Upon arriving in Miami for Art Basel, I found the city's creative energy was palpable. For one week, Miami becomes the epicentre of the international art world, as a week of fairs, gallery exhibits, fashion shows, film debuts, museum openings and pop-ups descend on the beachfront city. Here, Barnebys reveals the six takeaways and news stories from Art Week:
1. The Banana Bonanza
Despite the controversy surrounding the 'art' of a banana taped to the wall, the Maurizio Cattelan work, titled Comedian, was undoubtedly the star of Art Basel, for better or for worse. Drawing crowds that could be compared to Mona Lisa-level mania to the Galerie Perrotin booth, the work had to be removed from the fair before the last day in fear that other artwork would be damaged, after one was eaten by New York performance artist David Datuna. Each of the three editions sold for US$120,000-150,000, (£91,000-113,000) with certificates of authenticity, and may be donated or loaned to museums. As the Duchampian-style work has become a global phenomenon, the fact that a simple banana taped to the wall stole the show over hundreds of thousands of works of art by the world's most famed artists speaks to the increasing power of conceptual art.
See also: The Story Behind Cattelan's Banana
2. Bigger and Better: Introducing Meridians
This year, Art Basel held the first edition of Meridians, another portion of the fair that focused on large-scale paintings, sculptures and installations. Set in the ballroom above the main conference, expansive works by Sam Francis, Frank Bowling and Ana Mendieta, as well as videos and performance art were on display. The new section dealt with issues such as race, gender and geography, all on a large scale, creating dialogues about art and its spatiality. The Garden by Portia Munson (above), an over-the-top 15 x 15 room exploding with colour in the form of flowers, textiles, furniture, kitschy objects and more was one of the most popular and photographed installations and sold for $225,000 (£168,000).
3. Fashion Meets Art
Fashion has long been touted as wearable art, so combining the two during Art Basel was a no brainer. The most celebrity-attended event in Miami this year was Dior's Men 2020 runway show, the first time Dior has shown a menswear show in the US. In a space across from the new Rubell Museum, Dior Homme showed its colourful pre-fall menswear line by designer Kim Jones.
See also: A Flash of Brilliance: Dior
Another major menswear designer, Thom Browne, also made his first sculpture debut at the Moore Building in the Miami Design District with Palm Tree, a 21-foot tall palm tree made out of layers of gingham and pastel-coloured fabric, which Browne told Barnebys reflects the American Dream, of which vacation, and resort wear, is a large part.
4. Spotlight on Female Artists
Female artists topped the lists of most expensive sales at Art Basel this year, as compiled by Artnet and Artsy, which shows that female artists are finally getting the popularity, and prices, they deserve. One of the most expensive sales at the fair was Quartet, a 1961 painting by abstract artist Carmen Herrera, which sold for US$2.5 million (£1.87 mil) at Lisson Gallery.
Helen Frankenthaler, whose works peppered many booths at the fair, was also one of the most expensive sales with her 1981 panting White Joy, which had an asking price of $1.65 million (£1.23 mil) at Mnuchin Gallery. Mnuchin also sold Alma Thomas' Azaleas for US$1.25 million (£930,000), after Thomas set a record at Christie's this fall. David Zwirner sold a Bridget Riley work for $1.5 million (£1.12 mil), and Pace sold an untitled Agnes Martin work for the same price.
See also: The 8 Top Selling Women in the YBA
In other news, Cindy Sherman debuted her first non-photographic works at Art Basel with her self portraits in tapestry form in an edition of 10 that were extremely well received.
See also: The 14 Most Expensive Female Artists
5. A New Home for the Rubell Museum
Art collectors and entrepreneurs Don and Mera Rubell transplanted from New York City to Miami in the early 1990s and are responsible for the genesis of Miami as an art-minded destination. In fact, Mera was responsible for bringing Art Basel to the city in 2002.
Now the couple has moved the Rubell Museum to a new location in Allapattah, outside of Wynwood, where the stark, light-filled museum is home to their extensive contemporary art collection. Highlights include two Yayoi Kusama Infinity Rooms, a Keith Haring-decorated State of Liberty and early drawings (the Rubells were some of his first patrons), works by Japanese artists Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami, and enormous spray-painted canvases by Sterling Ruby.
See also: Who is Yoshitomo Nara?
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is also hosting the most comprehensive museum survey to date of Ruby, including over 100 works spanning more than two decades of his career. The exhibit will run through 2 February 2020.
6. Contemporary Chinese Art on Display
Contemporary Chinese art was also a big focus in Miami this year. The Faena Festival kicked off its second edition of art, installations, dinners, films and more and on Faena Beach, one of the most Instagrammed sculptures of the whole week was by Chinese artist Zhang Huan, who constructed his installation Miami Buddha featuring two Buddhas sitting face to face, one crafted from an aluminium mould, the other composed from incense ash collected from temples across China. Another extraordinary exhibit of contemporary Chinese art was at Eli Klein Gallery's Miami pop-up at the newly opened Zaha Hadid-designed residences at One Thousand Museum in Downtown Miami. In the soaring penthouse space overlooking the panorama of Miami, painting, photography, sculpture and video works by significant contemporary artists such as Cui Xiuwen, Huang Rui, Liu Bolin, Chow Chun Fai, and Shi Jinsong were on show. The oceanfront Scope Art Fair also highlighted contemporary Chinese art with an exhibit titled Focus: Art China.
