Five Miami Galleries Will Exhibit at Art Basel Miami Beach 2023

South Florida may not be able to feel the chill of autumn after this year's record-breaking summer, but the end of the year is just around the corner — and so is Art Basel Miami Beach.

After celebrating its 20th anniversary last year, the art fair that supercharged Miami's art industry and made Miami Art Week a destination for the international art crowd each December, is back. This year, 277 art galleries from around the world converge on the Miami Beach Convention Center December 8-10, with preview days December 6-7.

"Our offering this year demonstrates yet again the strength of our show as an engine of the world of art in the Americas and globally, and as an utterly transformative, cross-cultural experience," said Noah Horowitz, CEO of Art Basel, in a statement.

Five galleries from Miami have been chosen to participate in this year's fair — the most ever. Veterans David Castillo and Frederic Snitzer Gallery will return to the main section; North Beach-based Central Fine will feature well-regarded local abstract painter Loriel Beltrán in the Nova section, which focuses on emerging artists and practices, while Allapattah's Spinello Projects, who presented in Nova last year, will move to Positions with work from 26-year-old queer Puerto Rican painter Esaí Alfredo. New to the fair is Piero Atchugarry Gallery, originally from Uruguay, which opened a cavernous Miami location in Little Haiti in 2018. They'll show artwork by the late Uruguayan artist Nelson Ramos in the Survey section, meant for work from before 2000.

Meanwhile, seven galleries with Palm Beach locations, most of them international mega-galleries headquartered elsewhere, will also participate: Acquavella, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Paula Cooper Gallery, Gavlak, Lehmann Maupin, Pace Gallery, and White Cube. The city has become a magnet for blue-chip art galleries chasing wealthy collectors who moved there during the pandemic.

This year's fair sees an art market that's radically changed since Art Basel first came to Miami in 2002. The number of art fairs globally has sharply risen, from less than 50 before 1990 to more than 300 today. Collectors have more options than flying into Miami every December, even in the Americas; fairs and art organizations in New York City launched an official New York Art Week in 2022, taking cues from Miami's synergistic art week branding. It's unlikely they'll be able to rival the actual draw of Miami Art Week, the many unofficial parties and satellite events (not to mention warm weather) that bring New Yorkers down here like moths to a flame every December.

Art Basel has also gained heavy intra-industry competition from Frieze, which runs fairs in Los Angeles, New York, and Seoul, and recently acquired Expo Chicago and New York's prestigious Armory Show. It also faces competition in Asia from upstart fairs Tokyo Gendai in Japan and Art SG in Singapore. Still, Art Basel remains the gold standard in the industry, with exacting curatorial standards ensuring that only the most prestigious galleries from around the world are given space. After opening in Miami Beach in 2002, the fair expanded to Hong Kong in 2008, and its latest, Paris+ par Art Basel, opened in the French capital last year. The original fair in Basel, Switzerland, began in 1970.

Along with Nova, Positions, and Survey, Art Basel Miami Beach includes its main Galleries section along with Meridians for large-scale artworks; Editions, for prints and editioned works; Kabinett, small-scale exhibitions curated by selected galleries; and Conversations, a free-to-the-public panel series. Along with major art world names like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and Perrotin, Basel features galleries from around the world, including first-timers from far-flung cities like Cairo, Warsaw, Montreal, Manila, and Sao Paulo.

For the complete list of Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 exhibitors, visit artbasel.com.

Art Basel Miami Beach. Friday, December 8, through Sunday, December 10 (preview days on Wednesday, December 6, and Thursday, December 7), at Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach; artbasel.com.