Tiermetabolismus V (Katzchen) by Jonathan Meese at Bortolami Gallery, Art Basel Main Fair, Hall B, Booth I-09.

Art Observed will be on site as of today for the ninth edition of the America’s biggest contemporary art fair: Art Basel Miami Beach which will open to the public on Thursday December 2 and will run through Sunday, December 5.

The main section of the fair will house over 180 galleries and over 40,000 are expected following the December 2nd opening.  Annette Schönholzer and Marc Spiegler are the main fair organizers alongside its main sponsor UBS with Cartier, NetJets and AXA Art as the associate sponsors.  While Art Basel is still the main draw, the NADA Fair (the New Art Dealers Alliance) up the road at the Dauville Beach Resort will open to the public Thursday December 2. It will run through Sunday December 5 and also should not be missed.

Untitled (Art Fair Floor) by Ryan Reggiani.  Kate Werble Gallery at Nada Art Fair, booth 312.

The fair week is notable for its bridging of the Latin American buyers with American and British art centers as well as its uniquely intense amalgamation of social, media, fashion and other spheres of influence into the business of selling art.

The global art market seems to have stabilized this year and the main fair, along with its very significant satellites, should be met with lively buying this round.  Beyond this, all around Miami, the social calendar will be infused with events to the point where there is little chance to avoid regretfully missing something.

A view of an installation by Terrence Koh at The Island, an event during the week (see bel0w).

More text and related links after the jump… .

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On Wednesday, June 6, the Whitney Museum of American Art played host to ART PARTY, a charitable event whose proceeds benefited the Whitney’s 40-year-old Independent Study Program, at Skylight Studios. The guestlist featured an array of celebrities who ran the gamut from Ivanka Trump and Kate Bosworth to Freddie Prinze Jr. and Moby. The music of DJ La Jauretsi powered the event while visual performances by Joshua Light Show and Bec Stupak dazzled guests with a spray of dreadlocks and fluid hula hoop movements. The affair’s dresscode, “Hippy Chic”, revealed refreshingly whimsical pieces by Hervé Léger worn by Arden Wohl, by ThreeAsFour worn by Genevieve Jones and, of course, a slew of damsels garbed in the host’s Max Azria summer frocks. (more…)