Vertical Gallery is heading back to the beach. 

From December 2-6, Vertical returns to sunkissed South Florida for the 20th annual installment of Aqua Art Miami, presented in conjunction with the citywide Miami Art Week contemporary and modern art fair. This year’s group exhibition represents Vertical’s fourth consecutive appearance at Aqua, and brings the gallery back to Aqua Hotel Miami room 124, the exact same space we occupied during 2025’s event. 

Vertical owner Patrick Hull reveals everything you need to know to writer Jason Ankeny (@tenaciouslittlemonkey) in the latest edition of our web-exclusive Five Questions with… series.

Question 1: What does Vertical Gallery have in store for Aqua Art Miami 2026?

Patrick Hull: This year, we are bringing a big group show to Miami Beach. The overall focus is mid- to small-size work, like we’ve shown the last couple of years at Aqua — work that’s a little more approachable, and a little easier to take home with you from the fair.  

There’s going to be some familiar names: Flog, Collin van der Sluijs, Martin Whatson, Troy Lee, Joe Renda, Jerome Tiunayan, Laura Catherwood and Sergio Farfán. We’re also bringing back some names that have been part of the Vertical family in the past, like My Dog Sighs, who was part of the first SCOPE Miami show we ever did, and Brad Novak, an artist we’ve shown for quite a few years. We showed CANTSTOPGOODBOY some time ago at Line Dot, which was our other gallery space. I met him when he was exhibiting next to us at SCOPE Miami many years back. He usually works very large-scale, but he has a great idea for a collection of smaller original works. 

Last but not least, we’re showing two artists that are new to us. I found Julia Las through Instagram. I think her micro-watercolors are perfect for Aqua. I first saw RAKI’s work through a show at another gallery, and really like his clean, bright colored paintings. He’s doing 16 of them, all 12 by 12 inches.

Each of these 13 artists will have multiple works, as well as a specified amount of space within the room to create a collection of work. They decide how many pieces to show within that space. I think people will be excited by what we're bringing — even the familiar names are doing some really different work. 

Several of our featured artists are attending Aqua this year, which I'm excited about. My Dog Sighs will be there from the UK. Brad Novak from New Zealand, too. CANTSTOPGOODBOY will be down there from the D.C. area. Jerome Tiunayan and Sergio Fárfan will be in from Chicago. 

Question 2: At a high level, how do you approach these types of large-scale art fairs compared to curating a Vertical group show in Chicago?  

This is our 12th time doing Miami, but I feel like I'm still learning how to do it right. Planning an art fair is definitely different from planning a gallery show: An art fair is something that is alive for only four or five days, versus a show at a gallery that can run four to six weeks. Sometimes I'm planning things out nine months, a year, even a year and a half in advance, and you don’t really know what collectors are gonna want that far into the future, so I’m hoping people continue to like the type of work and aesthetic that I'm choosing for the gallery — which is why they continue to follow us — and that we attract new customers, too. 

The cost of doing an art fair is considerably higher than having a physical retail space, so I think about the mix of artists, the style of work and the price points — what I need to make the fair profitable for my business. When I allocate space on a wall within our Aqua exhibition room, I think about the total dollar value of that space: I'm paying for that space, so it matters how much of it each piece and each collection takes up. I feature artists who do something specific that I feel will fit within the space, as opposed to a group show at a gallery, where I give the artists much more free rein to do what they want to do. The work for Aqua can’t be too large, for example — the rooms aren’t big enough to interact with it. I keep the focus on mid- to small-size works because of the environment in which people are shopping.

We rearrange the room almost daily as things sell, to give each artist as much visibility as possible. If an artist sells out, we may move them somewhere else, so we can relocate another artist to the front of the room. We’re in Aqua room 124, the same room we were in last year. It’s a larger room, with more nooks and crannies than usual, and we put Joe Renda at the back, just because I thought the lighting was good. But it was kind of a hidden corner, so I remember thinking “Tomorrow I'm gonna move him forward.” It ended up being the best space in the entire room, because when people walk into these rooms to figure out what’s in them, they tend to start at the back and work their way forward. Joe’s work looked great back there, and he sold out. 

One thing we don't do is mark up our prices. I learned early on that some galleries raise their prices to allow discounting at fairs. We've always been transparent with our prices. We put them on the wall, and we put them on our website. We're not inflating the price to deflate it. I hate that sales tactic. It’s trickery. 

(Aqua Art Miami December 2025)

Question 3: Will collectors be able to purchase work from Vertical’s Aqua booth ahead of the official event kickoff?

No. This year, we're gonna go back to what we used to do, which is in-person-sales-only on Opening Day [Wednesday, Dec. 2]. We want people who travel to Miami to get the first shot at purchasing work, so if you're interested in any of our artists, get your plane ticket and get your hotel room. Whatever is left after Opening Day will be posted for sale on our website at noon ET the following day [Thursday, Dec. 3].

If anyone needs a pass for Aqua Art Miami 2026, just email me, and we’ll get you in. You don't have to pay anything. You can also get into Aqua if you have a pass from one of the other Miami art fairs.

Question 4: What keeps you coming back to Aqua year after year? 

It's a great platform to feature our artists and expand our collector base. These art fairs are huge, and there are many, many collectors coming down to see what galleries are bringing. It’s also a chance for me to meet new artists. Artists will reach out to me, and I’ll tell them “Stop by Aqua so I can meet you in person.” It’s much better than just reviewing a PDF of their work, and I get to put a face with a name.

Having done Miami for so many years, we have a great collector base down there, too. It's not just collectors from Florida, either. Lots of our collectors from Chicago come down, as well as lots of people that we met in New York City years ago when we did SCOPE there. Some of these are people that I only get to see once a year, and it's always a pleasure when they stop by to visit us.

And Miami is just great the first week of December. It's warm, but not humid. It's sunny.

You're on the beach. You can breathe real air. Best of all, you’re part of a giant art community. Everybody is there to show work or see work or buy work. It feels good. 

Aqua is the type of thing you have to apply for, you know. They have to accept you. So I'm very happy they like our programming and invite us back to participate. I'm very grateful to them and the appreciation they show for the gallery.

(Aqua Art Miami with Laura Catherwood in December 2025)

Question 5: Looking past Miami, what does Vertical have lined up for the first quarter of 2027? 

January always used to be my opportunity to take a month off and go to Europe to visit artists and have fun, but we're kicking off the new year right away by doing a show with Flog at Esmé, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago. 

It's going to be a really special exhibition. It’s not just about the art on the wall — Flog is creating the whole environment, and how food is served to you. Esmé has been doing these artist collaborations for a while, but this is the first time Vertical is bringing one of our artists into their space.

Then we’ve got Jerome Tiunayan’s first solo show. We’ll be doing that in a space we’re renting on Chicago Ave. I’m also planning out our 14-year anniversary show, which is in April. Stay tuned!