“Real Diamonds! They must be worth their weight in Gold!”
In Billy Wilder’s 1959 farce, two musicians—Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis—are on the run in Miami from the Chicago mob. To avoid detection by hit men, Joe and Jerry join an all-girl band, in drag, as Josephine and Daphne. The band’s ditzy star is Sugar, played by Marilyn Monroe, on the look out for a rich husband. Mayhem ensues.
Well, nothing’s changed.
Art Basel Miami Beach, launched in 2002, is by far the biggest and best art fair in North America, for both the quality of works presented, and their presentation. For anyone familiar with Art Basel, this is no surprise. What makes the Miami Beach show special though is a fine balance of timing and location. Miami partly succeeds because it is a “non-place”. ABMB, launched in 2002, is the leading North American fair for both the quality of works presented, and their presentation.
For anyone familiar with Art Basel, this is no surprise. What makes the Miami Beach show special though is a fine balance of timing and location. Miami partly succeeds because it is a “non-place”. No one needs an art fair in New York but Latin America and Europe need an art fair in the U.S. And collectors need too, somewhere to show and store their collections, which can be impractical on Manhattan, but not in Miami’s Wynwood district—the art world’s equivalent of Area 51. With private museums (Rubell, de la Cruz, Margulies), art storage facilities, collector depots, and 16—SIXTEEN!—subsidiary art fairs, it is an orgy of desire and its satisfactions. It all takes place a short stroll from the beach; hardly anyone goes swimming though, because even more than art, there are parties. So each year Art Basel Miami Beach draws together Europe, New York, LA and Latin America—and increasingly other places too, not least China—for one last rave before winter falls. The retirees and hobos, the rhinestone bikinis and mustang cabriolets, are all still there, but somehow momentarily elevated. The trashy beach culture shops could be Isa Genzken installations. Maybe they are.
Opening day was hot and sunny. Inside the convention center business was brisk. Among the busiest booths were Marian Goodman, White Cube, James Cohan, Simon Lee, Galerie Perrotin and OMR from Mexico City. Jim Cohan commented that the day had been “exceptional” with sales of major works to numerous collections and also two museums. Esther Schipper and Chantal Crousel reported a good opening day too. Tired but still smiling, Victoria Miro was more thoughtful about the day. Her solo presentation of paintings by Celia Paul required contemplation, which in Miami was in short supply. For China, the three major galleries present were ShanghART, Long March Space and Galerie Urs Meile. Chinese works are not the immediate focus of Miami Beach, so it is admirable that these long-standing participants in the fair often use Miami to introduce younger artists. ShanghART took this a step further, concentrating not exclusively but still heavily on young photography, with works by Jiang Pengyi, Birdhead and a mesmeric work by Liu Yue, “Cognitive Studies-1-02” (2005). Urs Meile showed an extraordinary construction of quilted paintings by Hu Qingyan. Long March Space showed numerous paintings by Ran Huang, the best of which was the huge “A (Perilous) Self-Portrait” although it was impossible to stand far enough back to see it properly without hitting another painting.
These established ABMB exhibitors are joined by a number of colleagues from Beijing and Shanghai, particularly in the Positions and Survey sections with galleries focusing on solo-presentations—White Space with He Xiangyu, Beijing Art Now with Wang Jinsong, and BTAP and Tokyo Gallery with a solo booth of Japanese master Shinjiro Okamoto. White Cube showed new works by Liu Wei and James Cohan showed a fine example from Xu Zhen’s “Under Heaven” cake-icing-paintings. Krinzinger showed a new work by Zhang Ding, “Black Guardians”, a brace of futuristic ‘guardian lions’.
Unsurprisingly, neugerriemschneider had the best booth. They are masters of curatorial aplomb and theatricality and their coupling of an Ai Weiwei tree and Olafur Eliasson chandelier reminded everyone why these artists are important.
There was more to come, of course.
