Art / Basel / Miami Beach and Art / Miami

[Karl-G]

This week, Miami and Miami Beach are the art capital of the world. If you enjoy art, it is certainly worth coming here for this week. Art Basel is in the Convention Center in Miami Beach, and Art Miami is in the Design District of Miami, north of downtown. Each attracts 250+ of the best galleries in the world, who bring their best works with them. This is the largest art fair in the world. You get to see things here that you will never see anywhere else and often never again. Collectors buy them and they disappear from public view.

 

If you are used to seeing the works of artists like Motherwell in museums, you know the big "museum quality" works which he made to establish his reputation. But Motherwell and every other artist cannot exist on the rare sale to a museum; they make a living by selling works in sizes people can hang on their walls or set on a sideboard. And you see them here.

 

Here in Miami you will see dozens of medium-sized, wonderful Motherwells every year. There are masterpieces by Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler that you can observe and enjoy at very close range. There are many examples of the finest Latin American artists here that you will never see in museums or even galleries up north. Maria Pelaez, Rufino Tamayo, Gunther Gerszo, Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Fernando de Szyslo and many more have works on display from galleries which specialize in Latin American art. The galleries come from South Florida and the capitals of South American countries. And you can talk with dealers, all of whom seem very knowledgeable and helpful. I learn more about artists and their works from dealers than I ever have from books. Dealers from London and Paris and New York and Basel and Munich are eager to talk about the artists they represent. Small sculptures by John Chamberlain and Alexander Calder are always available. Concetto Spaziale of Lucio Fontana are numerous.

 

Print makers, like Pace Galleries Prints, have great displays. Two large woodcuts of a Pat Steir "Waterfall" last year were magnificent. Helen Frankenthaler's prints are breathtaking. And there are large and small paintings by Mark Rothko, sculptures by Jeff Koons, lots of prints by Andy Warhol, steel cut-outs by Tom Wesselmann.

 

There are also several galleries in each show which now offer the new artists from China. If you wish to get some idea of that whole new world of art, which is so different from ours, this is the place to begin. The dealers are very helpful and I have begun to know the best of contemporary Chinese artists. Everything in both shows is of the highest quality.