Miami Basel…

I went to Basel in 2006 with a friend.  This year I returned with Fred.  We expect to see a lot of art and do a lot of sweating.  I spent a major part of my life in the DC area where I thought I had got used to the humidity but I was wrong.   The heat and humidity down here is seriously overwhelming.

We are staying at the Faena.  Have to love this huge Damien Hirst piece that sits outside en route to the pool and beach in the back of the hotel.

We did not hit up the art the first night but went to dinner at Juvia.  The food is mediocre at best but the views are nice and sitting outside is nicer.

After dins we strolled through the promenade where all the big name shops are.  H&M was gearing up for their Alex Katz collaboration.

In the morning we hit the town early.  Our first stop was the Rubell Family Collection.  I love what they have done and continue to do.  They collect work from emerging artists and go deep in those artists.  They bring some of them down to Miami to create work in large spaces that the artists don’t have access to.  Then they share this work with the world. This piece is by Jennifer Rubell.  It isn’t light!

They are in the process of building a museum to house their works.  Not only do they have physical arts they also have an insane collection of art books.

I took so many pics there including videos.  This one is by John Williams.

This is Jesse Mockrin.

Cady Noland.  All those cans are Budweisers.

Human hair by Solange Pessoa.  The collection is vast.  I found this a bit creepy.

We walked around the area over to Panther coffeeshop.  We were told how the neighborhood has completely transformed since the Rubell’s put their mark here.  It is gritty and cool.

Stopped in Plant the Future on the way there.  Loved this store.  My Mom had a plant store in the 70’s in Georgetown when that was a big trend.  Nice to see this come back in a new way.

Had a serious cup of coffee, a flat white, en route to the Margulies Collection.  One of the four major private collections in Miami.

The works here tend to be more mature artists vs the Rubell collection.  This is a really fantastic Dan Flavin.

After this we made our way over to the Untitled Show.  It is one of the many shows in Miami.  I really like this one because most of the art shown is galleries that represent emerging artists.  The tent sits on the beach so the light is incredible and it wasn’t so crowded  Very civilized.

These pieces by Joakim Ojanen were at the Richard Heller Gallery.

This was by Sean Micka.  He paints pieces from auction books.  Really interesting historical context.  Those books come and go and the pieces live in another person’s life until they are perhaps sold again.

Architectual pieces by Juan Carlos Delagado

Really love these two pieces at the Hole.  This one is Matthew Stone.

This is Joe Reihsen.

There is a lot more video art these days.  More of these artists are doing videos and also surrounding the piece with either photos or objects.  This artist, Mary Reid Kelley, is a video artist and this particular piece was part of one of her sets.

Enough art for the day.  I hit the pool and did a little R&R with my coconut.

Out for dinner with friends who have a place here.  We went to Phuc Yea, a Vietnamese place.  Food was quite good.  We had a huge table with a lazy suzy in the middle for sharing.

My favorite was the chicken wings.

Off to bed for another full on day of art.