There are more than 60 art galleries in Wynwood along with restaurants, bars, and shops for uncommon goods. The streets of the arts district, a fairly condensed area, come alive during Basel as each business presents special programming to honor Art Basel.
There’s an incubator of creativity in a quiet part of Wynwood called the Bakehouse Art Complex. It’s home to about 70 working artist studios. Roam through the halls of the 30,000-square-foot facility to see incredible yet affordable art by local artists. The BAC’s special Basel exhibition Together We Fly, by curator Ananda DeMello, inspired the artists to go beyond their usual medium as they transformed utilitarian objects into works of art.
Artist to Watch: BAC resident artist Ernesto Kunde takes an abstract approach to painting iconic Miami scenes and mangroves with cues from the street. He typically paints striking scenes on found wood and corrugated aluminum in black and white with streaks of bright neon colors.
Rubell Family Collection
The Rubell Family Collection is one of the world’s largest, privately owned contemporary art collections. Its founders, Mera and Don Rubell, are pioneers and their Basel exhibitions never disappoint. This year, they unveil 28 Chinese. It’s a culmination of their five research trips to China in which they visited 100 hundred artists’ studios in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, and Shanghai from 2001 – 2012. They acquired work from 28 artists and this exhibition marks the first U.S. showing for many of them.
Li Shurui, Inner Rainbow, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 in. (180 x 240 cm)李姝睿, 室内彩虹, 2011, 布面丙烯, 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 寸 (180 x 240 厘米)