The gift shop at Art Basel Miami Beach is accessible to everyone. Here’s what we liked
Not everybody has $120,000 to buy a duct-taped banana at Art Basel Miami Beach. But there is a way to grab some art — or artsy merchandise — from the popular art fair.
The Art Basel Shop is open for the first time at Art Basel Miami Beach. After two runs at the brand’s Basel and Paris shows, the latest iteration of the store in the Miami Beach Convention Center lobby is the largest. Visitors don’t need a ticket to the fair itself to check out the store, which sells products like shirts, hats, notebooks, bags and holiday decorations featuring artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.
Several items were designed specially for Art Basel Miami Beach by emerging, contemporary artists. Parisian creative Sarah Andelman curated the store’s merchandise, including artist collaborations and an Art Basel capsule collection.
“It’s very exciting for Miami to have the fair and a little gift shop with souvenirs by artists represented by the galleries,” she said. “From books to bags to scarves, we have a little something for everybody.”
While the items in the store are certainly not as expensive as the $1 million alien sculpture you’ll find inside the fair, some shoppers may still find themselves splurging on some Basel swag before the holidays.
Here are some items worth checking out.
Banana sticker, anyone?
Emmanuel Perrotin, the Parisian gallerist who sold a banana at Art Basel Miami Beach for $120,000 in 2019, said it best: “I created a monster.”
The infamous banana is still the gift that keeps on giving at the fair. The store is selling an $8 sticker of Andy Warhol’s banana artwork. Other Warhol merch includes a $210 Warhol dollar bill-print hoodie and $45 “spicy plum” scented candle.
Cursing dolphins and sarcastic totes
Out of all the artist collaborations in the shop, the David Shirgley x BrainBox Candy items are among the most affordable (and scandalous.)
There’s a $3 pack of “Holiday” postcards of a shark chasing a swimmer and a $15 calendar to start next year off right. Or for $17, grab a mug of dolphins dropping F-bombs. Perhaps the $30 tote puts it best with this phrase scribbled on it: “I went shopping and I bought things that I didn’t need in order to help the economy.”
Ornaments that smile back
Lucy Sparrow is a U.K.-based artist known for her work recreating every day items out of felt fabric with little smiley faces. At last year’s Scope Art Show in Miami Beach, Sparrow turned her booth into an entirely felt—and adorable—delicatessen and bagel shop.
The Art Basel Shop is selling $96 box sets of the artist’s plush Christmas tree ornaments: a box of smiling art supplies, like oil paint and pencils, and a box of medicine and toiletries, like Xanax and toothpaste.
Head-to-toe Basel
Protect your head (and back of your neck) in style with Brazilian artist Paulo Nimer Pjota’s hat designs. Each $85 hat, one bucket and one baseball cap, comes with a built-in scarf printed in Pjota’s colorful artwork. Or for $20, there are specially designed notebooks and flower-shaped crayons.
Artist Diana Yesenia Alvardo designed this year’s Art Basel staff uniforms, which are available to purchase in the shop. The polo shirt ($135) and windbreaker ($175) feature airbrush-style feline characters.
Mini poems and other knick-knacks
Don’t feel like breaking the bank? Art Basel-branded pins, portable fans, golf balls, key chains, dominoes and socks are all under $30.
For $10, snag one of artist Morgan Ritter’s “Poem Tags.” The small sentimental artworks feature short poems and musings that can be sewn into just about anything.