Photo courtesy of James Painter Belvin

MIAMI–Huge crowds embraced SCOPE's raw floored pioneer spirit, fueling sales and shifting focus from tough economic times to notable optimism. SCOPE Miami 08 hosted its 90 exhibitors from 22 countries in a new 60,000 square foot pavilion centrally located at Midtown Miami. Undeniably the most talked-about fair during this year's Olympics of the art world, Miami's original emerging contemporary art fair drew an enthusiastic audience of 30,000 art world VIPs, collectors, and art lovers as it returned for its seventh year December 3-7.

Recent new comers to SCOPE, included ARATANIURANO | Tokyo, Ark | Jakarta, INVISIBLE-EXPORTS | New York, Jacob Karpio Galeria | San Jose, Like the Spice | Brooklyn, Y Gallery | Queens, Gallery Peithner-Lichtenfels | Vienna, and Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska | Salzburg all reported strong sales with Jacob Karpio exclaiming, "SCOPE is the pioneering fair to break the monopoly i n the market, opening the door for galleries around the world and providing viewers with a real-time survey of emerging art. SCOPE took a risk and was a huge success." Benjamin Tischer of INVISIBLE-EXPORTS beamed, "Traffic was wonderful, the new location brilliant. I had a consistent stream of visitors telling me that SCOPE was the busiest fair."

Sarah Douglas of ARTINFO reported, "Despite the gloomy global economic conditions, things seemed, rather improbably, to be chugging along over at the SCOPE fair and its new sister event, ART ASIA." SCOPE Miami's dynamic partnership with ART ASIA, maintained unique identities with separate pavilions, presenting a combined 135 exhibitors from over 36 countries. The partnership helped to increase audience attendance while attracting new collectors, curators and press. Expanded museum quality programming, which included a well-attended lecture series, was a result of this new partnership. Both fairs look forward to a similar relationship with ART ASIA's debut in Basel, Switzerland on June 10th, 2009.

"This year, SCOPE definitely was my favorite fair, not only because the work for sale was superb, but their commitment to inviting local artists and musicians to take part in the festivities is refreshing," said Jose Duran of the Miami New Times. Spotted early at the SCOPE Pavilion were collectors Beth Rudin DeWoody, Richard and Eileen Ekstract, Michael and Susan Hort, Stephanie Igrassia, Arnold Lehman, Takashi Murakami, Todd Oldham and Charles Saatchi. The SCOPE Collectors' tours attracted members from Art in Embassies, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Christie's Education-New York, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Miami Art Museum, MoMA, National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, The Phillips Collection, RBC Financial Group, Smithsonian American Art Museum, TATE Modern, and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

Much viewed and reviewed, programming at SCOPE was curated by the SCOPE Foundation, newly named the ARTIST FOUNDATION 501 (c)(3), Miami 08 Foundation highlights included:

Museum Presents

SCOPE's third edition of Museum Presents, Narrative/Non-Narrative: Contemporary Artists from the CIFO Programs, a nonprofit exhibition focusing on Latin American artists co-presented and curated by The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO).

Collector Mentorship Auction

SCOPE's Collector Mentorship Auction also celebrated its third auction with competitive bidding for its ten collectors: Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Lisa Kirk, Arnold Lehman, Kathryn Mikesell, Dennis Oppenheim, Dennis Scholl, Nancy Seltzer, Andres Serrano, Rob Teeters, and Ultra Violet. Past participants included Louisa Buck, Melva Bucksbaum, Frank Cohen, Bob Colacello, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Eileen and Richard Ekstract, John Friedman, Raymond Learsy, Arnold Lehman, Adam Lindemann, Enrique Norten, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Lowell Pettit, Julia Peyton-Jones, Kay Saatchi, Kenny Schachter, Terrie Sultan and Rick Wester. The fourth edition of the CMA will reach outside of the art world to include titans of industry, tastemakers, and iconoclasts.

ARTIST FOUNDATION

Thirteen ARTIST Projects were presented, included: The Girl Project, GLOWLAB, mr.brainwash, and Matthew Porter's Startled Birds. FriendsWithYou's Fun House, transformed SCOPE's VIP Lounge into an interactive bounce house, a crowd favorite.

Returning galleries posted strong results with Toby Clarke from the Fine Art Society (FAS) reporting that Annie Kevans, who only joined the gallery three months ago, sold 12 portraits, all priced at 4,300 USD, while a painting by Keith Coventry went for 40,000 USD and another by Stephen Goddard for 27,800 USD. "Long time SCOPE exhibitor Helmut Schuster of Galerie Schuster | Frankfurt/Berlin commented, "SCOPE is no longer a satellite fair and has made its mark for presenting the young and emerging contemporary artists. SCOPE is what collectors and curators want to see- the buzz about the fair is proof! I thought because of the problems in the market that it would be harder to sell, but the first day relieved all my anxieties."

With total sales of over 100 million USD and attendance of over 250,000 visitors, SCOPE Art Fairs have drawn wide media attention including The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Art in America, and ArtNet Magazine, which wrote, "Of the various art fairs in Miami, it was SCOPE that served up the best and most playful energy, both inside and out."

NEW YORK-Building on SCOPE Miami's overwhelming success, SCOPE launches the 09 season returning to New York for the eighth year with its flagship invitational fair, March 4-8. SCOPE New York 09's third year located at Manhattan's iconic Lincoln Center on the corner of 62nd Street and 10th Avenue just blocks from the Armory Show will be serviced daily by VIP cars, shuttles and pedicabs.

Last year SCOPE New York featured galleries from four continents and 20 countries, including Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This year SCOPE New York 09's 50 international exhibitors will continue to uphold its unique tradition of one-person and thematic group shows presented alongside museum-quality programming, collector tours, screenings, and special events.