Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016!

Talk about a booming market. The contemporary art auctions in New York in November set a bar as high as — well, the record-breaking prices they commanded. Consider these figures: $142.4 million at Christie’s for Francis Bacon’s triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud, the most expensive art work ever sold at auction; $105 million at Sotheby’s for Andy Warhol’s Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), the highest price ever paid at auction for the pop artist; and $58.4 million at Christie’s for Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog, an auction record for a living artist. “It’s becoming like the tulip market in Holland,” said Palm Beach collector Irene Karp, referring to the 17th-century economic bubble. But will that deter an expected 55,000 contemporary art enthusiasts from flocking to Miami Beach for Art Basel fair week? Not at all. Palm Beach collector Peggy Greenfield explained why: “It’s the bustle. It’s seeing people we know from other parts of the country. It’s talking to artists. It’s the whole scene of being surrounded by so much art.” Art Basel in Miami Beach will open with a VIP preview on Wednesday and run through Sunday at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

PHOTO BY ANGEL REYES

At least 20 satellite fairs and a blizzard of other events will cash in on the action. Museum and collector spaces will flaunt their most impressive shows of the season. High demand The Society of the Four Arts’ field trip to the main fair sold out in two weeks. A Four Arts tour led by art historian Lacy Davisson Doyle to the PULSE and NADA satellite fairs was near capacity at press time. Demand was so strong for the Armory Art Center’s trip to Art Basel Miami Beach and to Art Miami that a second bus was added. At the center of it all is Art Basel, which will field 258 galleries from 31 countries. New this year is a section devoted to editions — not just prints, but editions of every kind, fair director Marc Spiegler said. For the first time, the large-scale art exhibition in Collins Park will not end with the fair but will extend through March. A strong group of younger American galleries has joined the fair, including Elizabeth Dee, Corbett vs. Dempsey, 47 Canal, Bureau and Real Fine Arts. Thanks to the debut of Art Basel Hong Kong in May, more Asian galleries are participating. Spiegler is bullish about the increasingly global contemporary art market. “The long-term trend is toward more and more people buying art,” he said. “Whatever the state of the general economy, more and more people have the means to buy art.” At the top level, buyers are competing for trophy works, said Anna Lipskaya, head of research at Skate’s Art Market Research. But “many works that were recently presented to the market have not had the time to pass the art history test, meaning that, over time, their value might not be preserved,” she said. The best way to describe the contemporary art market is “a flight to safety,” said Al Brenner, chief executive officer of MutualArt.com and chief operating officer of the Artist Pension Trust. Demand is high for masterworks by a small number of established artists and for low-risk, reasonably priced works by emerging artists, while the middle market is suffering, he said. As far as hot prospects go, he points toward artists from Asian countries with rich cultural heritages, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar. Palm Beach collector Christine Aylward and her husband, Bill, recognized that trend a few years ago. “Blue-chip Chinese contemporary art is in such demand, and the prices are so high,” she said. “It’s just a matter of time before other Asian artists come to the fore.” Trend-setting contemporary art collectors Mera and Don Rubell have been making art-buying trips to China since 2001.

They will showcase their finds in the exhibition “28 Chinese,” which opens Wednesday at The Rubell Family Collection in Miami. Key to gallery success Fairs such as the ones in Miami have become essential to galleries wooing major collectors. “If you are not in fairs, you are a local gallery,” Brenner said. Fair exhibitors generate 30 percent to 50 percent of their annual sales at such events, he said. Palm Beach dealer Sarah Gavlak first participated in Art Basel Miami Beach in 2006. She has worked her way up through the Positions and Nova sectors to secure a coveted place in the top-tier Galleries section this year. “The pressure is on,” she said. “This is my big chance. Everyone will be looking at what I present.” Gavlak will show works that emphasize craftsmanship and re-purposed materials by artists such as Rob Wynne, Andrew Brischler, Jose Alvarez, Bovey Lee and Orly Genger. Not all the art on offer in Miami will be worthy of attention, Palm Beach collector Ruth Baum said. “It’s uneven. You just have to keep looking. That’s the fun of it — the search.”