Art Basel Miami Beach Recap with NAP Publisher, Steven Zevitas

For art lovers, art fairs are a blessing and a curse. There is a lot to look at, but, unfortunately, it is almost impossible to really look at anything. Distractions are everywhere. Art Basel Miami is perhaps the most difficult environment to focus on art that I have ever encountered. Navigating the crowds that aimlessly meander from one side of a congested aisle to another is challenging enough. Pair that with the siren call of hundreds of large scale works in every media simultaneously screaming for your attention and you will find art fair malaise setting in rapidly.

The 2016 iteration of Miami Basel was as overwhelming as ever, even if, as the press has widely noted, there were fewer people in attendance. It was hard to ignore some of the “major” works there – Lee Krasner’s 6 million dollar painting at Paul Kasmin, Sam Durant’s call to arms at Blum & Poe, and Yayoi Kusama’s infinity room at Victoria Miro, to name a few – but I tried my best not to get distracted. I found that the greatest visual pleasures came in small packages this year. The fair’s Survey Sector, which is dedicated to one-person exhibitions, was the highlight of the fair for me with Howardena Pindell, Margaret Kilgallen, Betye Saar, Giogio Morandi and Romare Bearden all looking stellar. Many other great works could be found in the Miami Convention Center if you gave it time.

Here are some favorites from Miami Basel 2016. - Steven Zevitas, Editor/Publisher


Sam Durant. Photo by Andrew Katz


Lee Krasner


Yayoi Kusama


Marina Adams


Armin Boehm


Louise Bourgeois


Roger Brown


Lygia Clark


Mike Cloud


Jessica Dickinson


Richard Diebenkorn


Nicole Eisenman


Roe Etheridge


Keltie Ferris


Spencer Finch


Gautam Ghosh


Arshile Gorky


Philip Guston


Siobhan Hapaska


Ellsworth Kelly


Margaret Kilgallen


Judy Ledgerwood


Marco Maggi


Donald Moffett


Giorgio Morandi


Sam Moyer

 

 


Trevor Paglen


Roxy Paine


Howardena Pindell


Pope L.


Ken Price


Suellen Rocca


Matthew Ronay


Betye Saar


Serban Savu


James Siena


Do Ho Suh


Richard Tuttle

 


DeWain Valentine


Stanley Whitney


Hannah Wilke


B. Wurtz


Amy Yao


Brenna Youngblood

 

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