Miami International Art Fair

By Tom Austin1/11/2011

In the long ago before Art Basel Miami saved us — or at least diverted us — for a few days every year, Art Miami (founded by David and Lee Ann Lester in 1991) was the big game in town. The Lesters had a bunch of other art fairs, too, sold them and then came back last year with a Miami presence, MIA-International Art Fair.

Last year, the Lesters say, attendance was around 17,000, and sales included Anthony Spinello’s selling two sculptures by Cuban artist Enrique Gomez de Molina for $10,000. Local galleries Diana Lowenstein Fine Art and Dot Fiftyone Gallery also had a presence.

The second installment — which expects 20,000 visitors — entails some 25 local galleries (Spinello Gallery, NOW Contemporary Art, et al.) and a curatorial effort by Gean Moreno, “Improvising Architectures.”

The show features such locals as Christy Gast, Adler Guerrier and Viking Funeral working alongside artists from Bogota, London and other places. To Moreno, the show looks at the way that “improvised structures are metaphors for mental architectures in a globalized world.”

Moreno also reached out to some young and edgy not-for-profit groups, such as Spring Break and augurari. The latter is exhibiting some local artists and has a catalog of limited-edition cassette tapes. The group invited visual artists who use sound in their work to create and release a tape of their choice.

“It’s like getting a record deal,” Moreno says with a laugh, “but with technology that’s 20 years too late.”

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