sevenpercent increaseovertheprevious
yearandhigherthanthegoodol’days
of2007,when itsvaluesatat$53billion.
Fortypercentofartsalesbyvaluenow
come from fairs.
“This isabusiness.This isan industry.
Arthasbecomeacommodity;wecan’t
deny it,”saysDariaBritGreene,vicepresi-
dentofSCOPE,acontemporaryart fair
focusedonemergingartistsandgalleries.
Horowitz,anarthistorianandauthor
of
TheArtof theDeal
(2011), spentthe
past fouryearsasdirectorofNewYork’s
ArmoryShow,akeydateontheart-show
calendar.DuringhistimeattheArmory,
hemadeastrategicattempttostreamline
anddiversifythe fair.Theexhibitor list
wascutby25to30percent,Horowitz
says,andthe fair’s focuswasshifted from
NewYorkandtheU.S. to includemore
internationalrepresentation.
“Itwasreallyvalidatingandrewarding
toseeallof thesereally importantgal-
leristscomebacktothe fair,andwithin
our industry justtoseethishugeshift in
perceptionaroundthe fair,”hesays.
“TheArmoryShow in its last few itera-
tionshasbeenprettyenergeticandgreat,”
Greenesays. “[It]hasbeenhighlycurated
inthe last fewyears—moreattention
todetail, lesscramminggalleries inand
morethoughtfulpresentations.Tryingto
takeawaytheart-fairclamorandput in
moreofacuratedshowIthink issome-
thingthat [Horowitzhas]beenreally
successfulwith.”
Horowitz isproudofexpandingthe
Armory’sreachworldwideandsounds
hungry forsimilaropportunitieswith
ArtBaselMiamiBeach.LatinAmerica in
particular,hesays, is increasinglyattract-
ingattention for itsartistsandagrowing
numberofcompellingarts institutions.
HereferstoMiami,dubbedthecapitalof
LatinAmerica,asagatewayandanopen
accesspointtotheregion,andheviews
hisnew jobasachance“tobepartofa
globalconversationthatscalesacrossthe
continents.”
“There’sa lotofpeoplecoming from
throughouttheStatesand internation-
allythatthe fairtouches,andIthink
AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER2015
63
“THISISABUSINESS.THISIS
ANINDUSTRY.ARTHAS
BECOMEACOMMODITY;WE
CAN’TDENYIT.”
CLOCKWISE
FROMTOP
:
“BronzeHead”byVanessa
Beecroft; visitorswalking through theBlum&Poe
gallery; anunidentifiedman standing in front of a
photographicmural in theWynwooddistrict
PHOTOS
BR IAN CAHN/CORB I S ; COURTESY ART BASEL ; RHONA WI SE/CORB I S
GET
T
IN
G
THE
R
E
American
offersservice
to
Miami
(
MIA
) from 124
citiesworldwide in41countries
on3continents, includinga
total of74peak-dayflights
from8hubcities, including
Charlotte
(
CLT
;9flightsaday),
Chicago
(
ORD
;9),
Dallas/Fort
Worth
(
DFW
; 11),
LosAngeles
(
LAX
;8),
NewYork
(
JFK
; 7
and
LGA
; 12),
Philadelphia
(
PHL
; 7),
Phoenix
(
PHX
;2)and
Washington,D.C.
(
DCA
;9).
