An Art Fair to Remember

Comments (0) By Carlos Suarez De Jesus Thursday, Jan 4 2007

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Those bemoaning Art Miami’s relevance in the long shadow of Basel, take heed. The Swiss might have recently jerked the city upside down, but Art Miami’s organizers promise to turn heads with the seventeenth edition of the South Florida cultural staple, which has stormed back with pizzazz.

“Many discoveries will be unveiled to Art Miami enthusiasts from a broad spectrum of contemporary painting, sculpture, prints, photography, and multimedia works by both well-established and emerging artists,” asserts show director Ilana Vardy. A whopping half of the fair’s 115 participants will be new to the dance this year. They include 10 Chancery Lane from Hong Kong, exhibiting photography by Chinese artist Li Wei; Italy’s Contini Galleria d’Arte, showcasing a topnotch selection of modern and contemporary masters; and more than 30 galleries from Europe, the United States, and Asia making their Art Miami debuts. For the first time, Turkey and Ireland will be represented at the festival, marking one of the most diverse selections of galleries in the fair’s history, according to Vardy. “We are very excited by the changes in the fair in recent years, as we are now better poised to service a growing market in which collectors are interested in a wide variety of genres and nationalities.” One of last year’s crowd magnets, New York’s Gallery of Surrealism, returns with “Surrealism and Its Affinities 2007,” featuring works by André Breton, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dali, Dorothea Tanning, and Yves Tanguy. The fair will also feature projects drawing attention to local and Caribbean artists, a series of lectures with contemporary art experts, and the inaugural Performance Series, organized by Miami’s Damien B. Contemporary Art Center. The series will showcase more than a dozen artists throughout the Miami Beach Convention Center. As part of her annual “Director’s Choice” recognition of exceptional local talent, Vardy has selected Purvis Young to create an installation at Art Miami’s entrance.
Fri., Jan. 5, 2 p.m.