Miami at Its Most Artful

It’s no coincidence that Art Basel Miami Beach falls in the middle of the holiday shopping season. Following on the heels of American Thanksgiving and Black Friday, it provides a prime opportunity for art lovers to pick up something special for the man or woman who has everything in their life. Just as Black Friday provides a timely indicator of the state of the US economy, the Western Hemisphere’s biggest marketplace for modern and contemporary art is a useful bellwether for the state of the art market. Fortunately for the 283 galleries from 43 countries and territories who showed their wares, all appears to be well in the art world, at least commercially. Art Basel Miami Beach also retains its reputation for throwing some of the best parties of the year. Here’s a rundown of this year’s fair, which concluded on December 6th.

The Art

There’s no shortage of blue-chip artwork on display at Art Basel Miami Beach, but the fair also has a well-earned reputation for cheekiness. After all, it was here in 2019 that Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s work, “Comedian” (consisting of a banana duct taped to a wall), made international headlines. This year’s fair was no exception.

At Zero 10, Art Basel’s new global initiative dedicated to digital era art, NFT provocateur Beeple (aka Mike Winkelmann) presented an installation called Regular Animals consisting of a pack of robotic dogs fitted with hyper-realistic faces of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and the artist himself. The robots, which were constantly photographing their surroundings through face-mounted cameras, would periodically excrete printed images, some of which bore QR codes for accompanying NFTs that were trading for upwards of $35,000 each. The creatures sold for $100,000 apiece.

Beyond the headline-grabbing installations, several booths emerged as must-sees for collectors and critics alike. Hauser & Wirth drew steady crowds with a focused selection of late-career works by Louise Bourgeois and others, while David Zwirner showcased a striking mix of contemporary pieces, including new paintings by Dana Schutz that generated significant buzz.

Pace Gallery presented new light-based works from James Turrell’s latest series, offering a calm counterpoint to the fair’s energy. LA-based François Ghebaly also earned strong notices for a booth highlighting rising voices in conceptual performance and abstraction, underscoring the fair’s commitment to pairing emerging talent with blue-chip heavyweights.

The Parties

Miami has a well-earned reputation as a town that likes to party, and the after-hours scene at Art Basel Miami Beach does nothing to dispel this. Among the buzziest events this year was the takeover of famed nightclub E11EVEN, which brought in 50 Cent and Tiesto for the latest installation of its “The Art of Nightlife” Series.

There were also a variety of invite-only dinners hosted by the likes of Cartier, TAG Heuer and Burberry that boasted appearances by celebrity brand ambassadors, including Hiroshi Fujiwara and Karlie Kloss. Perhaps the most surprising cameo of the week was during the Capital One & The Cultivist x Alex Prager Installation Party, which featured a surprise performance by music legend Diana Ross.

The Sales

Amid all the highbrow art talk and nightlife, it can be easy to forget that Art Basel is first and foremost a marketplace for buying and selling high-end artwork. As such, it recorded a number of strong sales, including Andy Warhol’s Muhammad Ali (1977), which set this year’s record with a list price of $18 million. Elsewhere, paintings by Gerhard Richter and Alice Neel sold for $5.5 million and $3.3 million, respectively, while a new work by famed light artist James Turrell fetched upwards of $900,000. Other members of the seven-figure club included George Condo, Louise Bourgeois and Ruth Asawa.

Needless to say, any fears that the turbulent American economy might put a damper on art sales were quickly put to rest.

Our featured image offers an immersive moment from IX-Shells’ collaboration with Fellowship and ARTXCODE (Photo Courtesy Art Basel)

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