Art, champagne and glitter. The Art Basel circus is back under the Florida sun, among the palm trees of Miami Beach. Two years, eternal, of a pandemic halt that allowed the entire city to shine through. New districts sprung up like mushrooms and a general polish aiming at the glories that were. The sun is soaring over the South Beach Convention Center, its glittering shell. A white wave of glass and aluminum composed of dynamic “vertebrae” designed by Fentress Architects that is paired with the foam of the ocean a few blocks further in it tropical flavors Art Dco of the monumental buildings that parade on the Collins just behind: the historic hotels Sagamore, Delano, Ritz-Carlton, National. Fixed 27 degrees centigrade (the large LED characters on Lincoln Road mark the perennial 80 fahrenheit) and a frenetic comings and goings of BMW-branded VIP cars (strictly electric) accompanying more or less eccentric celebrities, more or less colorful, at the entrances of the Center fair.
The VIPs are back in Florida
Real celebrities in civilian clothes. Leonardo Dicaprio spotted among the stands in his classic fair outfit: hoodie, sunglasses, baseball cap. Absolute sobriet for mega collectors: Mugrabi, Rubell, Maria Arena Bell, Peter Brant and Aby Rosen. World premiere instead at Art Basel Miami for Bernard Arnault, owner of the luxury group LVMH and a great collector. In addition to the courtesy cars, yachts, helicopters and private jets silently peek between one villa and another on Biscayne Bay, between Sunset Island and the Venetian Way, where two of the dozen satellite fairs have also been appearing for a few days: Art Miami and Context. The rest of the fair sisters gravitate to Downtown (like NADA); Wynwood (Red Dot and Spectrum); and of course South Beach, scattered everywhere with events: from the Ink Miami Art Fair in the historic dco rooms of the Dorchester a stone’s throw from Basel, to the twins on the beach: Untitled and Scope. Both gathered in a double tensile structure located in that magical limbo between the sea and Ocean Drive, where unfortunately the electric scooters have replaced the parabolas of skateboards and rollerblades. This is just to mention the most popular events. Save who can.
But we don’t sleep here, Wynwood wakes up at dusk. And Miami Art Week (started Monday 29 November, until Sunday 5 December) an infinite and indefinite succession of any, preferably with an artistic whim. Among the things to mention are the famous Private Collections (see Rubell, de la Cruz, Margulies Collection, Espacio 23-Jorge Prez Collection) and related exhibitions; and the great museums (The Bass, Wolfsonian, the Perez, ICA, MOCA) also with a set of exhibitions that they carry around for the occasion. The Faena Art festival in Middle Beach and The Moore Building returns, through Jeffrey Deitch, opens its doors and its three floors in the heart of the Design District, an extra-luxury district in Midtown, to the best painting by Miami artists and Caribbean. New this year: Art Basel is also spreading in the placid Botanical Garden in front of the fair, ad hoc decorated with a myriad of floating lights among the palm trees and ficus. and Ruinart. Just next to it, exactly in front of the entrance to the Convention Center, a group of colorful sculptures mark the entrance to the little sister “boutique” in Basel dedicated to the best design on the square: Design Miami.
Pre-pandemic climate, but staggered visitors
It seems to be back to before the pandemic, without rhetoric. This is the sentiment spread by the experts after two whole days inside the Art Basel pavilion. The only major difference compared to past years is the reduced (at least apparently) number of visitors, also staggered in the Preview days over several days and different time scales (Tuesday 30 November and Wednesday 1 December only professionals, from 2 to 4 December open to the public). Better this way. The fair is enjoyed better, with greater breadth, more space. 253 galleries from all over the world divided into five sections (Nova, Positions, Survey and the well-kept Kabinett, small and highly refined exhibitions in 25 selected stands, and Meridiana, 16 large-scale projects created by both historic artists and talents emerging) that once in a while can be explored with pleasantly dilated times, a rarity in these parts. A serenity due to the global and transversal state of emergency, given by the restrictions for Covid-19 adopted all over the world. In fact, few Europeans as a whole wander the corridors. None from the East. Africa not received. They compensate for the interiors of the American continent as a whole. From South America (Brazil and Mexico primarily) to Central and North America. It is obvious to remember that historically Miami, both from a geographical and logistical point of view, acts as a collector between the extremes of the Americas.
The figures
The lower influx of collectors and professionals did not affect the volume of sales. So many. From the very first bars on Tuesday morning. Many of the stands had already been transformed on Wednesday, the purchased parts replaced. The most expensive work of this year’s edition is Mark Rothko brought by Helly Nahmad, Issue 7 (Dark Over Light) from 1954, already seen in Basel in the last edition of Art Basel before the pandemic. Request: $ 50 million. To date it has not yet been sold. Another Rothko, smaller and with a less poetic title (Untitled, 1955), offered by David Zwirner for 20 million. The historic German gallery owner sold a 1953 Ad Reinhardt canvas for over 7 million in the first few minutes of opening. Pair of aces, among the masterpieces on the stand, by Gagosian, set up right next to each other: a typical writhing portrait of Francis Bacon from 1961 and a Picasso from the year of grace 1939. About twenty million required for the ‘Spanish artist. A few million less, 15, is what it takes to buy the beautiful 1982 Willem De Kooning from Acquavella.
Banksy cannot be missing, fresh from the world record at Sotheby’s auction (25.4 million) in London less than two months ago. The Thomas gallery presents Girl with TV and Red Heart from 2004 on a mystical blue background. Request: almost 4 million. A seminal work by the Bristol artist. Certainly important, but not as much as the Brancusi a few meters away presented by the same gallery: Golden Bird of 1919 for over 8 million. An iconic piece. From museum. Like the imposing Tzadik by Louis Morris from 1958 exhibited by Vedovi. Cost? 3.9 million and there is already a negotiation. It is played at home. Keith Haring on the shields. Acquavella, Jeffrey Deitch and Gladstone offer it, who sold his for 1.75 million. 2.5 million instead for the successful sale of a painting by Joan Mitchell from 1962 by Edward Tyler Nahem. The same amount with which Mnuchin sold a paper work by Basquiat.
Italian galleries and works
The Italian galleries? There are and the proposals are excellent. High level for Mazzoleni, Paci, Massimo De Carlo, Lorcan O’Neill, Tornabuoni, Cardi, Continua and Robilant + Voena. Italian artists? Few but good. We point out two pieces in particular: the Still Life of Giorgio Morandi from 1949 by Karsten Greve (sold for about 3 million, the same work in 2018 was sold by Christie’s for just over 1 million) and a Spatial Concept, Attesa by Lucio Fontana from 1965-1966 by Van de Weghe. A very fine cut on a red background. Request 3.8 million. Shines with a flourish with Maurizio Cattelan. A powerful and silent presence that perpetuates the performance in Switzerland at Art Basel last September. Pigeons everywhere, technically Ghosts, which dot the stands, walls and works of its three reference galleries – Massimo De Carlo, Marian Goodman, Perrotin – and make a mockery of those on display now at Hangar Bicocca in Milan. Yet another stroke of the theater of the only Italian artist of international standing. And to think that just two years ago he left us with a $ 150,000 banana, pulled in 3 pieces, taped to the wall in the Perrotin stand. It seems like a lifetime ago. It would make less sense now. Now the only thing that matters is that “Art Basel is back”.
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