Miami Art Week returns with high hopes, renewed energy and a rotating ‘library’

A concrete ring revolves ever-so-slowly around the manmade pond anchored by a 50-foot-high triangular bookcase that doubles as a sundial. Quotes displayed on a digital strip along the facade are read aloud, recalling stories that plumb the depths of human meaning.

The installation of Es Devlin’s compelling “Library of Us” sculpture in front of the Faena Hotel celebrated the 10th year of Faena’s art program. It also heralded the launch of the 23rd annual Miami Art Week, bringing a cavalcade of black Uber SUVs and sneaker-clad art lovers to VIP openings at popular fairs on both sides of Biscayne Bay, including UNTITLED and Design Miami in Miami Beach, and Art Miami and NADA on the mainland.

The week’s agenda promises more than a dozen art fairs, museum show openings, panels, brand promotions for liquors and wines, an AI tech conference, giant parade-style balloons and even an immersive installation inside a vintage Mercedes. Art Basel Miami Beach, the week’s centerpiece, opens to VIPs Wednesday and the public on Friday.

Read more: Miami Art Week doesn’t have to be a drag for locals. Here’s how to do it right

Buoyed by strong sales at October’s Art Basel Paris and November’s New York art auctions that garnered more than $2 billion, gallerists sought to shake off an 18-month slump that caused some long-time art sellers to bypass this year’s Art Week or close up shop altogether. Ever-optimistic art fair directors and art-watchers predicted success while recognizing that visa difficulties, rising shipping and logistics costs and an increasingly crowded art calendar could keep many foreign visitors away.

“We’re seeing upticks in the market,” said Jeffrey Lawson, founder of UNTITLED Art Fair. Advance ticket sales have kept pace with last year’s record-setting fair attendance, with only slightly fewer booths — 160 galleries from 29 countries this year versus 176 from 34 countries in 2024.

The early line of eager collectors and art lovers outside of Art Miami gave fair director Nick Korniloff a healthy amount of optimism going into Miami Art Week, despite the shaky economy and state of global affairs. At Art Miami’s 35th year, Korniloff said exhibitors have a ripe opportunity to connect with a new audience, many of whom have recently moved to Miami from other major cities.

“This is a fair that people love to come to. It’s got a lot of depth and diversity to it, the quality. The dealers are here to educate new collectors,” he said. “Any top collector in the world can come to Art Miami and find a gem to add to their collection.”

And at Design Miami, which is marking its 20th year, is celebrating the addition of a new sponsorship with Bank of America’s private wealth division, which also supports local arts organizations as a way to connect with high net worth individuals. Client interest in art led to the partnership, said Luke Palacio, Bank of America’s Private Bank Senior Market Executive for Miami. “Our collector clients are true art lovers. They’re lifelong collectors...we have a good feel for the number of clients who are coming this week from around the country. Interest is a strong as last year.”

Art Miami opens with cautious optimism

Despite the optimism, the “contraction” in the art world is undeniable, Korniloff said. In years past, securing a fair booth was the most expensive part of a gallery’s art fair experience, but these days other variables like travel and housing have put a serious strain on clients’ finances, he said. While there are 10 fewer dealers showing at

Art Miami this year, VIP requests have increased. It’s a mixed bag, Korniloff said. “Is there nervous energy? Absolutely. When you look at what’s happening in the world, in every corner of it, including our own country, certainly there’s nervous energy,” he said. “We’ve done our part as fair organizers to control the variables that we’re in control of. [...] Everybody’s anxious to see how the week goes.”

Just an hour into Art Miami opening its doors, prospective buyers quickly populated every corner of the fair. At the VIP lounge, guests sipped on cappuccinos next to Martin Schoeller’s famous series of celebrity portraits, including soccer legend Lionel Messi, actor Meryl Streep and media mogul Oprah Winfrey.

Schoeller, a New York-based photographer known for his stark, up-close and intimate portraits, said he was enjoying his first ever Miami Art Week. He doesn’t usually attend art fairs, but Korniloff invited him to show his work at the lounge. Ten percent of the proceeds of each piece will be donated to charities of each celebrity’s choosing, Schoeller said.

His simple, zoomed in, brightly lit portraits aim to document people as they are, not their status, wealth or reputation. Even the most arrogant of billionaires become vulnerable and more human opposite his camera lens, he said. Each subject’s face is neutral, except for one, he noted.

A large portrait of Jane Goodall, the groundbreaking primatologist who died earlier this year, is displayed near the lounge. She has the slightest hint of a smile in the portrait.

“I can’t help myself to pick pictures where people look a little bit more optimistic, depending on if I like them or not,” Schoeller said. He had fond memories of meeting Goodall for the photograph. She showed up without any handlers or makeup artists.

As for Messi? “Very shy.”

Over at UK-based textile artist Lucy Sparrow’s booth, she debuted “Sugar Rush,” a candy store made entirely of felt fabric, complete with felt soda cans, felt gummy bears, felt ice cream and felt CCTV cameras. After several years selling felt bagel sandwiches and felt fruits at SCOPE, a Miami Beach art fair, Sparrow came to Art Miami for the first time to “have that step up and have a more polished finish.”

It took eight months to create all the pieces for “Sugar Rush,” with prices for small gummies starting at $20. “There’s something for every single pay bracket,” she said. “The emphasis is on enjoyment and being able to take something away from the fair.”

Sparrow’s sugary installation was inspired by the frenetic, high-energy feeling of Miami Art Week.

“It’s like this frenzy that almost feels like this sugar rush,” she said. “It’s all about bright lights, big colors and excitement.”

20 years of Design Miami

Design Miami kicked off its second decade with the theme Make.Believe. Far from merely an excursion into fantasy and fiction, this year’s fair focuses “not only on the past, but necessarily looks ahead,” says Curatorial Director Glenn Adamson.

This year the nation’s premiere design fair also includes a special project featuring eight spectacular forward-thinking designers titled Design Miami 2.0, a playful nod to the fair’s 20 anniversary. The special project also provides insight into where design is headed throughout the next decade.

“For the 20th anniversary, we acknowledge the past, but also necessarily look ahead,” Adamson told the Miami Herald. “With Design Miami 2.0, I look at this as an archipelago of the eight designers. It’s my attempt to take a cross-section of the present and link it with the future.”

Stephen Burks, an American designer and professor of architecture at Columbia University, debuted an ethereal work in wood that resemble the textiles of the ancient Kuba Kingdom at Design Miami 2.0. In a stunning display of intricate marquetry, the design is assembled piece by piece of wood fabricated to resemble the grain and texture of endangered woods such as ebony, teak, wenge, rosewood and zebrawood.

“It’s a reference to the spiritual, particularly the metaphysical and the spiritual worlds,” Burks said of a piece of the installation shaped like a cross.

Tina Frey, a designer from San Francisco channeled her inner self when designing her Orbit Collection, a three-piece series in bronze that features harmonious curves and organic contours.

Frey said her creative process began with a week-long meditation period “without any photons of light, where you disconnect from the distractions of the modern world and we can connect with who we are.”

Collectors have a unique opportunity to purchase a work that once graced Miami native and world-renowned artist Michele Oka Doner’s South Florida home, according to Stephen Markos, the founder and director of New York gallery Superhouse. The work, titled “Burning Bush,” was created in 1990 and is a giant wall candelabra, complete with a large floor plate to catch the tallow drips. Both pieces are made from cast bronze and list for $80,000.

‘Renewed energy’ at Untitled Miami

At Untitled Art Fair on Miami Beach, VIP hours brought an unhurried but steady stream of collectors focused on chatting with gallerists about unfamiliar artists. But that didn’t slow the buzz; by noon, several booths reported “significant sales” and a few local collectors declared themselves finished for the week. “We’ve already hit our budget,” said one.

At Nassau-based TERN gallery, dedicated to Bahamian artists, owner Lauren Perez fielded questions about textile banners by April Bey depicting sassy schoolgirls in futuristic uniforms emblazoned with the words “Colonial Swag.” As a girl, the artist’s Trekkie father helped his daughter overcome her outsider status as a heavyset mixed race girl casting her as the heroine of a fantasy world called “Atlantica.” The glittery 8-by-4-foot tapestry, priced at $30,000, is part of a series that reimagines schools and education.

Los Angeles-based Albertz Benda gallery is offering works by artists from Central and Latin America, including thick woven tapestry by Tanya Azuniga and a massive canvas by Scott Carrillo Aceveda depicting his complex family history. “Miami is the gateway to Central and South America, and we try to bring art that speaks to that audience,” said gallerist Thorsten Albertz. As for the buzz, “it’s too early to know for sure, but I’m cautiously optimistic. I do feel a renewed energy after this last two-and-a-half years of funk.”

At Nino Mier Gallery, that optimism was justified early on with the sale of six color pencil works by Danish artist Per Adolfon priced at $9,800 each, with several collectors eyeing the remaining two.

While some galleries focused on singular geographies and others offered single artists, the artworks themselves spanned the range, including abstract paintings, textiles, black-and-white oils on paper, sculpture, room-sized installations, a feminine corset with breast cups stuffed with champagne glasses and even a ceramic snake atop a Roomba that constantly traversed the booth.

Many works commented on modern life and politics and evoked introspection. But some intentionally provided an antidote. Brooklyn gallerist Richard Beavers brought a solo show of canvases by Black artists LeRoy Campbell that exuded the joy of play, family, culture and everyday life. “Black joy is a revolutionary act,” he said.

Though far different in style, the Petra Courtright florals, Shepherd Fairey graphic landscapes and Guiseppe Lo Schiavo’s windows to the sea at the Danziger booth struck a similar chord. “We’ve always tried to present works that are museum quality but that people want to live with,” said owner Jim Danziger. “I think people are always looking for joy. It’s just unusual at an art fair to see work that encompasses that emotion.”

“This is my favorite fair,” said Miami collector Diane Grob. “You always see things that feel fresh but aren’t too far out on the edge.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2025 at 1:45 PM.