Cayman Islands Resort Backs ‘Skin in the Game’ Exhibition in Miami Beach

Conversation Lynda Benglis on Sculptural Presence and Form Anna Dickie

An exhibition about the vulnerability and eroticism of skin will feature works by some celebrated artists when it opens during Miami Art Week.

Curated by Zoe Lukov, Skin in the Game will occupy an art deco space at 1620 Washington Avenue, in South Beach, from 29 November to 10 December.

‘Having skin in the game is about power, danger, currency, play, joy, indulgence as well as the taboo, the voyeuristic and the hedonistic,’ said Lukov, an independent curator based in Los Angeles.

‘This is an opportunity to explore skin as a site of potential transmission, of hand-sanitised stickiness, of lost contact. There is a desire to understand what touch can be now—the ecstasy after global isolation,’ she said.

Highlights of the exhibition include Isabelle Albuquerque‘s seductive deer sculpture Orgy for 10 People in One Body: 5 (2020), Lynda Benglis’ oozing folds sculpture Eat Meat (1975), Hank Willis Thomas’ doubly ‘branded’ body Scarred Chest (2003), and Derrick Adams’ vibrant and flirtatious painting Floater 84 (2019).

‘The artworks included are a proposal to exfoliate the exoskeletons of our collective desire and fear, to circumnavigate the edges of our hungering, our wanting,’ said Lukov.

The free exhibition is backed by Palm Heights, a resort in Grand Cayman, the largest island in a chain controversial for enabling tax evasion.

‘In keeping with our commitment to provide alternative formats for contemporary culture around the world, we support programs that are aligned with our mission and encourage cross-cultural collaboration,’ said the resort’s founder Gabriella Khalil.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added the Cayman Islands to its travel warning list on Monday due to ‘very high’ levels of Covid-19. —[O]

Main image: Isabelle Albuquerque, Orgy for 10 People in One Body: 5 (2020). Image courtesy of the Artist and Nicodim Gallery.