ALT REALITY | ArtMiami 2025

DECEMBER 2 - 7, 2025

WCC proudly presents ALT REALITY, an exhibition that challenges perception, celebrates disruption, and reveals the extraordinary within the everyday at this year's edition of Art Miami.

In an era where the digital and tangible increasingly blur, ALT REALITY delves into the fragmented nature of truth and perception. This exhibition views reality not as a fixed constant but as a dynamic mosaic: simultaneously coherent and fractured, familiar and fantastical.

Through this curatorial lens, ALT REALITY becomes a site of exploration and play. Each work acts as a portal, refracting experience through distortion, reflection, and reimagination. Viewers are invited to revel in the splinters, those vibrant, unexpected moments that define our collective and individual realities.

The result is an exhibition that celebrates the chaos, humor, and beauty of being alive in the modern world — one that is thought-provoking, visually captivating, and undeniably fun.

GARY JAMES MCQUEEN

British

British artist Gary James McQueen is a master of visual storytelling. McQueen began his creative journey working across print, typeset, and textile design, developing a meticulous eye for detail. Introduced to the fashion world by his late uncle Alexander “Lee” McQueen, whose mentorship shaped his approach to narrative and design, he joined the McQueen’s menswear department and rose to head textile designer. Entrusted with projects commemorating his uncle’s legacy, he celebrated his uncle's life and work in image, including the chrome skull artwork that became the iconic emblem of the exhibition Savage Beauty: Alexander McQueen.

Since then, Gary James McQueen has pursued his own artistic path, exploring mediums that merge illustration, photography, and pioneering 3D art technologies. Lenticulars have become his signature canvas, a medium through which he engineers images that fracture, recombine, and open into portals of depth, drawing the viewer into hidden dimensions. What appears fixed becomes fluid; his images resist stillness, dissolving solidity into motion and spectacle. Each work reflects a love of storytelling, a fascination with visual depth, and a desire to craft immersive experiences that challenge perception while inviting exploration.

McQueen has garnered critical acclaim, with his work being exhibited at major institutions including London’s V&A and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as galleries on both sides of the Atlantic. For the artist, the work is both a personal journey and an invitation: to step into carefully crafted worlds that mirror imagination, emotion, and the human experience.

In Desire (1/10), 2025

3D and transient lenticular 60" x 47.24"

The Guardian (1/10), 2025

3D and transient lenticular 60" x 47.24"

$26,000

and transient lenticular 47.24" x 35.43"

3D and transient lenticular 47.24" x 35.43"

3D and transient lenticular 47.24" x 35.43"

Untitled, 2025

3D and transient lenticular 60" x 47.24"

SIMON BERGER

Swiss, b. 1976

Swiss artist Simon Berger is a master of his medium, a pioneering contemporary artist who has pushed the boundaries of artistic expression through his innovative glass artworks. Originally trained as a carpenter, Berger experimented with wood, metal, and even car bodies before discovering glass as the material that could fully embody his vision. Intricately and precisely, he pounds, cracks, and breaks panels of reinforced safety glass until his imagery comes to life. Each blow of the hammer infuses high contrast and shades into an otherwise monochromatic surface. In his hands, the hammer is not a tool of destruction, but rather an amplifier of effects — a paradoxical instrument of creation that transforms fragility into resilience. Through the cracks emerge emotionally evocative portraits that play with light and transparency while drawing the viewer’s gaze into a meander of lesions the artist calls morphogenesis.

Breaking new ground with a technique that feels at once sculptural and painterly, Berger has established himself within the contemporary art scene. Since making his first works on glass in 2017, he has participated in luxury collaborations and been invited to institutions and events worldwide. Notably, he partnered with the National Women’s History Museum to create a portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021, a symbolic work referencing the “glass ceiling.” Later that year, Berger contributed to the We are Unbreakable project, which honored the victims of the Beirut explosion in 2020. In the years since, his works have been showcased in solo exhibitions, group shows, and public installations around the world, including at two of the most prominent glass museums — Vitromusée in Romont, Switzerland, and the Murano Glass Museum in Venice, Italy.

DREW MERRITT

American, b. 1985

Drew Merritt is an American painter and muralist known for his vivid realism and ability to blend classical aesthetics with contemporary themes. Raised on a ranch in Clovis, New Mexico, Merritt's early connection to nature and creativity shaped his artistic journey, which began with graffiti and evolved into large-scale murals and refined oil paintings.

Merritt’s work explores themes of human emotion and the passage of time, often juxtaposing romanticized, Renaissance-inspired imagery against modern backdrops. Now based between Los Angeles and Southern New Mexico, Merritt's compelling visual narratives have earned him international recognition, with murals and gallery exhibitions that invite viewers to reflect on compassion, isolation, and the complexity of the human experience.

Merritt has been commissioned by many brands including Tesla, Sony PlayStation, UFC, Steve Aoki, Universal Music Group, and more.

MILES GLYNN

American, b. 1980

Miles Glynn is a contemporary American artist known for his mixed media works that reimagine vintage Americana through bold, layered compositions. Drawing on imagery from early 20th-century photographs, advertisements, and ephemera, Glynn uses silkscreen, paint, and collage to create pieces that are at once nostalgic and distinctly modern.

Raised as the son of a U.S. Army photojournalist, Glynn developed a deep appreciation for visual storytelling early in life. His work often explores themes of the American West, incorporating cowboys, cowgirls, and rugged landscapes with a pop-art edge. The resulting pieces blend historical memory with contemporary texture and color, offering a fresh take on cultural iconography.

Based in Marfa, Texas, a desert town known for its vibrant art scene, Glynn produces and exhibits work that speaks to both personal heritage and broader American mythologies.

TODD SANDERS

American, b. 1967

Contemporary neon artist Todd Sanders crafts his vintage-style designs using durable modern materials and specialized weathering techniques. Evoking the glory days of roadside America, Sanders’ work resembles old relics rescued from forgotten attractions on abandoned highways. Sanders calls his style modern vintage, but considers himself a pop artist, sharing a rich artistic vein mined by Andy Warhol and other pop-culture iconographers. A Montgomery, TX native, Sanders began pursuing his muse in earnest after moving to Austin, Sanders’ work is prized by his collectors, including Willie Nelson, Shepard Fairey, Edie Brickell/Paul Simon, Joe Rogan, Johnny Depp, ZZ Top, and Kings of Leon. Sanders’ pieces have appeared in several films, as well as the pages of Esquire, Fortune, Texas Monthly, and Southern Living magazine. The original version of his most popular design, his animated “Fireflies in a Mason Jar,” was created for the wedding of fellow Texan Miranda Lambert to Blake Shelton. Several of his works have hung in the Museum of Neon Art in Los Angeles.

HARIS NUKEM

British

Haris Nukem’s work is a passionate study of the human spirit in the 21st century. Drawing from raw emotions and nuanced experiences of modern life, the London based photographer portrays allegories and fictional scenarios set in our contemporary existence. Building visual narratives around human nature, his images work to highlight the beauty and messiness of identity.

The result is a provocative body of work that challenges the viewer's perception of what it means to be alive in the modern world. His photographs are characterised by their opulence in colour, and bright, incandescent hues. Fusing lavish aesthetics with a conscious sensibility, his work blends classical art forms with contemporary social reflections. His ability to merge the ornate with the real allows him to comment on both timeless themes and the rapidly evolving world around us.

Ultimately, Haris Nukem’s photography serves as both an aesthetic experience and a philosophical inquiry, encouraging viewers to contemplate the beauty, complexity, and contradictions of life in the 21st century. Having exhibited at Maddox Gallery in London and collaborating with major brands like Warner Music and Universal, Nukem has cemented his place at the forefront of contemporary portraiture.

Giclee print on archival pearl paper coated in diamond dust

IN EXILE, 2025

Giclée print on Hahnemühle pearl paper and acrylics

51.25" x 35.62"

$13,800

2023

print on Hahnemühle pearl paper and oil stick

TERRY URBAN American, b. 1977

Terry Urban is a contemporary American artist whose work blends expressive intensity with symbolic storytelling. Born and raised in the industrial city of Cleveland, Ohio, Urban draws deeply from his blue-collar roots and personal history. His upbringing in an Irish American household, along with the influence of a Cherokee stepfather, shaped a worldview grounded in resilience, struggle, and a strong connection to the underdog.

Urban’s paintings are marked by bold color, emotional contrast, and a recurring fascination with mortality. Working on canvas and wood, he explores the darker sides of the human experience with a visual language that feels both personal and mythic. Skulls, bones, and fragmented figures populate his compositions, evoking themes of impermanence, vulnerability, and inner conflict. Though often heavy in tone, his work carries an undercurrent of vitality, driven by a restless curiosity and a desire to confront what lies beneath the surface.

At the heart of Urban’s practice is a desire to remain true to his origins while pushing the boundaries of how art can speak to the human condition. His work stands as a testament to the strength it takes to look inward and the clarity that can emerge from doing so. His exploration of life’s most enigmatic truths gives his art its emotional weight and distinctive voice creating a body of work that feels raw, immediate, and emotionally honest.

Terry Urban

In The Name of The Father, 2025

Acrylic, oil, pastel, and aerosol on canvas 72" x 60"

$22,500

Terry Urban After Forever, 2025

Terry Urban

I Never Gave You Your Flowers: a dedication to my father, 2025

Acrylic, oil, pastel, and aerosol on canvas

$18,000

CHARLOTTE ROSE

British, b.1998

Charlotte Rose is an emerging British pop artist known for her vibrant work that explores nostalgic branding and the deceptive allure of advertising. Rose works predominantly on vibrant large scale wooden panel and canvas and dances between the mediums of acrylic and oil. Since her first solo show in 2021, her work has attracted high-profile collectors such as Schoony, Yungblud, and Phoebe WallerBridge. She has collaborated with renowned brands such as Coach, Gucci, and Jo Malone .

Rose's art juxtaposes seductive visual aesthetics with darker themes, such as the harmful realities behind advertising’s glossy façade. Her work prescribes new truths to an old illusion, each painting an exploration of the 'dream' sold by companies to push poisonous goods. Influenced by pop culture icons like Andy Warhol and Harland Miller, Rose plays with repetition and branding in her bold and striking designs to reveal themes of mortality, fate, and desire.

OPAKE

British, b. 1988

OPAKE, born Ed Worley, is a prominent London-based artist whose work merges graffiti, pop art, and personal reflection. He reimagines iconic cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Pink Panther in ways that delve into deeper themes of mental health, addiction, and the breakdown of pop culture. His unique style, which he calls the “disintegration of pop culture,” often features bold colors and overlapping imagery that create a chaotic yet captivating visual experience.

Opake’s artistic journey is closely tied to his struggle with addiction. Having experienced drug-induced psychosis, he transformed his battle into a source of creative power. His art frequently uses repetition and cluttered compositions, symbolizing the cyclical nature of addiction and the concept of insanity—doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. These visual elements mirror his personal struggles and eventual recovery

By channeling his experiences into his work, Opake invites collectors and institutions to engage with art that goes beyond aesthetics, offering a compelling narrative of personal transformation. His growing international reputation, bolstered by a large online following, has made his work highly sought after by collectors worldwide. With works exhibited globally — from Japan and South Korea to Mexico and the UK, where he showcased at the renowned Saatchi Gallery in 2024 — Opake’s work is a raw and deeply personal reflection of struggle and renewal.

All glove no wrist, 2025

paint and acrylic on plywood cradle

Remember it all started and finished...with a mouse, 2025

Spray paint and acrylic on plywood cradle

59.06" x 59.06"

$15,500

Holding it all together…kinda, 2024

Handmade resin sculpture 39" x 39" $19,500

RISK

American, b. 1967

Multi-talented fine artist, sculptor, and graffiti pioneer, RISK stands as a towering figure in the history of American graffiti and street art. Born Kelly Graval, he moved to Los Angeles with his family as a teenager and quickly transformed his new high school into a personal canvas, using the city itself as a stage to push the limits of graffiti both in scale and ambition.

A fearless visionary, RISK was one of the first artists to bring graffiti and street art into gallery spaces, helping to transform a once-underground movement into a globally recognized art form. He has been a key member of several influential street art crews, most famously West Coast Artists (WCA) and The Seventh Letter. He is credited as one of the first artists to paint on freight trains and is widely recognized as a pioneer of “hitting up the heavens”—creating works on highly elevated surfaces like billboards, rooftops, and freeway overpasses, raising graffiti to new heights both literally and figuratively.

RISK’s bold style and groundbreaking approach have earned him cultural prominence beyond the streets, with his art featured in music videos by legends such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Michael Jackson. Utilizing 860 gallons of paint and a team of 29 artists and volunteers, RISK achieved a monumental feat by creating the largest mural in Canada, spanning 74,000 square feet on the abandoned St. Joseph’s Hospital in Ontario. His fearless innovation and dedication continue to inspire artists worldwide and solidify his legacy as a foundational force in contemporary street art.

RISK

RISK

Risk Vert II, 2024

$42,750

RISK

RISK

RISK

RISK

60" Tongue, 2017

Aerosol, Kandy car paint, and crushed abalone on 'Metallic Tissue' of spray can collage panel, surf board resin and neon

60" x 60"

$40,580

Cey Adams American, b. 1962

New York City native Cey Adams emerged from the downtown graffiti movement to exhibit alongside iconic artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. He appeared in the groundbreaking 1983 PBS documentary Style Wars, which chronicled New York subway graffiti culture.

Cey’s work explores the relationship between transformation and discovery focusing on themes ranging from pop culture to race and gender relations. His practice involves dismantling various imagery and paper elements to build multiple layers of color, texture, shadow, and light. Cey draws inspiration from 60’s pop art, sign painting, comic books, and popular culture. As the Creative Director of hip hop mogul Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Recordings, he co-founded the Drawing Board, the label’s in-house visual design firm, where he created visual identities, album covers, logos, and advertising campaigns for Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., and Jay-Z. Cey has collaborated with many global brands including Levi’s, Mattel, Spotify, The Recording Academy, Apple, Hampton Water Rose, Monster Energy, Bacardi, IDEO, Foot Locker, Converse, Pabst Blue Ribbon, YouTube, and Google.

A respected educator and speaker, Cey exhibits and leads workshops at prestigious institutions such as MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, the Walker Art Center, and MOCA Los Angeles. In 2022, his career was honored with a major retrospective titled Departure: 40 Years of Art and Design, celebrating his pioneering role at the intersection of street art, graphic design, and hip hop culture.

RETNA

American, b. 1979

RETNA is an American street artist known for his unique typography and letterforms. RETNA combines visual linguistics, urban poetics, and appropriated fashion imagery to explore an eclectic range of media, including graffiti, photography, and painting. “It is important to have art in the streets as a cultural fabric that is woven into the city for the upliftment of civic pride,” he once stated. Born Marquis Lewis, he joined the Los Angeles mural scene as a teenager, developing his text-based signature style featuring intricate line work, complex layering, and a wide range of color. Painting with a brush in addition to a spray can, the artist achieves highly detailed line work. He has exhibited at venues throughout the world, notably including L.A. Art Machine in Los Angeles, Don Gallery in Milan, Yves Laroche Galerie d’Art in Montreal, and Art for All in Malaga, among others. The artist continues to live and works in Los Angeles, CA.

CHRIS LEVINE

Canadian, b. 1960

Chris Levine is a light artist who works across many mediums in pursuit of an expanded state of perception and awareness through image and form. Levine’s work considers light not just as a core aspect of art, but of human experience more widely and a spiritual, meditative, and philosophical edge permeates his work.

Levine is perhaps best known for producing what is already being described as one of the most iconic images of the twenty-first century, Lightness of Being. With light and stillness at its core, the sensational portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II presents an utterly fresh depiction of the most famous woman in the world. The National Portrait Gallery stated it was the most evocative image of a royal by any artist.

Levine’s practice is differentiated by the cross-fertilization across many creative fields including music, performance, installation, fashion and design in a multitude of projects. He has had artwork in London’s Science Museum and has staged light performances and exhibitions internationally in spaces such as Radio City in New York commissioned by MoMA, The Eden Project, The Royal Opera House, MATE museum in Lima, London’s Fine Art Society and the headline installation at MOFO festival for Tasmania’s MONA museum.

Levine’s status as one of the World’s leading light artists has led to a number of high-profile cross-media collaborations with Massive Attack, Hussein Chalayan, Antony and the Johnsons, Kate Moss, Grace Jones, and Jon Hopkins and he has produced work for Chanel, BMW and Swarovski.

WIM WENDERS

German, b. 1945

Widely considered one of the leading auteur figures from the New German Cinema era of the late 1960s and ’70s, Wim Wenders is a film director, producer, playwright, and photographer. Well-known cinematic works include Wings of Desire, Buena Vista Social Club (a documentary of famous Cuban musicians), and Paris, Texas (in which a speechless man devoid of memory searches for a link to his past). In the 1980s Wenders began a long-running photographic project, Pictures from the Surface of the Earth, for which he travelled around the globe, capturing images in countries such as Australia, Cuba, Israel, Japan, and the United States, characterized by quiet, desolate landscapes and scenes—a barren desert, for instance, or a derelict hotel lobby. Wenders once said that photography is akin to “watching death at work,” as the contents of the image will inevitably change, fade, or cease to exist. He began his photographic practice using 35mm Polaroid cameras, but has since worked with medium-format cameras, enabling him to produce larger images.

Wim Wenders

The Black Car, Havana (AP 1/1), 1998

Chromogenic print, face-mounted 27.50" x 84"

$19,500

ROBERT INDIANA American, 1928 - 2018

Robert Indiana was an American Pop artist whose work drew inspiration from signs, billboards, and commercial logos. He is best known for his series of LOVE paintings, which employed bold and colorful letterforms to spell out the word “love.” Following the advice of his friend Ellsworth Kelly, the artist relocated to New York after receiving his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1954. It was here that Indiana became acquainted with a number of prominent artists, including Agnes Martin, and James Rosenquist. Over the following decades his work became increasingly popular, with both his LOVE and HOPE motifs transformed into a number of public sculptures. In September 2013, the Whitney Museum of American Art opened “Robert Indiana: Beyond LOVE,” the artist’s first retrospective in New York. Indiana died on May 19, 2018 in Vinalhaven, ME. Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Gallery in London, among others.

Indiana

HEAL (positive variation) (16/25), 2015

on 2ply Rising Museum Board

33" x 32"

GEORGE CONDO American, b. 1957

Painter George Condo populates his canvases with a parade of grotesques; his figures’ bulging eyes, bulbous cheeks, proliferating limbs, and fractured faces evoke the allure and abjection of a carnival.

Condo takes inspiration from artists including Pablo Picasso, Diego Velázquez, Henri Matisse, and Cy Twombly, integrating tenets of abstraction into a practice that ranges from macabre portraiture to more geometrical, less representational compositions. Condo has referred to his surrealistic style as “psychological cubism,” which attempts to capture a subject’s multiplicity, and as “artificial realism” that offers a simulated, distinctly American take on European art history.

Condo has participated in the Venice Biennale and exhibited at Tate Modern and the New Museum, among other institutions; today, his work sells for more than $6 million at auction. He famously got his start working as a studio assistant to Andy Warhol. Condo has also created album art for Kanye West.

American, b. 1943

Robert “R.” Crumb emerged in the late 1960s as a leading figure in the “underground comix” movement, publishing the first issue of cult favorite Zap Comix in 1968, and his most recognized comic, Keep on Truckin’ in the late 1970s. Crumb is known for a signature raunchy style, through which he expresses his "contempt and disgust with America." He created the notorious characters Devil Girl, Fritz the Cat, and Mr. Natural, and was the subject of Terry Zwigoff’s 1995 documentary, Crumb. In 2009, he published his illustrated graphic novel version of the Book of Genesis, including annotations explaining his reactions to Biblical stories.

on request

HUNT SLONEM

American, b. 1951

Hunt Slonem is best known for huge Neo-Expressionist oil paintings populated with rows of birds, bunnies, and butterflies, which he renders in thick, lavishly colored brushstrokes. With a career spanning over four decades, Slonem has become a leading figure in American art, celebrated for his unique visual language, exuberant use of color, and exploration of symbolism. Taking his cues from Andy Warhol’s Pop art seriality, Slonem uses repetition as a form of creative meditation that unlocks subconscious sentiment.

Slonem honed his craft at Tulane University in New Orleans and, later, at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, where he was exposed to artists including Alice Neel and Alex Katz. Today, having garnered international acclaim, Slonem’s work belongs in over 250 esteemed collections around the world, including major institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Würth Museum. His works are collected by U.S. Presidents and notable celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Brooke Shields, Kylie Jenner, and Jennifer Lopez. Slonem's distinctive style and prolific body of work continue to inspire collectors and art enthusiasts worldwide, solidifying his place as one of the leading contemporary artists of his generation.

JUAN MEJÍA

Colombian, b. 1965

The work of Colombian artist and architect Juan Mejía occupies the terrain between intention and form. Working in a variety of media, from the plasticine material Sintra to rusted bronze, Mejía’s sculptures are starkly minimal while refusing the coldness that often typifies this genre. After studying architecture in his hometown of Medellin, Mejía traveled internationally and undertook studies in Vienna, Rotterdam, and Berlin. In addition to their international cultural background, the artist’s works share a close relationship with his career in architecture, which deepens their relationship with form, geometry, and the city.

cut, folded and lacquered stainless steel plate

cut, folded and lacquered stainless steel plate

West Chelsea Contemporary is much more than the typical gallery. Offering worldclass art in a dynamic, interactive setting. WCC produces museum-quality exhibitions year-round with programming that is free and open to the public.

West Chelsea Contemporary’s collection includes artists influential to Pop Art, Street Art, Graffiti, Post-Graffiti and contemporary art as well as tastemakers of these movements. With a local, national, and international roster of represented artists, West Chelsea Contemporary situates artwork from the primary market alongside a highly curated selection of pieces from the secondary market. This novel display of represented, emerging and mid-career artists alongside Blue Chip masters increases each artist’s exposure and serves to make connections between their work.

1009 West 6th Street #120 Austin, TX 78703

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Sunday 12 - 6pm

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