Miami Basel Day Two:
So, into the Beast and down to Ocean Drive, a typical American breakfast later (streaky bacon and eggs sunny side up), it is onto the beach, which is exactly how I remember it to be, the sun and clear sea the perfect temperature, the soft white sand stretching out for miles, all too lovely for words.
A few dreamy hours later, it was time to get ready for the main event. My card allowed me access to the fair from 3pm and I was keen to get there early before the main vernissage at 7pm.
I wandered around the vast Convention Centre. Here and there I spotted familiar work, lingering for a while at each booth. As usual there was a buzz of activity around the big guns, Larry ‘Gogo’ Gagosian was holding court and Jay Jopling, like all the dealers, was in full sales mode.
The whole place was swimming with money and pumped with collagen, I joked to a friend that there was more work done on these women than there was on the walls.
There were a few exceptional booths and one New York gallery had curated the whole booth with Warhol prints and drawings, complete with wallpaper. Older blue chip pieces were to be found, Freud, Picasso and Hockney dotted here and there.
At Acquavella I spotted the first Hollywood sighting of the evening. Michael Douglas looking smooth together with a demurely glamorous Catherine Zeta Jones.
The funny thing about stars and celebrities is that they seem to leave a magical glow in their wake, with people grinning in the reflected aura of fame. Later on, I saw Christian Slater admiring work and Val Kilmer was seen, although not by me.
Well, with the price tags on the works running into the hundred of thousands, it is not surprising that film stars should want to art shop alongside top executives and industrial barons.
Here and there I came across the weird and the wonderful, one piece filmed the viewer and played back the image complete with devil-like smoking eyes, which was a pretty cool effect.
Other galleries had devoted their booths to attention grabbing installations, whilst others had gone for smaller collage based work. Photography was well represented with the Germans, like Gursky and Struth making a big comeback. The paintings were big and bold, statement work that needed to shout to be heard. I’ve always liked George Condo’s work and the Paul McCarthy dwarf at Hauser and Wirth (he has show on at their new swanky space on Saville Row) set the tone for the comical and grotesque. Over at Lisson, Anish Kapoor’s dish glistened and gleamed, playfully distorting the viewer.
The fair is a vast sprawl and after a while one’s head begins to spin with a visual overload, so I headed outside for some air and a crafty smoke. It was here that I bumped into James Brett of the Museum of Everything, he was kind enough to give me an interview and showed me pieces that had caught his eye, including a Man Ray photo collage, a painting by Francis Alÿs and a box by Marcel Dzama.
By 7pm a large queue of people gathered for the official opening and that when the fair started to throng as the VIPs started to head off to dinner and parties. I staggered around for a few more hours, trying to keep track of friends and bumping into familiar faces.
I left the fair, just before it closed and was very relieved to be outside in the warm evening air. We headed off on foot to Collins Park, as the traffic was crazy. Once there, we checked out a pretty cool band and chilled out on bean bags, much to my sore feet’s relief.
We didn’t stay put for that long and after a cocktail and a taco from one of the food vans, we made our way over the road to check out Mr. Brainwash’s Pop Up show. To be honest, his show last year was better with the cut out Storm Troopers and police tape surrounding the building. I suppose rehashing contemporary culture is his thing, so why not repeat a successful formula.
After being only moderately brainwashed, we headed off home, feeling that ‘Basel basic’ had been achieved.
Tomorrow I plan to explore the smaller satellite fairs, such as NADA and Scope, but not before a little of beach action first.
Ben Austin
