If you didn’t get enough art during Miami Art Week (and you’re looking for an artsy way to celebrate Valentine’s Day), get ready for the return of Art Wynwood to the Herald Plaza on Biscayne Bay this weekend. Known as the sister fair to the famed Art Miami and CONTEXT Art fairs in December, Art Wynwood is one of the many exciting yearly art events in Miami, solidifying the Magic City’s status as a verifiable year round art destination. 

Founded in 2012, Art Wynwood showcases a dynamic array of contemporary art, with a curatorial focus on emerging talent, mid-career artists, and blue chip post-war modern masters. And because it’s held in February, it’s a great opportunity for aspiring and seasoned art collectors to get their hands on a Warhol or Basquiat without all the harried frenzy of Art Basel.

Photo courtesy of Art Wynwood

Opening with a VIP Vernissage Thursday evening, and then open to the public through Monday, the Downtown Miami art fair features work by over 180 artists exhibited at 60 international galleries from the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and Asia, representing artists from around the world, as well as many top local artists.

Indeed, now in its ninth edition, Art Wynwood highlights how creative a city Miami has become. And art is everywhere here. From the Perez Art Museum, MOCA, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), and several internationally renowned private art collections, including Edgewater’s Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation Art Museum, to the performing arts at the Arsht Center, Miami Beach’s New World School of the Arts, and award-winning theater companies (yes, Miami has theater!), to amazing contemporary art within condos and hotels, Miami is no longer a second city to any.

Photo courtesy of Art Wynwood

Local galleries participating at Art Wynwood include Avant Gallery, Bel Air Fine Art, European Design & Art, and several others. Blink Group, located in Miami and Los Angeles, will feature works by Latin American artists such as Anabel Ruiz, Claudio Castillo and Ernesto Domecq, while Cernuda Gallery, located in Coral Gables, will showcase work by famed Cuban masters Wifredo Lam, Manuel Mendive and René Portocarrero. 

If modern and postmodern art is your vibe, Miami’s own Robert Fontaine Gallery will showcase works by masters Robert Rauschenberg, Alex Katz, and Adrian Hobbs, and check out Boca Raton’s Graeme Jackson Gallery for coveted works by as Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein and Takashi Murakami.

Photo courtesy of Art Wynwood

If you want to support local artists, don’t miss the Miami Art Society Gallery booth, featuring such local talent as Santiago Rubino, Tatiana Suarez, and Christina Pettersson, along with several other top local names.

And, because this is Miami and we like to do things with a little bit more luxe than what’s required, you can top off your stroll through the fantasy world of fine art with a visit to the Miami Yacht Show, happening adjacent to Art Wynwood at the One Herald Plaza location.

Cover photo courtesy of Van Tine Photography