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If you build it, they will come, and they will when the greatest show on earth comes to Miami again the week after Thanksgiving. They come from all over the globe, and at times, they appear to come from another galaxy. They come from Boca, and they come from Kendall. They fly into MIA or Uber across from Wynwood. They valet their Maserati or walk from the Metromover. They meet on the Beach or in Brickell. They stop by the Design District and make dinner reservations at Carbone. They would rather be here than Wawa or the FTX Arena watching the Heat. They lay out outfits, get fresh piercings, and trust their newest tattoo is as radical as they had hoped, because there is a chance they might end up influencing someone on TikTok or in a philanthropic section of Ocean Drive Magazine. The week after Thanksgiving in Miami is an artistic tsunami.
Art Basel’s festivities, Miami Art Week as no one calls it, kicks off with cutting-edge UNTITLED ART near the water by 12th and Ocean Drive on Monday November 28 with its VIP and Press Preview. On Tuesday November 29, venerable 32 year-old Art Miami and its cooler cousin CONTEXT begin, located in the old Miami Herald spot by the base of the Venetian. Art Miami is particularly beloved by the rattle-your-jewelry crowd shuttled from Palm Beach via Brightline. Long innovative SCOPE begins Tuesday at 8th and Ocean. NADA begins Wednesday at the Ice Palace in its 1923 location; the building alone is worth the trip. Visit just these alone, and you cannot go wrong. All are exceptional year after year and have been for nearly twenty years, featuring galleries from all over the planet.
Other long running fairs include the 18th edition of Design Miami which tackles décor, furniture, carpentry and lighting for the blessed AND inspiration for IKEA pockets.
Spectrum and Red Dot join hands under one massive roof at Mana in Wynwood. INK in its 15th year will feature works on paper and free admission in the Dorchester Suites on Collins Ave. Aqua also brings the intimate Collins throwback setting vibe in its hotel room show. Anti-commercial Fridge will camp out in Allapattah offering everyone a wee glimpse of what Miami’s art scene was before gentrification strangled it. It’s at Esquina de Abuela down the street from El Espacio 23. This year, in its 16th anniversary, Latin-American centric Pinta ventures into new territory, inaugurating The Hangar in Coconut Grove. Their relationships with galleries to the Americas South and Central is a credit to their respect for our hemisphere.
Last but not least, Art Basel itself, the reason for all this and both biggest and baddest, brings premier quality to the Convention Center from December 1-3. This venue is so magnificent, it’s entirely exhausting.
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. Visitors to everything that the week of Art Basel offers can fantasize about nearly everything imaginable, and if the weather cooperates, they can see creations beyond categorization; classic, abstract, religious, cubist, woven, absurd, and sublime all reside within one tent or under one umbrella in the stunning setting that only Miami offers after you’ve parked a car or gone through the indignity of having sat in merciless traffic.
The manifold pretenses harbored by ambitious artists, gallery hustlers, NFT phonies, and the desperate prospective influencer cannot dim the larger numbers of legitimate artists and lovers of beauty and ingenuity. Originality reveals itself repeatedly in multiple projects, by the artist, the fair organizer and witnesses. If there were exit polls, after the complaints died down, fairgoers would pledge their loyalty to this week of events as the greatest one of a kind experience that can be had. The arena for the established way-out-of-my-price range and the up-and-coming new kids on the block has space for both. You might even buy a souvenir.
To see more #Miaminews from #Aventura to #Coralgables to #SouthMiami, #Pinecrest, #Palmetto Bay and #Cutler Bay and all throughout #Miamidadecounty go to:
www.communitynewspapers.com
