You're in luck. A smaller version of the venerable Art Basel fair in Switzerland will bring high-end galleries and well-regarded artists to Miami Beach.
By LENNIE BENNETT
Published November 23, 2003
[Photo: Art Basel Miami Beach]
Jim Dine, Cincinnati October, 1999, acrylic and pastel on wood.
ABOVE: Fred Tomaselli, Cyclopticon Flower Head, 2003, mixed media, acrylic paint, resin on wood.
Takashi Murakami, Reverse Double Helix, 2003, acrylic on fiberglass.
You will find much at Art Basel Miami Beach, but it won't include those staples of most art festivals - no corn dogs, no ceramic mugs and definitely no mass-produced poster art.
But this could be your chance to pick up one of Edgar Degas' little ballerina bronzes or a Pipilotti Rist video installation. Or work by any number of the most collectible names in 20th and 21st century art, being offered by 175 of the most prestigious art galleries in the world, selected from more than 500 applications. There also will be highly regarded but lesser-known (and, in some cases, less expensive) contemporary artists working in new media. All told, about 1,500 individual artists.
Art Basel hit Miami Beach for the first time last year with a cultural impact equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane. (And they know about Category 5's down there.)
Samuel Keller, its director, said of the 2002 event: "I was surprised success came so fast. Last year we had about 30,000 visitors. I don't have sales numbers because the dealers don't report them to me, but they were very happy. Ninety-four percent of them reapplied for this year."
The main venue for the event Dec. 4 through 7 is the Miami Beach Convention Center, which will house the blue chip dealers such as Acquavella Galleries, New York; John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco; Gagosian Gallery, New York, Beverly Hills and London; James Goodman, New York; Galerie Karsten Greve, St. Moritz, Cologne, Milan and Paris; Hauser & Wirth, Zurich and London; Landau Fine Art, Montreal; Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris and New York; Marian Goodman Gallery, New York; Juda, London; and PaceWildenstein, New York.
If those names aren't familiar, the artists they show will be, among them, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Constantin Brancusi, Albert Giacometti, Joan Miro, Arshile Gorky, Philip Guston, Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Bourgeois, Isamu Noguchi, Joan Mitchell, David Hockney, James Rosenquist. In other words, get out your modern art index and most artists listed are going to be represented here in some form or another. So will important, newer names working in traditional media as well as installation art and video.
Art Basel Miami Beach is a spinoff of Art Basel, the venerable, 34-year-old art fair held every June in Basel, Switzerland. Keller is also its director. The Florida fair, said Keller, is "a new concept. The art fair is the center but not the only thing. It's more like a festival."
Organizers have changed the mix slightly from the far larger Swiss fair, adding, Keller said, "more Latin American galleries, more contemporary artists."
Many of those contemporary artists will be represented in alternative spaces inside the convention center. "Art Statements" will feature one-person shows by 16 artists considered up-and-comers. Art Nova, a new component, will spotlight newer galleries and their artists. Offsite, on the beach, 20 refurbished shipping containers will house "cutting edge" galleries, Keller said, a feature of Art Basel that was popular last year, especially after sundown when crowds would gather for a big beach happy hour with drinks and DJs. A Video Lounge is being set up in the public library with a program selected by Chrissy Ilas, a film and video expert and curator with the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Art Loves Crossovers is a series of collaborations with other groups and special interests. Part of Art Loves Design, for example, will be a project curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist in an experimental art space in the historic Moore building.
With recent auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's fetching high prices for modern and contemporary art, dealers have good reason to be optimistic about sales at Art Basel Miami Beach.
"It's a very healthy market," Keller said. "There was a time in the late '80s when the market was overheated and lesser works sold for very high prices. Many works today have achieved a similar level but only the best quality."
He said European habitues of Art Basel in Switzerland come to Miami Beach, too, because the art is different at each fair. They're joined by collectors from around the United States and a growing number from Latin America. Besides the opportunity to buy, it's also, Keller said, "a great source for networking," so Art Basel Miami Beach is a draw for museum officials, nonparticipating gallery owners and others in the art world.
Why Miami Beach?
"New York was the obvious choice," he said. "But it's far more pleasant (in Miami). It's really a melting pot, vibrant on different levels. In the last five years, it's become one of the places known for collecting, with museums that are more and more active."
Organizers considered Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Keller said, but in the end "it has to do with exposure. Miami is vibrant but very young, experimental."
Daunting as an event like Art Basel might seem to the neophyte collector, Keller said, "don't be intimidated. The galleries are there because they want to meet people. Go and ask them questions. In our catalog, we have a guide to becoming a collector. Don't feel as if you have to overdress.
"And one last thing," he said. "Wear comfortable shoes."
Art Basel Miami Beach opens on Dec. 4 and continues through Dec. 7. The main venue is the Miami Beach Convention Center, with other sites at Collins Park at the beach and the Miami Beach Public Library. A four-day pass is $45; day tickets are $17; evening tickets for events after 5 p.m. $10. For information, visit www.ArtBasel.com
ABOVE: Fred Tomaselli, Cyclopticon Flower Head, 2003, mixed media, acrylic paint, resin on wood.
Takashi Murakami, Reverse Double Helix, 2003, acrylic on fiberglass.