María Elena Ortiz is a trailblazing curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (the Modern), but she also has close ties
to South Florida. Previously, she was a curator at Pérez Art Museum Miami, where she helped to diversify the collection: establishing the Caribbean Cultural Institute (a platform dedicated to Caribbean art) and acquiring works by Simone Leigh
and Bony Ramirez, among others. Next year, Ortiz’s new group show Surrealism and Us: Caribbean and African Diasporic Art Since 1940 opens at the Modern. It will, she says, expand on “how Caribbean and Black artists sparked a modern avant- garde” and show “the effervescent creativity of Caribbean and Black artists and transatlantic networks”. She showed us some of her highlights from Art Basel in Miami Beach.
Caroline Kent, large feelings hidden in mountains / in the palms of our hands touching (2023), Casey Kaplan
This Chicago-based artist is known for her abstract work that explores subjects such as translation, while often reflecting the influence of her Mexican heritage. “She uses similar motifs to create her own visual language, which is partly geometric, partly non-geometric,” Ortiz says. “She’s very much interested in neo-concrete poetry too.”