Every year Miami and Miami Beach are taken over during the first week of December by more than 20 art fairs, which draw hundreds of galleries from around the world to the Sunshine State.
One reason, said Eric Firestone of the eponymous East Hampton gallery with outposts in NoHo, is that "it's nice to go down to Miami in December." It's also a "necessary part of the gallery food chain, you have to have your work exposed. The days of sitting in the gallery and waiting for people to come to you are long gone."
Mr. Firestone's gallery is the only one from East Hampton that was in Art Basel Miami Beach's main location, as it has been for six years. This was a particularly strong fair for the gallery, he said. On the opening day, Alice Walton bought an important painting by Pat Passlof for the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Ark. The Firestone booth had work by 16 artists.
Harper's Gallery of East Hampton, which has branches in Manhattan and Los Angeles, took part in NADA Miami. Chris Mansour, the gallery's director, said they decided to focus on one artist, Hyegyeong Choi, a Korean-American artist who paints figurative scenes of decadence and gluttony.
"We had a really strong response from visitors and attendees," said Mr. Mansour, noting that her work had been featured in Vogue as one of several booths recommended by the magazine. "The fairs are certainly helpful for business, we make new contacts, and we obviously sold some work." Art Basel Miami Beach is the biggest fair week in the United States, Mr. Mansour added, and "certainly one of the most important from our perspective to go to."
The Halsey McKay Gallery of East Hampton also went to Miami. "It is always a pleasure to be a part of NADA Miami, a fair which features so many unique galleries with cutting-edge artists," Rebecca Poarch, the gallery's director, said in an email. "The energy at the fair was buzzing, and the scene very much alive. The pace was up from day one, and we were very heartened by the sizable turnout and sustained interest in our booth."
The gallery showed a range of artists from its program, among them Graham Collins, Studio Lenca, Lauren Luloff, Hilary Pecis, Ryan Steadman, and Johannes VanDerBeek.
Keyes Art in Sag Harbor brought half a dozen artists to Art Miami. Julie Keyes said this year's fair was "fabulous," and agreed that the week is the high point of the year for U.S. art fairs.
