A deer made entirely of glass marbles models idly as art collectors, critics and the common public stroll by. Neon signs displaying heartfelt messages light up the walls, clay sculptures of archangels appear to spear the devil, and miniature humanoid cigarette butts protest daily struggles.
This may seem like some kind of alien world, but it isn’t. It is Art Basel, coming back to Miami December 5-10 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Art Basel is the world’s largest art fair and has become a model to smaller versions, extending from its humble origins in Switzerland to Miami Beach and Hong Kong.
Its founders Ernst Beyeler, Trudi Bruckner, and Balz Hilt, all art collectors, had an idea of starting something awe-inspiring in their city of Basel, Switzerland. Working hand in hand with 90 galleries and 30 publishers from 10 different countries, the three officially organized the event in 1970. If the sheer number of people involved didn’t mark success for the art fair, the 16,300 attendants to the inaugural show alone did.
Since then the show has prospered. In 2013, it opened its doors to a new showing in Hong Kong. The display in Miami Beach has been in place since 2002.
Because of its present cultural diversity, Miami Beach is the perfect place to host an event that attracts 50,000 international visitors yearly. At each year’s showing, displayed artwork can range from simple but magnificent photographs to huge outdoor sculptures. Some artists have even been bold enough to use Miami’s beaches to show their skills, creating marvelous sculptures and displays in the sand.
Art Basel has also been known to bring in grade-A celebrities like Will Ferrell and Demi Moore, who both attended last year’s event. Some, like Sean Comb, better known as P. Diddy, bought some of the collections. In his case, it was an Ivan Navarro sculpture from Paul Kasmin’s booth. The 15,000 dollar sculpture was just one of the many highly priced but coveted pieces available for purchase.
For the most part, Art Basel is a place where artists are able to display the work that reflects them and their ideas. Perhaps it can be something as simple as a large canvas with the words “I Was Just Thinking.” Maybe it’s a moving photograph of Middle Eastern women in their daily routine. One man, an engineer, even entered wavy sketched out graphs that represented the wavelengths of human emotion.
“It’s the mecca of art, at least here. Because there are so many different kinds of art,” said Nicole Rivera, a senior who attends the event every year. “There aren’t just paintings and there aren’t just sculptures. It’s literally the whole rainbow spectrum of art all just in one place.”
Whatever the case, Art Basel has truly come to represent a place where people can come together to admire artists at their best. Whether the ideas or displays shown are agreed upon or not, it can’t be argued that Art Basel is a place where artists, whether well- known or not, can go to display who they are and what they want others to feel.
