opening as visitors crowded in to admire — and consider buying — pieces by the tapestry artist Qualeasha Wood, whose work is currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the past, Patrick would not have been eligible to participate in the fair, because her New York gallery has no permanent physical space.
The shift was noteworthy, given that Art Basel’s online iteration in June 2020 did not include a single African-American-owned gallery.
The four galleries from South Africa made it to the fair just under the wire, given the emergence of the Omicron variant and President Biden’s decision to restrict travel from the country starting Nov.
Discussion of NFTs — nonfungible tokens — was also coursing through the balmy air, though they have been slow to catch on with veteran collectors.
Most galleries, particularly blue-chip dealers, reported strong sales, including a Noah Davis painting that went for $1.4 million and an Ad Reinhardt abstract for more than $7 million at David Zwirner, as well as a Keith Haring for $1.75 million and an Elizabeth Murray for $725,000 at Gladstone.
SMAC Gallery, which has locations in Cape Town and Johannesburg, barely made it to Miami.
KJ Freeman, the owner of Housing gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, was another newcomer benefiting from the expanded participation of smaller galleries.
Among the dealers Art Basel invited to apply was Daudi Karungi of Afriart Gallery in Uganda, who said he appreciated the outreach.
Jones of the Welancora gallery, which is based in a brownstone in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, said it was “an honor” to bring the work of Helen Evans Ramsaran, an American sculptor in her 70s.
Similarly, Marcus Gora, co-founder of the First Floor Gallery in Zimbabwe, said the fair gave important visibility for an artist like the one he showed in Miami, Troy Makaza, who combines painting and sculpture.
Karungi of Afriart said that participating in the fair nearly 20 years after creating his gallery feels like an important milestone and that he hopes to serve as a model for other African galleries.