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The art fairs: they’re here!
The previews have already started, although many of the Art Basel week fairs don’t technically open until Thursday. But that time of the month, that time once a year for art aficionados and just aficionados of good times, has arrived. The plethora of fairs and exhibitions have spread out all over; some cost money, others don’t, but it’s likely best to break up the art visiting by region and start from there.
The mother ship and engine of it all is the main Art Basel Miami Beach in the Convention Center, where the top galleries from across the globe present their blue-chip artworks, both contemporary and 20th-century. Nothing about this fair is cheap, but it also could be considered the biggest museum of contemporary art in the world for one week (www.artbasel.com). Next door is the elaborate tent housing Design Miami/, which features furniture, lighting and other aspects of interior design. Again for the average person, most of this is out of reach to actually buy, but it’s also a once a year chance to see the latest trends, both cutting edge and high-end sleek (www.miami2013.designmiami.com).
About ten blocks south on the literal sands of the beach are two fairs. Untitled returns for its second year, after inaugurating a fair that concentrated on very contemporary works mostly from North America in an uncluttered setting — the tent airy and the booths with a clean look. This year the local galleries here include Alejandra von Hartz and Emerson Dorsch (www.art.untitled.com). Next door is the more hectic fair of Scope (it moved to the beach this year), one of the original satellite fairs to surround Art Basel back when it started, which is collaborating with VH1, meaning music along with performance will play a prominent role here (scope-art.com).
Claudia Jaguaribe at the Brazil Art Fair.
On the mainland, two areas seem to have formed. One to the south in Wynwood and downtown includes another mainstay fair, Pulse, in the Ice Palace, with a reputation of exhibiting an international array of galleries concentrating on very contemporary work; this year locals include Diana Lowenstein Fine Art, Waltman Ortega and Black Square (pulse-art.com). Just to the north are the private collections of Margulies and the Rubells, which always unveil their new exhibitions during this week. Throughout Wynwood, various temporary exhibitions from all over also pop up.
In Midtown, Art Miami with its accompanying Context and, this year, Aqua, form the anchor. Art Miami is much older than Art Basel, and hosts galleries that show both 21st- and 20th-century art, as well as a number of local galleries. This year Miami galleries here include David Castillo, Pan American, Cernuda and Zadok among others. Context focuses on mid-career artists (www.art-miami.com). Joining in the Midtown extravaganza this year is the inaugural Brazil Art Fair, which will highlight not just the art but the architecture and design of the rising South American cultural powerhouse (www.brazilartfair.com).
Off the beaten track, which is a relief to many, is NADA, up at the Deauville Beach Resort in North Beach. It’s usually a calmer affair, with a focus on newer and alternative galleries that show under-exposed and emerging art; Miami’s non-profit Locust Projects will be here (www.newartdealers.org).
The museums too will also be unveiling new shows, with open-to-the-public brunches and other special openings (the new PAMM, for instance, will be free to Miami-Dade residents for this special art week; www.pamm.org).
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