Art Basel Miami Beach 2014: big-ticket artists and collectors bring the Floridian fair to the fore
![Art Basel Miami Beach](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LYufnmNWoPWUWgxMXKJHoL-415-80.jpg)
Visitors to Art Basel in Miami this week didn’t have to walk much beyond the entrance to get the message that the fair was taking its art seriously. On the left, at Helly Nahmad’s booth, an enormous black Alexander Calder mobile, 'Rouge Triomphant' (1959 -1962), was elegantly housed in its own white space – a spectacular piece with an equally spectacular $35million price tag.
Straight ahead, at Galerie Gmurzynska, a $1million Picasso fresco was attracting attention. The Swiss gallery, celebrating 50 years in the business, had brought in Baz Luhrmann (much in evidence, and looking joyfully younger as the years go by) to curate its birthday exhibition. The Australian director had made some classy choices, including a delicate Yves Klein 1961 fire painting where the trace left on the paper had an almost Brâncuși-like form.
After these grand gestures, the fair returned swiftly to the present day. At Sadie Coles, a ceiling installation comprising 1080 plaster 'raindrops' by Urs Fischer filled the booth with drops of colour graduating from green to yellow. At Gavin Brown Enterprises, eight garish paintings by the ever-eager-to-shock Bjarne Melgaard – all punkish voodoo faces and big dicks – had sold in the show’s opening hours at $45,000 a pop. (Melgaard had gone and spent a share of the profits at the Mr Nobody and Mr Somebody pop-up store in the Design District where fashion designer Bernhard Wilhelm’s back catalogue was on sale.)
Meanwhile, Swiss gallery Hauser & Wirth made a tactical nod to North America, where it will open a dazzling new space in Los Angeles sometime next year. 'We’re showing America at its finest,' said Iwan Wirth, of Los Angeles artists Diana Thater and Mark Bradford, while Paul McCarthy’s 'White Snow, Bambi' eclipsed the lot – a three-metre high tangle of pigs heads, hooves and human faces telling a hallucinatory X-rated fairy tale.
Over at Kavi Gupta Gallery, one of Mickalene Thomas’ fanatically detailed 1970s room sets was functioning as an artwork/resting place for tired visitors. 'Bringing this to Miami was a labour of love,' said Gupta surveying the scene. Thomas’ mission is to tell the story of Black America, and to freeze frame the minutiae of daily life. These included a pair of Crocs in highly polished cast bronze – quite possibly the first time that this footwear has looked even vaguely desirable.
'Rouge Triomphant',1959 -1962, at the Helly Nahmad booth
Over at Galerie Gmurzynska, a $1million Picasso fresco (second from left) was attracting attention
The Swiss gallery, celebrating 50 years in the business, had brought in Australian director Baz Luhrmann to curate its birthday exhibition
At Sadie Coles, a ceiling installation comprising 1080 plaster 'raindrops' by Urs Fischer filled the booth with drops of colour graduating from green to yellow
‘Melodrama’, 2013, at the Sadie Coles booth
Meanwhile, Swiss/London gallery Hauser & Wirth made a tactical nod to North America, where it will open a dazzling new space in Los Angeles sometime next year
'Peonies', 2011. 'We’re showing America at its finest,' said Iwan Wirth, of Los Angeles artists Diana Thater and Mark Bradford
Paul McCarthy’s 'White Snow, Bambi' eclipsed the lot – a three-metre high tangle of pigs heads, hooves and human faces telling a hallucinatory X-rated fairy tale
‘Untitled’, by Mark Bradford, 2014, at the Hauser & Wirth stand.
Kavi Gupta Gallery presented one of Mickalene Thomas’ fanatically detailed 1970s room sets, which functioned as an artwork/resting place for tired visitors, complete with a pair of Crocs in highly polished cast bronze
'Bringing this to Miami was a labour love,' said Gupta surveying the scene. Thomas’ mission is to tell the story of Black America, and to freeze frame the minutiae of daily life
Elsewhere, Locust Projects unveiled 'Welcome to the Future', a major site-specific installation by Daniel Arsham. For the installation, Arsham transformed the gallery into an excavation site, digging a trench in its floor and filling it with calcified 20th century media devices
The pit held mounds of boom boxes, electric guitars, SLR cameras, Blackberries, Nintendo controllers, VHS tapes, Walkmans, film projectors, and portable televisions, rendered in crystal, volcanic ash, and other minerals
As a child, Arsham survived Hurricane Andrew huddled in a closet of his family’s Miami home. The wreckage he encountered in the storm’s aftermath influences his perception of architectural spaces
At the Bass Museum of Art, architect Peter Marino’s multifaceted ouevre is explored through art at the Jerôme Sans-curated retrospective
Presenting the architect’s work alongside pieces from his personal art collection and a series of cast-bronze chests (pictured), the exhibition also includes new work commissioned by Marino from artists Gregor Hildebrandt, Guy Limone, Jean-Michel Othoniel and Erwin Wurm.
Detail of site-specific commission 'Black Rosaries', by Jean-Michel Othoniel, 2014, at the Bass Museum of Art. Courtesy of Jean-Michel Othoniel.
'Red, Black And Grey-White Tapestry', 2014, frames Andy Warhol's 'Human Heart', circa 1979, at the Bass Museum of Art. The exhibition runs until 3 May 2015
Argentinian Paris-based artist Julio Le Parc kicked off proceedings in Miami at 444 Brickell Avenue with developer and collector Jorge Perez during a private unveiling of two sculptures, 'Sphère Rouge' (pictured) and 'Torsion 1'
'Torsion 1', 1999-2014
Ryan McNamara’s restaged his immersive performance 'ME3M 4 Miami: a Story Ballet About the Internet', which explores web surfing.
Liz Glynn and Dawn Kasper peformed 'cosmo[il]logical', reflecting on the origins of the universe.
This year's public commissions included Ryan Gander's 'Never has there been such urgency, or The Eloquent and the Gaga – (Alchemy Box #45)', 2014, shown by Lisson Gallery.
'Mirror Angle Fragments (3x60°)', by Jeppe Hein, 2014, presented by Berlin gallery Johann König.
'GOD 5', by Florian & Michael Quistrebert, 2014, at the Galerie Juliette Jongma stand.
Paul Scholper Gallery exhibited various works by Damien Hirst from his recent 'Schizophrenogenesis' series.
'Untitled', by David Shrigley, 2014, at the BQ stand. Courtesy of BQ, Berlin, and Stephen Friedmann Gallery, London
'Homesick', by Hrair Sarkissian, 2014, at the Kalfayan Galleries stand.
'Great Nymph mother', by Mike Bouchet, 2014 at the Peres Projects stand.
ADDRESS
Miami Beach Convention Center
1901 Convention Center Drive
Miami Beach
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
Alexander May, founder of LA studio Sized, on the joys of creative polymathy
Creative director Alexander May tells us of the multidisciplinary approach that drives his LA studio Sized and its offspring, a 5,000 sq ft event space and an exhibition series
By Hannah Silver Published
-
50 of America’s top creatives, photographed by Inez & Vinoodh
Photographed exclusively for Wallpaper* by Inez & Vinoodh, we present a portfolio of 50 creatives driving the current discourse on American culture and its dynamic evolution
By Dan Howarth Published
-
Los Angeles art exhibitions: the best shows to see in July
Read our pick of the best Los Angeles art exhibitions to see this month, from Mickalene Thomas at The Broad to Ed Ruscha at LACMA
By Carole Dixon Published
-
Nicole Eisenman explores the dimensions of sculpture and painting at Hauser & Wirth Paris
Nicole Eisenman presents ‘with, and, of, on Sculpture’, her first retrospective at Hauser & Wirth Paris drawing inspiration from political challengers to ABBA
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Nona Faustine confronts the past in New York
Artist Nona Faustine reframes New York's colonial past in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Es Devlin and BMW reveal hydrogen-fuelled collaboration at Art Basel 2024
Es Devlin and BMW celebrate the potential of hydrogen power in installations unveiled at Art Basel 2024, including a take on the BMW iX5 Hydrogen
By Hannah Silver Published
-
How the west won: Ivan McClellan is amplifying the intrepid beauty of Black cowboy culture
In his new book, 'Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture', Ivan McClellan draws us into the world of Black rodeo. Wallpaper* meets the photographer ahead of his Juneteenth Rodeo
By Tracy Kawalik Published
-
What to see at Art Basel 2024, as the fair arrives at its hometown
Art Basel 2024, the fair of all fairs, runs 13-16 June, with 285 international exhibitors and a long list of side shows and projects
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published