Miami, FL
Art Basel Miami Beach 2024: What To Expect At The Main Fair
From December 6 to December 8 (by-invitation private viewings on December 4 and December 5), Art Basel returns to Miami Beach for its 22nd year
Art Basel Miami Beach
It’s been an action-packed past few weeks, to say the least, but alas, December is upon us, and for anyone in Miami— or truly in the art world— it only means, Art Basel Miami Beach is here. From Friday, December 6 to Sunday, December 8 (by-invitation private viewings are held on Wednesday, December 4 and Thursday, December 5), the Miami Beach Convention Center will be home to 286 galleries, spanning 38 countries and territories, with a majority hailing from the Americas—from across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay. This year will also see Romania and Indonesia represented for the first time. It is the first edition under the leadership of director Bridget Finn, which has seen the largest cohort of new exhibitors— 34— in over a decade; the rolling out a smaller booth option for galleries; and the re-location of Meridians— the show’s central sector dedicated to large scale projects that transcend the traditional art fair booth— to more fluidly connect the different sections on the show floor.
Here’s what to expect at the main fair’s sectors this year:
Galleries, the fair’s main sector, where the world’s leading galleries present the highest quality paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photography, videos and digital works, will have 229 art dealers presenting works by 20th- century masters, contemporary blue-chip artists, mid-career practitioners and emerging talents. There are seven first-time participants this year.
First-time Galleries participant Tim Van Laere Gallery, with locations in Antwerp and Rome, will showcase Romanian-born, Berlin-based painter Adrian Ghenie’s “Study of A Head (2023″)”
Adrian Ghenie/ Tim Van Laere Gallery/ Art Basel Miami Beach A resounding theme for this year are works that advocate for social change. São Paulo’s Galeria Vermelho Vermelho will present a selection of works by artists from their program, including Swiss-born, São Paulo-based photographer and activist Claudia Andujar, whose practice is dedicated to the Yanomami Indigenous peoples. A portion of profits from sales of the artist’s work will benefit Hutukara Associação Yanomami (HAY), an NGO in Brazil dedicated to the rights of Indigenous people.
Claudia Andujar/ Galeria Vermelho/ Art Basel Miami Beach
There are big changes for Meridians this year— the the show’s sector dedicated to projects that transcend the traditional art fair booth. Firstly, it will be curated for the first time this year by Puerto Rican-born, Berlin-based Yasmil Raymond, former director of Portikus, and rector of the Hochschule für Bildende Künste-Städelschule in Frankfurt, and previous curator of The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Raymond succeeds Magalí Arriola, who oversaw the sector since its introduction in 2019.
Secondly, the sector will re-locate to the south end of the show floor, surrounding the Nova and Positions sectors, which are dedicated to emerging galleries and artists, to better anchor the contemporary art section of the fair.
Meridians will feature 17 projects this year, titled “State of Becoming,” which explore themes ranging from the unexpected contingencies of democracy to the growing anxiety of climate chane on a global scale.
“La Famille dans la Joyeuse Verdure (The Family in the Joyful Green)” is a large-scale embroidery hand-stitched over a four year period, 2015 to 2019, by Argentine artist collective Chiachio & Giannone, which pays tribute to the LGBTQ community and Indigenous Guarani culture.
Chiachio & Giannone/ Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte/ Art Basel Miami Beach Portia Munson’s “Bound Angel (2021)” installation is made from found figurines, lamps, candles, string, rope, extension cords and a wedding gown as a table cloth evoking a bound and faceless bride enveloped in discarded objects in the shape of female angels
Lance Brewer/ Portia Munson/ P·P·O·W, New York/ Art Basel Miami Beach
Nova is exclusive to Art Basel Miami Beach, and provides a platform for younger galleries to present work created within the last three years by up to three artists. There will be 21 presentations from 40 artists, including nine newcomers this year.
Korean-born, Los Angeles-based Ken Gun Min’s “Revolution is love (Will you still love me tomorrow?)” is part of his series of works inspired by his experience as a queer Asian man and exemplifying his deeply personal approach to representing the public and private spaces inhabited by marginalized communities in Los Angeles and Seoul. For Min, these sites are complicated places of tragedy, resilience and celebration.
Ken Gun Min/ Nazarian Curcio/ Art Basel Miami Beach
Positions is dedicated to solo showcases of individual emerging artists— there are 15 this year, eight of which are first time participants— allowing collectors, museum professionals, curators, critics and enthusiasts the opportunity to dive deeper into their works
Guatemela-born Paula Nicho Cúmez references heritage and memory. The tableau draws connections between humans, the land, animals, and the spiritual world. Cúmez often paints natural landscapes peopled by female figures that sometimes become the mountains. The vibrant, traditional Maya patterns of their clothing also often become their skin, a nod to Cúmez’s memory of not being allowed to wear Indigenous clothing to school as a child. Her works challenge the history of colonialism and present-tense oppression.
Paula Nicho Cúmez/ Proyectos Ultravioleta/ Margo Porres/ Art Basel Miami Beach Jesse Stecklow’s “From Ear to Ear and Back Again (2021)” is made from ear of corn, corn whisky (derived from corn), acetic acid (derived from corn alcohol), ear drops (containing acetic acid), air sampler data, silkscreen on paper. Jesse Stecklow and Sweetwater, Berlin/ Art Basel Miami Beach
Survey features projects created before the year 2000 that challenge the conventional art historical canon, with a focus on elevating little-known artistic practices. Many of the presentations shed light on overlooked women artists in the 20th century.
Bonnie Lucas, “Two Friends (1985).” The alternative Portland-based gallery ILY2, which operates out of a mall, highlights feminist art and artists. This year, the gallery will highlight American artist Bonnie Lucas, who spent decades hand-sewing abstract, low-relief assemblages from sewing tools and dollar- store items. These assemblages are at once girly, provocative, and kitschy – functioning as both critiques and celebrations of consumer goods and their relationship to femininity.
Mario Gallucci/ Bonnie Lucas/ ILY2/ Art Basel Miami Beach
Kabinett provides provides galleries tightly curated presentations displayed within their main booths.
A selection of lesser-known marble and bronze sculptures by Cuban-born, Puerto Rico based 98-year-old artist Zilia Sánchez a singular figure of Latin American Modernism and geometric abstraction, will be presented by Galerie Lelong & Co. (New York, Paris). Zilia Sánchez/ Galerie Lelong & Co./ Art Basel Miami Beach