Art Basel Miami Beach<\/a>\u2018s preview day (Dec. 3, open to the public Dec. 5\u20137) \u2014 the week\u2019s most high-profile fair, celebrating its 23rd year \u2014 with its top galleries reporting robust sales. According to The Art Newspaper, within the first three hours, Hauser & Wirth reported sales 40 percent higher than its total from day one of last year\u2019s fair.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\tThe attention-grabbing moment to kick it all off came with the debut of the Zero 10 digital art section featuring digital artist Beeple\u2019s \u201cRegular Animals,\u201d a series of robotic canine creatures with heads resembling Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Pablo Picasso. Each beast is constantly taking pictures of its surroundings and interpreting the scene through the AI lens of its character. The content is then \u201cexpelled\u201d as keepsake certificates\u2014each robo-billionaire, valued at $100,000, sold instantly.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat Hollywood is Buying Now\t<\/p>\n
\n\tArt advisor to Hollywood\u2019s A-list, Ralph DeLuca, who is also Sotheby\u2019s vice chairman of popular culture, is optimistic about the Miami fairs due to the incredible sales at New York\u2019s recent auctions, which brought in over $2 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI have buyers coming. I did business for the fair before [it started]. I have stuff in private viewing rooms. I have stuff on hold. [At the November art auctions in New York, there was a] strong result in historical material with good pedigree\u2014even young and emerging had a bump,\u201d DeLuca says. \u201cA lot of work is sold on arrival. Super young and blue-chip are selling. It\u2019s the middle that is a little more of a slog.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDeLuca\u2019s clients are gravitating toward emerging or established artists with \u201cgreat paintings in the primary market where we get access without agita or fresh to market, blue chip material by major artists with the correct pedigree.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIn terms of content, he says, pretty paintings are back and size matters.\u00a0\u201cConnoisseurship is starting to wake up and people are realizing they should buy great art that they actually want to live with. Treating it purely as an asset and keeping it in storage, especially with living artists, may not be the best path. Giant art is struggling unless it\u2019s an artistic masterpiece. I definitely see a trend towards smaller gems.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tMiami Models Hollywood\t<\/p>\n
\n\tLeading Art Week\u2019s out of fair experiences, Capital One and The Cultivist, a membership club which curates art experiences for brands and consumers, recreates the Golden Age of Hollywood at the \u201cMirage Factory\u201d by L.A. filmmaker, photographer and sculptor, Alex Prager, set inside an old theater on Lincoln Road.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe surreal, cinematic installation reenvisions L.A. in both full scale and miniature with an artificial orange grove, a tiny Hollywood Boulevard complete with the now-decommissioned Arby\u2019s sign and a garden party in the hills under the glow of Griffith Park. Prager collaborated with Hollywood blockbuster miniature maker Christopher Warren from Blind Beagle VFX to create the sets.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI was coming out of the fires where I was affected and many people I know were affected. Joey from The Cultivist called me asking if I wanted to do a project with Capital One,\u201d Prager says. \u201cI was reflecting on how Los Angeles started, how we\u2019ve always had these disasters and there is this idea that the city is totally corrupt\u2014there\u2019s a madness\u2014but there\u2019s still an underlying feeling of what if and this possibility of magic. It permeates the city in such a way\u2014like no other city. It was never supposed to be a city because there is no water.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThroughout Art Week, the Mirage Factory\u2019s events include a Capital One cardholder dinner with L.A. chef Dave Beran from the Michelin-starred Dialogue and Pasjoli, a VIP dinner (Shay Mitchell, Cait Bailey, Casper Jopling, Franklin Sirmans, Evan Ross, Es Devlin, Yvonne Force Villareal, Marlies Verhoeven, Stefano Tonchi, David Maupin, Sam Falls and Tavares Strachan attended) with a performance by Diana Ross and a Martinis at the Mirage private event, with a performance from Ellie Goulding. The surreal vibes extend to The Mirage Swim Club, located at the new Shelborne by Proper hotel, where Prager, a native of Los Feliz, adds a touch of Technicolor with a massive orange sculpture. Proceeds from the exhibit\u2019s gift shop benefit Heal the Bay, an L.A. environmental nonprofit.<\/p>\n
\t\tKid Cudi the Painter\t<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Friday, Dec. 5, at The Miami Beach Edition, rapper Kid Cudi debuts \u201cEchoes of the Past,\u201d a short documentary directed by Joshua Charow that reveals his hidden life as a painter. Through intimate moments in his studio, the film retraces the roots of his painting journey, captures his artistic process, and investigates what inspired his transition from music to visual art.<\/p>\n
\t\tAround Town\t<\/p>\n
\n\tCartier is always a significant force at Miami Art Week, and this year is no different, as they reveal the Into the Wild immersive encounter in the Design District, celebrating more than 100 years of their panther collection. Selections from the Cartier archive are shown alongside contemporary creations, cinematic storytelling, and a bespoke art installation at Into the Wild. The installation pays homage to Cartier Creative Director Jeanne Toussaint\u2019s artistic vision, which introduced the jewelry maker\u2019s signature panther and flora designs. Pieces on display include a cabochon-cut emerald bird brooch from 1944 and a yellow diamond tiger bracelet from 1967. In the Wild opens to the public at 23 NE 41st St, Miami, FL, from 11:00 am\u20139:00 pm beginning Friday, December 5, through Sunday, December 7.<\/p>\n
\n\tTag Heuer and trend-setting Japanese designer fragment (Hiroshi Fujiwara) collab for the third time on 500 limited-edition cult timepieces unveiled during an invite-only dinner party at Wynwood\u2019s Shiso restaurant hosted by Fujiwara and TAG Heuer CMO George Ciz with brand ambassador and actress Alexandra Daddario. This chapter introduces Fujiwara\u2019s design code, including the signature lightning bolt and black and white palette, into the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph x fragment Limited Edition timepiece.<\/p>\n
\t\tCORE Steps Back\t<\/p>\n
\n\tNotably missing in 2025 is one of Miami Art Week\u2019s key philanthropic events hosted by CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), the emergency response nonprofit co-founded by Sean Penn and Ann Lee. The organization, which has held a gala and concert at Soho Beach House the past several years, will instead produce a 15th Anniversary Livestream Benefit Concert on December 9 in L.A.<\/p>\n
\t\tA Fair for Entertainment Memorabilia?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDeLuca, who joined Sotheby\u2019s in March 2025 in a specialized role as vice chairman of popular culture, thinks there could be a space at Miami Art Week for the booming entertainment memorabilia market. \u201cI think the ruby slippers [which sold last year for $32 million] should be looked at as seriously as a Giacometti sculpture or a Basquiat or a Van Gogh,\u201d he says. \u201cI was the under bidder for a client on the Citizen Kane sled at over $14 million. Darth Vader\u2019s lightsaber sold for over $3 million. You\u2019re seeing so many seven and eight-figure pieces of entertainment memorabilia. It\u2019s really just beginning. Art has been collected for hundreds of years. These markets are less than 50 years old, and in some cases, 30 years or less. There\u2019s room to grow there. Popular culture affects everyone. Casablanca is important. The ruby slippers are important. The origin of Superman is important. There\u2019s no debating taste there. It\u2019s easier, especially for new money, to understand paying $10 million for a Mickey Mantle baseball card or $9.2 million for a Superman comic than a Rothko.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every December, the art world \u2014 and the brands and celebrities devotees who encircle it \u2014 gather in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[41871,18819,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-73196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-art-hollywood","tag-art-basel-miami-beach","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}