Art Basel in Miami Beach 2017
The 16th edition of Art Basel in Miami Beach concluded with strong sales and high praise for the new floor plan and show design
This Sunday, December 10, 2017, Art Basel’s 16th edition in Miami Beach closed following strong sales across all levels of the market and robust attendance from international collectors and institutions. This year's show saw the debut of a new floor plan and show design, which was widely praised by exhibitors and collectors alike. The show, whose Lead Partner is UBS, featured 268 premier galleries from 32 countries, who presented outstanding works, ranging from Modern masterpieces to contemporary painting, sculpture, performance, photography, works on paper and film – some of which were created specifically for the fair.
Across the five show days, the fair attracted an attendance of over 82,000, including influential collectors, directors, curators, trustees and patrons of leading international museums and institutions such as: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Baltimore Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; de Young Museum, San Francisco; Detroit Institute of Arts; Fridericianum, Kassel; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal; Museo de Arte de Lima; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland; Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; New Museum, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Serpentine Galleries, London; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate, London; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
As a result of the ongoing renovation of the Miami Beach Convention Center (MBCC) – due to be completed in 2018 – the 2017 show featured a completely redesigned exhibition layout, comprising a new floor plan, 10 percent more exhibition space, wider aisles, a broader range of booth sizes and larger lounge areas. The fair presented 10 galleries that graduated into the main sector of the show this year, and introduced 20 new exhibitors who were part of Art Basel in Miami Beach for the first time, including: A arte Invernizzi, Anat Ebgi, Antenna Space, Applicat-Prazan, Ceysson & Bénétière, Chapter NY, David Lewis Gallery, dépendance, Galeria Jaqueline Martins, Hales Gallery, Inman Gallery, Isla Flotante, Múrias Centeno, Offer Waterman, Patron, Ricardo Camargo Galeria, Richard Saltoun Gallery, Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, Taro Nasu and Tyler Rollins Fine Art.
Noah Horowitz, Director Americas, Art Basel, commented: '2017 was an important year for our show, as well as for the city of Miami Beach. We were thrilled to introduce the enhanced show design and new floor plan, and it was the first year that Philipp Kaiser curated our Public sector in Collins Park. Additionally, with the launch of The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami and the re-opening of The Bass, Miami continues to grow its world-class presence as an arts and culture destination. We are already eagerly anticipating next year's edition when the renovation of the Miami Beach Convention Center will be fully completed.'
Participating galleries from across all sectors of the fair shared their positive experiences:
‘We are definitely pleased with the renovation and new layout of the show, due to wider and more open aisles. The new flooring has freshened up the aesthetic of the exhibition space. The fair was lively, and we placed work with collectors we know well and those new to our gallery. And, we are thrilled to have placed the LeWitt work with a museum. This is why we participate at Art Basel in Miami Beach – the exposure is second to none.’ Steven P. Henry, Director, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
‘This edition of Art Basel in Miami Beach has marked another successful year for the gallery. The fair was busy throughout the week with many serious and discerning collectors, and sales were strong. We sold major works by gallery artists and were pleased to have Cyprien Gaillard’s film ‘KOE’ in the Public sector. Art Basel in Miami Beach remains at the forefront of the international art market and we are proud to be a part of it.’ Monika Sprüth, Co-Owner, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, London, Los Angeles
‘Within 15 minutes of the show opening, some of the biggest collectors visited our booth and bought multiple artworks. Collectors enjoyed the presentation, showcasing works by artists who are not shown elsewhere but are historically important. Museum groups came to our booth non-stop, and there is strong interest in the works by African American artists from the 1960s and the 1970s that we chose to bring.’ Kavi Gupta, Owner, Kavi Gupta, Chicago
‘This has been the best edition of Art Basel in Miami Beach for our gallery so far – it’s been great to see so many top collectors, with a noticeable influx of South American collectors especially. There was much energy during the first two days, with continued vibrant interest in the Italian post-war field, which is our specialty.’ Luigi Mazzoleni, Owner, Mazzoleni, Turin, London
‘The fair has arrived at a level of such maturity that we can now bring the most extraordinary works from the height of great artists’ careers to the fair, and find top homes for them. It has been an exceptional week for us. We placed major works by our artists in leading collections, and we had the pleasure of engaging in serious dialogue about our artists with visitors to the stand.' Marc Payot, Partner & Vice President, Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, London, Somerset, Los Angeles, New York
‘This was a very strong year for us. We met a new generation of collectors who are serious about collecting, felt a strong presence of motivated Asian and Latin American collectors and noted great curatorial and institutional attendance.’ Lucy Mitchell-Innes, Co-Founder, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York
‘This year’s show definitely had a great energy with its new look, and our booth was extremely well-received. Within the first two hours of the fair, some of our gallery’s most important clients came to the booth. With the sale of a major Lyle Ashton Harris piece and an important group of clients visiting us early on in the fair, it is clear that this year’s fair was punctuated by significant collectors in attendance and as always, there was interest from buyers early on in the show.’ David Castillo, Owner, David Castillo Gallery, Miami Beach
'We are thrilled to be here in Miami Beach for the first time. The atmosphere at the fair is very unique and imbued with Miami Beach style. Our solo presentation of Koichi Enomoto has drawn significant interest from the collectors, most of which are new connections. It’s been a great experience and we sold several works within the first two days.' Masako Hosoi, Director, Taro Nasu, Tokyo
‘We had phenomenal sales during the preview days and continued to make many more sales throughout the week. We also received a strong response from curators to Pope.L’s ambitious installation in our booth. The show is a great opportunity for us to connect with our collector base and engage with new collectors as well.’ Susanne Vielmetter, Owner/Director, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, Los Angeles
‘The Rauschenberg work is a tour de force and we were proud to exhibit it at Art Basel in Miami Beach. It has attracted great attention and we are in discussions with two institutions for this seminal work.’ Edward Tyler Nahem, Founder, Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, New York
‘We are very pleased with our first participation in Art Basel in Miami Beach. Not only has the commercial outcome been what we expected, but the way our stand has been welcomed by the collectors, visitors and the press is beyond what we imagined.’ Franck Prazan, Owner, Applicat-Prazan, Paris
‘We have been delighted to return to the fair, and have received strong reception from a diverse number of collectors from around the world. The collector base in Miami is one that is largely diverse, and has provided us a wonderful opportunity to bring further awareness to our unique roster of artists.’ Liza Essers, Owner and Director, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town
‘The fair this year felt more focused – less of a frenzy – and the collectors who visited were serious and engaged. It was clear that the dealers recognized the caliber of collectors and brought excellent work.’ Marc Glimcher, President, Pace, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, New York, Palo Alto, Seoul
‘We are thrilled with this year’s edition of Art Basel in Miami Beach. It’s always wonderful to bring the work of our artists to the global audiences of Art Basel.’ Alexandre Roesler, Partner and Senior Director, Galeria Nara Roesler, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, New York
‘We are a relatively young gallery and, therefore, a recent graduate to the Galleries sector. We love the new floor plan – our new placement has really positively impacted our experience. We work with a lot of young collectors in San Francisco, many of whom we saw at the show.’ Claudia Altman-Siegel, Founder, Altman Siegel, San Francisco
‘In our second year at Art Basel in Miami Beach, we were pleased to see high-caliber collectors with an appetite for masterpieces by established artists.’ Emmanuel Di Donna, Founder, Di Donna, New York
‘We were very pleased by the overall fair, both in terms of the general interest we had, and in terms of selling to new buyers. While it was great to see old friends, it was also so nice to meet new ones.’ Brett Gorvy, Co-Founder, Lévy Gorvy, London, New York
‘We always look forward to our annual December voyage to Miami Beach, and this year's fair was particularly memorable. We received a very strong response to our presentation featuring 23 artists – from Jonas Wood to Ruby Neri, from Rashid Johnson to Jennifer Guidi – almost selling out the booth in the first few hours of the fair. Despite the exterior construction, the new, more open layout provided a very conversational flow and buoyant atmosphere.’ Kurt Mueller, Director, Institutional and Media Relations, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles
Galleries
This edition of the show featured 198 of the world’s foremost galleries in the main Galleries sector, presenting the highest quality of painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, photography and video works. A strong list of returning exhibitors was joined by 47 Canal, Bureau, Garth Greenan Gallery, Kalfayan Galleries, Galeria Leme, Peres Projects, Galeria Plan B, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Jessica Silverman Gallery and Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, who graduated from the show’s Nova, Positions or Survey sectors.
Highlights in the Galleries sector included a wall installation of works on paper by Sol Lewitt (b. 1928, d. 2007) and floor sculptures by Carl Andre (b. 1935) at Paula Cooper Gallery, a solo presentation by Ugo Rondinone (b. 1964) at Galerie Eva Presenhuber and Ellsworth Kelly’s (b. 1923, d. 2015) ‘Sumac’ at Lévy Gorvy. Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art’s booth featured a large-scale multimedia painting by Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925, d. 2008) that was originally commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1979. Galerie Thomas Schulte presented an immersive hanging of Allan McCollum’s (b. 1944) ‘Each and Every One of You’ from 2004, which consists of an inventory of male and female first names taken from the United States census, printed with ink on paper and installed in the order of popularity.
Poignant works engaging with politics, race, gender and social issues had a strong presence in the Galleries sector. Works widely commented upon included a new painting by Peter Saul (b. 1934) entitled ‘Donald Trump in Florida’ at Mary Boone Gallery, works by Carolee Schneemann (b.1939) and Betty Tompkins (b. 1945) at P.P.O.W., several strong works by LaToya Ruby Frazier (b. 1982) at Gavin Brown’s enterprise and a video work by Fiamma Montezemolo (b. 1971) at Magazzino. Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects offered both a large-scale painting and a wall installation made from 28 stacks of plastic cups and wooden shelves by Pope.L (b. 1955), while Goodman Gallery featured an installation by Zimbabwean artist and activist Kudzanai Chiurai (b. 1981).
Edition
In its fifth year, Edition – Art Basel’s sector for works in multiples or prints – spotlighted 11 galleries: Alan Cristea Gallery, Crown Point Press, Gemini G.E.L. LLC, Sabine Knust, Carolina Nitsch, Pace Prints, Paragon, Polígrafa Obra Gràfica, STPI, Two Palms and ULAE.
Nova
Featuring 29 exhibitors this year, the Nova sector provides galleries with a platform to present new work by up to three artists. First-time exhibitors in the sector included: dépendance, with drawings, sculpture, paintings and film by Ed Atkins (b. 1982), Gillian Carnegie (b. 1971) and Peter Wächtler (b. 1979); David Lewis Gallery, with works by Dawn Kasper (b. 1977) and Lucy Dodd (b. 1981); and Tyler Rollins Fine Art, with a never-beforeseen installation by Manuel Ocampo (b. 1965), reflecting on current global political events. David Castillo Gallery presented photographs by Lyle Ashton Harris (b. 1965) and Xaviera Simmons (b. 1974), as well as a live performance by Kalup Linzy (b. 1977), all of which raise urgent questions about representations of race, sexuality and gender in today’s society. In Proyectos Monclova’s booth, Tercerunquinto (established 1996) staged a performative work, painting Mexican political campaign murals directly onto the walls, which was accompanied by a new video, alongside the film's storyboard. Mor charpentier’s project was centered around memory, forgotten violence and hidden narratives, presenting works by Rosângela Rennó (b. 1962) and Teresa Margolles (b. 1963) that aim to increase awareness of events that both governments and history do not publicize.
Positions
Major projects by single artists were featured by 14 exhibitors in Positions. Highlights from the sector included sculpture and video works by Carl Mannov (b. 1990) at Christian Andersen; a new series of ceramic pot sculptures and typographic prints that examine how religious activities have influenced Chinese society by Xu Qu (b. 1978) at Antenna Space; an installation and daily performance by Adam Gordon (b. 1986) at Chapter NY; and a new body of work by Harold Mendez (b. 1977), including a wall-based mural and floor sculptures, at Patron.
Three artists in the sector, A.K. Burns (b. 1975) at Callicoon Fine Arts, Jamal Cyrus (b. 1973) at Inman Gallery and Mariela Scafati (b. 1973) at Isla Flotante, were shortlisted for the next BMW Art Journey, a juried award that enables emerging artists to go on a journey of creative discovery of their choice. The winner will be announced in early 2018. For more information, please visit bmw-art-journey.com.
Survey
Featuring presentations of rarely seen works from before 2000, Survey consisted of 16 exhibitors, seven of which were completely new to the Miami Beach show. This year’s sector featured early drawings by the artist and activist Judith Bernstein (b. 1942) at The Box and pieces developed during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile by seminal Chilean artist Carlos Leppe (b. 1952, d. 2015) at espaivisor. Additional projects in Survey included a recreation of Brazilian painter Wesley Duke Lee’s (b. 1931, d. 2010) studio at Ricardo Camargo Galeria; a specially curated booth devoted to the alternative and innovative forms of painting that emerged in Milan during the 1950s and 1960s at A arte Invernizzi; important early works by renowned African American artist and historian David Driskell (b. 1931) at DC Moore Gallery and a focused display of paintings and sculptures by British modernist William Turnbull (b. 1922, d. 2012) at Offer Waterman.
Kabinett
Always a popular highlight of the show, Kabinett consisted of 25 carefully curated exhibitions within booths across the fair. This year, more than half of the participants featured work by female artists including Etel Adnan (b. 1925) at Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Anni Albers (b. 1899, d. 1994) at Alan Cristea Gallery, Andrea Bowers (b. 1965) at Andrew Kreps Gallery, Colette Brunschwig (b. 1927) at Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, María Martínez-Cañas (b. 1960) at Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Farida El Gazzar (b. 1975) at Kalfayan Galleries, Brigitte Kowanz (b. 1957) at Galerie Krinzinger, Grete Stern (b. 1904, d. 1999) at Jorge Mara - La Ruche and Haegue Yang (b. 1971) at kurimanzutto, among others.
Public
For his first year curating the Public sector in Collins Park, Philipp Kaiser selected 11 ambitious site-specific installations by both established and emerging artists. This year’s edition of Public was centered around the theme ‘Territorial’ and showcased works by Frida Baranek (b. 1961), Yto Barrada (b. 1971), Daniel Buren (b. 1938), Abraham Cruzvillegas (b. 1968), Philippe Decrauzat (b. 1974), Noël Dolla (b. 1945), Cyprien Gaillard (b. 1980), Daniel Knorr (b. 1968), Harold Mendez (b. 1977), Manuela Viera-Gallo (b. 1977) and Brenna Youngblood (b. 1979). Additionally, Jim Shaw (b. 1952) and his D’red D’warf band premiered the much anticipated progressive rock opera ‘The Rinse Cycle'. The Public sector is supported by MGM Resorts Art & Culture.
Film
David Gryn, Director of Daata Editions and London’s Artprojx, once again curated the show’s Film program, which brought together works that examine the diverse and global language of dance, including short films by Jibade-Khalil Huffman (b. 1981) and Jen DeNike (b. 1971), as well as a new immersive sound work based on electronic dance music by Hans Berg (b. 1978). Returning to the show for her third year, New York-based film curator Marian Masone selected the feature film ‘Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat’ (2017) directed by Sara Driver (b. 1955), which was screened at the Colony Theatre on Friday during the fair.
Conversations
Art Basel’s celebrated Conversations program, which attracted over 1,000 visitors throughout the course of the show, offered dynamic discussions between artists, gallerists, art historians, writers, museum directors and collectors from across the globe. The program began with the Premiere Artist Talk, which saw Charles Gaines (b. 1944) in conversation with Brian Stevenson, Executive Director, the Equal Justice Initiative, and Naima Keith, Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Programs, California African American Museum. ‘Is Culture in the Americas in Big Trouble?’ addressed the current threats to art and culture in the midst of a major conservative shift in politics and changes in economies, while ‘Is Innovation Enough for Middle-Market Galleries?’ explored the rise of new itinerant gallery models and communal sharing systems. Videos of all Conversations are available at artbasel.com/miamibeach/conversations.
Exhibitions during Art Basel in Miami Beach
Visitors to the Miami Beach show had the opportunity to view exhibitions at South Florida’s leading museums and private collections, who organize their strongest exhibitions of the year to coincide with Art Basel. ICA Miami inaugurated its new building in the heart of the Miami Design District with ‘The Everywhere Studio’, which explores the evolution of the artist’s studio from the post-war period to the present day. Additional exhibitions on view at ICA Miami include solo shows debuting new work by Chris Ofili (b. 1968), Tomm El-Saieh (b. 1984), Charles Gaines (b. 1944), Mark Handforth (b. 1969) and Abigail DeVille (b. 1981). Following a large-scale renovation, The Bass – Miami Beach’s contemporary art museum – presented several major solo exhibitions timed with the fair, featuring artists Pascale Marthine Tayou (b. 1967), Ugo Rondinone (b. 1964) and Mika Rottenberg (b. 1976). Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) opened the second chapter of its comprehensive, three-part survey on contemporary Cuban art titled ‘On the Horizon: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection’, as well as the first major retrospective of the work of Dara Friedman (b. 1968). Miami’s renowned private collections – including the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), the de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse and the Rubell Family Collection – also hosted special exhibitions timed to the fair. Further exhibitions took place at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Lowe Art Museum, National YoungArts Foundation, NSU Art Museum, Vizcaya Museum & Gardens and the Wolfsonian-FIU.
