What Sold at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2022

Art Basel in Miami Beach has come a long way since its 2002 inception. Posed as a cultural meeting point in the art world between North and Latin America, the fair has always leveraged a diversity of work and exhibitors as part of its appeal. When Art Basel opened its doors in Miami Beach in the early 2000s, the city was in the process of rehabilitating its cultural image as an arts and leisure haven rather than the libidinal-fueled party life that defined its reputation across the 1980s and ’90s.

Although that nightlife is still present across Miami Beach, preserved, too, is the mile-long strip of prominent Art Deco architecture that defined the city in the 1930s. Against this backdrop, one feels like a time traveler chasing the ghosts of old Miami’s social scene, which drives so much of its culture today and reaches new heights annually during Miami Art Week.

One lingering ghost this year was Madonna’s re-presentation of photographs from her book SEX (1992), which were shot by Steven Meisel in Miami 30 years ago. The pop-up exhibition organized by Saint Laurent on Ocean Drive and 17th Street, squarely between Art Basel and Untitled Art, drew a slew of celebrities across fashion and culture like Hailey Bieber, Zoë Kravitz, and Madonna herself. Presented in dialogue with Art Basel, the special exhibition was a throwback to the debauched evenings that inspired shows like Miami Vice (1984–90). At the main fair, however, the atmosphere was less risqué.

Twenty years in, Art Basel in Miami Beach—for better or worse—has become institutionalized. Reviewing the official fair report from the inaugural edition, one will find an emphasis on multimedia art practice, including sculpture, photography, installations, performance, and so much more, rather than painting. Yet that was not so in 2022: Painting dominated the booths, as it has at art fairs all year. And while much of it was reflective of the most talented crop of contemporary abstract and figurative painters working today, fairgoers appeared fatigued by the overwhelming repetition of the medium and were hungry for anything different.

That sentiment likely fed into the virality of artist collective MSCHF’s ATM Leaderboard (2022) at Perrotin’s typically hype-generating booth. For those who may have missed it, the ATM posted the bank account balance and a photo of anyone who inserted their debit card into the machine. The piece sold for $75,000 to a local collector in Miami. By the fair’s conclusion, the highest account balance was an individual with $9 million, though second place was snagged by musical artist and producer Diplo, with $3 million. The work both celebrates and lambasts the wealth and flash present at Art Basel—not just the high-net-worth attendees, but the art, too.

While Art Basel in Miami Beach in 2002 was just starting to gain traction from the museum crowd, in 2022 that clientele shaped what gallerists brought to the fair. There was a clear desire to place museum-quality works, like large-scale sculptures, with institutions or members of museum boards, knowing that the fair generates such opportunities.

Overall, galleries were in great spirits and satisfied with the sales, precisely because of Miami’s draw for institutional and private collectors. “We always love coming to Miami and seeing a cross section of America. There’s a lot of collectors here and this is a great fair for collectors to come see great work,” Ethan Sklar from Tanya Bonakdar Gallery told Artsy. Timothy Taylor told Art Basel that this was his eponymous gallery’s “strongest Miami Beach outing to date.” He added, “The caliber of collectors in attendance was stellar, and we made significant sales to an international crowd as well as a number of collectors with homes in South Florida.”

Here, we share a rundown of some of the top sales at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2022.

Top sales

In addition to the previously reported sales of Andy Warhol’s Flowers (1964) for $3.8 million and Agnes Martin’s Untitled #14 (1998) for $7 million, some other notable seven-figure sales include the following:

• Gladstone Gallery sold a Keith Haring tarp painting, Untitled (1981), for $4.5 million.
• White Cube sold a David Hammons piece for $3.8 million to a prominent museum, and several works by Michael Armitage in the range of $3 million–$4 million each.
• Jack Shainman Gallery sold Kerry James Marshall’s We Mourn Our Loss #2 (1997) for $2.8 million.
• Hauser & Wirth had several major sales: A Philip Guston oil painting, Studio in Small Town (1979), sold for $7 million; George Condo’s painting Love at First Sight (2002) sold for $3 million; and a Mark Bradford mixed-media piece, Conflagration (2022), sold for $2.8 million.

Standout sales from the Nova section

The Nova section at Art Basel in Miami Beach is focused on contemporary works made in the past three years. Galleries in this section choose to showcase works by one to three artists who are meant to reflect the current moment, as well as what’s come in the art world—to the delight of eager collectors and audiences interested in not only what’s new, but what’s next.

• At San Juan–based Galería Agustina Ferreyra, multiple works by Dalton Gata sold to a private collection in Basel for $40,000–$50,000 per piece.
• At Miami-based Spinello Projects, several paintings by Reginald O’Neal sold to the Hort Family Collection in the range of $25,000–$40,000 per piece. Additionally, two iterations of Juana Valdés’s installation Colored China Rags (2017–22) sold for $50,000–$65,000 per piece; one was sold to El Museo del Barrio in New York, and the other to the City of Miami Beach through the city’s Legacy Purchase Program.

• Rachel Uffner Gallery nearly sold out its three-artist booth, including a work by Bernadette Despujols for $48,000; dioramas by Curtis Talwst Santiago for $25,000; and a piece by Sheree Hovsepian for $32,000. Founder and director Rachel Uffner described the success and buzz around the booth, noting “the value of bringing works that speak to the universal feeling of being away from home.”
• Brussels-based Super Dakota sold two works by Julia Wachtel to private collectors for $70,000 per piece.
• Welancora Gallery sold three works (BlackHead Anansi - Archipelago of Desire, BlackHead Anansi - GoldDust Dancer, and Demerara-MoonGazer at High Noon) all made in 2022 by abstract painter Carl E. Hazlewood in the range of $22,000–$50,000.

Institutional placements

As many galleries noted, Art Basel in Miami Beach is the fair to bring ambitious works that can be placed in museums. Such works might exceed the limitations of a more domestic-scaled environment due to their size, subject matter, or medium.

Alejandro Jassan, an associate director at Lehmann Maupin, told Artsy that securing institutional placements was a driving force behind the gallery’s curatorial decisions for its booth. “We decided to bring museum-quality works, so in a way, we are trying to think about how our global programming is connecting to all of these museum moments around the world,” he said.Sales to institutions at this year’s Art Basel in Miami Beach included the following:

• Lehmann Maupin placed multiple works with trustees of prestigious museums in Boston and New York. An edition of Calida Rawles’s Our Grace (2022) sold to a trustee at the Brooklyn Museum for $50,000.
• David Castillo sold a painting by Vaughn Spann, Marked Men (factors of loss) (2022), for $180,000 to the de la Cruz Collection in Miami.

• moniquemeloche placed multiple works in institutions, including Ebony G. Patterson’s …when the bellying is evidenced in the arch of a back…and the coupling of gun metal birds reminds us….love is still here… (2022), which sold to the Indianapolis Museum of Art for $100,000–$150,000.
• Jessica Silverman made several institutional placements, including a Woody De Othello sculpture, Ibeji (2022), priced in the range of $70,000–$76,000, which was acquired by a Miami institution. The gallery also sold a new sculpture by Rose B. Simpson, Sip A (2022), which was acquired by a major museum in Southern California. Founder and director Jessica Silverman said “The gallery is enjoying its expanded presence at Art Basel. We are delighted to have placed works in major museums in the first hours of the fair. It is a joy to see just how well our program is received here, especially at a time when debates about the body, motherhood, and the natural world are so hotly contested.”

Other notable sales

• Lagos- and Los Angeles–based Rele Gallery sold out its solo booth dedicated to Tonia Nneji’s paintings, priced in the range of $18,000–$28,000.
• New York–based Berry Campbell Gallery sold out its solo booth of paintings by Lynne Drexler, including the oil painting Mutinous Water (1964) for $1.2 million. Other works sold in the range of $95,000–$550,000.
• Rhona Hoffman Gallery sold a new Derrick Adams painting, She’s Been Here Before (2022), for $160,000 on the opening VIP day.
• Jack Shainman Gallery had resounding success at Art Basel in Miami Beach, including the sales of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Swan-Songstress (2022) for $600,000; Toyin Ojih Odutola’s Yokai (Josiah + Keizuke) (2021–22) for $500,000; Diedrick Brackens’s pacify me (2022) for $190,000; Nick Cave’s Arm Peace (2022) for $180,000; and Hayv Kahraman’s Mutations (2020) for $70,000, among numerous other works.