Art Basel draws crowds to Miami Beach

Contemporary artworks from A-list players to up-and-coming artists converged in South Florida last weekend for the 18th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach.

Nearly 270 of the world's leading modern and contemporary art galleries displayed artworks by more than 4,000 artists in every discipline-from paintings, sculptures, installations and photography to film, video and digital art.

The art fair ran from Dec 5 to 8 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Whether featuring renowned masterpieces or not-yet-dry paintings by local artists, the fair is estimated to have attracted around 80,000 visitors, presenting art up close under one roof.

Art Basel also kicked off a week of satellite art shows, museum exhibitions and gallery events in the Miami Beach area to complement the world-renowned fair.

Thanks in part to the influence of Art Basel, the art scene in Greater Miami has blossomed in recent years.

Over the last two decades, billionaire Norman Braman, a former owner of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles franchise, has become a towering figure in the Miami art scene.

As a major art collector, much of Braman's art purchases were made at the original Art Basel fair in Switzerland, the world's leading contemporary art expo.

Around 1995, Braman discussed how to extend the fair with Art Basel's director, Lorenzo Rudolf.

"Why not the United States, why not Miami?" the Miami resident recalled in an interview with Artsy, an online art marketplace.

Around 1999, Braman called his friend Robert Goodman, who was president of Miami Beach-based Garber & Goodman Advertising and Marketing, to ask if he had heard about Art Basel.

"I said, 'No'," Goodman tells China Daily.

"He asked me if I would like to come to his office the next day to meet the organizers of Art Basel. There they told me about bringing out their 'baby sister' to Miami Beach."

As a person familiar with local government and an expert in advertising and marketing, Goodman was retained as the Florida representative for Art Basel.

After a couple years' preparation, the art fair was scheduled to debut in December 2001. But the terror attacks on Sept 11 that year three months ahead of its opening affected the event.

"People weren't flying. You couldn't ensure that the artworks would be sent.

"So we postponed the event to December 2002, when we launched the first Art Basel in Miami Beach.

"From the very beginning, people didn't know how to pronounce Basel or spell it.

"In the first year, we only had two houses-a space of around 250,000 square feet-and this year, we moved to four houses, which is about 500,000 square feet.

"The first year, we probably had 12,000 to 15,000 visitors, where as now we have around 80,000," he says.

In the first few years it was primarily Art Basel, but now there are many satellite art fairs that have blossomed, such as Art Miami and the Scope art show, Goodman says.

"It has created a platform for many art fairs. It's not only bringing thousands of visitors but also attracting art dealers, artists and galleries from across the world," he adds, noting that has also brought an economic boost to the region.

Goodman says for himself the most important contribution of Art Basel is "to create that atmosphere for people of every country to live and socialize, share their understanding of arts".

Goodman recounts a story of how he strolled around Art Basel. It was during the week, and he saw about 10 or 12 girls in school uniforms walking around.

"They looked around 14 years old. I asked them where they were from and they replied, 'We saved up and came here from Jamaica to attend Art Basel'," he recalls. "It was so wonderful that the event brought people together."

The fair continues to gain a lot of media attention, with around 1,500 journalists registering every year, Goodman says.

"I've seen them come from Russia and many other countries around the world to cover our event. Yet we spend no money on advertising," he says.

Hearing that numerous Chinese artists and art lovers would participate in this year's fair, Goodman says he is pleased to see growing interest from China, which he hopes will continue.

"Certainly, more people, curators and artists coming from China will only enhance what we are doing at Art Basel," he says. "It's a platform for peace, so that people from around the world can get to know each other. It's an important facet to the event, since art is about life."