MIAMI, FLA.- Miami Project’s Edition 3 closed Sunday evening in Miami’s Midtown Arts District after six busy days of robust sales to an exciting and engaged audience of international arts patrons, museums, institutions and corporate collections.
The Miami Project Pavilion’s 65,000 square foot tent soared above the heads of the fair’s 25,000 visitors, all of whom were met with singular exhibitions by the country's top galleries and afforded the opportunity to experience modernist masterpieces alongside the work of some of the world's finest emerging and mid-career contemporary artists. Miami Project’s new Midtown location remained committed to the elegant display of important artwork, with wide aisles and towering ceilings lending each art-filled wall a sense of significance and occasion.
The first moments of the fair were defined by major museum acquisitions, one of the most poignant of which was the sale of Andy Diaz Hope & Jon Bernson’s Beautification Machine to the Nevada Museum of Art. This acquisition marked the culmination of a ground-breaking initiative presented by Catharine Clark Gallery and philanthropists Andy and Deborah Rappaport to expand the traditional art fair model into a platform for giving. Prior to the fair's opening, the Rappaports committed to purchasing the work for an institution devoted to the exhibition of socially progressive art. Interest was strong from museums around the country with the work acquired by the Nevada Museum of Art - an institution that prides itself on an active display of their permanent collection.
Major success was also had in the private sector with strong six figure sales reported from exhibitors throughout the fair. Highlights include Haines Gallery’s sale of their Ai Weiwei Forever Duo (Stainless Steel Bicycles in Gilding), 2013 to a private collector - concluding the work's edition of ten in the first hours of opening night. Greg Kucera Gallery's powerful solo exhibition of six Deborah Butterfield sculptures dazzled the crowd with the artist's Little Sorrel, 2014 - a bronze cast of reclaimed plywood - acquired by a board member of the Boise Art Museum. Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts placed an important John Marin oil with a private collector, and Adelson Galleries sold a stunning Jamie Wyeth from the early 1990’s in the fair’s final Sunday evening hours.
Many of Miami Project’s exhibitors saw great success across their roster of exhibited artists, including MARC STRAUS and Quint Gallery. Both galleries sold work by each of their exhibited artists including STRAUS’ placement of a major Chris Jones sculpture and the sale of all available Sam Jinks', including a crowd favorite hyper-realistic sculpture of an elderly woman cradling an infant. Pavel Zoubok Gallery placed their Mark Wagner currency collage, made especially for the Miami Project audience, with a private client. The gallery also sold their three Vanessa German sculptures, with the celebrated artist’s works going to new collectors across the country. RYAN LEE made sales to new and existing collectors of works by Paul Henry Ramirez, Clifford Ross, and Donald Sultan. Sasha Wolf Gallery’s back wall of astoundingly beautiful river photographic prints by Adam Katseff were in high demand. The gallery sold most editions, pulling from larger sizes available in their New York City space. Also enjoying the success of their photography program was Yancey Richardson Gallery, placing their large Olivo Barbieri archival pigment print, work from Ed Ruscha’s seminal Pools Portfolio, several large unique Rachel Perry Welty drawings, and eight Bryan Graf photograms over the weekend. Lennon, Weinberg, Von Lintel Gallery, Robischon Gallery, and Richard Levy Gallery among many others throughout the fair also reported great success with the Miami Project crowd.
Museum presence was significant throughout the run of Miami Project. The fair’s Cultural Partners, including the Brooklyn Museum, ICA Miami, Perez Art Museum Miami, The Bass Museum of Art, The Menil Collection, The Museum of Arts and Design, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Whitney Contemporaries, and the Junior Associates of MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art along with local favorites the Bakehouse Art Complex and The Wolfsonian-FIU brought curators, directors, board members, and groups of patrons through Miami Project for private tours, cocktail receptions, and a chance to experience the fair’s tight curation of some of the best art in the world.
Miami Project worked alongside VIP preview presenter 1stdibs to curate a festive celebration of the arts. The fair is thrilled with the continued partnership between Miami Project and the industry's leading online arts and design marketplace. Miami Project sponsors The Wall Street Journal and Perrier kept an active presence at the Pavilion, filling our garden and media spaces with exciting product for fair-goers.
The Miami Herald and WLRN News said “If you can only see one fair, make it Miami Project” and the public listened. The fair experienced an increased attendance along with excellent reviews from local and national press making it Introspective Magazine’s “one of the most highly sought out” fairs of Miami’s art week. Set apart by its extraordinarily high level of exhibitors presenting a concise collection of the best in modern and contemporary art, Miami Project is absolutely here to stay.
