Art Basel Miami

The week appears to have been a good one for Art Basel Miami.  The fair, considered the largest in the U.S. has on display $2.5 billion worth of art, mostly contemporary.   Bloomberg reports that celebrities are back this year and the buying has been strong, but mostly at and below the $100,000.00.  Dealer confidence seems to be decent given the sales and interest in the displays.

On the AW Blog homepage there is a video on Art Basel Miami by the Wall Street Journal, click HERE to view.

Bloomberg reports the following on Art Basel Miami

Sales were brisk at the Miami Beach Convention Center, where the largest U.S. art fair runs through Dec. 4. Collectors who got first dibs Wednesday on as much as $2.5 billion worth of art included Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s partner Dasha Zhukova.

Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones checked out an $8 million painting by Pablo Picasso and a $12 million painting by Cy Twombly at the Acquavella Galleries. A separate group that included Sean John Combs, sporting an arm sling, supermodel Naomi Campbell and Vladislav Doronin, chairman of Moscow-based real-estate developer Capital Group, made several stops, including one at Gagosian gallery. Blue-chip art could be found all over the fair: Andy Warhol’s self-portraits and flowers, Anish Kapoor’s satellite dish-like sculptures and one giant, plush, long-nailed creature by Takashi Murakami.

‘In The Mood’

“People are in the mood to buy,” said art dealer Christophe van de Weghe, who sold a 2004 abstract painting by Gerhard Richter for $2.8 million and a small 1961 Frank Stella for $1 million.

Broad said he bought a large-scale drawing by Kara Walker priced at $175,000 at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. gallery. Mexico’s La Coleccion Jumex acquired a sculpture by Carol Bove, priced at $150,000 at David Zwirner gallery.

“Contemporary art is becoming accepted as a better store of value,” said California-based collector Dean Valentine. “What else would you put money into? Dollars? Euros? Most asset classes have been disappointing.”

Click HERE to read the full Bloomberg report on Art Basel Miami.