By: Nancy Esteves
There’s an Art to “Art Baseling.”
With the addition of Miami Art week featuring over twenty art fairs organized simultaneously between Wynwood, Downtown and Miami Beach, every year that passes the offerings overwhelmingly multiply. I tackled it like I would have any other travel destination—mapping, planning, and I “art baseled” my way through the diverse fusion of art, design, fashion, music, celebs and the bashes, in search of that celebrity glimpse, a new Picasso or art history in the making.
It really is an art to work your way through all the “must sees”—and the parties in just a few days.
One of the most talked about events every year, this prestigious Art Basel affair has even earned some its own well-deserved expressions like “Happy Basel!” and “Basel Tov.”
One thing’s for sure, no one experiences Art Basel quite the same way—with all the diverse kinds of art to review– art is truly in the eye of the Art Basel beholder.
It’s a great place to people watch too, as many goers become works of art themselves.
Art Basel boasts the largest fair in the Americas offering an unrivaled opportunity for Latin American dealers, gallerists and artists to connect with global buyers. VIP Gallerist Henrique Faria, owner of one of the premier Latin American art galleries was present again this year with some fabulous art by Latin artists.
Cuban art was more visible and popular due to the changing political climate.
The Sean Kelly Gallery, in New York, featured several works by Los Carpinteros: Marco Antonio Castillo Valdés and Dagoberto Rodríguez Sánchez, Cuban-born artists.
Among the sculptures on display: “Surf de Lego Azul” (2014), a blue surfboard made of Legos, and “Conga Blanca” (2015), that resembles a conga drum melting into a puddle.
Pairing curated installations of Modern and contemporary work with stimulating programming, Art Basel’s 2015 edition featured strong sales across all levels of the market.
Booths sold out within hours of the VIP opening, new satellite fairs opening like X-Contemporary, Mana Contemporary and the impressive Purvis Young and Context Art Fair, featuring cutting edge work.
Sixteen Louise Nevelsons sold the first day for prices ranging from $75,000 to $1 million.
By the second day of the exhibit, New York’s Van de Weghe gallery had reported sales of the 1954 Francis Bacon oil Man in Blue VI priced at $15 million, Pablo Picasso’s 1971 painting Buste au Chapeaupriced at $10.5 million and Damian Hirst’s 2005 multimedia I Love You But I Don’t Like You priced at $900,000.
Presenting 267 leading international galleries from 32 countries, the show attracted an attendance of 77,000 over five days, including major private collectors as well as directors, curators, trustees and patrons of nearly 200 museum and institution groups. Collectors from over 110 countries attended the show, with first-time collectors coming from Cambodia, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Romania, Togo and Zimbabwe. The show was spearheaded by Noah Horowitz, Art Basel’s newly appointed Director Americas.
Stand Out Art
The Rubell Family Collection’s ‘No Man’s Land: Solange Pessoa’s Catedral,” a colossal, snaking installation made entirely of human hair that took around 13 years to complete.
-The erotically-charged drawings of Walter Price .
Stand out Booths:
-Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, Neugerriemschneider and Galerie Grymskaya.
-The NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) fair, at the Fontainebleau hotel, Canada gallery booth featuring Katherine Bradford’s expressive paintings of swimmers in the sea.
– Larry Bell’s 6 x 6 An Improvisation. Simplicity itself, the installation is built from large reflective glass panels that create resonances as you walk through it.
The Glitz
-Star-studded guest lists for the dinner in honor of Sylvester Stallone and Galerie Gmurzynska at Versace’s former mansion.
-The exclusive party at Sagamore Hotel featuring mimosas and French-crepe Saturday brunch.
Alicia Keys as the kickoff headliner for The Dean Collection x Bacardi’s Untameable House Party.
-Argentinian entrepreneur Alan Faena and his posh grand opening dinner for the new Faena Arts District with Fireworks that illuminated Damien Hirst’s giant, gold-leaf encrusted skeleton of a mammoth; the New World Symphony orchestra performed by the pool as guests dined alfresco.
Rumor has it the place of full of billionaires and sighting of Leo DiCaprio.
The Unusual
-James Capper’s 2,000-pound public sculpture at the outdoor exhibition space in Collins Park could be moved around with controls.
– Lavar Munroe shocked with bizarre human zoos at Miami Projects.
-Carole Feuerman dotted her swimmer sculptures throughout, and floating in, the 205-foot long pool at the National Hotel, etc.
MAKING STATEMENTS
-Performance piece at Pinta Miami involving a naked man chained to a pole flying the Mexican flag to the Portal.
-“Guns in the Hands of Artists” exhibition at The Miami Project fair, held this year at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, seemed especially poignant. Using 180 decommissioned guns from New Orleans, 30 well-known artists created works commenting on gun violence.
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