December 5, 2018, by Andrew Russeth
The 2019 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach is now in full swing. Champagne is being quaffed, trips to the redoubtable local sandwich shop La Sandwicherie are being made, and some 200 dealers are offering artworks for sale in the Miami Beach Convention Center, where the fair opened today to invited guests. Art Basel runs through Sunday, December 9, and opens to the general public tomorrow. Art types fill the aisles, shaking hands and making deals. Some are here to buy. This writer, alas, is not. But I am here to soak in the joys of a big-ticket fair like Basel: laying eyes on the newest works by great artists of the present moment (Sarah Lucas! Anicka Yi!), seeing cuts by revered masters (Noah Purifoy! Francis Picabia!), and making new discoveries along the way (when was the last time you stopped and looked for a while at drawings by Gray Foy?). Below, 34 highlights from the booths.