Every year, during Miami Art Week, the city best known for its nightlife, beach bodies and delicious Cuban food transforms itself into a mecca for art collectors and enthusiasts. Of the 17 art fairs that take place during Art Week, the most famous certainly is Art Basel Miami Beach, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. Held at the Miami Beach Convention Center from December 1 to 4, Art Basel Miami brings together more than 260 galleries from the U.S., Latin American, Asia and Africa.
A smaller-and perhaps more accessible-fair is Red Dot Miami, which takes place under the direction of George Billis, owner and founder of the George Billis Gallery in New York and Los Angeles. The fair assembles about 40 galleries, showing works by emerging and established artists alike. Mr. Billis says of the event, which aims to present works that steer clear of current market trends: “We have a price point that people can buy and we have work that people can relate to.”
Miami Art Week is an incredible experience for the artists who show their work at one of the fairs. One such artist is Renea Menzies, from Houston, Texas, who showed her colourful, tridimensional flowers with Jason Samuel Galleries at Red Dot. Not only was Renea looking forward to mingling with Red Dot attendees, she was also planning on seeing the other shows.
Some galleries present at Red Dot came from France, Italy, Russia, Japan and South Korea. Because of that, Red Dot–and Miami Art Week in general–is a wonderful setting to take the pulse of world art scene.
For those wanting to make travel arrangements, Art Basel Miami Beach 2012 will take place from December 6-9, 2012.