Dec 1: Art Basel Miami Beach

The international art community’s holiday shopping season began in earnest at the Frieze Art Fair in London in October, and it continues this month at the 10th Art Basel Miami Beach, from December 1 through December 4. After you’ve visited its 250-plus booths, window-shop “American Exuberance,” the Rubell Family Collection’s latest exhibition, featuring 40 leading artists whose idiosyncratic energy is representative of the diverse American experience. For a little local flavor, drop by the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami and take in the epic sculptures of Mark Handforth, the first Miami-based artist to break onto the international scene.

From left: Bruno Martinazzi’s Goldfinger, at Didier Ltd. in Design Miami; Mark Handforth’s Ziggy Stardust, 2004, at MOCA, North Miami.

Meanwhile, L.A. installation artist Ruben Ochoa makes a statement at Locust Projects by cutting through the building’s concrete floor into the soil underneath—not unlike what Urs Fischer did at Gavin Brown’s gallery in 2007. Then go above­ground to see the 12 murals at open-air art park Wynwood Walls, including those by street artists Kenny Scharf and Faile. Over at Ohwow gallery, in the design district, the alternative It Ain’t Fair 2011 opens a group show with, among others, the multimedia pieces of Agathe Snow and the raunchy color drawings of Aurel Schmidt, both New Yorkers. As a nightcap, check out the work of eco-minded MacArthur Award winner Teresita Fernández, who returned from her John Hardy residency in Bali after photographing the reflection of the moon onto hammered recycled sheets of silver. The resulting 30 images were then printed on silver plates.

From left: John Miller’s The Newcomers, 2008; Frank Benson’s Human Statue (Jessie), 2011

Another environmentally minded artist—the late R. Buckminster Fuller—is the focus of an off-site exhibition at Design Miami 2011, which this year includes an original 1977 geodesic dome and Norman Foster’s reproduction of Fuller’s fuel-efficient 1933 Dymaxion concept car. Within the fairgrounds are a couple of other shows too bright to be missed: an exhibition of modern and contemporary jewelry (including pieces by Alexander Calder) and a large-scale installation by contemporary lighting designers like Dutch artist Frederik Molenschot at Carpenters Workshop Gallery. And, of course, don’t miss W Editor in Chief Stefano Tonchi’s Design Talks with Foster and other leading architects, beginning November 30.

From left: John McAllister’s Afternoons Often, 2011—all at the Rubell Family Collection; Agathe Snow’s However Long It Takes, 2007, at Ohwow gallery.

Goldfinger: courtesy of Didier Ltd.; Ziggy Stardust: courtesy of the Carnegie Museum Of Art, Pittsburgh; Mural: Martha Cooper; Human Statue (Jessie): Brian Forrest; Afternoons Often: courtesy of Rubell Family Collection; However Long It Takes: Courtesy Of Ohwow Gallery