Newcomers Flood Miami Art Week to Fill Their Walls

A New Wave of Art Collectors in Miami

On the 39th floor of a luxury Miami tower, the view of Biscayne Bay is stunning. Alongside this breathtaking scenery, contemporary paintings and sculptures by emerging artists like Kennedy Yanko, Alexandre Diop, and Oscar Murillo add a modern touch to the space. However, there are still a few empty walls waiting for more art.

During Miami Art Week, Capucine Milliot and Olivier Cojot-Goldberg were on the hunt for new pieces to fill those walls. While they were open to various types of art, they were particularly interested in works that went beyond traditional paintings. Their search took them to art fairs such as NADA, Untitled, and Art Basel Miami Beach, where they hoped to discover unique and compelling pieces.

Milliot, a 49-year-old art publicist, has built a collection by acquiring works from young artists early in their careers. She has cultivated a network that includes Vienna-based agent Amir Shariat and the KDR305 gallery in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood. Cojot-Goldberg, who works in finance, is part of a growing trend of transplants to South Florida since the pandemic. These newcomers are making a significant impact on the cultural scene, joining museum boards at institutions like the Perez, the ICA of Miami, and the Bass.

“It’s exciting to witness how these newcomers contribute to the city’s art ecosystem,” said Monica Eulitz, a Miami-based art advisor.

The draw of sunny weather and low taxes has made Florida one of the fastest-growing states in the U.S. between 2021 and 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This influx of new residents has driven real estate values to record highs, including the recent sale of a 16,053-square-foot oceanfront penthouse for $86 million, which set a new record for the most expensive condo ever sold in Miami-Dade County. These new arrivals are also making waves in the art world, turning restaurant reservations at Carbone, Sunny’s, Surf Club, and Milos into a competitive sport.

Once seen as an afterthought, this new class of collectors is now being courted by dealers, advisors, and fair organizers who recognize their growing influence. “They are more serious than the old stereotypes suggested,” said art advisor Karen Boyer, who moved to Miami from New York in 2018.

“There’s a lot of local people in Miami who see Art Basel week as a special time to acquire one or two pieces for their homes,” added gallerist Sebastian Gladstone, who was showing at the main fair. “These are not collectors on the top 200 list. They are usually pretty cool, very curious, thoughtful, and excited.”

Many new arrivals are inspired by major local collectors like Mera and Don Rubell, who were the original stakeholders behind Art Basel Miami Beach, the largest contemporary art trade show in the country. The exhibitions at their private museum during the fair have launched the careers of many emerging artists, including those collected by Milliot and Cojot-Goldberg.

On Monday, the couple attended an exclusive dinner hosted by the powerful London- and New York-based gallery White Cube to celebrate sculptor Richard Hunt’s solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Later, they visited the Historic Hampton House to see a new exhibition of Diop’s paintings, which burst with energy against black walls.

On Tuesday morning at NADA, Milliot was drawn to a tiered glossy cardboard sculpture by Belgian artist Machteld Rullens presented by Sorry We Are Closed Gallery from Brussels. Cojot-Goldberg, however, wasn’t as impressed. At Polina Berlin gallery, they considered the ephemeral triptych by Loretta Dunkelman, the octogenarian New Yorker whose pale blues and pinks evoke Agnes Martin. But the piece was too large and on paper, which wasn’t ideal given Miami’s humidity.

On Wednesday, they spent hours walking around the VIP opening of Art Basel, where booths were bursting with colorful abstractions and a new digital-art section made its debut. A dozen works priced at more than $1 million found buyers, including an $18 million Warhol portrait of Muhammad Ali offered by Levy Gorvy Dayan gallery.

At Luhring Augustine gallery’s booth, the couple spotted a set of transparent resin doors leaning against the wall. It was a sculpture by British artist Rachel Whiteread, the first woman to win the prestigious Turner Prize in 1993. They found the 2024 work, Untitled (San Francisco Fog), intriguing, discussed it, and moved on.

But the piece stayed with them, and in the evening, Cojot-Goldberg began Googling Whiteread. He quickly realized that he’d seen her work before and had been moved by the Holocaust memorial she created in Vienna in 2000.

“She sculpts the void,” said Cojot-Goldberg, 61.

"It’s beautiful and very intellectual,” said Milliot. "That’s what I love."

The couple also liked the idea of having a work of conceptual art in their home, an exciting new turn for their collection.

On Thursday, while on the beach with friends, they decided to make an offer. The gallery responded 15 minutes later: the doors were theirs. The couple is thrilled with their purchase—and anticipate its arrival this week, even as they are trying to figure out how to move in a piece that weighs around 500 pounds. In the end, it may not end up on the wall they were looking to fill, but that’s OK.

“It will elevate the entire collection,” said Cojot-Goldberg.