed.
