Art Miami for the Vernissage on Wednesday, December 3, 2013 and back again on Saturday, December 7, 2013.
“Art Miami celebrate its 24th edition from December 3 – December 8, 2013. Known as Miami’s premier anchor fair, Art Miami kicks off on the opening day of Art Week—the first week of December when thousands of collectors, dealers, curators, and artists descend upon Miami. World-famous for its stylish gallery-like decor, its extraordinary variety and outstanding quality, Art Miami showcases the best in modern and contemporary art from 100 international art galleries and prominent art institutions.”
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PRESS RELEASE:
In its 24th year, Art Miami, the leading international contemporary and modern art fair that takes place each December during Miami Art Week, and CONTEXT, the sister fair to Art Miami, closed with record-breaking attendance and impressive sales that exceeded 2012 reported sales figures. Many of the works sold to established as well as new collectors, museum professionals, private and corporate collections, cultural foundations, dealers, art advisors and consultants. More than 72,500 attendees visited Art Miami and CONTEXT throughout the week with more than 13,600 patrons attending the exclusive VIP Preview on Tuesday, Dec. 3, which benefited the Pérez Art Museum Miami. Additionally, more than 400 international members of the press attended and reported on the fairs.
Known as two of the most important annual contemporary art events in the United States, Art Miami and CONTEXT together showcased artists from more than 200 leading galleries representing 70 cities from 20 countries. The energy and enthusiasm of collectors were palpable as they acquired important works by established, emerging and mid-career, cutting edge artists. Several dealers sold out of their stock and had to rehang their walls as sculptures, photographs, paintings and video installations sold and resold multiple times. The open atmosphere between both fairs created an exciting and spirited dialogue between artists, galleries and collectors, and allowed for established galleries as well as emerging galleries to present classic, contemporary and emergent talent. The enormous turnout and acquisitions once again marked Art Miami and CONTEXT as the most high-trafficked fairs in the city of Miami.
Director Frej Forsblom of Galerie Forsblom in Finland said, “We are really happy with the results of this year’s fair. We sold more artwork than in 2012 at Art Miami. The quality of Art Miami is steadily improving each year with a higher caliber of galleries and art.”
Hollis Taggart, President of Hollis Taggart Galleries, said, “This year’s Art Miami fair was a huge success in terms of attendance and sales. Our gallery sold 15 works, most all of them to new collectors. This year’s fair had a more international flavor, with sales being made to several European collectors and to South American collectors, which is something new for us. All of our colleagues likewise reported strong sales and everyone came away from this show very pleased. It seems that many collectors who attend the Art Basel show in the Miami Convention Center have ‘discovered’ our Art Miami show, and many came over and bought from this fair. There is no question that Art Miami has a huge momentum, and I suspect this year’s edition broke all records for sales and attendance. Art Miami has become a recognized leader in the world of art fairs and is a force to be reckoned with. ”
Starting with the VIP Preview, art enthusiasts queued up in anticipation of the exhibitions. Throughout the fairs, the pavilions at Art Miami and CONTEXT were filled with some of the biggest names in the art world. From collectors to museums to celebrities to socialites, Art Miami and CONTEXT attracted a considerable number of influencers, including Martin and Audrey Gruss, John and Diane Sculley, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, Don and Mera Rubell, Jason Rubell, Edgardo and Ana Cristina Defortuna, Walid Wahad, Larry Williams, Commissioner Patrick Murphy, Tommy and Dee Hilfiger, Leo and Yvonne Force Villareal, Kim Heirston, Ted and Ruth Baum, Jessica Lichtenstein, Liu Bolin, Beth Lipman, John Henry, Peter Anton, Wendell Castle, Kim Heirston, Asher Edelman, Hadley Martin Fisher, Tommy and Dee Hilfiger, Jack and Debra Wexler, Jorge and Darlene Pérez, Marco Glaviano, Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, Michael and Seren Shvo, Val Kilmer, Manning Sloan, Ambassador Earle Mack, Herr Nilsson, Mr. Brainwash, Julia Jackson, Robert Fader, Jane Wooldridge, Elayne and Marvin Mordes, Arnie and Paola Rosenshein, J. Ricky Ariola, David Sydorick, Audrey and Martin Gruss, Eric and Liz Feder as well as Wilbur and Hilary Geary Ross and Janet Goldman, Chairman of Goldman Properties, with daughter Jessica Goldman Srebnick.
Some of the most prestigious museums in the country attended Art Miami and CONTEXT including Ai Miami International University of Art & Design, The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, Armory Art Center, ArtCenter/South Florida, Artview NYC, Society of Four Arts, Baltimore Museum of Art, Bass Museum of Art, Boca Museum of Art, Chrysler Museum of Art, ArtTable, Brooklyn Museum, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, CORE:, Cornell Fine Art Museum, Crocker Art Museum; Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Fine Art Fund Group, The Frost Art Museum, Harvard Business School Club of New York, HistoryMiami, International Chinese Fine Arts Council, Jewish Museum of Florida, Lighthouse Center for the Arts, Locust Projects, Lowe Art Museum, Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, McNay Art Museum, Miami Children’s Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Museum of Arts and Design, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Museum of Modern Art, Naples Museum of Art, National Academy Museum, New World School of the Arts, Norton Museum of Art, Norwood Club, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Philbrook Museum of Art, The Phillips Collection, Prospect New Orleans, Rubell Family Collection, San Antonio Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Salvador Dali Museum, The Wolfsonian-FIU, University of Maine Museum of Art, Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Walker Art Center and Whitespace.
Important curators and museum directors visited and acquired works at the fair including Harry Cooper, Curator and head of Modern Art, National Gallery of Art in Washington; Dorothy Kosinski, Director, The Phillips Collection; Vesela Sretenovic, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Phillips Collection; Todd Smith, Executive Director, The Tampa Museum; Lowery Sims, Curator, Museum of Arts and Design; Sarah Tanguy, Curator, Art in Embassies; Don Bacigalupi, Director, Crystal Bridges; Stephen Bennett Phillips, Curator and Fine Arts Program Director, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve; Whitney Tassle, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Utah Museum of Fine Arts; Lauren Ross, Nancy E. Meinig Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Philbrook Musuem of Art; Judy A. Greenberg, Director, The Kreeger Museum; Al Miner, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Alice Gray Stites, Chief Curator and Director of Art Programming, 21c Museum Hotel Louisville.
Art Miami and CONTEXT respectively showcased an impressive array of innovative installations and exhibitions:
ZOOM IN invited select artists to screen video works that the curatorial team of LaRete Art Projects deemed to be of notable significance. The winner of the 2013 ZOOM IN Award is artist Nicholas Pye represented by the Washington-D.C.-based gallery Curator’s Office. Pye received a check for $2,500.00, and Curator’s Office will receive a complimentary stand in the 2014 edition of CONTEXT.
THINK BIG, curated by LaRete Art Projects, allowed artists to exhibit in the passageways linking the fairs’ pavilions. These installations provided innovative, “big” approaches to artistic vision.
CHECK OUT, curated by LaRete Art Projects, selected provocative installations in areas of highest exposure both inside and outside the entrances to Art Miami and CONTEXT.
Art From Berlin, presented at CONTEXT, offered an insider’s view into Berlin’s influential art scene with a curated exhibition of the city’s contemporary art galleries and institutions, by six contemporary galleries selected by a panel of curators and art critics.
Among the dealers reporting six-and-seven-figure sales were Galerie von Vertes, Galerie Forsblom, Mayoral, Samuel Osborne, Armand Bartos Fine Art, Waterhouse & Dodd, Cernuda Arte, Allan Stone Gallery, Hollis Taggart Galleries, Michael Goedhuis, Antoine Helwaser Gallery, Simon Capstick-Dale Fine Art, Modernism, McCormick Gallery, DIE Galerie, Mark Borghi Fine Art and others. These included paintings, sculptures, mixed media works and photographs by blue chip artists Francis Bacon, Lynn Chadwick, Gerhard Richter, Xie Aige, Henry Moore, Tom Wesselman, Alex Katz, Sam Francis, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, John Chamberlain, David Hockney, Bernd Venet, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, Mel Ramos, Alexander Calder and many others.
A sampling of some sales more than $1 million include a sculpture by Henry Moore; Lucio Fontana’s “Concetto spaziale, Atthese” 3 slashes painting; two Gerhard Richter paintings, one of which “Abstract Work” 1998, oil on canvas, sold for $3 million.
Six-figure sales far surpassed 2012 purchases for paintings, sculptures, photographs and mid-media works by artists such as Francis Bacon, Miguel Barcelo, Fernando Botero, Alexander Calder, Lynn Chadwick, Marc Chagall, John Chamberlain, Jim Dine, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Adolph Gottlieb, Andreas Gursky, Keith Haring, Gottfried Helnwein, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Alex Katz, Wilfredo Lam, Sol LeWitt, Valdes Manolo, Heiner Meyer, Norman Mooney, Vik Muniz, Victore Pasmore, A.R. Penck, Richard Prince, Mel Ramos, Robert Rauschenberg, Julian Schnabel, Wayne Thiebaud, Tom Wesselmann and other blue chip artists.
Avid interest in newer and mid-career, cutting edge artists translated into strong sales and sold out series of works by Dana Louise Kirkpatrick, Leo Villareal, Gregory Scott, Liu Bolin, Li Hongbo, Formento & Formento, Ruby Anemic, Beth Lipman, Gabi Trinkaus and many others at galleries which included Eli Klein Gallery, CONNERSMITH., Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, KM Fine Arts, Claire Oliver Gallery, Mike Weiss Gallery, De Buck Gallery, Julian Navarro, Heitsch Gallery, Lyons Wier Gallery, Magnan Metz Gallery and numerous others.
There was also tremendous demand for South American and Latin artists such as Gina Pellon, Raul Mazzoni, Enio Iomni, Manolo Valdes, Agustin Cardenas, Cundo Bermudez, Mario Carreno, Wilfredo Lam, Miguel Barcelo and other noted artists.
Miami resident Dennis Scholl, Vice President of the Arts for the Knight Foundation and avid collector of contemporary art for more than three decades, said that since Nick Korniloff took over as director, he has seen the quality of the art improve with more blue chip material. But also important has been the fair’s outreach to the local art community. “It has our namesake in it,” Scholl said. “It’s called Art Miami and it’s been around for a long time, but it has become very welcoming to the community. You have to give Nick credit for getting both of those pieces of the fair right.”
While attending the fairs, VIP attendees enjoyed many exciting, special events:
Guests were welcomed at the Maserati VIP Lounge where they enjoyed casual Italian cuisine and an interactive display of the all-new Quattroporte and the Ghibli S Q4 All-Wheel Drive.
Christie’s International Real Estate hosted a private cocktail reception as company CEO Bonnie Sellers welcomed select clients from around the world to the Maserati VIP Lounge on Friday evening.
Museum professionals and curators enjoyed a brunch in the Maserati VIP Lounge while mingling with art world contemporaries, dealers, Fair Director Nick Korniloff and Curators from LaRete Art Projects.
Guided tours of Art Miami and CONTEXT were led by museum experts.
CONTEXT partnered with One Art Nation to host daily educational symposia presented by leading art experts on specialties including advisory services, art history, trends and appraisals for VIP guests in the CONTEXT VIP Lounge.
“We were delighted to once again welcome the world’s leading international art collectors, influential museum curators, designers, artists and art lovers who flocked to Art Miami and CONTEXT,” said Korniloff, Director and Partner, Art Miami. “We were also quite pleased with the extraordinary sales made throughout the fair – including multiple sold out booths – and the success we had connecting serious collectors with the most prominent galleries from around the globe. We must also acknowledge the extraordinary contributions of our official sponsors: Maserati North America, Christie’s International Real Estate, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Bang & Olufsen, JW Marriott Marquis Miami and Hotel Beaux Arts Miami. We cannot wait to continue our tradition offering access to exciting, provocative and challenging works from the world’s greatest artists in the future.”
