Show-guide fatigue wore down collectors and tire-kickers alike at Art Basel Miami Beach today as the fair’s expanded size and confusing cul-de-sacs made finding one’s way a challenge.

“People are talking more about how to find a booth than what is in it,” said Ann Freedman, former president and director of Knoedler Gallery in New York.

A few exhibitors groused about the decision to expand the fair at a time of art market retraction.

“It’s absolutely a huge mistake,” said Marc Payot, a partner and director of Hauser & Wirth New York. “To enlarge the fair in a difficult market situation doesn’t make any sense. People get lost, and I don’t think there’s the clientele for such a large fair.”

Payot noted, “We did well (in sales) up to $250,000, but big things are difficult.”

The gallery’s sensational Subodh Gupta aluminum sedan Doot (Messenger), which was priced at €800,000, still had a reserve.

But the stars aligned in almost perfect formation at New York’s Paula Cooper Gallery, which sold two untitled Rudolf Stingel paintings, a 2009 oil and enamel on canvas measuring 95 by 76 inches for $400,000, and a slightly smaller 2008 work measuring 83 by 67 inches for $300,000.

“It’s been really good,” said Cooper, rolling her eyes at the unpredictable nature of the art market. “We did really well here last year as well, and FIAC was great for us. I think the French are buying more openly.”

Cooper also sold several sculptures, including Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggens Paradise Pies Blue, which renders a slab of blueberry pie a la mode in cast aluminum and acrylic, for $125,000 from an edition of six, and Mark di Suveros 2008 Hartnett Grasses, a lyrical abstraction in stainless steel, for $155,000

The gallery also sold Carl Andres new Base 3 Aluminum Stack (2008), which is comprised of nine aluminum ingots, for $40,000, and a large, 60-inch-square gouache on paper by Sol LeWitt, Circle (1992), for $150,000.

London's White Cube also registered strong sales, including Richard Phillips's Most Wanted, which comprises pastel portraits of teen dreams Chase Crawford, Zac Efron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Timberlake, and Robert Pattinson, for $250,000. Raqib Shaw's triptych Three Wise Men, in paint enamel, rhinestones, and glitter on paper, sold for $185,000, the same price earned by two other Shaws, He carried the essence of the sea and an untitled work.

"Sales have been really good, especially in the middle price bracket," said White Cube director Neil Wenman. "The atmosphere is really positive."

At New York's Matthew Marks, Andreas Gursky's 2002 tour-de-force Copan, featuring a montage of Oscar Niemeyer's Sao Paolo building block, sold for €500,000 ($754,000) and Thomas Demand's Fotoecke/Photobooth (2009) sold for €95,000 ($143,000). At a lower price point, the gallery sold Dottie (2009), a fired and glazed ceramic by Ken Price, for under $100,000.

David Zwirner parted with a major Jason Rhoades sculpture, two Francis Als works, two John McCracken sculptures, and works by Raoul De Keyser, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, and Chris Ofili, all on opening day.

The cash register was also ringing for New York’s Sean Kelly, who had a different take on the new configuration and expansion, a topic that might end up prompting even more debate than the raid on the Galerie Gmurzynska stand by U.S. Marshals and New York dealer Asher Edelman here yesterday morning. (Though Edelman's fanning that fire plenty himself, having given a talk at the Art Miami Pavilion today titled "Asher Edelman: Art as Investment: Its History and Future.")

“It’s a much bigger fair now,” said Kelly, “and I think it’s successful. Clearly [moving the Positions section inside from its former camp on the beach] has taken some of the good energy of the younger dealers away from other events, and that’s been a really good thing.”

Kelly sold new work by the Cuban art collective Los Carpinteros, including Rojo (2009) for €15,000, and three of five editions of Leandro Erlichs stunning 2009 Log Cabin for $65,000, $75,000 and $85,000 respectively. The faux mini cabin is comprised of resin, metal, wood, paint, and two Blu-Ray players playing DVDs on plasma screens.

One screen filled a window on one side of the cabin with a cozy interior fireplace setting and mounted trophies while the other featured a snowy winter scene. The effect was sufficient to trump Santiago Sierra's serial humping projection Los Penetrados, which was showing behind closed curtains across the aisle.

Kelly also sold Marina Abramovics large-scale color photograph Kitchen 1-Homage to Saint Therese (2009), from an edition of nine plus two artist proofs, for $70,000.

“At the Armory Show last year people were buying with a clear conscience up to $50,000 in the teeth of the economic nervousness,” said Kelly. “Here people are not batting an eyelash up to $100–150,000; after that, it’s a slow decision-making process.

“To me, frankly, that’s the sign of a good and stable market.”

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.