The most celebrated art fair in America, Art Basel Miami Beach, is expanding for its 20th anniversary edition. The Miami Beach Convention Center will play host to the forthcoming 2022 fair, which will have 283 exhibitors from 38 countries and territories and run from December 1-3.
The preview is planned for November 29 and 30, 2022 (by invitation only). “It is truly exciting to celebrate our 20-year presence in Miami Beach,” Art Basel’s global director Marc Spiegler said in a statement. “Over the last two decades our show has not only reinforced its pivotal position in the region—uniquely bridging the art scenes of North and South Americas, Europe and beyond—but also played a galvanizing role in the city’s profound cultural transformation. The increasingly diverse range of galleries and artistic voices represented will make our show richer in discoveries than ever before.”
This is their biggest fair yet and galleries from all over the world are participating. Africa is not excluded from the event line up with these galleries exhibiting for the action packed weekend.
The fair is segmented into a number of sectors, Galleries, Positions, Survey, Nova, Kabinett and Meridians.
There will be over 100 Galleries in the main section of the show, including big names. Selected by international curators, critics, and collectors, Positions provide a platform for work by lone artists. Galleries exhibiting the work of these aspiring artists may possibly introduce a brand-new household name to the Miami Art Basel. The works in the Nova sector were created during the last three years. With 17 debut galleries, the Survey area, which is for work created before the year 2000, features the majority of newcomers. To cater to individuals who want prints as well as those who may not be able to buy originals, Edition sector has a fantastic variety of 12 publishers and galleries this year. Participants in the Kabinett sector are chosen from the Galleries sector to display curated exhibitions in a designated area within their booths. The curatorial ideas for Kabinett are varied, including solo exhibits for up-and-coming artists, art-historical displays, and themed group exhibitions. Large-scale sculptures, paintings, installations, film and video projections, and live performances will all be featured at the Meridians sector.
The exhibitor lists include some African exhibitors, check them out below.
Exhibitors Sector
blank projects
Location: Cape Town
Jonathan Garnham established blank as a project space in 2005 and converted it into a business gallery in 2012. Today, blank projects is based in a 360 square meter gallery in Woodstock, Cape Town. The gallery showcases up-and-coming and more established local artists in a program that emphasizes contemporaneity and focuses on concept and abstraction in an African environment. The gallery will be presenting artists, Igshaan Adams, Sabelo Mlangeni, Gregory Olympio, Zoë Paul, and Kemang Wa Lehulere.
Image courtesy of Artsy
Image courtesy of Artsy
Goodman Gallery
Locations: Cape Town, Johannesburg
Since 1966, Goodman Gallery has maintained its status as the top gallery on the African continent. By introducing Lisa Brice, David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, David Koloane, Sam Nhlengethwa, and Sue Williamson to the world for the first time during the apartheid era, it has played a crucial role in influencing current South African art. The Gallery has a global program that collaborates with well-known and up-and-coming artists from throughout the world whose work engages in conversation with. El Anatsui, Ruby Amanze, Leonardo Drew, Carlos Garaicoa, Nicholas Hlobo, William Kentridge, Kapwani Kiwanga, Mateo Lopez, Misheck Masamvu, Shirin Neshat, Ravelle Pillay, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Hank Willis Thomas, Naama Tsbar and Michal Worke are the artists Goodman Gallery will have on display.
Graphite, ink, photo transfers, pencil crayons, acrylics on paper, 146 × 180.3 cm
Image courtesy of Artsy
Image courtesy of Artsy
Image courtesy of artist
Stevenson Gallery
Location: Cape Town, Johannesburg
With sites in Cape Town and Johannesburg, Stevenson is a gallery for contemporary art. Michael Stevenson teamed up with David Brodie to launch a second location in Johannesburg five years after opening the gallery in Cape Town in 2003. In solo and group shows, the galleries display art from South Africa as well as creations by artists from other parts of Africa and the Diaspora. Internationally renowned artists like Francis Alys, Rineke Dijkstra, Thomas Hirschhorn, Glenn Ligon, and Walid Raad visited South Africa for the first time in 2009 because of Stevenson’s FOREX initiative. Currently, it is collectively owned by 13 directors. The gallery will be representing, in a solo exhibition, Ruth Ige.
Image courtesy of Artsy
Positions Sector
Rele Gallery
Location: Lagos, Los Angeles
Returning for the second time the gallery, which was founded in 2015, is dedicated to creating great understanding, interest in, and interaction with African art by making it available to both a domestic and international audience. Tonia Nneji’s latest paintings from her series “Uncommon Lands, Common Grounds,” which extensively explores the nature of commemorative religious materials, will be on display at Art Basel 2022 by Rele Gallery. The pieces shown here investigate how these artifacts transcend ideas of place and belonging by examining the roles they perform outside of familiar contexts and settings.
Image Courtesy of Artsy
Nova Sector
Afriart Gallery
Location: Kampala
Afriart Gallery (AAG), based in Kampala and established in 2002, is now recognized as a key gallery for contemporary African art. The gallery focuses on engaging the public in conversation and using creative modes of communication. Collectors might uncover influential modern artistic concepts and dialogues in this setting. AAG will be displaying the work of the following artists, Emmie Nume, Mona Taha and Richard Atugonza.
Image courtesy of Artsy
Image Courtesy of Artsy
Image courtesy of artist
Meridians Sector
Location: Nigeria
The human body and the ways we adapt to keep a feeling of identity are subjects explored in these figurative oil paintings. Omuku’s saturated figures are delicately painted on traditional West African fabrics like sanyan and aso oke. Omuku is deeply concerned with identity and diversity.
Image courtesy of artist
Find more about Art Basel Miami Beach here
