Art Basel Miami 2023: Huw Lougher's Top Picks

Here Huw Lougher, managing director of Lougher Contemporary unveils his curated selection of top picks from Art Basel Miami 2023. As a seasoned expert in the contemporary art world, Huw Lougher’s choices reflect not only the current pulse of the industry but also his personal commitment to showcasing works that transcend boundaries and challenge artistic conventions.

Art Basel Miami Beach, said to be North America's most comprehensive international contemporary art fair, returns for its 21st edition December 8 - 10, 2023. Thousands of art dealers, artists, collectors and art aficionados will enjoy modern and contemporary art from 277 galleries. The center of the action will be the gleaming Miami Beach Convention Center. The huge Convention Center is divided into sections, each with its own curatorial focus:

• Galleries: This is the main area or section, where top galleries will show major works in all mediums. Positions: This is where you’ll find solo exhibitions by 16 emerging international artists.
• Nova: This year, Nova will showcase 22 presentations from 22 galleries.  Survey: In this sector, 16 galleries will present work created before the year 2000.
• Meridians: Curated by Magalí Arriola, Director of Mexico City’s Museo Tamayo, this year’s Meridians' projects will be announced soon.
• Kabinett: This sector features curated selections displayed by galleries in a separate section of their booth. 2023 Kabinett selections will be announced soon. See our Ultimate Guide to Miami Art Week Satellite Fairs to find out what’s happening at area museums – and check out our Quick Guide to Miami Art Week Fairs.

Art Basel Miami Beach is one of only four Art Basel fairs in the world; the others are in Hong Kong, Paris and the founding fair in Basel, Switzerland. (Read about the history of Art Basel.)

Each year, this week provides an opportunity for us to meet both new and existing clients, attend private and public events and also gauge where the art market is as we close out 2023 and start planning for 2024. Along with a number or art market big hitters, we also spotted a number of high profile celebrities including Leonardo di Caprio, Jared Letto, Serena Williams and Cindy Crawford.

Huw Lougher, managing director of Lougher Contemporary, has just returned from a week in Miami. Here he unveils his curated selection of the top booths from this years Art Basel Miami Beach 2023.

As an expert and advisor in the contemporary art world, Huw Lougher’s choices reflect not only the current pulse of the industry but also his personal taste and his commitment to showcase artists that are either highly collectible or starting to make waves in the art market.

Below we feature 10 booths that grabbed Huw's attention (all photos were taken by Huw).

Looking to connect with Huw? Follow him on Instagram and LinkedIn.

This year, an abundant selection of large-scale paintings was a theme among the works on view, which brought in several big-ticket sales. The purchase of a $20 million Philip Guston painting at Hauser & Wirth’s booth led the slate of reported sales from the VIP day; other notable sales included the following:

• A painting by Tracey Emin at Xavier Hufkens sold for £1.2 million ($1.5 million).
• A painting by Alex Katz at Kasmin sold for $1.4 million.
• A painting by Tom Wesselmann at Almine Rech sold in the range of $1.25 million–$1.35 million.
• Thaddaeus Ropac sold a painting by Robert Rauschenberg for $1.7 million, and two paintings by Georg Baselitz for €1.5 million ($1.6 million) and €1.2 million ($1.3 million).
• David Zwirner sold three Robert Ryman paintings made between 1961 and 1964 for $2 million–$3 million apiece, an Alice Neel painting for $2 million, a painting by Noah Davis for $1.6 million, and a painting by Elizabeth Peyton for $1.3 million.