Heating up in Florida: Miami Art Week in Review
This year’s Miami Art Week—with the prominent Art Basel Miami Beach—featured turquoise waters, award-winning food, palm trees, enviable weather, an unending display of art, and, ultimately, some big sales.
Miami Art Week returned for its 22nd edition, transforming the city into a sprawling multi-location affair with a series of high-profile openings and exhibitions. Each year in the first week of December, Miami attracts masses of collectors, curators, celebrities, and art connoisseurs. While Art Miami, established in 1990, is the city’s ‘original and longest-running contemporary and modern art fair,’ the centrepiece of Miami Art Week remains Art Basel Miami Beach. Since its inception in 2002, it has grown in size and in prominence; SCOPE Art Show, Untiled Art Miami Beach, NADA, and a myriad of other satellite fairs all congregate within the same week, allowing the city to evolve into a leading art scene often referred to as the ‘The Super Bowl of the Art World.’
View of Art Basel Miami Beach 2024, December 2024. Photo Courtesy: Art Basel
This year’s edition of Art Basel Miami Beach turned up the heat under the leadership of its new director, Bridget Finn, a seasoned gallerist. Featuring 286 galleries from 38 countries—including 34 first-time exhibitors—marked a milestone for the fair with the largest group of first-time exhibitors since 2008, partially attributed to a new entry-level booth initiative supporting small-to-mid-sized galleries. The fair also launched a refreshed program which attracted over 75,000 visitors across its five days (4,000 less than last year’s reported attendance). ‘I am extremely proud of the refinements we achieved this year,’ said Finn in an Artsy article. ‘From the repositioning of Meridians, which has facilitated more opportunities for discovery and dialogue across the contemporary heart of the show, to the roll-out of a new booth size, which allowed us to welcome so many new voices and perspectives in the main sector of the show.’
Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 achieved considerable sales, with galleries reporting significant transactions across all sectors. Leading the reported sales was David Hammon’s Untitled (2014) which sold for 4.75 million USD at Hauser and Wirth during the fair’s VIP preview days. In addition to the Hammon’s sale, Hauser and Wirth secured several seven- and six-figure sales, including George Condo’s Female Portrait of Abstraction (2024) for 2.5 million USD, Ed Clark’s Untitled (1986) for 1.4 million USD and Untitled (1986-87) for 1 million USD, and Charles Gaines’s Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #4, Maasai (2024) for 795,000 USD.
Hauser and Wirth’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024, December 2024. Photo Courtesy: Art Basel
Several other blue-chip galleries including David Zwirner, Thaddaeus Ropac, and White Cube reported significant seven-figure sales. David Zwirner’s sales were led by a 2017 work from Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Nets series for 3.5 million USD, followed by a painting by Noah Davis for 2 million USD and two paintings by Lisa Yuskavage for 1.1 million USD and 900,000 USD. Thaddeus Ropac’s sales were led by Georg Baselitz’s Dresdner Frauen – Die Elbe (1990/2023) for 2.65 million USD, followed by Robert Rauschenberg’s Everglade (Borealis) (1990) for 2.3 million USD and Baselitz’s Die Seine, die Seine, die Siene (2023) for 1.26 million USD. White Cube’s reported sales were led by David Hammons’s Rock Head (2000) for 2.35 million USD, followed by Christine Ay Tjoe’s Mischievous Player (2016) for 1.15 million USD and Lynne Drexler’s Tribute (1963) for 800,000 USD and Final Flowers (1963) for 725,000 USD.
Other notable sales included Keith Harring’s Untitled (1984) which sold for 2 million USD at Gladstone Gallery, Sam Gilliam’s Whispering Wind (1972) for 1 million USD at Pace Gallery, Mark Ryden’s Regina Terra (#179) (2024) for 1.5 million USD at Kasmin, Lee Ufan’s Response (2024) for 1.05 million USD at Mennour, and a Tom Wesselmann piece which sold for a price in the range of 1.25-1.5 million USD at Almine Rech. There were a multitude of other self-reported seven figures sales.
As Art Basel Miami Week came to a close, the art shown and sales made reflected a gradually shifting landscape. While the above highlights pieces sold around the 1 million-plus USD range, there were fewer seven- and eight-figure sales than in previous editions. The fair exhibited and sold a wide mix of works, offering a broad range of price perhaps in aims to respond to a recently softer market and/or to entice a younger, aspirational collector. Galleries unsurprisingly continued to see quality works in demand from both blue-chip artists and emerging artists alike. Though the latter seemed to be a budding focus at the fair, carving out space for fresh faces and voices to recalibrate to the industry’s future.
Thaddaeus Ropac’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024, December 2024. Photo Courtesy: Art Basel
Beyond the four walls of the Convention Centre, exhibitions, fairs, and events overflowed into the city’s avenues and neighbourhoods. Of all the satellite fairs that occur during the week, only two are arranged directly on the sandy shores of South Beach: SCOPE Art Show and Untitled Art Miami Beach. SCOPE 2024 is making waves for its 23rd edition under the fair’s first-ever director, Hayley River Smith. This year, SCOPE’s theme, Interdependence, focuses on ‘the pulse of the connections that bind people, communities, and the planet.’ This edition introduced a roster of 97 galleries from 20 countries, with 43 of them debuting at the fair.
View of SCOPE Art Show 2024, December 2024. Photo Courtesy: SCOPE Art Show
SCOPE Art Show 2024 achieved ‘numerous institutional sales,’ with galleries reporting strong activity throughout the week. ‘The outstanding community response and strong sales throughout the week reflect the success of our elevated and highly selective curatorial approach this year,’ said Smith. ‘The exceptional works from our exhibitors represented the next wave of exploration in contemporary art from a truly global perspective, which was echoed in programs and activations onsite throughout the week.’
A handful of galleries reflected similarly on the five days. Dawn Delikat, the newly appointed Executive Director from Pen + Brush (New York, New York), reflected ‘one standout moment for us… has been the incredible response to the photography of Cuban artist Paola Fiterre. Her work has captivated audiences, leading to a remarkable milestone: a record-breaking eight sales in a single day. This overwhelming interest underscores the power and resonance of showcasing fresh, undiscovered voices in contemporary art.’ Craig Mark, Director at The Melrose Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa), commented ‘we sold well,’ while Asa Wolf from Wolf & Nomad Gallery (Miami, Florida) similarly announced ‘a strong opening day of sales during our 2024 showcase, with important acquisitions of works by all four artists currently on view in our booth.’
View of SCOPE Art Show 2024, December 2024. Photo Courtesy: SCOPE Art Show
Miami Art Week revealed an encouraging etching: the presence of new exhibitors, and with them potentially new collectors, increasing accessibility in regard to pricing, along with the celebration and integration of emerging artists whose identities have long been underrepresented offering into a diverse and dynamic environment. The cautious optimism surveyed in Miami in the beginning of December could be indicative of what is to come in the year ahead: high-quality, sought-after artists and emerging artists with accessible pricing can be expected to continue to perform well. Despite rising global interest rates, uncertainty of the US presidential election, and ongoing geopolitical conflicts, this year’s edition showed signs of recalibration, resurgence, and recovery in the art market.
Bibliography
‘23rd Edition of SCOPE Art Show in Miami Beach Sees Robust Sales and Dynamic Programming,’ SCOPE Art Show, 2024.
Artlyst Staff. 2024. Art Basel Miami Beach 2024: Ultimate Guide To The Hottest Art Extravaganza. [online] artlyst.com.
Artnet Gallery Network. 2024. Scope Art Show Returns to Miami With a Focus on Collaboration. [online] news.artnet.com.
Artnet News. 2024. Here’s What Sold—and For How Much—at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024. [online] artnet.com.
Durón, Maximilíano. 2024. Advisers Take the Art Market’s Temperature ahead of Art Basel Miami Beach. [online] artnews.com
McDermott, Emily. 2024. Art Basel Miami Beach ends on high note with solid sales across all sectors. [online] artbasel.com.
Rabb, Maxwell. 2024. What Sold at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024. [online] Artsy.net.
Yerebakan, Osman Can. 2024. Art Basel Miami Beach boosts newcomers by offering smaller stands. [online] theartnewspaper.com
Zara, Janelle. 2024. What is driving American collectors today? [online] artbasel.com
Zohar, Erica Wertheim. 2024. The Complete Guide To 2024 Art Basel And Miami Art Week: Events, Exhibits And Exclusive Parties. [online] forbes.com.
Jillian Goss-Holmes
Art Markets Co-Editor, MADE IN BED