What We Loved at Art Basel Miami

And that’s a wrap! What we saw, what sold, and where we partied at Art Basel Miami Beach.

The heat of Miami Art Week brought another steamy affair with the art world’s biggest contemporary event of the year, Art Basel Miami Beach. A global destination for art dealers, collectors and cultural trendsetters, Miami in December has been coveted as the place to see and be seen by the art world for over two decades (even if it’s for a brief moment before Irish exiting to Saint Barth’s for the winter). From New York mega dealers to L.A. party-goers, once again, this season promised a never-ending collision of chaos, culture and mayhem–and they delivered. Here’s how we approached this wild week.

To begin, we visited several galleries from Palm Beach at the convention center: Acquavella, which showed modern, post-war and contemporary works including Francis Bacon and Louis Bourgeois; Ben Brown Fine Arts, which included Alexander Calder, Lucio Fontana, David Hockney, and Roy Lichtenstein; and Gavlak Gallery, which sold works from Nancy Lorenz, Marc Dennis, and Nir Hod in the region of $85,000-$100,000. Lehmann Maupin sold two works by Teresita Fernandez (around $500,000 and $375,000) and two works by David Salle ($250,000), while White Cube’s top sales included Tracey Emin’s You Let Me Fall (2022) which sold for $752,000. And finally, Pace Gallery featured Lisa Benglis‘ “QT,” a sculpture in bronze that notably sold for $200,000 to a museum.

A couple popular destinations for fairgoers were Larry Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch’s big-tent group show called “Forms,” as well as the museum openings at the ICA Miami. David Zwirner’s booth boasted a painting by Marlene Dumas which was previously featured in the collection of the Museum Gouda in the Netherlands. Hauser & Wirth offered new paintings by the artist Uman, and Van de Weghe included an Andy Warhol’s Dollar Sign (1981), which was last sold at Christie’s in 2017 for $7.2 million.

A few must-sees from the Design District: Sebastian Errazuriz’s large-scale ocean-side maze on Faena Beach designed by AI image-generating platforms and a monolithic sculpture at its center; “Utopia” by UK-based designer Lara Bohnic, who was commissioned by Miami’s Design District to create a series of brightly colored sculptural pieces from cork; and Andrés Reisinger’s dream-like fabric installation draped over a storefront.

Not only were we here for the art, but also the couture, bien sur. Luckily for us, the world’s fashion brands held a series of chic activations including: Louis Vuitton x Frank Gehry capucine bags, Marni x Ssense at the Soho Beach House, and LVMH Culture House. The immersive exhibition of vintage timepieces at the Cartier boutique in the Design District was a star-studded guest list that included brand ambassador Emma Chamberlain and a performance by DJ Kaytranada.

And what’s Art Basel without the fabulous parties? Monday night the Bass Museum celebrated artist Hernan Bas, followed by a party hosted by Lehmann Maupin at Casa Tua. More places to be seen over the weekend included Louis Vuitton’s celebration of artist Frank Gehry, The Webster’s party featuring American photographer Steven Klein, and D’Ussé Cognac’s party at the Eden Roc Hotel featuring a performance by Offset.

On Thursday, Ross+Kramer Gallery opened its Miami location with an invite-only grand opening party featuring an exhibition by renowned artist Daniel Arsham titled “Miami 3023”.

And of course, a highlight at Design Week for the art and fashion crowd included PALMER’s very own gala opening of the new RALPH PUCCI (Miami) gallery in Wynwood. Read more about it HERE