Mark Handforth
Mark Handforth and Dara Friedman next to his piece, “Lipstick Yellow,” in their outdoor studio in Miami. Credit...Scott McIntyre for The New York Times
Thirty years ago, the city was barely a blip on the art world’s radar. Now, partly because of Art Basel, it has become a global hot spot. But can it manage its growing pains?
Their move overseas from London was all set. “We were both 23 years old, right out of art school,” recalled the experimental filmmaker Dara Friedman of that moment in the summer of 1992, with her then-boyfriend, now husband, the sculptor Mark Handforth.
“Where could we go that was inexpensive where we could start being artists?” The unlikely answer was a city the art world had deemed a cultural backwater: Miami.
That dismissal of Miami as a merely tropical getaway has shifted. This week sees virtually all eyes within the contemporary art milieu turn to South Florida for the 21st annual Art Basel Miami Beach fair, an event that draws well-heeled art collectors, dealers and curators from around the globe. The Basel fair, open to the public Friday to Sunday and featuring 277 galleries hosting booths inside the Miami Beach Convention Center, is only part of the attraction.
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