The Verdict on Basel, NADA, and Miami Art Week

Spotlight Miami’s Must-See Exhibitions 2024 Elaine YJ Zheng

This year’s edition of Art Basel Miami Beach saw the largest number of new exhibitors in more than a decade, thanks to the introduction of a more affordable booth option in July by the fair’s new director, Bridget Finn.

‘It’s difficult when you’re a gallerist, and especially in this moment, to scale your business, and to meet the needs of the artists that you represent, and to grow things in a timeline that works for everyone,’ she explained in a recent interview with Whitewall.

Meanwhile, across Biscayne Bay at Ice Palace Studios, NADA Miami boasted 59 first-time exhibitors among 150 galleries. It seems that collectors have called for something ‘fresh’, and fairs have listened and responded.

We waited, expectantly, for drama to unfold—usually a guarantee for Miami—but it did not. There was no damage to priceless artwork (2014), no stabbings (2015), and no ingestion of fruitful artworks (2019). Besides the usual celebrity sightings—Leonardo DiCaprio, Diplo, Jared Leto, Venus Williams—it seemed surprisingly composed. Rather, this year it was sales that made the headlines, with gallerists speaking of a similar momentum to Art Basel Paris in October, albeit not quite topping the 20 million USD achieved by Hauser & Wirth for Louise Bourgeois’ Spider 1 (1995).

Even art critic Jerry Saltz, who takes a hard line when it comes to art fairs—‘I am socially unfit to report for duty to any out of town art fair,’ he wrote on Instagram after Miami Art Week 2023—was grudgingly positive about this year’s affair. ‘The energies at [NADA] are off the charts,’ observed Saltz, who was in town on 2 December to host a talk at Pérez Art Museum Miami with Jerry Gogosian (Hilde Lynn Helphenstein) and Natalia Zuluaga.

And we agree. Aisles were packed by NADA’s VIP opening on Tuesday morning. New York gallerist Margot Samel sold 11 Cathleen Clarke paintings in the first morning, priced between 9,000 and 20,000 USD, while Paris-based cadet capela and New York’s DIMIN respectively placed works by Madeline Peckenpaugh and Justine Hill in institutions. Along the halls, Fernberger from L.A. sold out their booth of paintings by Anne Wehrley Björk, Vicky Colombet, and Kiki Xuebing Wang, priced from 20,000 to 30,000 USD.

One stand-out booth at NADA was London-based gallery indigo+madder, who presented paintings and sculptures by Noorain Inam. Trained as a miniature painter in her hometown of Karachi, Pakistan, Inam—who now lives in London—showcased works derived from a summer residency in St Ives on the British coast.

While Saltz didn’t continue on to Art Basel, he left Ice Palace Studios concluding that ‘NADA told me the art world is going to be fine,’ adding, ‘I am now leaving Miami before the shindigs begin and people have fun and sex and drinks and dancing.’

The rest of us ventured to Art Basel’s long-time home at Miami Beach Convention Center in South Beach, where 286 dealers had set up shop.

‘After a dark and nervous season, it feels like the clouds have broken,’ said Marc Payot, president of Hauser & Wirth. Payot added that the blue-sky weather in Miami was ‘reflecting the art world’s mood—buoyant and fully engaged minus the overly frantic energy of the past’.

By the end of VIP day on Wednesday, Hauser & Wirth had sold an untitled 2014 painting by American artist David Hammons—among the more valuable pieces at the fair—for 4.75 million USD. Hauser’s other works by notable American artists that found buyers included George Condo‘s Female Portrait Abstraction (2024) for 2.5 million USD, two untitled works by Ed Clark, both painted in the 1980s, for 1 million and 1.4 million USD, and Christina Quarles’ And I Moon (2024) for 750,000 USD.

Nearby, Gagosian celebrated a strong start to the fair, with sales of works by Maurizio Cattelan, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jeff Koons, the last of which was purchased directly from the artist’s studio. Larry Gagosian did caveat Wednesday’s success with murmurs of a slow start, noting that collectors were taking their time.

Thaddaeus Ropac likewise reported strong first-day sales, with four works surpassing the million-dollar mark, including a Robert Rauschenberg silkscreen, Everglade (Borealis) (1990), sold for 2,300,000 USD and Elaine Sturtevant‘s Flag after Jasper Johns (1967) for 1.1 million USD. Other significant acquisitions from Ropac’s stand included four Martha Jungwirth paintings, ranging from 90,000 to 430,000 USD, and a painting by Joan Snyder titled Linen & Lace (2022–2023), giving Miamians a glimpse of the kind of works featured in the U.S. artist’s current show at the gallery’s London outpost.

Lehmann Maupin placed seven pieces in the six-figure range, including a new painting by Calida Rawles, whose work is also on view in her first institutional solo at Pérez Art Museum, as well as a new silk collage by Billie Zangewa. ‘This level of activity so early on already signals a positive turn in the market,’ David Maupin said.

But what of the fair’s 32 newcomers? Sebastian Gladstone—who showed at NADA in the past three years—reported a sold-out booth of stained-glass sculptures by Timo Fahler, priced between 40,000 and 100,000 USD. London-based Union Pacific placed four paintings by South Korean artist Jin Han Lee into a private collection in the U.S., and a fifth at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, securing Lee’s first U.S. institutional acquisition.

‘The works came from South Korea and are large, bright, and joyful abstracts, so it makes it worth the long trip for most of them to stay in the U.S.,’ Union Pacific founders Nigel Dunkley and Grace Schofield told Ocula, adding that the fair felt ‘buzzy’.

Making their inaugural appearance were Singapore‘s Gajah Gallery, who presented a solo exhibition by the late Balinese artist I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih. The gallery reported that opening day ‘exceeded [their] expectations’. ‘The reception to Murniasih’s work has been phenomenal, as her art is seldom showcased in this part of the world,’ said gallery spokesperson Natalie Falk-Gandarum.

Special mention must also be made of Andrew Kreps Gallery, whose booth was brimming with exemplary pieces by leading names. Two paintings by Eileen Agar—Still Life (1964), which sold for 85,000 USD, and another from 1982 (also priced at 85,000 USD)—were particularly covetable, while other works by Ernie Barnes, Roe Ethridge, Raymond Saunders, Hollis Sigler, and Sylvia Snowden, attracted a large crowd of admirers, among them the Ocula Advisors.

Miami’s Fredric Snitzer Gallery hosted a solo booth by Hernan Bas—one of the most prolific artists working in the city today—who has been showing with the gallery for 23 years. All 13 artworks in the booth sold, ranging from 23,000 USD for a work on paper to 400,000 USD for a large painting.

As Miami Art Week came to its conclusion on Sunday, it became apparent that—while the parties might have been noticeably tamer—this year was about the good art and the strong sales. White Cube’s pause on its annual bash at Soho Beach House, usually hosted on the Monday of Miami Art Week, could be one reason: collectors were in no rush to arrive in the city this year, with many vetoing VIP day in favour of a long weekend. The fact that Thanksgiving fell so late this year could have played into this change, but perhaps it is indicative of a broader shift towards attendance by collectors motivated more by the art than the party.

For those who did commit to the full week, we will pass on Hernan Bas’ advice as to the best way to end your trip: ‘Get off South Beach, hire an airboat, and head to the Everglades.’ —[O]

Main image: Art Basel Miami Beach (6–8 December 2024). Courtesy Art Basel.