Best high art: an artistic display that was plane brilliant
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

December's Design Miami and Art Basel Miami Beach (opens in new tab) 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 (opens in new tab), 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 (opens in new tab) 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 (opens in new tab)' '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 (opens in new tab) 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.
Pei-Ru Keh is the US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru has held various titles at Wallpaper* since she joined in 2007. She currently reports on design, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru has taken a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars and actively seeks out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Silver from X-rays recycled as sustainable jewellery by The Royal Mint
The 886 by The Royal Mint jewellery collection gives recycled X-ray films a new purpose
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Ten classic fountain pens for the personal touch
Ten fountain pens, from timeless designs to sleekly machined modern writing tools, prove that perfect penmanship is just a gold nib away
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Arctic conditions shape pared-down house in northern Sweden by Claesson Koivisto Rune
Claesson Koivisto Rune’s new pared-down house makes a bold sculptural statement on the banks of Sweden’s Lule River, shaped by building regulations and its location’s Arctic conditions
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
New York art exhibitions: what to see this winter
Stay up-to-date with our ongoing guide to the best new and upcoming New York art exhibitions and events for your diary
By Tilly Macalister-Smith • Published
-
Museum of Sex to open Miami outpost in spring 2023
The Museum of Sex will expand with a new Miami outpost in spring 2023, housed in a former warehouse reimagined by Snøhetta and inaugurated with an exhibition by Hajime Sorayama
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology in Miami is powered by heartbeats
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer brings heart and human connection to Miami Art Week 2022 with Pulse Topology, an interactive light installation at Superblue Miami in collaboration with BMW i
By Fiona Mahon • Last updated
-
Lucy McRae on gene editing, human intimacy, and tangible science fiction
We explore the universe of sci-fi artist and ‘body architect’ Lucy McRae, whose science fiction works fuse human intimacy, biological perfection and speculative, yet eerily familiar futures
By Billie Muraben • Last updated
-
Los Angeles exhibitions: an ongoing guide to the best shows in town
Read our ongoing picks of the best new and upcoming LA art exhibitions to see under the California sun
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
In the studio with Swedish sculptor Klara Kristalova
Kristalova speaks to art historian and broadcaster Flora Vesterberg about ceramics, her Stockholm archipelago studio, and upcoming show at Perrotin New York
By Flora Vesterberg • Last updated
-
Objects of desire: the seductive exchange between fine art and advertising photography
At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) ‘Objects of Desire: Photography and the Language of Advertising’ explores how contemporary artists have imitated, appropriated and exploited the language of commercial photography
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
Leading female artists to celebrate 250 years of Veuve Clicquot in LA show
Opening on 26 October in Los Angeles, a new Veuve Clicquot exhibition will see contemporary female artists – including Yayoi Kusama, Sheila Hicks and Tacita Dean – respond to the champagne house’s free-spirited history
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated