christie's art miami magazine article

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ARTS AND CULTURE

MIAMI’S REINVENTION

H O W M I A M I

W O R K E D

I T S M A G I C

BY N O R M A N MIL L ER

With three world-class art fairs, Florida’s biggest

city has secured its place on the cultural map –

now buyers are vying not just for the artworks,

but for an address to go with them

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ARTS AND CULTUREMIAMI’S REINVENTION

Main image: Shy VIII (2010) by Antony Gormley, courtesy of Art Basel. Above: Graffiti at Wynwood Walls, Miami, photos by Ian Cox 2011

“Miami’s two-decade transformation has seen

contemporary art weave into the city’s very fabric

– world-class graffiti and Pop Art landmarks

mingle throughout its streets.”


ARTS AND CULTURE MIAMI’S REINVENTION

Contemporary art is a tried-and-tested way

of transforming a home, but how about

a whole city? Step forward Miami – a one-

time beacon of glitzy beach-focused hedonism has

become one of the world’s premier contemporary

art destinations.

Things kick-started two decades ago with Art

Miami – a fledgling art fair that saw pioneering

dealers including Fredric Snitzer, Gary Nader, Dora

Valdes-Fauli, Jorge Sori, and Virginia Miller using art

spaces to bring new life to areas like Coral Gables.

Meanwhile, Design Miami weighed in on the

local scene in 2005, arguably becoming the world’s

leading showcase for museum-quality 20th- and

21st-century furniture and other decor objets under

the banner of “collectible design”.

The game-changer, though, was the 2002

arrival of Art Basel Miami Beach, a transatlantic

winter offshoot of the prestigious art fair held in

Switzerland each June. This cultural extravaganza

is the most important art show in the US, bringing

over 250 key global galleries and dealers, alongside

major collectors, to Miami each December. Its

presence, however, lasts far longer than the duration

of the fair. “Every gallery and institution plans their

best shows during Art Basel,” notes Terence Riley,

former director of the Miami Art Museum, “but

they generally stay up for months afterwards.

It’s a time to see international, museum-quality art.”

Such prestigious art fairs, as well as a

corresponding influx of cultured high-spenders,

have been the catalyst for Miami’s cultural

makeover. “Art Basel revived Miami,” says Rick

Moeser, Senior Vice President of Southeastern

USA for Christie’s International Real Estate. “It

encouraged new developments and the restoration

of historical properties.”

S T R E E T S A H E A D

Take Wynwood. In the past decade, empty

spaces and cheap rents in this former industrial

district have attracted around 70 galleries, from

alternative spots like the tiny Spinello with its

“street cool” focus on graffiti and graphic artists

to international names like Emmanuel Perrotin,

an offshoot of the renowned Paris gallery, housed

in a former refrigerator warehouse. Wynwood’s

Second Saturday evening gallery walk has become

a monthly Miami must-do, with hundreds of happy

aesthetes taking in the latest exhibitions while

refueling at the gourmet food carts clustered by

the outdoor street-art showcase, Wynwood Walls.

Wynwood is also home to two of the major private

collections that are unique selling points of the

Miami artscape – the Rubell Family Collection, with

its ever-expanding post-Warhol overview, and the

world-class collection of modern photography, video,

installation, and sculpture on show at The Margulies

Collection at the Warehouse. Just to the south,

meanwhile, philanthropist Ella Cisneros’s CIFO

gallery includes a globally renowned Latin American

collection, while a few blocks north, the de la Cruz

Collection is a jewel of the Design District.

Like Wynwood, the Design District is a barometer

of the power of contemporary art at work in Miami.

Over the past 10 years, the coolness quotient of these

Midtown blocks has risen steadily, transforming the

area from the epitome of urban decay to a spectacular

confluence of chic art and luxe design, where dozens

of galleries mingle with high-end showrooms for the

likes of Vitra, Louboutin, Hermès, and Dior.

Crucially, many of the collectors behind Miami’s

superb private galleries – Martin Margulies, Rosa

de la Cruz, Don and Mera Rubell – are also in the

property business, and therefore hyper-aware of

the synergies between a vibrant art community and

neighborhood desirability. “Contemporary art is the

new glamour” is how de la Cruz put it in The New

York Times in 2008, and as well as her eponymous

gallery, she has provided free space in vacant

offices and shops where young artists can make

new work, and small galleries – such as her low-

key but influential Moore Space – can show it.

Though Wynwood and the Design District hog

the present-day spotlight, other areas began the

trend. Miami-born developer Craig Robins and

Above, clockwise from top left: A culture lover at Art Basel Miami Beach; Richard Jackson’s The Blue Room at the Rubell Family Collection during last year’s Art Basel Miami Beach; Wynwood Walls Kitchen & Bar is filled with murals; William Tucker’s The Rim (1961) at The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse.

Opposite, from top: Lincoln Road is now an on-trend location – so much so that this garage, 1111 Lincoln Road, is used as an events venue; Frank Gehry’s New World Symphony Concert Hall, which opened last year; Miami’s high life can be enjoyed in the Venetian Penthouse, listed at $6 million.

“The Design District is a

barometer of the power

of contemporary art at

work in Miami – once the

epitome of urban decay,

it is now a spectacular

confluence of chic art

and luxurious design.”

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ARTS AND CULTURE

MIAMI’S REINVENTION

his company, Dacra, led the way with the late

1980s sprucing-up of South Beach’s Art Deco gems,

followed by similar image-bolstering around Lincoln

Road using a proven method – buy up rundown

buildings then invite in the creative set to change

the neighborhood vibe. And the small cutting-

edge galleries have been followed by major venues,

with the 2011 opening of Frank Gehry’s New World

Symphony building providing grand icing on the

Lincoln Road cake.

The appearance in 2006 of the $470 million

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

in downtown Miami, meanwhile, served as another

centerpiece for growth spurred by culture, kick-

starting redevelopment of a nearby 56-acre rail

yard and industrial area, which had previously

lain desolate for years.

T H E P R I C E O F P R I M E

Such arts-led regeneration hugely improves real

estate as well as the cultural estate. Condos around

the Design District now command up to $400

per square foot – almost double their 2007 level.

In nearby Wynwood and the neighboring East

Biscayne Boulevard corridor, prime new-builds are

at similar price levels, though buyers still keen to get

into the area can snap up bargains east of Biscayne

Boulevard, where older buildings are still available

for under $250 per square foot.

While Miami’s art hotspots have shown excellent

gains, they remain a bargain compared to established

prime locations such as Miami Beach. Here, top-price

houses are as much as $2,200 per square foot, while

the best condos command up to $3,200 per square

foot – though average prices in both categories for

the area are between $600-$700 per square foot.

Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell (EWM Realty

International), an exclusive affiliate of Christie’s

International Real Estate, currently has the six-bed

Apogee Penthouse on South Beach, with a rooftop

pool and panoramic views over the Atlantic Ocean,

Biscayne Bay, and the city, listed for a cool $25 million,

while the two-bed Venetian Penthouse, on Venetian

Causeway, Miami Beach, is listed at $6 million.

The citywide market has also been bolstered by

Miami’s new cultural sheen, showing healthy rises,

while the rest of the US largely flatlines – in the

12 months ending June 2012, the average price

per square foot of a Miami home rose 18 percent

(from $222 to $263), and for condos an impressive

15 percent (from $299 to $343).

Latin American influences have played a central

role in the city’s renaissance, and commentators

now dub Miami the art capital of Latin America on

US soil. A plethora of local galleries focus year-round

on artists from the region, while exhibitors at Art

Basel Miami Beach often set out their stalls with

top work from Latin America. Leading Paris-based

dealer Chantal Crousel went so far as saying Latin >

NEED TO KNOW

ART MIAMI

> What? In its 23rd season, Art

Miami is the longest-running

contemporary art show in

Miami, showcasing the best

in modern art from more than

150 international art galleries.

> Where? The Art Miami Pavilion

in the Wynwood Arts District.

> When? December 5-9.

www.art-miami.com

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH

> What? The most prestigious

art show in the Americas, Miami

Beach’s sun-soaked shoreline

will showcase the work of

more than 2,000 established

and emerging artists.

> Where? The Miami Beach

Convention Center will be

a focal point for exhibitions,

while you can also see free,

public exhibits on the beach

and in nearby parks.


www.miamibeach.artbasel.com

DESIGN MIAMI

> What? As well as commercial

exhibitions, expect a varied

cultural program of lectures,

performances, and satellite

exhibitions to satisfy collectors

and enthusiasts alike.

> Where? The main venue is

located opposite Art Basel, on

Meridian Avenue and 19th Street.


www.designmiami.com

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ARTS AND CULTURE MIAMI’S REINVENTION

American collectors were “the reason we come to

this fair.” Important collectors such as Argentina’s

Juan Vergez and Patricia Pearson-Vergez are frequent

attendees at the December fairs, along with buyers

from other regional booming economies such as Brazil.

Miami’s new-found prestige as a cultural

powerhouse is reflected in the prices commanded by

the art it sells. At 2011’s Art Miami VIP opening event

alone, sales included a $1.5 million sculpture by Lynn

Chadwick for London’s Osborne Samuel Gallery and

$1.2 million for a Keith Haring work for Munich-based

Galerie Terminus – while Day 2 saw Galerie Michael

Schultz sell a Gerhard Richter painting for $2.5

million. Such six-figure purchases augmented what

Art Miami director Nick Korniloff called “the most

exciting and vibrant year of sales in our Fair’s history.”

T H E A R T I S T I C D I S T R I C T

Again, property money has followed art money.

“It’s no coincidence that record numbers of

internationals have been purchasing real estate

at the same time that Miami has been rapidly

developing as a world-class cultural center,” says Ron

Shuffield, president of EWM Realty International.

“International buyers now represent almost 40

percent of every Miami home and condo sale.”

In 2009, 17 percent of international buyers in the

Miami area were from Venezuela alone.

Its two-decade transformation has seen

contemporary art spread throughout Miami,

weaving into the very fabric of the city. The streets

of Wynwood, for example, have become a globally

renowned hotspot for world-class graffiti work,

complementing the more widespread Pop Art

pieces of Brazilian artist Romero Britto, which have

become familiar landmarks on the city streets since

his arrival in 1988. Meanwhile, Argentina-born,

Miami-based architect and artist duo Roberto Behar

& Rosario Marquardt’s 42-foot-tall, 2001 installation

The Living Room on the corner of North Miami

Avenue and 40th Street has become an iconic

spot at the heart of the Design District.

Art hotels have become another unique part

of Miami’s cultural revolution. Sagamore and The

Betsy present regular exhibitions by rising stars,

while W South Beach hosts a string of events during

Art Basel alongside its own $40m art collection,

including works by Warhol, Damien Hirst, and Jean-

Michel Basquiat. Following the Miami trend, the

W has also successfully hitched a property wagon

to its visual-arts kudos, selling nearly $300m worth

of condo-hotel residences since 2009.

If you wanted a final sign of how much

contemporary art has become part of Miami’s

DNA, head along to the city’s newest major sports

arena. Marlins Park comes adorned with works

by Joan Miró, Roy Lichtenstein, and Larry River,

among others, while an eye-popping sculpture by

multimedia artist Red Grooms lights up the left field

with giant pink flamingos and bright leaping fish

every time a Marlins baseball star slugs a homer.

Miami isn’t resting on its contemporary-art laurels

though. A dramatic new Herzog & de Meuron-

designed pavilion is rising on Biscayne Bay to provide

a new expanded home for the Miami Art Museum, set

to open in fall 2013. Built on land provided by the City

of Miami, this new cultural beacon has been paid for

by a combination of the ordinary citizens of Miami-

Dade County and wealthy art patrons, including

an individual donation of $35m by leading Latin

American art collector Jorge M Pérez, which bagged

him the naming rights. The Pérez Art Museum

Miami (PAMM) will be an anchor of a landmark new

Museum Park on the shoreline, a glorious oceanside

29 acres that will include sculpture-dotted public

gardens – yet another marker in Miami’s reinvention

as America’s seaside art paradise.

Norman Miller writes on art and real estate for The

Times, Guardian, and National Geographic Traveler.

Above, from top: Swing (2006) by Winter & Hörbelt, in the lobby of Sagamore hotel; Behar & Marquardt’s outdoor installation, The Living Room (2001).

CHRISTIE’S EXPERT’S VIEW

Palm trees, beautiful beaches,

Art Deco, modernism, mojitos,

and an embracing and relaxed

social fabric. It is no surprise that

the Art Basel organizers chose

Miami as their only US venue.

Every December, Miamians

welcome visitors into their

homes offering countless

choices for home and private-

collection tours. The week

of the fair revolves around

a fluid schedule of events at

the Convention Center, private

collections, and cocktail parties.

Make room to visit the Design

District and its stylish shops and

restaurants, stopping at Locust

Projects – the not-for-profit

venue provides space for artists

to create without the limits

imposed by galleries. And don’t

miss the de la Cruz Collection,

always home central for the

best art lectures in town.

A few blocks south, feast on

urban art at Wynwood Walls

where you’ll be mesmerized by

the work of the great graffiti

artists, such as Ryan McGinness,

Shepard Fairey, AVAF, and Os

Gemeos. While in Wynwood,

I suggest that you visit two of

my favorite galleries – Alejandra

von Hartz and David Castillo

– as well as the Margulies and

the Rubell Family Collections.

Your week in Miami should

also include visits to the Bass

and the Wolfsonian Museums

(both on the beach). The latter

has a very special collection

of objects, which illustrate

the power of modern art and

design. Traveling on to North

Miami, MOCA is hosting the US

premiere of Bill Viola’s exhibition

of screen works and projections.

Vivian Pfeiffer, Regional Director

Miami, Christie’s

Hot picks for art fans

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christie's art miami magazine article

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