I love this week in Miami. It has all of my favorite ingredients : art, sun, people watching and parties. this year was the year of the banana – a conceptual piece by artist Maurizzio Cattalan, which sold twice for $120K – WHAT? well as Warhol said, “art is whatever you can get away with”
DAY 1:
was a Wednesday – Art Basel starts on Thursday – Art Basel is the main and original show at the convention center, there are so many other shows both in South Beach, Wynwood which is the Arts District and the Design District- we decide to do the first two days in South Beach and head over to Wynwood the 2nd two days. The Faena Hotel had an amazing installation I had heard about and wanted to see, this hotel is from Buenos Aries and is so un-Miami like – very latin, I love it ! textures and patterns and anything but minimal, they had a giant Buddha on the sand for their festival called “The Last Supper” exploring spirituality and food in contemporary art. It was visually fantastic against the white sand, green ocean and bright blue skies.
Then it was off to Design Miami, btw – I love to go into a show with an imaginary budget – I realized that I blew my imaginary budget of 100k on one of the first pieces I see, Virgil Abloh‘s mirror which is 95k – he is for sure a trailblazer in not only the arts but fashion and music, and inspires me especially after hearing a lecture where as difficult as it can be to work with people he declared “teamwork is dreamwork!” I love this consciousness and think of it often when I have challenges in dealing with others.
Then it was lunch at The Delano, a needed nap, The 1 Hotel for drinks and to look at the installation , and back to Faena for dinner…….
Day 2
started at Scope Art Show, on the sand and a great show, my budget goes much further here with great unknowns, many smaller galleries. I meet several great artists that were in their own booths, I find many things that inspire me, I am amazed that not only did someone think of these things, but then they made it and THEN found a way to sell it! there are many people with ideas yet few are so clever that they can take them to the finish and end up finding a buyer that loves it enough to hang in their home. #respect
Art Basel itself represents all the major galleries from all over the world, I love to walk this sow with a dear friend of mine who is a docent at LACMA. this year he skips his nap to come walk a few aisles with me…. he stops quick and heads back to a both we just passed, it is Goya, he says, “if you love Spain you must know Goya!” we look carefully at the work done over 100 years ago and it sparks my curiosity to learn more about who he is (on my TO DO list)
Good friends of mine had just moved to Miami from Laguna, so we spend the evening bar hopping with them in the “South of 5th” neighborhood, which is made up mostly of locals. Its a relief to be away from the crowds and refreshing to visit their new contemporary condo with an incredible rooftop pool #goals
Day 3 and It was my first visit to the Rubell Museum, am amazing private collection which had just moved to a new location and also had held the Dior mens show. Definitely a highlight and the museum is open all year its a must if you go to Miami! The afternoon was all about shopping – the uber dropped us off right in front of the Levi pop-up, a stiff drink and a DJ, along with designing our own custom levi’s, we spent A LOT of our precious time their, very smart marketing, especially the strong cocktails ! A quick walk through the Wynwood Walls and this was maybe our least productive day as we sit at dinner trying to figure out what we did all day ! Exhausted we head home early-ish, 11:00 only to open another bottle of wine and head out to the deck for a 3 hour conversation on what kind of art we are going to go home to produce! #inspired
Day 4 and back to Wynwood and the Design District, our day kind of planned around lunch at Swan, a new celebrity restaurant and also a pop up called Hello Miami (totally unimpressed) but there were some other great shopping moments and and pop-ups that were fun to witness, the buzzword being sneaker drops and limited, custom item, people watching this day was great, very hip-hop driven. A run through Aqua Art on our way home, a great show in an Art Deco hotel, all the rooms turned into mini galleries, very personal and fun, with most artists there to tell you about their journey.
My flight leaves at 5:30 AM, my uber booked for 3:30 AM and I am on the guest list for Idris Elba and Diplo at The Basement, I decide I have one life and I can sleep on the plane. After dinner with friends at Sylvanos (one of my faves) and drinks at the Setai, I head over to Basement in stilettos. I am on the list and it doesn’t matter that much as I am still in line for about 45 minutes, I get in, head to the front and plant myself at the corner of the DJ booth and YES it was completely worth it. Idris amazing and my feet are literally on fire, I’m wondering if I will get kicked out if I take my boots off, and when the heck is Diplo on and am I even going to get to see him as its 2:30AM. He finally arrives and plays a bit with Idris and I now have to run, as I exit the boots come off and I head back to the apartment jump in the shower and its off to MIA. #seeyounextyearBasel
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