Art Basel showcases growing cultural scene in Miami
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Art patrons look at an installation by Jon Pylypchuk at Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida on Dec 5, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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Art patrons are framed by World As Flow by Saint Clair Cemin at Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida on Dec 5, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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People look at a piece of art in the Scai The Bathhouse gallery as Art Basel opens at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Dec 5, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. The 11th edition of the art show runs from Dec 6 through the 9th. -- PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/AFP
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People walk past a gallery with an art piece titled, Boy on Tightrope by Yinka Shonibare as Art Basel opens at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Dec 5, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. The 11th edition of the art show runs from Dec 6 through the 9th. --PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/AFP
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Mr Santiago Caleya looks at the art in the Mai 36 gallery as Art Basel opens at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Dec 5, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. The 11th edition of the art show runs from Dec 6 through the 9th. -- PHOTO:GETTY IMAGES/AFP
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Art patrons tour Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida on Dec 5, 2012. As art aficionados and collectors descend on Miami Beach this week for one of the world's top contemporary art fairs, galleries are counting on the rising affluence of Latin American buyers. Latin America's millionaires and billionaires, many newly minted thanks to booming commodity prices and investments from Asia, are making a splash in the global art market, spending record amounts on works by artists from their region and buying pricier works by Impressionists and Old Masters. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Art patrons look at an installation by Jon Pylypchuk at Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida on Dec 5, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Art patrons are framed by World As Flow by Saint Clair Cemin at Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida on Dec 5, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
People look at a piece of art in the Scai The Bathhouse gallery as Art Basel opens at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Dec 5, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. The 11th edition of the art show runs from Dec 6 through the 9th. -- PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/AFP
People walk past a gallery with an art piece titled, Boy on Tightrope by Yinka Shonibare as Art Basel opens at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Dec 5, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. The 11th edition of the art show runs from Dec 6 through the 9th. --PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/AFP
Mr Santiago Caleya looks at the art in the Mai 36 gallery as Art Basel opens at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Dec 5, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. The 11th edition of the art show runs from Dec 6 through the 9th. -- PHOTO:GETTY IMAGES/AFP
Art patrons tour Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida on Dec 5, 2012. As art aficionados and collectors descend on Miami Beach this week for one of the world's top contemporary art fairs, galleries are counting on the rising affluence of Latin American buyers. Latin America's millionaires and billionaires, many newly minted thanks to booming commodity prices and investments from Asia, are making a splash in the global art market, spending record amounts on works by artists from their region and buying pricier works by Impressionists and Old Masters. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
MIAMI BEACH (REUTERS) - One of the largest contemporary art fairs in the world kicks off on Thursday, with the 11th annual Art Basel Miami Beach drawing celebrities, art-gawkers and some of the world's top galleries.
The four-day fair is credited with helping transform Miami's image from one of weekend beach frivolity to an emerging mecca for the performing and visual arts.
An estimated 50,000 visitors flocked to the fair in 2011, according to the city's tourism promotion agency, and more are expected this year.
"Prior to Art Basel we had eight galleries. We now have over 140 in Miami-Dade County," said Mr Norman Braman, a billionaire car dealership mogul and chair of the local committee that works with the fair's organizers.
