Art Basel, Art Miami, and so much more

November 28, 6:47 PMMiami Travel ExaminerGeorge Leposky

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Freedom Tower (©)
Miami Dade College’s
Wolfson Campus

Each year during the first week of December, as Old Man Winter fastens his icy grip on the frozen north, art aficionados from all over the world flock to South Florida’s balmy breezes and palm-lined boulevards.

In addition to the weather, they come for:

• Art Basel Miami Beach, the sister event of Switzerland’s Art Basel.

• Art Miami, the city’s oldest and best-known contemporary art fair.

• Design Miami, a showcase for international design.

• More than a dozen other organized shows.

• Exhibitions at individual galleries and museums.

• Other special art-related events.

• A plethora of parties.

During this week, many out-of-town galleries open temporarily in vacant storefronts, warehouses, and lofts – primarily in the Art Deco District on Miami Beach, and in the Miami Design District, Midtown Miami, and Wynwood. Some advertise and promote; others just appear. Roam and wander in these areas to make wondrous discoveries.

Whether you live in the Miami area or are visiting during this weeklong extravaganza, the following list will help you. The list is not complete, but even if it were, you wouldn’t be able to see and do everything. Visit the individual Web sites in the list for hours, directions, admission costs, etc. As you choose your venues, make allowances for crowds, and for traffic and parking challenges.

Art Basel Miami Beach

Masks (©) Blank Canvas Concepts
 

Art Basel Miami Beach happens December 4–7 in the Miami Beach Convention Center and at other locations around the Miami Beach Art Deco District. More than 250 galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa will exhibit 20th and 21st century works by over 2,000 artists. Crossover events feature music, film, architecture, and design.

ArtKids at Art Basel Miami Beach

While parents view the Art Basel show, staff from the Miami Children’s Museum  will supervise children aged 4 through 12 on the second floor of the Miami Beach Convention Center. Games, crafts, and a variety of art exploration stations will be available for children to create their own original works of art.

Art Miami

Art Miami  takes place December 3-7 in the Midtown Miami Arts District , part of a new planned community adjacent to the Miami Design District and Wynwood Arts District.

This is the 19th year that Art Miami will operate as an adjunct to Art Basel Miami Beach. More than 115 national and international contemporary art galleries are participating in Art Miami to display works by European, Asian, American, and Latin American galleries and institutions inside a 100,000-square-foot pavilion.

For the first time this year, Art Miami will have a 2,500-square-foot Art Video-New Media Lounge. Art Miami also includes outdoor sculptures.

Design Miami
 

Design Miami takes place December 3-6. Its location, appropriately, is the Miami Design District – an 18-block area of major furniture design showrooms, fashion retail shops, galleries, restaurants, cafes, artist and architect studios, and residential lofts in buildings that date from the 1920s and 1930s.

NOBE 67 ART

NOBE 67 ART opens to the public December 3-9. It’s a new art event featuring modern and contemporary art in the Deauville Beach Resort, a historic architectural landmark on the oceanfront in the North Beach section of Miami Beach. The hotel is opening its 20,000-square-foot Grand Napoleon Hall to artists, curators, and galleries who have modern and contemporary art, new media, video art, and site-specific installations to display.

Rubell Family Collection

The Rubell Family Collection , a museum in a converted 45,000-square-foot former Drug Enforcement Agency confiscated-goods warehouse in Wynwood, will open 30 Americans, an exhibition of works by 31 emerging African-American artists , on December 3, with extended hours through December 9. The exhibit will remain on display through May 30, 2009.

Frost Art Museum

The new Frost Art Museum at Florida International University will be open daily from November 29 through December 7.  Admission is free.   See three earlier stories.  Fabulous and free: FIU opens new Frost Art Museum ,
Frost Art Museum opens with modern art from the Smithsonian , FIU’s Frost Art Museum: A high-tech architectural jewel .

Thomas Mickalene's Baby
I AM Ready Now (©)
Rubell Family Collection

From 9:30 AM to noon on December 7, modernist sculptor Joel Shapiro will speak at Breakfast in the Park, an Art Basel Miami Beach event held in front of the Frost.  The museum will be open, and tours of FIU’s extensive collection of outdoor sculpture will be available.  To RSVP, call 305-348-0401.

Perry Rubenstein Gallery

The New York-based Perry Rubenstein Gallery  will display an exhibition entitled The Station  December 3-7 in a tri-level12,000-square-foot “transitional environment” – the unfinished interior of a newly constructed building at 3250 NE 1st Avenue in Midtown Miami. The Station includes a new large-scale sculpture by Diana Al-Hadid, and other museum-quality works.

Diaspora Vibe Gallery

Diaspora Vibe Gallery  at 3938 North Miami Ave. in the Miami Design District, is a cultural arts incubator that offers support and exhibition opportunities to emerging artists from Latin America and the Caribbean Diaspora. Its Caribbean Crossroads Fest opens December 1 and runs through December 7.

Charles Jones African Art

Charles Jones African Art  from Wilmington, North Carolina, will show traditional African art from Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria in Miami December 2-6 at Blank Canvas Concepts , 166 NW 29th St., Wynwood.

Miami Dade College

Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami is displaying The Divine Comedy, a series of 101 prints by Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali, in the Freedom Tower at 300 NE Second Ave. from December 3 through January 31, 2009. Call 305-237-7186 for exhibition hours. The Freedom Tower is itself historic; built for  The Miami News in 1925, it served from 1962 to 1974 as the Cuban Assistance Center, helping to resettle the thousands of refugees who arrived in Miami after fleeing Fidel Castro’s regime.

O.H.W.O.W.

O.H.W.O.W.  presents It Ain’t Fair, an exhibition with over 30 artists, a curated outdoor film series, and an adjoining nightclub December 2-7. Located at 3100 NW 7th Ave., O.H.W.O.W. is a pioneer in West of Wynwood, an emerging arts district across Interstate Highway 95 from the Wynwood Arts District.