Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary Awakens the City to Spring
SPONSORED | Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary

Now in its seventh year, Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary (PBM+C) (21–24 March 2024) has cemented itself as an indispensable player in the city's art scene for artists and collectors of contemporary art.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Palm Beach in Florida, U.S., experienced a surge of new residents as collectors and galleries moved out of metropolises. Sotheby's and Acquavella Galleries opened new spaces in Royal Poinciana Plaza, where Pace and Lehmann Maupin held temporary outposts.

But the city was well on its way to becoming a contemporary art hub before the pandemic, securing annual gatherings of international art galleries through fairs and events. The year 2017 saw the launch of PBM+C, helmed by Nick Korniloff and presented by Art Miami. Sarah Gavlak, whose Gavlak Gallery was the first contemporary art gallery to open in Palm Beach in 2005, has led the non-commercial New Wave Art Wknd since 2018.

'Palm Beach has always been a community that attracts a well-heeled culturally savvy audience that invests in the arts,' Korniloff told Ocula Magazine. 'We have integrated the fair both socially and culturally into the community of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Island.'

While PBM+C typically takes place at Palm Beach County Convention Center, the historic Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens is an unmissable satellite venue. A five-minute drive from the Center, the rare palm and sculpture gardens comprise American sculptor and namesake Ann Weaver Norton's home, exhibition spaces, and artist studio designed by Palm Beach architect Marion Sims Wyeth.

Complementing the gardens is Savage Garden (Jardín Salvaje), a solo exhibition of recent paintings by Spanish artist Jordi Mollà, presented by PBM+C in partnership with Palm Beach's Paul Fisher Gallery. Most known for his bold and expressionist paintings of human masks, Mollà turns his attention to flowers in Savage Garden, from neon pink flowers that exude vibrancy in Beyond Beauty Yellow to the large-scale portrait of a single rose against a dark, textured background in White Rose.

On the opening night, the annual Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented this year to Palm Beach collector and film producer Jane Holzer. An original Warhol superstar, Holzer was also known as 'Baby' Jane in the 1960s.

'We have always believed that recognising those who have helped shape our cultural landscape is extremely important,' Korniloff said. 'Jane is an individual who has had a profound effect on our community for decades and we are honoured to present her [with] this award.'

During the fair, visitors will enter the Palm Beach Convention Center to find Two Sides of the Sixties, a special exhibition featuring English-American artist and lyricist Bernie Taupin's paintings presented by Holden Luntz Gallery, based in Palm Beach. With whimsical humour and irreverence characteristic of Pop art, Taupin reimagines 15 portraits of celebrities and cultural icons taken by photographer and friend Terry O'Neill between the 1960s and 1990s.

These include transforming Audrey Hepburn's white hat into a miniature cosmos in Hippy Hat, Audrey Hepburn, which was originally photographed in 1966, and framing the 1992 portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with Heinz baked beans logos and bestowing the title, Her Heinzness, Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II. On 21 March, Taupin himself will be on the grounds with his long-time musical partner Elton John.

Pop art and works from the 1960s can also be found in gallery booths, attesting to the decade's lasting influence on contemporary art. Taglialatella Galleries, with multiple locations including New York and Palm Beach, will show a black-and-white Marilyn Monroe (1967) by Warhol alongside British-American artist Russell Young's contemporary take on iconic images of the actress in his silkscreen print Marilyn Crying (Nude and Black) (2013).

Paris gallery Dumas + Limbach Fine Art is showing Espace zéro (1963) by Martial Raysse, a forerunner of French Pop art and Nouveau Réalisme in the 1960s. The photographic image of an astronaut has been painted over with bright red, orange, green, and yellow, reflecting the artist's interest in the strong colours used in advertising. The booth also includes a 1985 bronze sculpture of a human figure with outstretched wings by César Baldaccini, another important Nouveau Réalisme artist.

Participating in PBM+C for the first time, Palm Beach gallery Aktion Art will feature paintings by American artist Kevin Hees, who incorporates geometric shapes into complex systems of colour and rhythm, alongside works by Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jonas Wood, Günther Förg, Ed Ruscha, Nick Hornby, Connor Addison, and ThankYouX.

Miami-based Avant Gallery's booth will include Petals and Thorns (2024), a dazzling acrylic and oil on canvas of abstract forms by Dominican artist Marcos Anziani, and Californian-born artist Jon Koehler's white stainless-steel sculpture spelling 'dream' in Imagination Dream (2024).

While welcoming overseas galleries to the city, PBM+C maintains the balance between the domestic and international by collaborating closely with Palm Beach galleries. The success of the fair demonstrates that what a city needs to thrive as an international hub is first and foremost a concrete network of artists, galleries, and their supporters in residence. —[O]