Basel is back. And Miami’s aesthetically-inclined cannot be happier. Dealers, collectors, artists, and tourists will be flocking this month to the megafair by the beach. After its 2020 derailment due to COVID-19, Art Basel Miami Beach is all better and the city stands stoked for the 2021 edition of the event that helped solidify Miami’s place on the global cultural map. Dealers representing top-notch galleries such as Blum & Poe from LA, Marianne Boesky from Manhattan, and Massimo De Carlo with outposts in Europe and Asia will be among the 254 art sellers who flock here, set up shop, and show work at the convention center. Parties stretching from North Miami to Coconut Grove promise to be more fabulous than ever: In true Miami style, expect everything from luxe yachts to hotel ballrooms to cool underground boîtes and private homes.
Big things are anticipated by Jessica Goldman Srebnick, daughter of the late Tony Goldman and OG royalty on Miami’s art scene. Tony was a real estate developer and art-loving visionary who created the Wynwood Walls and brought international street art to Miami. Srebnick carries on the tradition, maintaining the Walls—which, timed for this year’s Basel, will debut fresh work by 13 artists who include Bordalo II, Mantra, and Greg Mike; augmented by a party for 400 on site, it makes for a moment of creation that has been likened to “the Olympics of street art”—and partnering on a street-focused collective called Goldman Global Arts as well as its associated GGA Gallery.
Like everyone, Srebnick missed having Basel in Miami last year. “From the very beginning, it has put a spotlight on Miami and elevated its position as an arts and culture destination,” says the tastemaker. But in hindsight she does see an upside to it all: “I looked at 2020 as the year of reflection. I’m feeling like 2021 is the year of decision. We’re lucky to be the city where Art Basel stands as the first big global event to happen post COVID.” In terms of the art itself, she adds, “With everyone in lockdown, artists have spent more time than ever in their studios, producing work. I am curious to see the impact of COVID on the art world.” Art Basel launched at a time when the idea of a COVID virus was the stuff of science fiction. The inaugural fair took place in 1970, in Basel, Switzerland, the brainchild of local gallerists Ernst Beyeler, Trudy Beyeler, and Balz Hilt. Art displayed by 90 galleries from 10 countries drew 16,000 visitors. The endeavor grew from there and went international in 2002 with the initiation of Art Basel Miami Beach and a Hong Kong iteration in 2008. As for Miami’s place on the art-fair circuit, Srebnick says, “We host what feels like a reunion of the art world in a glorious place where the sun shines in December.”
Hospitality entrepreneur David Grutman, an avid collector who favors modern works by Alec Monopoly and JR and the identical twin street-artists painting under the name OSGEMEOS, looks forward to stretching his legs at the upcoming Basel and taking in what is for sale. “I love just walking through the convention center and seeing new artists,” says Grutman, whose greatest Basel memory goes back to 2014. “That was the year when the Brooklyn Museum made Kehinde Wiley [who famously painted a portrait of then-president Barak Obama] big news. He launched a series at my house. He brought six or eight pieces and showcased them there. Swizz Beatz and a bunch of musicians came by. It was a great night.”
What is Grutman looking forward to in 2021? “I love how this year, for the first time ever at Art Basel Miami Beach, there is the NFT element. People will be showing them and that will bring a whole different crowd.”
Peter Tunney, an artist and dealer with his Peter Tunney Experience (the place in which to buy Tunney’s giant Polaroid prints, whimsical paintings, and pieces that feature large-sized words on found objects) and co-founding status with Goldman Global, expects this year’s Basel blowup to compensate for last year’s lull. “If I had to bet a little bit, I would wager that Art Basel 2021 is going to rock Miami,” he says, adding that the loss of Basel last year created an opportunity for collectors to reset. “There is a huge pent-up demand. You have Bitcoin at $63,000, Tesla valued at a trillion, and I just saw a Banksy sell for $25 million. There is so much money in the game and, now, so many people with money who are not seriously in the game—yet. You come down for Basel and it’s like wonderland. There will be an influx of new people who are looking to buy art.”
In terms of how Basel has changed the view of Miami among art-world cognoscenti, Tunney stood witness to the before –and after. “I did a big Peter Beard show here in 2000. People asked why I would do Miami; they said it was all coke and strippers,” he recalls, adding that Basel helped turn that perception on its head. “Basel, if anything, was the validator. And what a great city to have put Art Basel in. You walk through the W during Basel and it’s as if you’re at the Oscars.”
