December's Design Miami and Art Basel Miami Beach fairs are much favoured by daylight-deprived New Yorkers and North Europeans glad of an excuse to escape their winter gloom and enjoy some clear blue sky. Smart then of Morgans Hotel Group, operator of local hotspots Delano, Mondrian South Beach and Shore Club, to take to the air and put their contribution to the five-day creative circus where everyone could see it.
Devised by the hotel group's 'cultural ambassador' Adam Shopkorn, Plane Text - which has scooped a Wallpaper* Design Award for 'Best High Art' - was an aerial exhibition of word banners from 15 of the world's highest profile artists. Ed Ruscha, Richard Prince and the estate of Sol LeWitt, among others, each contributed a phrase that was then flown across the Miami skyline.
From the personal, Gary Simmons' 'I Wish It Could Be Morning All Day Long'; to the provocative, Jack Pierson's 'We're Rich We Can Do What We Want'; to the rib-tickling, Richard Prince's 'My Brother Just Married A Two-Headed Lady. Is She Pretty You Ask? Well, Yes And No', the phrases were towed by planes organised by aerial advertising specialists Van Wagner over visitor-heavy areas, such as the Miami Design District, the Miami Convention Center home of both fairs, and along South Beach coast, to the delight of pedestrians, tourists and art lovers alike.
The 15 word banners were towed across the sky by planes organised by aerial advertising specialists Van Wagner.
The process of attaching the banners to the plane is an aeronautic feat. Watch Sol LeWitt's words take to the air.
A pithy statement from Mel Bochner above the Miami Design District.
Richard Prince's banner get its turn in the sky.
Prince's rib-tickling offering stretched out across the sky.
Wise words from Alexis Smith.
Martin Creed's banner, laid out on the airstrip.
Lawrence Weiner's airborne offering.
Lisa Anne Auerbach's banner.
'Ads imitate art. Art imitates life. Life imitates ads,' wrote Hank Willis Thomas.
Banners by (from left) Ed Ruscha and Jenny Holzer.
A question from Kay Rosen.
Statements by (from left) Allen Ruppersberg and Jack Pierson.
A loaded pledge by John Baldessari.
-
Burnt Earth Beach House is an experimental retreat crafted in terracottaThe experimental Australian Burnt Earth Beach House by John Wardle breaks new ground in material composition, using baked earth for warmth, texture and tonality
-
The rich culture of India is celebrated in Milan with Gunjan Gupta's Indian Tiny MegastoreDuring Milan Design Week 2024, Gunjan Gupta's Indian Tiny Megastore curated by Maria Cristina Didero brings Indian culture to the city
-
Alcova 2024 offers up contemporary independent design in historical domestic backdropsAlcova 2024 moved to Varedo to take over the spaces of Villa Bagatti Valsecchi and Villa Borsani (on view until 21 April)
-
The Met’s ‘The Real Thing: Unpacking Product Photography’ dissects the avant-garde in early advertisingA new exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explores the role of product photography and advertising in shaping the visual language of modernism
-
Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates Black cinema‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) brings lost or forgotten films, filmmakers and performers to a contemporary audience
-
BLUM marks 30 years of Japanese contemporary art in AmericaBLUM will take ‘Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood’ to its New York space in September 2024, continuing its celebration of Japanese contemporary art in America
-
Todd Gray’s sculptural photography collages defy dimension, linearity and narrativeIn Todd Gray’s New York exhibition, he revisits his 40-year archive, fragmented into elaborated frames that open doors for new readings
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzzOur Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
-
New York artist Christopher Astley showcases an alternative natural worldAt Martos Gallery in New York, Christopher Astley’s paintings evoke an alternative natural world and the chaos of warfare (until 16 March 2024)
-
The Whitney plots Harold Cohen’s artistic AI adventures‘Harold Cohen: AARON’, at the Whitney Museum of American Art celebrates the artist’s software – the earliest AI program for artmaking – as an artwork in its own right
-
Sneak peek: inside Jack Shainman’s vast New York galleryJack Shainman’s new gallery space opens with ‘Broken Spectre’, a new film by Irish artist Richard Mosse
