This Trio Is Changing Miami's Contemporary Art Scene
Two decades and three friends bring hundreds of artists to Miami.
In 2007, three artist friends banded together to create Primary Flight (thisisprimary.com), an art project that painted the walls of warehouse districts later named Wynwood Art District and Miami Design District. In only four years, Books Bischof, Cristina Gonzalez and Typoe Gran had brought hundreds of artists to Miami to participate in urban takeovers. The first murals featured coveted ‘street’ artists such as Ron English, Shephard Fairey, and El Mac, subsequently appropriated and popularized by real estate developers. Founder Books Bishof shares, “We had a desire to surround ourselves with like-minded misfits! We needed to be with those who saw the world downside-up when it was clearly right side-down.”
Derrick Adams
The trio recognized the immense value of bringing dynamic international contemporary art programming to the city. In 2010, they opened Primary Projects, a storefront exhibition space in Miami Design District. The gallery debuted with a solo exhibition by renowned Los Angeles-based artist RETNA, followed by group exhibitions International Friendship Exhibition, OMGWTF, as well as Here Lies Georges Wildenstein, which featured a performance installation by Miru Kim, who lived in the gallery’s windows naked and among live pigs for the duration of Miami Art Week. Further grounding Primary’s fresh eye for talent, in 2017, Derrick Adams created a handpainted, geometric and immersive exhibition that showcased an ambitious range of disciplines by one of contemporary art’s most celebrated artists.
Oona Brangam-Snell
Today, Primary runs a discreet yet equally subversive exhibition schedule from a pristine Little River gallery custom-designed by late architect Terence Riley. In November 2022, artist Wade Tullier shared a sweetly satirical personal journey through his exquisite large-scale ceramics in “It Was a Dream It is a Flood.” This art season, collectors and fans will encounter a solo exhibition of textile works by the boundary-pushing, New York-based artist Oona Brangam-Snell.
Hernan Bas
Self-described as a context and research-driven curatorial collective, the Primary team has maintained its passion for public art. Previous projects include eleven art installations across the then-new Fashion Outlets of Chicago, the city’s most giant murals created via Related Group’s Wynwood 25 and spearheading Miami Worldcenter’s multimillion-dollar creative program alongside renowned dealer Jeffrey Deitch. Together, Primary and Deitch realized murals by Nina Chanel Abney and Viktor El-Saieh, and sculptural works by Nick Cave, Woody De Othello and Trenton Doyle Hancock. Bischof shares, “We found our footing through public art, and today, in many ways, public art remains our salvation.”
