Art Basel 2017: Awaken Your Senses

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Aramis Fernandez and Isabella Lopez were contemplating the protruding plunger from a painting of a glacier at Art Basel. It was their first international art show and 40 minutes into the experience, the Miami high school couple instinctively knew there was likely to be some hidden meaning just waiting to be unearthed.

See also: Art Basel 2017: Miami's Largest Art Show Underway

"I interpreted it as global warming," observed Fernandez, an affable 12th grader with long curly hair who wants to be a musician when he graduates from the School for Advanced Studies.

Lopez, a junior at the same high school on the campus of Miami-Dade College, is hoping for a career in journalism.

"I’ve never been to an actual professional art display or anything," she offered. "I really like it so far. Everything is just really different. It makes you think, and I don’t know what to think sometimes."

With works from more than 4,000 artists on display, there is literally lots to think about at this year's Art Basel in the Miami Beach Convention Center. Whether it be through photography, sculpture, paint or video, there is plenty to awaken your senses now through Dec. 10.

Gena Zapata of Davie had never been to Art Basel either. She couldn't take her eyes off a massive white tree sculpture rising above the 500,000-square-foot exhibition hall.

"I heard for many years about Art Basel and I never expected it to be like this," said Zapata, who works for a pharmaceutical firm. "It's for all types of people. It doesn’t really matter where you come from, or what your background is. I think it’s still enjoyable."

She particularly enjoyed an art piece created around a heart. "It was an actual heart — like an actual organ — and it had a dagger with some names on it," she explained. "It was beautiful. I loved it. I’m very into anatomy so I really enjoyed that piece."

Despite all she heard about Art Basel over the years, Zapata wasn't quite prepared for the sheer size of the exhibition space.

"I didn’t even get to finish the entire exhibition. But it’s definitely worth it to come," she asserted.

Lucei Munoz of Mexico City said the fact that there is so much to see is why she comes back every year.

Now 12 years in, she brought her two-year-old daughter this time around.

"It's different," she said of each of the shows she has experienced.

Jordan Matter has his own photography exhibition at Spectrum and Red Dot in Wynwood but he couldn't wait to check out what the convention center had to offer.

"It seems like you can come to one city and see most of the art in the world. Everybody comes here. So you get a sense of what the trends (are in) the art world," Matter insisted. "A lot of this stuff I just see, I know I’m not going to be drawn to. And then, certain things pop out at me and I’m very excited to have discovered them. Usually, it’s the old school photography to be honest. The images that I enjoy the most are the ones that were taken 50 or 60 years ago."

Fernandez and Lopez won their Art Basel tickets in a raffle but said they couldn't wait to come back.

"I question everything and it makes me wonder what these artists were thinking," the 17-year-old Fernandez confided.

"Some of it is so weird. Some of it is just funny because it is so random. It appears. To the artist, it probably was something meaningful, but to us we have no idea what their head space was," he added. "So we just see it. It makes no sense. So we just kind of stare at it."

Aramis Fernandez and Isabella Lopez take in their first Art Basel. All photos by Paul Scicchitano.