A Guide to the 2012 Miami Art Fairs

Does Moore's Law apply to the frenzy surrounding Art Basel Miami Beach? It would seem so, because every December the spree of art fairs, exhibitions, private-collection tours, parties, and assorted art bacchanalia taking place in the temperate city seems to increase exponentially, and this year certainly isn't any different. Adding to the core group of art bazaars that make it America's glitziest art destination are a slew of new fairs: Untitled Art Fair, Miami Project, Miami Photo Fair, Miami River Art Fair, Select Art Fair, and JustMadMia. And is that all? Not by a long shot.

For one thing, there are the museums and private collections that compete to lure visitors away from the main fairs with attention-grabbing shows. Then, as usual, there are the buzzy new restaurants where collectors angle for tables, which this year includes branches of New York City favorites the Dutch (on the high end) and Shake Shack (pure pleasure).

The artist Richard Prince must have had this excess in mind when he chose ABMB week as the time to debut his latest infernally satirical art prank: Lemon Fizz, a can of bubbly soda that he created with the AriZona beverage company. Decorated with images of Prince's most famous artworks and a glamor shot of the artist himself, the can is the epitome of effervescent, vulgar art fun. Shake it up a bit and you'll have a nice analogy for Miami in December. In the meantime, read our guide to the fairs taking over the city below.

At right, see works from Artspace's own Art Basel Miami Beach collection.

— ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH —

The big daddy of the week's fairs, the Swiss satellite returns to the Miami Convention Center this year with 257 international galleries representing 31 different countries, from Buenos Aires to Beijing. In addition to the scrum of blue-chip galleries filling the aisles, there will also be younger galleries bringing a whiff of fresh art to the Art Nova section—showing new work by two to three artists—and the Art Positions section, which provides adventurous dealers with a place to display a focused show by a single artist. Then, to season the mix with a dash of intellectualism, the Art Conversations series will kick off with a talk between artist Richard Tuttle and Tate Modern director Chris Dercon, to be followed by such attractions as a discussion between Met director Thomas Campbell and LACMA director Michael Govan about the "The Encyclopedic Museum."

December 6-9
Miami Beach Convention Center (entrances at Hall B and D)
1901 Convention Center Drive

— NADA —

The New Art Dealers Alliance's flagship event has a reputation for selling out its booths of hot indie galleries in the fair's opening hours, and there's no reason to think this impassioned frenzy will be any different when it returns for its ninth edition this year. Of the 60 galleries heading to the Deauville Beach Resort this month, a full half of them are new to the fair or returning after a hiatus, which means there will be plenty of fresh faces in the booths. Don't miss the raucous opening day—when committed collectors snap up work by the hottest rising stars almost immediately—and be sure to check out the NADA Project section, with displays showcasing a single artist.

December 6-9
The Deauville Beach Resort
6701 Collins Ave

— UNTITLED (NEW) —

Debuting in a Frieze-like tent on the beach a few minutes walk from the convention center, this new fair—not to be confused with the Untitled gallery, which is showing at ABMB, or Danny Meyer's Untitled restaurant—is joining the fray with 50 galleries and nonprofits. As a so-called "curated" fair, Untitled will present work by artists chosen by the exhibitors in collaboration with young curator Omar Lopez-Chahoud, who is best known for staging the sweeping "Lush Life" exhibition across Lower East Side galleries two years ago.

December 5-9
On the beach
Ocean Drive and 12th Street

— PULSE —

Known as one of the more solidly consistent satellite fairs, Pulse returns to the Ice Palace (formerly NADA's home) with 81 international exhibitors showing work mostly by emerging or out-of-the-mainstream artists, refreshingly enough. This year's booths will feature such diverse work as photos by The Sartorialist (aka Scott Schuman), focused shows of artists like Shantell Martin and French street-art legend Invader in the Pulse Projects section, and more.

December 6-9
The Ice Palace
1400 North Miami Avenue

— SCOPE —

Taking place in a 100,000-square-foot pavilion, Scope will be jam-packed with roughly 100 exhibitors from around the world, including at least 15 emerging galleries that are featured in the fair's Breeder section. The event will also feature specially commissioned work by artists including Jaume Plensa (known for his large and eerily smooth sculptures of heads) and Kevin Cooley, plus a special "You Oughta Know" section curated by VH1 that will introduce new talents bridging the art and music worlds.

December 4-9
110 NE 36th Street and Midtown Boulevard (in the Wynwood Arts District)

— DESIGN MIAMI —

As the week's premier celebration of the applied arts, Design Miami will draw fanatical collectors and connoisseurs to see its array of 36 of the world's leading design galleries, seven of which will be offering focused displays celebrating a single design vision. Other highlights of this year's fair include an installation by Belgian designer Maarten de Ceulaer commissioned by Fendi to riff on the fashion brand's visual identity and a new sci-fi-looking playground designed by legendary artist-turned-architect Vito Acconci, the winner of the fair's 2012 Designer of the Year Award. (There will also be an exhibition of work by his firm, Acconci Studio.)

December 5-9
Meridian Avenue & 19th Street (just outside the convention center)

— ART MIAMI —

The oldest art fair in town, Art Miami will boast 125 international galleries for its 23rd edition, with work on offer by both emerging artists and some of the biggest names in contemporary art. This year the fair will be joined by a new section, Context, that will occupy an adjacent tent and feature curated booths by 65 galleries that were chosen by a selection committee made up of nine dealers, including New York's Michael Lyons Wier and Mexico City's Nina Menocal.

December 5-9
The Art Miami Pavilion
2101 NE 1st Avenue (in the Wynwood Arts District)

— RED DOT MIAMI —

With over 80 exhibitors, this satellite fair—optimistically named after the red dots dealers put next to a work after it's sold—allows modest galleries a chance to put their works under the noses of the collectors swarming Miami this week, reliably rewarding the curious with exciting finds.

December 5-9
3011 NE 1st Avenue at NE 31st Street (in the Wynwood Arts District)

— SEVEN —

The third edition of the upstart collective fair Seven will heroically proceed this year despite the fact that several of its highly regarded member galleries—which are composed of Pierogi Gallery, Postmasters, P.P.O.W., BravinLee, Hales Gallery, Winkleman Gallery, and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts—were badly hit by Hurricane Sandy. The curated micro-fair will have a new home this year, as it is taking over a 25,000-square-foot warehouse in the Wynwood Arts District.

December 4-9
2200 Northwest 2nd Ave at NW 22nd Street (in the Wynwood Arts District)

— MIAMI PROJECT (NEW) —

Another newcomer to the week's onslaught, Miami Project—the latest of the artMRKT fairs—will showcase 65 scrappy smaller galleries, including New York's Allegra LaViola, Larissa Goldston, and DCKT Contemporary and Los Angeles's ACME and Kopeikin Gallery.

December 5-9
N.E. 1st Avenue and 29th Street (in the Wynwood Arts District, across from Art Miami)

— FOCUS MIAMI PHOTO FAIR (NEW) —

Devoted to galleries offering new and historic photography, the Focus Miami Photo Fair joins the fray in the Wynwood Arts District, near Scope and Art Miami.

December 3-8
NE 1st Ave and NE 34th St.

— MIAMI RIVER ART FAIR (NEW) —

Organized by Miami art dealer Nina Torres, who specializes in Latin American art at Nina Torres Fine Art, this new event is billing itself as the city's "only waterfront art fair" and will present 42 galleries, the large majority of them from Latin America. The downtown fair will also offer an interesting venue that will allow artists who don't have gallery representation to display their art and network with other artists and art professionals.

December 5-8
Miami Convention Center
400 SE 2nd Ave

— ART ASIA —

For its fifth edition, Art Asia will present 25 galleries from the Middle East, Near East, and Southeast Asia to lure the growing number of art buyers flying in from the region or just interested in its art. The fair's Art Asia Presents section will also boast "Salaam Bombay: Beauty and Chaos Within the Urban Environment," a special exhibition curated by Jasmine Wahl that will spotlight art from the South Asian subcontinent.

December 5-9
Art Asia Pavilion
Lot E, 36th Street, N Miami Avenue

— SELECT ART FAIR (NEW) —

Further out on the fringe of the art world is the new Select Fair, presenting booths by 16 lesser-known galleries (including New York's Anonymous Gallery and Rutgers University's Brodsky Center) and displays by a number of artists and art collectives. There's room for everyone in Miami!

December 5-9
The Catalina Hotel & Beach Club
1720-1756 Collins Avenue

— JUST MAD MIA —

A new fair devoted to emerging European and Latin American galleries, Just Mad Mia—organized by a Madrid-based art fair company behind Madrid Foto—debuts with 26 galleries, many of which hail from España

December 6-9
Soho Studios
The Wynwood Convention Center
2136 NW 1st Avenue

— FOUNTAIN —

With more than 35 decidedly indie galleries, the quirky Fountain art fair comes back for its 7th Marcel Duchamp-indebted edition (that's his Fountain in the event's logo) in a warehouse space that will be transformed into a "dynamic environment that is far from traditional boundaries and old fashion art fair layouts, where visitors are not mere observers, but become part of the community and participate."

December 6-9
2505 N Miami Avenue (in the Wyntood Arts District)