Art Basel Miami Beach is back for the first in-person edition since pre-pandemic days. As with previous years, the week is full of parties, exhibitions, benefit auctions and satellite fairs across Miami Beach and downtown. This week, I’ll be visiting as many events as possible and will bring you the highlights each day.

The main event of Art Week is Art Basel Miami Beach, which is held in the sprawling Convention Center a few blocks from the famous Art Deco hotels and cabana-filled beaches. This year, the fair altered its schedule slightly, opening to VIPs a day early and ending on Saturday instead of Sunday. The Tuesday night invite-only VIP opening was as crowded as any pre-pandemic year with many of the usual blue chip and fashion forward collectors in attendance.

 

   Olafur Eliasson The everyday life of the unforeseen (2021); Photo by Annabel Keenan

 

A fair highlight was Tanya Bonakdar’s booth, which included a turmeric and bay leaf scented crochet piece by Ernesto Neto and a new, large work by Olafur Eliasson. Titled The everyday life of the unforeseen (2021), the piece consists of nearly 200 crystal spheres arranged in a mesmerizing spiral on the wall. The spheres become increasingly smaller towards the center of the spiral and have silver mirrors along the back. As the spheres decrease in size, they slowly become enveloped in black paint. As is common with Eliasson’s work, the piece is inspired by geometries of the natural world, in this case the spirals and concentric circles of phyllotaxis plant structure.

 

Almine Rech’s booth; Photo by Annabel Keenan

 

Another favorite was Almine Rech’s booth with a beautiful new painting by Chloe Wise. With sensual, rich colors, the work features two hands holding an oyster and shallot, as if a private, romantic offering. Flanking the painting were Wise’s gorgeous sconces in the shape of radicchio salads complete with perfectly toasted croutons. In front sat an intimate, small-scale sculpture of a resting figure by Claire Tourbet that recalls the Renaissance tradition of collecting and displaying statuettes.

 

Stephen Friedman’s booth; Photo by Annabel Keenan

 

Nearby, London-based Stephen Friedman gallery displayed an entire wall of humorous works by David Shrigley. Adding levity to the event, Shrigley’s pieces include funny and nonsensical phrases like “the juice went in my eye and now I can’t see” and “do not slay the dragon I am in love with the dragon.” In front of the Shrigley wall was a bright yellow sculpture by Tom Friedman titled Sun (2021), and a deadpan, candid portrait Michael (2021) by Sarah Ball hung nearby. 

 

Petzel Gallery’s booth; Photo by Annabel Keenan

 

Petzel Gallery also impressed with a colorful display of brightly-colored glass lamps by Jorge Pardo that toed the line between fine art and design and hung in the center of the booth alongside paintings by Rodney McMillian, Dana Schutz and Sarah Morris. Pardo in particular seemed to attract a lot of enthusiasm from visitors eager to photograph the vibrant lamps that were cheerful, welcoming and very appropriate for the Miami Beach crowd.

 

Art Basel Miami Beach 2021; Photo by Annabel Keenan

One noteworthy difference with this year’s fair was the lack of exhibitors in the Editions section. Bringing relatively affordable offerings by leading artists, the Editions galleries over the last several years were a much-needed counterpart to the often prohibitively expensive, already sold out and institution-only presentations of other booths. The fair has shown more or less the same 11 leading publishers and dealers of prints and multiples in the last decade, with only 5 in attendance this year.

Though print dealers were few and far between, many galleries sought to fill the Editions void by bringing prints and multiples by some of their blue chip artists. Matthew Marks brought prints by Ellsworth Kelly and Vija Celmins, while Marian Goodman showcased a monumental Julie Mehretu print. All three were published by Gemini G.E.L. in Los Angeles. 

 

Paula Crown’s EMANARE; Photo courtesy Alexandra Fanning and the artist

 

After leaving the convention center, I walked across the street to cap off the night with a visit to Paula Crown’s interactive, outdoor installation EMANARE, an ongoing project that the artist is presenting in Miami on November 30th and December 1st in partnership with New World Symphony. To create the work, Crown asked the public to respond to the question: “What positive message do you want to emanate into the world today?” The answers were then displayed across the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center’s WALLCAST, a 7,000 square foot exterior projection surface that is typically used for free public concerts. The participant-generated work brought a peaceful backdrop and collective creative outlet to offset a predominantly commercial week.

With day one in the books, I’m headed to a few of the downtown fairs, events, and cocktail parties. Stayed tuned for day two’s report tomorrow.