THIS MIAMI BEACH ART SHOW
Bounces with beats, ‘baddies’ and belly button piercings
Storm Ascher was preparing to curate her first art exhibition in Miami, but needed a theme. She was washing her hair in the shower and listening to bachata when it hit her.
Her curls bounced back as she brushed them. She bounced up and down while dancing to the music. Bubbles bounce. Light bounces. Sound bounces. People bounce from place to place.
“I bounced over here myself,” she said. “I’m always bouncing around here.”
“Bounce,” an exhibition at Oolite Arts’ Miami Beach location, is Ascher’s curatorial debut in Miami since moving from New York in 2021.
The multimedia show, featuring local and out-ofstate artists, opened in October and is on view for free until Jan. 21. On Dec. 9, during Miami Art Week, Oolite is hosting a brunch event for visitors to see the show and visit artists’ studios.
A newcomer to Miami’s arts scene, Ascher is a Californiaraised artist, writer and curator and the founder of
Superposition Gallery, a nomadic gallery that pops up in spaces across the country and internationally. Former Oolite CEO Dennis Scholl approached her a year and a half ago to curate the nonprofit’s show for Miami Art Week.
“I started thinking about what ‘Ephyra,’ a sculpture by Scotland-based artist PJ Harper, is on display at Oolite Arts. “This idea of these beautiful women in Miami just felt like it fit perfectly,” she said. my first show should be in Miami without trying to insert my own ideas on what Miami is, what it should be or what artists should be making,” she said. “This was what I felt Miami would enjoy seeing.”
Ascher gave each artist in the show a simple prompt: Bounce. Some of words and phrases associated with “bounce” appear on the gallery space walls and catalog pages: Off the wall. Beaming. Spinning. Percussion. Up & Down. Slippery. Coiling. “Bounce is a vibe,” she said. The result was an eclectic yet cohesive show that explores movement and playfulness. Though each artist came up with something unique, some reoccurring themes pop up. Shiny objects, metals and jewelry make several appearances, like in one painting of a sweet yellow rose. There’s a bellybutton ring pierced through it.
Kelly Shami, a New Yorkbased painter of Syrian and Lebanese descent, is known for her eccentric still life works that combine two meaningful sources of inspiration: flowers and piercings. When Shami hears “bounce,” she said she thinks of what New Yorkers tend to say when they’re ready to leave: “I’m gonna bounce.”