On the Eve of Art Basel Miami Beach, a Case of the Jitters
By Brett Sokol
Fourteen galleries pulled out of the fair this year, while others chose to stay and embrace the art fray. “It’s a good opportunity to be bold,” says one dealer.
A foreboding air greets the 23rd edition of the Art Basel Miami Beach fair opening this week, capping a year of sluggish sales that were financially devastating for many galleries. As collectors, curators and dealers swoop into South Florida for Wednesday’s V.I.P. preview, some analysts have pointed to the $2.2 billion results at the marquee November art auctions in New York as evidence that the market has found its footing. But that is little comfort to the spate of pre-eminent galleries across the country that have already closed, including many thought to be blue chip and resilient to even a steep downturn.
The Basel fair itself has seen an unprecedented 14 of its originally announced 285 galleries withdraw from participating. Some shuttered their doors permanently, while others decided the often six-figure outlay to exhibit was now too risky a gamble. Another 12 galleries were subsequently tapped to fill those vacated slots.
One of the originally accepted dealers who pulled out, New York’s Miguel Abreu, told ArtNews, which reported eight gallery withdrawals in October, that after exhibiting at both Frieze and Art Basel Paris earlier that month, “Three fairs in the fall would be too much,” and “frankly, last year in Miami for us was less than stellar.”
Addressing that sentiment, which is one quietly echoed by employees at several other withdrawing galleries, Bridget Finn, the director of Art Basel Miami Beach, acknowledged that such reassessments were “exactly what we expect in a cycle like this.” She said the slump was already in the rearview mirror, pointing to “tremendous momentum” at Art Basel Paris and November’s auction results as proof of “renewed confidence at the top end of the market.” She added that this uplift was “very much carrying into Miami Beach.”
Nina Johnson’s thinking is headed in the other direction. Her eponymously named Miami gallery opened in 2007, but this year marks her debut as an exhibitor at Art Basel. Even with a first-timers discount, she said her total expenses were roughly triple of what she was previously spending to show at NADA, where standard booths are about $14,000.
“I have always believed that when a lot of people are feeling timid, it’s a good opportunity to be bold,” Johnson said. Her Basel booth features relatively untested artists alongside well-established figures, including the acclaimed Miami filmmaker Dara Friedman, who is now taking a turn into beguiling sculpture.
Johnson’s gallery itself hosts “Acid Bath House,” a group show curated by the critic Jarrett Earnest. “It is rooted in what it means to be part of and making work inside a queer community,” Johnson explained. “It’s a show that would be beautiful in New York, but it takes on a new resonance when you open it in Florida, where books are being banned and we’re not allowed to say the word ‘gay’ in public schools,” she added, nodding to recently enacted state laws restricting classroom discussions.
Johnson’s own take on pre-Basel market jitters? “I don’t necessarily think of it as a dip, I think of it as a re-evaluation,” she said, leaving gallerists asking themselves: What matters to you as a dealer? Why have you chosen to show this particular work? “It can’t be purely economic, there’s more efficient and less stressful ways to make a buck,” she added with a laugh.
For Johnson, the answer is always about “helping buoy artists and their work. We think of fairs as being separate from that conversation and they’re not. Or they certainly shouldn’t be.”
