The Magic of Art Basel

On Wednesday December the 2^nd a splashy cocktail full of celebrities headed by Prince Lorenzo de Medici and including Beyoncé and Adrian Brody and Kim Kardashian launched the 14^th edition of Art Basel Miami. The Art gathering which has transformed Miami into an arts destination also serves as the end of the year showcase for fashion, culture and business deals for the Western Hemisphere.

This year Miami Beach authorities expect 120,000 visitors over the four day spam which is about twice as many as last years. The crowd brings to the city the allure of artwork but also the lively sounds of emerging musicians and rising performing arts stars. In terms of sales Art Basel Miami has closed art deals for about US 500M and is poised to surpass that benchmark this year. Over 260 galleries present their valuable works of Arts inside the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Monumental works will be displayed at Collins Park, while films’ showing will take place at the SoundScape park. All in all Art Basel is the perfect way to bring a year to a close in a city that has incessantly grown since the turn of the century displacing Palm Beach and Jupiter as upscale winter destinations. This year will be remembered for the number of galleries presenting works by female artists  such as Judith Bernstein; Sarah Charlesworth, Nancy Dwyer and Beatriz Savino. Young and promising artist like Rodrigo Figueredo will also be present.

The transformational power of Art Basel springs from what Moises Naim would dub “the 21^st century mentality” which like a modern sorcerer melts into a single space many talents and ways to express them. Today’s art works mix color, light and sound. Films blend acting techniques with painting and photography. Fashion is today the byproduct of entertainment.

Miami is the melting pot where the 21^st century finds identity and projects its vitality. The city will thus become the world’s catwalk for a week. But Art Basel fashion differs from that of the winter or spring collections displays in the fact that it does not comply with a single standard but rather blends many standards to create a new wave that will mark not only Miami but end of the year toilettes all over the world.

Because more than an  art fair Art Basel is the meeting ground of exquisite taste and refined creation from all the corners of the world. And as art, music, light and color interact in the Caribbean setting new forms of creative construction will see the light to transform all the arts fairs of the world.

(Featured Image: Chloe Wise & Claire Christerson, Greece, 2015, courtesy of the artists)