Art Basel in Miami Beach has come a long way since its 2002 inception. Posed as a cultural meeting point in the art world between North and Latin America, the fair has always leveraged a diversity of work and exhibitors as part of its appeal. When Art Basel opened its doors in Miami Beach in the early 2000s, the city was in the process of rehabilitating its cultural image as an arts and leisure haven rather than the libidinal-fueled party life that defined its reputation across the 1980s and ’90s.
Although that nightlife is still present across Miami Beach, preserved, too, is the mile-long strip of prominent Art Deco architecture that defined the city in the 1930s. Against this backdrop, one feels like a time traveler chasing the ghosts of old Miami’s social scene, which drives so much of its culture today and reaches new heights annually during Miami Art Week.
One lingering ghost this year was Madonna’s re-presentation of photographs from her book SEX (1992), which were shot by Steven Meisel in Miami 30 years ago. The pop-up exhibition organized by Saint Laurent on Ocean Drive and 17th Street, squarely between Art Basel and Untitled Art, drew a slew of celebrities across fashion and culture like Hailey Bieber, Zoë Kravitz, and Madonna herself. Presented in dialogue with Art Basel, the special exhibition was a throwback to the debauched evenings that inspired shows like Miami Vice (1984–90). At the main fair, however, the atmosphere was less risqué.
Twenty years in, Art Basel in Miami Beach—for better or worse—has become institutionalized. Reviewing the official fair report from the inaugural edition, one will find an emphasis on multimedia art practice, including sculpture, photography, installations, performance, and so much more, rather than painting. Yet that was not so in 2022: Painting dominated the booths, as it did at art fairs all year. And while much of it was reflective of the most talented crop of contemporary abstract and figurative painters working today, fairgoers appeared fatigued by the overwhelming repetition of the medium and were hungry for anything different.
That sentiment likely fed into the virality of artist collective MSCHF’s ATM Leaderboard (2022) at Perrotin’s typically hype-generating booth. For those who may have missed it, the ATM posted the bank account balance and a photo of anyone who inserted their debit card into the machine. The piece sold for $75,000 to a local collector in Miami. By the fair’s conclusion, the highest account balance was an individual with $9 million, though second place was snagged by musical artist and producer Diplo, with $3 million. The work both celebrates and lambastes the wealth and flash present at Art Basel—not just the high-net-worth attendees, but the art, too.
While Art Basel in Miami Beach in 2002 was just starting to gain traction from the museum crowd, in 2022 that clientele shaped what gallerists brought to the fair. There was a clear desire to place museum-quality works, like large-scale sculptures, with institutions or members of museum boards, knowing that the fair generates such opportunities.
Overall, galleries were in great spirits and satisfied with the sales, precisely because of Miami’s draw for institutional and private collectors. “We always love coming to Miami and seeing a cross section of America. There’s a lot of collectors here and this is a great fair for collectors to come see great work,” Ethan Sklar from Tanya Bonakdar Gallery told Artsy. Timothy Taylor told Art Basel that this was his eponymous gallery’s “strongest Miami Beach outing to date.” He added, “The caliber of collectors in attendance was stellar, and we made significant sales to an international crowd as well as a number of collectors with homes in South Florida.”
Here, we share a rundown of some of the top sales at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2022.
In addition to the previously reported sales of Andy Warhol’s Flowers (1964) for $3.8 million and Agnes Martin’s Untitled #14 (1998) for $7 million, some other notable seven-figure sales include the following:
The Nova section at Art Basel in Miami Beach is focused on contemporary works made in the past three years. Galleries in this section choose to showcase works by one to three artists who are meant to reflect the current moment, as well as what’s come in the art world—to the delight of eager collectors and audiences interested in not only what’s new, but what’s next .
- At San Juan–based Galería Agustina Ferreyra, multiple works by Dalton Gata sold to a private collection in Basel for $40,000–$50,000 per piece.
- At Miami-based Spinello Projects, several paintings by Reginald O’Neal sold to the Hort Family Collection in the range of $25,000–$40,000 per piece. Additionally, two iterations of Juana Valdés’s installation Colored China Rags (2017–22) sold for $50,000–$65,000 per piece; one was sold to El Museo del Barrio in New York, and the other to the City of Miami Beach through the city’s Legacy Purchase Program.
As many galleries noted, Art Basel in Miami Beach is the fair to bring ambitious works that can be placed in museums. Such works might exceed the limitations of a more domestic-scaled environment due to their size, subject matter, or medium.
Alejandro Jassan, an associate director at Lehmann Maupin, told Artsy that securing institutional placements was a driving force behind the gallery’s curatorial decisions for its booth. “We decided to bring museum-quality works, so in a way, we are trying to think about how our global programming is connecting to all of these museum moments around the world,” he said.Sales to institutions at this year’s Art Basel in Miami Beach included the following:
- Lehmann Maupin placed multiple works with trustees of prestigious museums in Boston and New York. An edition of Calida Rawles’s Our Grace Tapestry (2022) sold to a trustee at the Brooklyn Museum for $50,000.
- David Castillo sold a painting by Vaughn Spann, Marked Men (factors of loss) (2022), for $180,000 to the de la Cruz Collection in Miami.
Comments are closed.