Art Basel at the Miami Convention Center is epic, to say the least. If all the fairs were kids at school, this one would be the prom queen whose mother is a famous actress and whose father is the mayor. Entering the massive Convention Center, I was greeted by blue-chip works from modern masters. The front booths are spacious and luxurious, with plush carpets, iconic furniture pieces, and elaborate frames on every piece. I slowly walked through rows of paintings by Van Dongen, Dubuffet, Picasso, Scarlett, and Drewes. [1],[2],[3],[4],[5],[6] After the first few booths, the work quicklyshifted to more modern work; The fair got more exciting as I walked further in, and I soon got lost in the labyrinth of treasures. I marveled at works by auction house darlings such as Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, Mel Bochner, Jack Pierson, and Damien Hirst [7],[8],[9],[10] and noticed a large amount of Ai Weiwei’s bicycles. [11],[12] Scott Campbell’s Remember to Forget was a treat to see right by the entrance, as Scott is a dear friend of mine and I think his work is brilliant. [13]
I saw a great amount of exciting work by emerging artists and lesser-known contemporaries, [14],[15],[16],[17] as well as newly discovered modern masters of the past. Gallerists and collectors are trusting their instincts about what is collectable, and are taking more risks than I’ve seen in the past. Great collections develop from a singular perspective and I’m happy to see people following their own taste and thinking outside the box. I became more and more curious as I encountered works I had not seen before, and everything was aesthetically stimulating. [18],[19] It was a visual candy store and I skipped along, drinking it all in. Highlights for me were the strange and otherworldly works by Mark Ryden, Kohei Nawa, Jim Lambie, David Zink, and Seung Yul Oh, [20],[21],[22],[23],[24] I also saw some wonderful photographs. [25],[26],[27],[28],[29],[30]
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After I left the Convention Center, I stopped by the Wallpaper* Handmade party in the Design District, an exhibition dedicated to the marriage of craftsmanship and design. They showed clever objects, handmade by different artists and artisans. [31] Then I met up with Brian Atwood for dinner. (We were both wearing leopard Brian Atwood’s, of course) The traffic during Basel is terrible, and the car creeps along at a snail’s pace. I took my shoes off in the car on the way home. After running around for five days in heels, my feet are starting to hurt.
Andi Potamkin
FESTIVAL
Art Basel – Miami Beach
December 5-8 2013
Miami, USA
https://www.artbasel.com
