Art Basel Miami Beach 2025 reaches its extraordinary zenith this weekend, with artists, gallerists, investors, singers, celebrities, DJs, hoodwinkers and hangers-on from around the world gathering for events radiating out to various locations from the Miami Beach Convention Center through Sunday.
South Florida in December is always a good place to be, especially for the well-to-do, so the serious art impulses of Miami Art Week and its culminating Art Basel Weekend have long been overwhelmed by oddball events, over-the-top parties and product premieres, making it an easy target for caricature. Who doesn’t remember “Comedian,” the infamous wall-taped banana at Art Basel 2019, which went on to sell for $6.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction?
So if you want to spend $7,000 on a martini this weekend, Art Basel is here for you.
How crazy are things this year? Here are 16 Art Basel-associated happenings, not all of them true. Can you pick out the real Basel events from the fake? (Hint: Four of them are bogus.)
1. Riffing on the infamous Art Basel banana, a new banana-based, soft-serve ice cream concept called Banana Daddy made its debut at NADA Art Fair.
2. Rock icon and Palm Beach County resident Jon Bon Jovi will unveil Jersey Made, a new line of golf attire, at The Biltmore Golf Course in Coral Gables on Saturday.
3. Italian handbag designer Abel Richard opened a boutique in the Miami Design District that offers a new line of limited-edition bags starting at $170,000.
4. An artist who goes by Alec Monopoly took a Gulfstream G-IV jet and sawed it into pieces for an installation in the Miami Design District titled, “Flying to a Happy Place.”
5. NBC Sports’ “Join the Ride” pop-up exhibition at Wynwood Marketplace celebrates the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy with art by Olympic athletes using paint and pasta sauce.
6. Luxury design brand Moooi redesigned the lobby at The Standard Spa on Miami Beach to include pop singer Robbie Williams’ Introvert Chair, which goes for $4,395.
7. At the 1 Hotel South Beach, Montreal-based artist Je Suis has portraits of the Kardashian/Jenner sisters, plus pop stars Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish, created with a variety of media that include Kardashian/Jenner-branded cosmetics. Starting price: $5,500.
8. Japanese female pro-wrestling league Sukeban — which blends live sport with art, fashion and music — made its “triumphant return to Miami Art Basel” with a show this week at the Miami Beach Bandshell.
9. On Saturday at the Fontainebleau resort, famed photographer Alex Webb will unveil the exhibit “All Smiles,” a collection of portraits of rock’s most dour musicians (Morrissey, Keith Richards, Marilyn Manson) all smiling. Coffee-table book: $125.
Does Marilyn Manson actually smile? (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times file)
10. The youthfully hip event space Casa Nube Wynwood was transformed into a 15,000-square-foot party for plush toys called Pudgy Penguins.
11. Delilah Miami and Lanore Fine Jewelry have collaborated on two martinis for Art Basel Weekend, each entwined with a diamond tennis bracelet. The martini with a 5-carat bracelet will cost $4,000, and the 7-carat martini will be $7,000.
12. At NADA Art Fair, Miami artist Art Yo! will display a line of jewelry called Retired that incorporates “elegantly shredded” pieces of recycled tires from the Miami Grand Prix. Prices range from $750 to $18,000.
13. An Art Basel brunch at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU on Sunday will spotlight a survey of photographs of the collars worn by late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
14. Palm Tree Club Miami, the restaurant, hotel and live music venue, and California-based Archer Aviation hosted a party to promote a collaboration on electric air taxi service to music festivals.
15. Small-batch luxury tequila brand Casa Dragones is serving at the Miami Beach Convention Center under a chandelier made from 500 recycled tequila bottles.
16. For a sculptural installation at Wynwood Walls called “The Kitchen Muse,” luxury appliance manufacturer Miele provided a refrigerator ($9,000+) and a cooktop ($3,600+) to create “a kitchen reimagined as a living work of art.”
(ANSWERS: All are true except 2, 7, 9 and 12.)
For information on Art Basel Miami Beach events, visit ArtBasel.com/miami-beach.
Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on IG: @BenCrandell.
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