'Art Basel Invasion!'

"Screw the recession. The nation's number one art fest is bigger than ever." From the Miami New Times here.

America might be mired in recession and gloom, but this year's Art Basel celebration will be bigger and more diverse than ever. Organizers of the Pulse, NADA, and Scope fairs, three of the largest events at Baselpalooza, all cite an increase in participant galleries. And the main event at the Miami Beach Convention Center will boast more than 220 elite galleries and upward of 2,000 artists from across the globe, a 10 percent upswing from 2007. Names such as Mark Rothko, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, and Richard Prince, as well as stellar emerging talent, will be on display.

Now in its seventh year, Art Basel Miami Beach has become the Western Hemisphere's largest commercial art event and has far outstripped its Swiss progenitor in scope and size. Nearly a thousand visiting dealers will add to the frenetic four-day extravaganza at 20-plus fairs scattered throughout Wynwood and Miami Beach. (Details for some of the biggest events appear at the end of this story and at miaminewtimes.com.) . . .

(I saw those giants. They are cool.)