Art Basel ready to wow Miami Beach

Contemporary artworks from A-list players to up-and-coming artists will converge in South Florida this week for the 18th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach.

Nearly 270 of the world's leading modern and contemporary art galleries will be displaying artworks by more than 4,000 artists, including paintings, sculptures, installations, photography, film, video and digital art.

Art Basel Miami Beach will be open to the public from Thursday through Sunday at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Whether featuring a renowned masterpiece or a not-yet-dried painting by a local artist, the fair is about to attract an estimated 80,000 visitors who will have a chance to see all the art up close under one roof.

Art Basel also will kick off a week of satellite art shows, museum exhibits and gallery events in the Miami Beach area to complement the world-renowned event.

Thanks in part to Art Basel's influence, the art scene in Greater Miami has blossomed in recent years.

Over the last two decades, billionaire Norman Braman, who once owned the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles franchise, has become a towering figure in Miami's art scene.

As a major art collector, much of Braman's art purchases were made at Art Basel's original fair in Switzerland, the world's premier contemporary art expo, then and now.

Around 1995, Braman got to talking with Art Basel's director, Lorenzo Rudolf, about how the fair could expand.

"Why not the United States, why not Miami?" the Miami resident recalled in an interview with Artsy.

Around 1999, Braman called his friend Robert Goodman, who is president of Miami Beach-based Garber & Goodman Advertising and Marketing, to ask if he had heard about Art Basel.

"I said no," Goodman recalled in an interview with China Daily.

"He asked me if I would like to come to his office the next day to meet the organizers of Art Basel. I went to his office the next day; they told me they were thinking about bringing the 'baby sister' to Miami Beach," he recalled.

As a person familiar with local government and also an expert in advertising and marketing, Goodman was retained as the Florida representative for Art Basel.

After a couple years' preparation, the art fair was scheduled to debut in December 2001. However, terrorists had struck the World Trade Center in New York and Pentagon in Virginia three months prior.

"People weren't flying. You couldn't insure artwork that was being sent," he said.

"So we postponed it to December 2002, when we launched the first Art Basel in Miami Beach," he added.

"At the very beginning, people didn't know how to pronounce Basel or spell it," Goodman recalled.

"In the first year, we only had two houses, which was approximately 250,000 square feet, and this year, we moved to four houses, which is about 500,000 square feet," he said.

"The first year, we probably had 12,000 to 15,000 visitors, and now we have about 80,000," he added.

Goodman said that in the first few years it was primarily Art Basel, but now there are many satellite art fairs that have blossomed, such as the Art Miami and the Scope Art Show.

"It has created a platform for many art fairs. It's not only bringing thousands of visitors but also attracting art dealers, artists, gallerists across the world," he added, also noting the economic boost to the region.

Goodman said that for himself, the most important contribution of Art Basel is "to create that atmosphere for people of every country to live and socialize, share their understanding of arts".

"I'm very proud to be part of it for these years," he said.

Goodman told a story of how he was walking the floor during Art Basel. "It was during the week, so I know it's during school, and I saw about 10 or 12 African American girls in uniform walking around. They looked around 14 years old. I asked where are you from, it's a school day. They said 'We saved up our money and we came here from Jamaica to attend Art Basel,'" he recalled.

"I said it's so beautiful. It was so wonderful that it brought people together," he added.

The fair gets a lot of news media attention. Goodman told China Daily that Art Basel registers 1,500 journalists a year.

"I've seen them come from Russia, from Hawaii, from all over the world to cover our event," he said. "We spend no money on advertising."

Hearing that numerous Chinese artists and art lovers will participate in this year's fair, Goodman said he was pleased to see growing interest by Chinese people, especially young ones, and he hopes it grows and prospers.

"Certainly, more people, gallerists and artists coming from China will only enhance what we are doing during Art Basel," he said. "It's a platform for peace, so that international people would get to know each other. It's an important way, since art is life."