ART BASEL MIAMI 2018: BLACK ART MATTERS ON GLOBAL SCALE

by Dwight Casimere

Dwight Casimere with a Wilfredo Lam-Chant dans la foret circa 1968 oil canvas-Born in Cuba, Lam's father was Chinese and his mother was of Spanish and Congolese descent. His work combined Cubism with elements of Caribbean and African culture and spiritual practices. He was further influenced by Picasso, Matisse, Miro,Leger

Abiola Akintola-Violinist 201

In the Art Africa  galleries with Marvin Weeks Overtown Legacy (background above and below)

An Offensive Defense by Christina Nicola

Dwight Casimere on the Red Carpet at  Daniel Elliman VIP soiree on Venetian Isle

Chef Irie with his Jamaican influenced Irie Spices menu creations for private events and catering

 Vincent Namatjira an Australian Aboriginal from a remote village outside Melbourne Australia takes artistic pot shots at despots.."humor and the paintbrush are my weapons" he says of his art

 World renowned architect Francis Kere with London Art Dealer Jennifer Flowers at the Miami Botanical Gardens. Kere Architecture is based in Berlin and is responsible for the Serpentine Pavilion in London among other major European projects.

 The Carpenter by Black American artist Jacob Lawrence 1957

 Romair Bearden-In The Night Imagining Some Fear circa 1940s gouache on paperboard

 Perusing the art of Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence at DC Moore  Gallery New York City
   dcmooregallery.com

 Antonio Inniss whose Cell Solace  has collected a remarkable body of extraordinary containers ranging from hand bags to jewelry boxes all made by inmates in American prisons and jails from the 1930s to the 1970s, and all made of cigarette wrappings, cartons and US postage stamps. Visit cell solace.com to see the entire collection

 My great friend Carl Hammer of Carl Hammer Art Galleries, 740 N. Wells a career-long promoter of African American art and artists

 With Miami Bech Mayor Dan Gleber at the Art Basil Miami VIP Preview

 Art Basel Miami Chairman and Founder Norman Braman

Fantasy at the Venetian Isle VIP Soiree by Douglas Elliman Realty

The Art Basel Miami Team-l. to r. Noah Horowitz-Dir. Americas, Marc Spiegler-Global Dir., outgoing Chair and Founder Norman Braman, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber,

Black art from Anerica, Africa, Europe, The Caribbean and Latin America was presented on a massive scale in unprecedented fashion at Art Basel Miami 2018.  Works by artis of color were sprinkled throughout the massive gallery floors at the  exhibition  proper at the Miami Beach Convention Center, as well as at Art Miami at the Miami Convention Center and at satellite exhibitions throughout South Beach and the City of Miami, most notably at Miami's Design Center, and Wynwood Art District. Practically no space was left untouched by art. Exhibitions were held on beaches, in public parks, at hotels and resorts, even on the sides of buidings, in empty storefronts and construction sites. 

Art Basel Miami 2018 is now in its17th edition. It is only outshone on the world cultural stage by its parent exhibition, Art Basel in Switzerland. There is also Art Basel Hong Kong. 

Known collectively as Art Basel Week, the event has catapulted Miami to the center of the art universe, marking it as the nation's largest and  most prestigious exhibition of modern and contemporary art.

Art Africa in Miami's historic Overtown was among the first to preview its works by artitsts of the African Diaspora. Now in its 8th edition, Art Africa explored the rereading of black art as an intellectual, political as well as artistic force. Entitled "Black Art Matters: It's not a choice,"  the four day exhibition exemplified artist's efforts of reconcile the contemporary condition of peoples of Africen descent around the world and their involvement in struggles against oppression and the necessity for Black proclomations for emancipation, independence and liberation.