 |
| "Green Sea Swimmers" Sheila Elias, Frost Art Museum |
|
| Welcome to the web site that covers Art Basel, Design Miami, satellite fairs, local events in Greater Miami from Nov. 30 through Dec. 7, 2008, as well as design and art events in Miami and around the world. The digital image at left is "Green Sea Swimmers," by Sheila Elias of North Miami. It is in the collection of the Frost Art Museum at FIU. |
| News from ICFF in New York |
 |
| Constantin Grcic |
|
| The International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York (May 17 through 20) offered new sofas, tables, rugs, desks, accessories, concepts and lots of wallpaper from everywhere. Constantin Grcic discussed his new cantilever chair with Brooke Stoddard at the Convention Center, the Architectural League through a ball with smoke machines, giant balloons, ping pong, and every version of ball except the waltz kind. Bulletin: Florent in the meat packing district is closing in June. Eat there now, because it won't be there next year. |
 |
| Beaux Arts Ball |
|
|
 |
| ArtoConecto |
|
| It's not too soon to begin selecting work for Art Basel in December. That's the thinking behind the competition at ArtoConecto and the fund raising pig roast ($20... you can do better than that!) on May 17 at Brody House, 941 NE 84th Street in Miami Shores. A Hawaiian theme, with tiki drinks, thrown by those great folks from Stop Miami, Dan and Alexandra Brody. All for the juried A-B(o)mb (Art Basel of Miami Beach) show to be held at the Bakehouse complex in December. |
| Los Angeles Throws an Art, Architecture & Design Fair, April 10 - 13 |
| Another art fair? Yep. This one's in LA, and there's a decent lineup: a Kara Walker exhibit at the Hammer Museum, for those who missed it at the Whitney in New York, a lecture about the long neglected Italian designer Enzo Mari. The Moss gallery is hanging up its Tord Boontje Blossom chandelier. The Storefront for Art and Architecture is doing a pop up gallery and having a talk on Russian architecture by Barry Bergdoll, who replaced Terry Riley at MoMA. But we're not sure we're ready for a Japanese "Maid Cafe." Girls dressed up in anime costumes and fussing over customers? That seems like any night on South Beach. In any case, the Miami Art Architecture & Design Week salutes the Los Angeles Art Weekend. |
 |
| Kara Walker at the Hammer Museum |
|
|
| The Miami - Milan Connection |
The Milan Furniture Fair takes place April 16 through 22 in Italy, and a contingent from Miami will be going, including Nasir and Nargis Kassamali, from the great Luminaire design emporiums, the architect Rene Gonzalez, and presumably Craig Robins and Ambra Medda, of Design Miami. One local design writer, Saxon Henry, has a terrific web site called DesignCommotion that interviews the people behind iModerni in Miami, Piera Rimoldi and Neil Somerfield, on what to expect in Milan. DesignCommotion also visits ArteAmericas, the March art show in Miami that focuses on Latin Art (see next item) and tips visitors to Milan off to the exhibit at Superstudio Piu of three Spanish companies. A must for followers of Jaime Hayon. And check out the shaped Flying Carpet from Nanimarquina. Why doesn't someone send MA2Dweek to Milan to find out more? |
 |
| Sotsass mirror shown by iModerni |
|
|
 |
| Daniel Rode Macrame Spider Chair |
|
|
| Cuban Art Hailed in the WSJ |
 |
| Cambio de Color (2001) by Quiala |
|
| In March Kelly Crow wrote a story, "The Cuban Art Revolution," about how the strong Cuban art market and some of the local collectors including Craig Robins, Beth Rudin DeWoody and Howard Faber, who made his fortune as co-owner of Video Shack and spent $2 million in the 1990s buying art in China. Now, with Chinese art so strong, he has sold off 45 pieced of Chinese art for $20 million, and has moved on to Cuban art. The Wilfredo Lam exhibit is on at the Miami Art Museum until May 18, 2008, and work by the Cuban-Dominican artist Quisqueya Henríquez will be on exhibit until July 20. MAM also has work by Jose Bedia, María Martínez-Cañas, and Ana Mendieta in its permanent collection. |
 |
| Jaume Pensa sculpture, photography by Jim Budman |
|
| Some 220 private planes from NetJets arrived for Art Basel, and their owners promptly headed for the cocktail party at the Hotel Victor on South Beach on Dec. 4. They must have thought that the 15-foot tall sculpture of flowing stainless steel letters across the street from the Victor was a public art work. Not quite. The piece, "Nomade," was part of a public arts project that was supposed to "engage directly with the spectator, interrupting the daily routine of passers-by in poetic, alienating, or surprising ways." Job done. What most passersby didn't know is that the City of Miami Beach gave over parkland as display space for pieces that would not fit inside the Convention Center. "Nomade," by the talented Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, was 15 feet tall, and sprawled in many directions. (Plensa is represented by the Richard Gray gallery in Chicago and Galerie Lelong in New York.) "Nomade" sold opening night of the Art Basel fair for $1.65 million to John and Mary Pappajohn. He is an Iowa venture capitalist. Together they are loaning "Nomade" to the Des Moines Art Center, until their own museum is built. So say goodbye to "your" public art, Miami Beach. And thanks for the parking space. |
| Celebrity Sightings (Local and More) |
 |
| Tara Solomon, a Miami publicist/reporter |
|
|
 |
| Darlene & George Perez, Related |
|
|
 |
| Alan Randolph, making the best of a bad situation |
|
|
| Locals who got into the best parties: the drag queen Elaine Lancaster (Russian artists dinner; no comment on how he looked like the Russian women), Robert Wennett (Vanity Fair), Alison Spear (Russian artists, opening night), Darlene & George Perez (Sotheby's dinner, Mandarin Oriental), Martie Margulies at the opening of NADA, Chad & Ilona Oppenheim (Sotheby's dinner, Mandarin Oriental; Cem Kinay flight to Dellis Cay); Craig Robins (opening party for the Florida Room); Beth Rudin DeWoody (Bob Colacello); Christina Getty Maercks (Pucci brunch); bravely, Alan Randolph (SCAD reception; Calvin Klein party, George Lindemann's and more); the Ziffs (Pucci brunch); Javier Sanjuanbenito (Wednesday dinner, UBS); Nasir & Nargis Kassamali (Swarovski dinner); Karla Dascal (Pucci dinner); John Hood (Wall Street Journal cocktail party); Nick D'Annunzio and Tara Solomon (Ralph Lauren cocktail party); Shelley Acoca of the Herald (Julian Schnabel's party, Delano); Anthony Kennedy Shriver (Ralph Lauren); Tony Goldman (Netjets at the Victor); Lauren Taschen (T magazine online); Tali Jaffe (Dellis Cay); Abby Kellett (Dellis Cay). Almost everyone in Miami got into the MAM ball (except for MA2Dweek, once again); the VIP room at the Convention Center; the vernissage of Design Miami. The Miami design elite went to dinner for the designer of the year at Craig Robins's house. Barely seen around town, Jerry Powers. For more parties and party goers, click here. |
 |
| Elaine Lancaster, hee, hee, he |
|
|
Leslie Abravanel of the Miami Herald thoroughly documented celebrity attendance at Miami Basel. That's Mandy Moore in the center of the photo at right, being squeezed by, as far as we can tell, two pr people from Coach. Other celebs spotted around town: Mike Ovitz at the Design Miami vernissage; Tommy Hilfiger; Martha Stewart; Tobey Maguire at Art Miami; Steve Martin; Julian Schnabel and his daughter Lola, at his and hers parties; Lou Reed, sourly answering questions after the screening of “Lou Reed’s ‘Berlin’”; Dennis Hopper at the Sotheby’s dinner; Donna Karan at the opening of Design Miami (as usual); Linda Evangelista, at the Visionaire party in the Florida Room; Owen Wilson; Woody Harrelson; Lance Armstrong; apparently the entire staff of The New York Times, including Trish Hall, Stefano Tonchi, Guy Trebay and a host of "T" bloggers. Paris Hilton introduced her perfume; Ralph Lauren plugged his book and his store; Tamara Mellon celebrated her company, Jimmy Choo; Nadja Swarovski had a dinner at the Raleigh. And despite Chuck Close's statement in "New York" magazine ("I think that for an artist to go to an art fair, it's like taking a cow on a guided tour of a slaughterhouse.") there were a lot of artists like John Baldessari and the ever present Bruce Weber. But no Zaha Hadid this year, no Keanu Reeves,no Dita von Teese (riding her bucking, oh, let's call it a lipstick tube), no Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones. For more celebrity sightings go here.
|
 |
| Many Moore, center, with Heather Feit and Rain Penchansky, media reps for Coach |
|
|
 |
| From the iBush project, Lizabeth Eva Rosoff |
|
|
Lizabeth Eva Rossof, remember the name. She was one of the 20 artists showing at Geisai, the juried show upstairs from Pulse. Her iBush project involves recording the first 1,000 words people said when they heard the name George Bush. Her I Witness project involved asking police sketch artists to draw an image based on a careful descriptions of members of the Bush administration. See more of her work here. |
 |
| VP Cheney, the I Witness project |
|
|
| Portfolio and First Timer's Report, Maria Jenson |
 |
| A large nude painting by Kurt Kauper at the Deitch booth inside the Convention Center |
|
|
Maria Jenson arrived from the Salon Oblique gallery in Los Angeles early Wednesday morning to see her first Art Basel. Read her report on a first-timer's lament of being lost, confused and exhausted. But she also left Miami thrilled. What impressed her most was a work (seen below) by Hernan Bas, a Miami artist, on display at the Rubell Family Collection. |
 |
| A piece by Mai-Thu Perret |
|
|
 |
| Installation view, Ocean's Symphony (Dirge for the Fiji Mermaid), 2007, Hernan Bas, Rubell Family Collection, Miami |
|
|
| A Survey of Works in the Satellites |
| Click on either image to go to photo albums and reports on Design Miami, Scope, Pulse, Aqua, Geisai and more. |
 |
| Stephanie Sacco, gallerist |
|
|
 |
| Eric Doeringer, artist |
|
|
From all reports, there are a few things not to miss on this last day of MA2Dweek:
Both Aqua fairs (1530 Collins and 42 NE 26th Street)
Scope (101 NW 34th Street), even better this year than last
Geisai (at 2136 NW First Street with Pulse), Geisai is a discovery, a treasure trove of affordable art; at Pulse, if you are a fan of figurative art, don't miss Erik Sanberg's oil paintings
NADA (14th and N. Miami Avenue), a mixed vote but worth a trip
Design Miami (Design District): Moore building, Luminaire, Farm Project, tattoo, glass blowing
Emmanuel Perrotin (194 NW 30th Street) stays open during Basel on Sundays from 9 am to 6 pm.
And of course, the Convention Center; most commented on, the Trick pieces reminiscent of last year's dancing cigarette pack and circle of videotape blown by opposed fans: Jeppe Hein's two cubes in a corner suspended by an electromagnetic field at 303 Gallery (remember Hein's 2005 installation of a rolling ball at the Moore Space?); a loudly clanking robot at von Senger; and an installation by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset at the De Carlo gallery (Milan) in Booth D14: a fake ATM machine and a silicone baby in a basket.
|
 |
| If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Design Miami, Moore Building |
|
|
 |
| Bass Museum, open Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm |
|
|
| The Fair So Far, Saturday Night |
 |
| Janda Wetherington, Pan American Art Projects |
|
| Thoughts on the fair. This year, prices in the Convention Center are 10 percent higher than last year, said one person who seemed to know. (ArtInfo says 20 percent higher, yikes!) The traffic this year has been much worse than last, especially after the motorcycle crash on the MacArthur Causeway on Friday night, which froze traffic in both directions. The parties were even bigger, and at the same time, more private, like the Visionaire party for 200. (In its first year at Art Basel, Visionaire threw a party for approximately a million people. More dinner parties, but listen, people, those "private islands" you keep talking about are not really private... those are public streets. And the "yacht" mentioned on the invitations isn't going to sail anywhere, and is a giant art gallery called SeaFair. More artists seemed to be showing in two or three different fairs. And local galleries take spots in the satellite fairs too. Apparently too much is still not enough.
The live animals in the Design District (the Farm Project) were fun, although the pigs always seemed to be asleep. We'd like to know exactly how many permanent tattoos were done. And we welcome the two new restaurants in the Design District, but they could have stayed open much later.
Finally, local gallerists like Janda Wetherington, left, seemed to be having a ball. So a good fair, and an exhausting one.
|
| Have I Been Too Long at the Fair? |
 |
| Transgressive art, and Free Parking |
|
| Art Updates
Are you asking yourself what day is it? Having trouble remembering what you saw yesterday? Here's some help.
Critical Miami is doing a bang up job analyzing the fairs. Alesh Houdek, the genius behind the site, is finding great stuff, like this Miami Beach Parking Receipt Generator, for those of you who have battled with the @*$!# machines that refuse or eat your card, kick back your dollars and can't take your coins because of gum in the slot. The "generator" was abruptly shut down on Friday, but we're here to tell the guy who did it... just say it was an art work, like Eric Doeringer's "bootleg" artworks. Alesh at Critical Miami is a very entertaining read.
There Goes the Neighborhood
Jason Edward Kaufman writes in the Dec. 7 Art Newspaper about Marina Abramovic’s new art center in Hudson, New York. The article says her foundation to preserve performance art will be in a Hudson theater she bought. For those with weekend homes near Hudson, this is good news and bad. Good because there will now be something to do other than walk up and down Warren Street buying overpriced antiques. Bad because the theater used to be filled with affordable antiques and great junk. And scary because in an article headlined “Warhol’s Factory without the Drugs,” there was this passage about Abramovic’s performance at the Guggenheim last year: Abramovic, 61, “concluded the series with two of her own works, including the riveting ‘Lips of Thomas’ piece in which the naked artist slices a Soviet star into her belly with a razor blade, flagellates herself with a scourge, and lies on an ice-block crucifix, among other unsettling metaphorical actions.” “Without the drugs?” I think drugs would be required, either to perform Abromovic’s piece, or to watch it.
The Price of Art
On ArtInfo, Sarah Douglas writes about the financial side of the art market coming into Basel and finds that, despite jitters in the credit market, major pieces were hauled out, including Basquiats at the Krugier Gallery, Convention Center, Booth H7, and at the Van de Weghe gallery, Booth K3.
|
 |
| Basquiats All Over the Fair |
|
|
| The Talk of Saturday Morning |
| Saturday of Art Basel week was a gorgeous day, and hot. Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz generously received guests at their home and gallery in Key Biscayne; the biggest topics of conversation (other than the intelligent and passionate nature of the de la Cruz exhibition this year) was about the accident on the MacArthur Causeway Friday night (a speeding motorcyclist killed, we hear) that stopped traffic to Miami and kept people from getting to the Island Gardens party; and the glittering dinner party--complete with floating disco balls in the pool--at Craig Robins's house on Sunset I the night before, with design world stars including the designers Arne Quinze and Yves Behar; the design mavens Murray Moss and Franklin Getchell (of Moss) and Zesty Myers (of R 20th Century) and the journo power houses Michelle Ogundehin, editor in chief of Elle Decoration, London, and Stefano Tonchi, editor in chief of the T magazines of The New York Times. New York Times was well represented at the Robins dinner, a tribute to Tokujin Yoshioka, with Guy Trebay, the Styles department arbiteur of everything sophisticated, Carol Kino, who writes about art for Arts & Leisure, and Phoebe Hoban, also a Times writer. This year T is blogging all about the fair on its new web site. |
 |
| Rosa de la Cruz, on Dec. 8, in her garden |
|
|
| The Parties You Don't Get Into |
 |
| Ambra Medda, director of Design Miami |
|
| You know how the party you are NOT invited to always sounds like the one you should have been at? And most of us really want to be part of a club that won't have us. Therefore, during Basel, it's nice to be invited to the party Craig Robins and Ambra Medda, left, threw at the Robins house. And it's great to meet Eli Sudbrack, aka Assume Vivid Astro Focus, at Rosa and Carlos de la Cruzes breakfast. (He did an entire room installation in 2004 that's still there and looking great.) But everyone was talking about the place most of us can't get into: the new Soho House in Miami. We heard it was "divine." That's the way it always is. |
 |
| Eli Sudbrack, aka Assume Vivid Astro Focus |
|
|
| Daily Schedule to Download |
 |
| Click below to go to page downloads |
|
|
| After Last Night: Thursday |
 |
| Jennifer Rubell, host of a party on Thursday at the Rubell Family Collection |
|
 |
| Feasting at the Rubell Collection |
|
 |
| Bringing a farmhouse kitchen to the Palm Lot |
|
 |
| Watch for these signs on the sidewalk |
|
 |
| Dusk at Design Miami |
|
 |
| At the show, inside Design Miami/photo credit Stephen Treffinger |
|
 |
| Think this came from your grandmother's back yard/photo credit Stephen Treffinger |
|
 |
| At the Ball, Swarovski/photo credit, Stephen Treffinger |
|
 |
| Dramatic lighting from 51 chandeliers |
|
|
| Wednesday: Report from the Convention Center |
At 12 noon, a group of well-dressed art buyers milled around the lobby of Hall D, waiting to be let into the halls of the fair. They were the early early birds. Another less haute group would be let in at 2 pm, and then at 5, just the ordinary VIPs for the Vernissage. One whippet-thin blond was wearing high-heeled leopard print boots, even though the weather outside was balmy and in the 80s. Fashion note: in Miami, gray counts as a pastel. And the Greecian look will have its big year here. (Hurry up girls, because next year it's going to be over for the draped Empire dress.) In the Art Patrons Lounge, Sam Keller was greeting people and taking care of business. At the UBS booth, a couple announced they were ready for their "personal tour." Now that is personal banking. At the Flagstone booth, Mehmet Bayraktar was excitedly leading guests across the hall to the glowing white scale model of his Island Gardens project. One woman turned to him on the spot and asked "How much is a two bedroom?" The NetJets booth attracted people who had just flown in and wanted orientation. And design note: the gorgeous white chairs in the Art Collectors Lounge are Facet chairs by the Bouroullec brothers. On Thursday Erwan Bouroullec will speak in the Design District at Ligne Roset, and if you want a Facet chair I'm sure Ligne Roset would be happy to sell you one. And just so as not to leave out any part of the Basel experience, a hired guard was patrolling the Botanical Garden, the site of the Cartier Dome. He was armed with a gun on one side and a Taser on the other. "These days, you can't be too safe," he said. He pronounced his employer as "Car-tee-ur." That's a Miami guy, for sure. |
 |
| Tracey Emin "Blinding" White Neon, from the Lehmann Maupin Gallery, booth F13 |
|
|
| We Weren't at the Moore Building, but Vernissage TV Was |
| Vernissage TV is in town and covering events from one end of town to the other. This way, you can watch what you did last night (which could be good, or then again, not). The sound is a little wonky, but the five minute video will give you a good sense of what being out during Basel is like. |
| Soho Beach House Arrives and Knocks Out Le Baron |
You think you've "done" Basel if you went to the Vernissage, a private dinner and the rock concert on the beach? You haven't Done Basel until you try to get in to Le Baron, Soho House and the Florida Room. For the first five years of Miami Basel, there was an Art Bar at the Delano, a democratic hangout for the after-after party. By last year, Le Baron's second in Miami, it was clear that the Art Bar had been supplanted. So this year, there is no Art Bar. Instead we have Le Baron, back for a third year, this time at Rok Bar at 1906 Collins; we have the new Florida Room, downstairs at the Delano, and we have the most exclusive of all (or at least exclusive until the real estate developers buy their way in) the new Soho Beach House.
It was the scene of a party for the White Cube and another for W magazine; freebies included fancy hand-engraved cigarette cases (Dunhill's) and there were displays of Bertolucci and Piaget watches. The clientele was mostly those who already belonged to Soho House in London or in the meat packing district in New York. It's too bad there's no Art Bar, because these new venues are anything but democatic. And Soho Beach House (in a tent, because the building won't be finished for years) is way up in the 40s on Collins.
|
| We Never Thought We'd Say This |
So say you didn't get invited to the private home visits to Dennis and Debra Scholl's, or Richard and Ruth Shack's or Rosa de la Cruz's. Should you give up and go home? No, of course not. We never thought we'd say this, but you should watch Plum TV, known as "Wayne's World for Rich People." Go here for a house tour of the Shack's apartment on Brickell. And here to see the Scholl's house (done up for 2007) on the Venetian Islands. Finally get invited into Marty Margulies home, as well as his warehouse. The Rubells, Craig Robins... Plum TV is even promising Rosa de la Cruz. So tomorrow morning, when some ambitious person suggests you get up early (!) and go see the Scholl's newest installation, just roll over and say, "I've already seen it." That's what it's all about, isn't it?
|
 |
| Ruth Shack, of Richard & Ruth Shack |
|
|
| Miami Visual Diary, the Weekend Before the Fair |
The artist and MA2Dweek correspondent Jim Budman is keeping a visual diary of the week (and more) in Miami. Click here to see his first day's report, on a smashing piece of art on Ocean Drive opposite the Hotel Victor, and a show in Wynwood at Casa Lin starring some of Miami's biggest artists. |
 |
| Nomade in Lummus Park, photographed by Jim Budman |
|
|
| The Craig-ster & the Design District |
 |
| Craig Robins, by Iran Issa-Khan |
|
| Dec. 10, 2007...
Ok, let's review. Craig Robins has long been recognized for his development of the Design District. Two years ago he and Ambra Medda (and Amy Lau, in the first year) hatched Design Miami, a high-end furniture and design show that crosses the border into art. Last week, the Swiss company that owns Art Basel bought a 10 percent interest in Design Miami and a 50 percent interest in Art Miami Basel (confused yet? it's the design fair Ambra Medda brought to Basel, Switzerland, for the mother art fair). Robins told the Miami Herald that the price was "more than $1 million." Craig has also hired John Keenen to design an office for Dacra that doubles as a gallery. He's been a big support of the Miami Art Museum project, which was revealed on Dec. 1. (See next item) He is working with Rosa de la Cruz to build an art museum on NE 41st Street. And now he's opening a restaurant, Brosia, in the Design District, just in time for Art Basel. Take a walking tour of the Design District with Craig, thanks to this video from the Miami Herald. |
 |
| Why Is This Man Smiling? |
|
| Plans for the new Miami Art Museum were revealed on December 1, and it was clear that Miami (famous for getting bad buildings from good architects) now will have a brilliant building by great architects. The architecture critic of the Miami Herald, Beth Dunlop, said Dec. 2: "The new Miami Art Museum has the potential to be a breathtaking, beautiful building, one that could simultaneously express new ideas about architecture and its place in the environment and pay homage to the rhythms, climate and patterns of Miami." For her critique, and more photos, click here. That's Terence Riley on the left, the head of MAM, who has been beaming ever since. Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron, the architects behind the new MAM, will appear with Riley on Friday night, as Art Loves Architecture for Art Basel. Incidentally, Sam Keller, Herzog & de Meuron are all Basel home boys. |
 |
| Herzog & de Meuron's design for the new Miami Art Museum |
|
|
| Invitations are in the Black |
Didja ever notice how... no, way too Seinfeld. But really... what's with all the black invitations for Basel. Could it have something to do with art and artists? Wednesday night, it's Moooi, at right. So chic. Here are some others.
|
 |
| We're Invited, and You're Not... Well, maybe you are... |
|
|
| The DiVA fair (Digital and Video Art) and the PooL Fair arrived at Miami Basel together last year, with containers on the beach opposite the Hotel Victor on Ocean Drive. This year, PooL is coming back, but suddenly DiVA is taking a pass. And that's after artists have committed to booths and the web site was selling $100 tickets for the DiVA vernissage on Dec. 6. What gives? | |
|
|
