Is marketing imitating art on Miami Beach? At the city’s Convention Center, where Art Basel Miami Beach’s fair holds court, the answer is yes—Chicquita is doling out complimentary bananas, and branded tote bags, to ticket holders. The bananas are a cheeky nod to the recent $6.2 million sale of Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, the infamous work featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall. Call it an “installation,” call it a “stunt”—the sale questioned what, exactly, collectors and patrons are willing to spend on. Rest assured, Art Basel Miami Beach has matured to form.
Artwork by Urs Fischer at the Gagosian booth / Photo: Eden Herbstman
Hauser & Wirth sold a work by David Hammons for $4.7 million, a $2.5 million George Condo and a $500,000 Jeffrey Gibson. Another mega gallery, David Zwirner, sold a painting by Yayoi Kusama for $3.5 million and a 2008 work by Noah Davis for $2 million.
As of Thursday evening, Pace Gallery’s prized Joan Mitchell had yet to sell. Business Traveler asked the gallery representative if they were confident the $9 million Mitchell would find a buyer. “$9.5 million!” was the reply, offered with a smile, indicating prices are firm.
Photograph by Wolfgang Tillmans, on display at Art Basel Miami Beach / Photo: Eden Herbstman
Gagosian hopes to move a $10 million black-and-white Andy Warhol print of Ethel Scull. The gallery has already had success with works by Jeff Koons, Richard Prince and Jenny Saville, which sold for undisclosed amounts. It is also one of the few booths to have a security guard protecting its works.
Outside the Convention Center, temperatures in the upper 70’s enveloped Miami Beach, with the art market and its VIP attendees generating the heat. Barbara Hulanicki, heralded for Miami Beach’s signature Art Deco design, was seen touring the gallery booths with an entourage, while Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted circling Zurich-based gallery Mai 36—specifically around HR Giger’s Alien III.
Alien III, HR Giger / Photo: Eden Herbstman
LA-based gallery Regen Projects told Business Traveler the energy has been calm and positive and shed insight on how it’s setting prices. After artist Wolfgang Tillmans’ retrospective at MoMA, the price of his works increased by 20 percent. In October the gallery was at the Grand Palais for Art Basel Paris—city-to-city optimism is the traveling art market trend.
Bridget Finn, the director of Art Basel Miami Beach, had a heavy hand selecting this year’s roster of galleries. 286 galleries from more than 30 countries are showcasing their cream of the crop, with enough big ticket and rare works to drive collectors bananas this year.
