It’s officially dipped below 80 degrees in South Florida, signaling the return of Art Basel Miami Beach to that vibrant coastal city for its 22nd iteration. Yet under the leadership of director Bridget Finn, a former gallerist and art market savant, this year marks a new chapter for the fair, as Finn sets out to strengthen Art Basel’s role as a connector for art across the Americas.
With 286 galleries from 38 countries and territories featuring a vast array of artists, not to mention official merch shops, restaurants, and brand activations, navigating the fair’s bustling halls can feel overwhelming. To help get you started—or, in the event that you can’t make it down to Miami Beach to see all the goings-on for yourself—here is a selection of the must-see presentations. From debut participants to thought-provoking installations by established names, we present the buzziest booths at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024.
Wentrup Gallery
At the heart of Berlin-based Wentrup Gallery’s booth is a dazzling work by Iranian-German artist Desire Moheb-Zandi: Sun shines in, you have awoken. The truth is out, the lies are old (2024) radiates both texture and depth, meticulously woven from an eclectic mix of materials, including linen, lurex, rope, cotton, nylon, and wool.
Alongside Moheb-Zandi’s work is a group of captivating pieces by Turkish artist Nevin Aladağ, notably two creations from her latest series, Vibrating Images. These works merge the forms of musical instruments with dynamic, vividly hued compositions, blurring the line between visual art and sound.
Instituto de Visión
Tucked to the side of Instituto de Visión’s already outstanding booth—which features a selection of Latin American artists, including a stunning wall installation by Guatemalan-born artist Sandra Monterroso made with conches and magenta-colored braids—is a remarkable Kabinett presentation of Bogotá-based artist Jim Amaral. (The Kabinett sector at the fair is best described as a series of mini-booths within booths, showcasing carefully curated or thematic presentations.)
Amaral, who is in his 90s and, notably, the husband of renowned Colombian artist Olga de Amaral, is celebrated for his poetic explorations of themes such as mysticism, music, and love. At this booth, viewers will encounter works created between the 1960s and early 2000s, including a series of striking drawings and small sculptures that ably illustrate the expanse of Amaral’s artistic vision.
Sprüth Magers
In one corner of the Sprüth Magers booth—featuring the likes of Kara Walker and John Baldessari—a steady stream of visitors gathers to view Barbara Kruger’s three-channel video installation Pledge, Will, Vow (1988/2020), which feels more timely than ever. Exploring the language of marriage vows, wills and testaments, and the Pledge of Allegiance, Kruger presents these texts in her signature style of white letters against vibrant red backdrops. Over the course of five minutes, the words appear to be typed and revised in real time, considering alternative and suggestive phrases before settling on the official versions.
In conversation with Kruger’s work is another noteworthy piece in Sprüth Magers’s presentation: Selection from Truisms: Words tend to…, (2020), a footstool, by American conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, made from iridescent labradorite stone, with the phrase “words tend to be inadequate” etched into its surface.
PPOW
Alongside an impressive series of works by artists such as Guadalupe Maravilla and Carlos Motta, a sprawling series of miniature drawings by multimedia artist Adam Putnam steals the spotlight at P·P·O·W’s booth. Displayed on a labyrinth of minimalist wooden tables, these images, evocative of tarot cards, delve into themes related to the subconscious mind.
Meanwhile, at Meridians, the fair’s section dedicated to monumental installations, the New York-based gallery presents Bound Angel (2021), a breathtaking work by American artist Portia Munson that draws urgent connections between mass production, gender equality, and ecological devastation.
Carmo Johnson Projects
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A newcomer to Art Basel Miami Beach, Brazilian gallery Carmo Johnson Projects presents an exceptional selection of paintings by MAHKU, a collective of artists from the Huni Kuin, an Indigenous group based in the Brazilian Amazon. The collective made waves earlier this year with an outstanding 2,460-foot mural showcased at the 60th Venice Biennale.
At the fair’s booth, intricate, kaleidoscopic paintings beautifully capture ayahuasca chants and the myths that surround these sacred practices. Operating under the guiding principle “sell painting to buy land,” the proceeds from MAHKU’s artworks are reinvested into local communities to advance their goal of achieving autonomy within their territories. To date, the collective has acquired nearly 26 acres of land through this initiative.
Night Gallery
Los Angeles-based Night Gallery presents a compelling selection of artists exploring themes of evolution, experimentation, and discovery. Front and center at the booth is Valentine Path Full Moon, Morning (2024), a lush painting by American artist Hayley Barker that, as its title suggests, depicts a romantic garden scene bathed in the soft glow of a full moon.
In contrast, Taste (2024), a mesmerizing mechanized sculpture by Rachel Youn, also commands attention. Made using a modified circulation massager, steel, hardware, artificial plants, and mica powder, it features two plants that seem to kiss and separate in an endless loop. Making their Art Basel Miami Beach debut, Youn is known for incorporating floral forms into their innovative machines in order to explore ideas such as pain, pleasure, and control.
Rolf Art
In Positions, the section of the fair dedicated to emerging galleries showcasing solo presentations by up-and-coming artists, Buenos Aires-based gallery Rolf Art has a remarkable booth featuring works by Argentinian Peruvian artist Julieta Tarraubella.
Entitled La vida secreta de las flores (The Secret Life of Flowers) (2018-2024), the series is described by the gallery as a “cyborg-garden” that captures the metamorphoses of numerous flowers using time-lapse playback technology. By blurring the boundaries between technology and nature, Tarraubella zooms into the life cycles of these plants to reflect on the rhythms of beauty and decay.
Spinello Projects
Miami-based gallery Spinello Projects has attracted significant attention at this year’s fair with a solo booth dedicated to local artist Nina Surel. The presentation features an extraordinary collection of ceramic vessels, sculptures, and wall-mounted works rendered in rich earthy tones and deep blue, exploring themes of mysticism, botany, and humanity’s connection to nature.
A highlight piece from the booth, Surel’s ceramic wall installation Allegory of Florida (2023), was selected for the City of Miami Beach’s Legacy Purchase Program, an initiative that acquires artworks from Art Basel Miami Beach for the city’s Art in Public Places collection. Composed of 100 milky stoneware ceramic pieces, the work reimagines the Sunshine State as a goddess of feminine fertility.
Lehmann Maupin
Showcasing an impressive roster of works by renowned artists such as McArthur Binion, Marilyn Minter, and Cecilia Vicuña, Lehmann Maupin’s booth is undoubtedly a fair favorite.
Among the unmissable highlights are Still-Life 4 (2020) and From, the Future 2 (2023), two captivating video installations by pioneering American artist Jennifer Steinkamp that explore the intersections of nature, technology, and motion; and I’ll see you on your way (2024), a captivating acrylic-on-canvas painting by American artist Calida Rawles. (Rawles’s first solo museum exhibition, “Away With the Tides,” is currently on view at the Pérez Art Museum Miami through February 2, 2025, before traveling to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art from March 19 to September 7, 2025.)
Beyond Basel
Beyond the buzz of Basel, there is no shortage of additional fairs and art shows to visit all over Miami. Right across the street is Design Miami, curated this year by Glenn Adamson under the theme Blue Sky, where the works on display celebrate the most audacious innovations in design. And further south, Untitled Art Fair features a compelling selection of international galleries, making it another must-visit destination during Miami Art Week.
If the fairs are not enough, elsewhere in the city other must-see shows include: “Marguerite Humeau: \*sk\*/ey-” at ICA Miami, the first major US exhibition of the French artist, which explores alternate worlds through the lens of climate change (on view until March 20, 2025); “You Guide Me Through,” a solo show of new works by Patrick Dean Hubbel at Nina Johnson Gallery (on view until January 11, 2025); and “Andrea Chung: Between Too Late and Too Early” at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, the largest solo museum survey to date of the American artist (on show until April 6, 2025).