Art Basel Miami Beach 2011 - The Main Fair

With the ambitious plans to hit 17 fairs and 9 parties, I am ashamed to say I only made it to 7 fairs and 5 parties.  Here was day one - 

Friday

I needed to hit the convention center (where the actual Art Basel Miami Beach fair is held) on Friday before the weekend hit and the locals over take the place. I didn’t arrive until 3:45 but paid the $40 rather than wait 15 minutes and pay $28 as I knew I needed those 15 minutes and would make them count - and I did. The place was a mob scene – I couldn’t believe how crowded it was. It reminded me of Vernissage at the Armory Show – just packed! I quickly started through, like a mouse in a maze searching for that piece of cheese. I made sure I took note as the isles are lettered A – G, so I didn’t get lost or waste any time. Honestly, a lot of the work I saw was unimpressive. Great if you don’t live in major city or get out to the galleries on a normal basis, but if you are a super artfag like me, you’ve seen most of the works at the main fair. A couple of hits were-

Kerry James Marshall, who I fell in love with at the Art Institute in Chicago, created a great pop-like, yet very dark, acryclic work titled “Black Star” from this year. A great work – I lived for the saggy boobs.

Susanne Vielmetter’s gallery from LA had a lot of works by Michalene Thomas, who I used to love, but when you find out her assistants are the ones gluing the rhinestones on the wood panel, it takes away from the work and makes it less special and more commercial. Although, I am sure a lot of major artists have to do this to keep up with demand for their work once they blow up. There were four of Michalene's works in the booth and three were already sold.

I was shocked to see a Doug Aitken light-box text piece with no picture. It was a very welcomed departure from his other text works as with this work the viewer had to think internally of their associations with 1980. I think I loved it because it was the year I was born.

This work, which was a tapestry, is even more beautiful in the photograph than in reality as the smoke rinks are more defined than you could tell in the convention center. It was an oversized piece and the detail was amazing. It was an Italian gallery, but the artists name wasn't listed anywhere and the gallery women weren't giving me the time of day. 

This photograph by Sharon Lockhart seemed to be very of-the-moment. The piece was a clear, almost overstated, observation of financial despair and hope. The expressions were amazing.

Richard Jackson had the one piece that really made me laugh. Titled "Complementary Colors Face-to-Face", the sculptural piece was two dogs that faced each other and literally pissed their color on one another. I didn’t actually see the work in action, but it was amazing as is.

Elmgreen & Dragset’s full "Amigos" installation was in place at Galería Helga de Alvear. It was great to see the work, but it didn’t really work in the space and most people passing by were stopping just long enough to take pictures – I don’t think many of them “got” the work. It was a modern adaptation of bath house - I am sure the gays got it. They were also selling bath towels for $200. I passed. 

Chen Xiaoyun’s photograph was another great work that pulled me into the gallery's booth. The scale of the human body next to the large influx of what appeared to be earth or coal was amazing.

The highlight though from the main fair was Wolfgang Tillman’s “Schulterblatt (a)”. The work was very simple, it reminded me of Bruce Nauman’s “Bound to Fail”. The Tillman work was great – the way the sunlight and the shadows highlighted the muscles and contours of the back and arms was really beautiful.

The AP (artists proof) of Nauman's Bound to Fail was at the main fair too, yours for $300,000. At first I assumed the elevated price was attributed to the rarity of an AP.  Then I realized the price didn't make any sense to me as I just saw a larger AP of the same work sold last year at Phillips for $108,000. Confused? me too. 

Finally, Glen Rubsamen’s “It is decided to say nothing” from 2006 was a gorgeously conceived diptych. The complementary colors of green and blue separated a landscape scene from a man-made elevated freeway complete with lampposts and devoid of any trees from a natural world of an encroaching forest. The problem was you didn’t know if it was man encroaching on the forest or the other way around. 

We also made it to Art Now at the Catalina Hotel. It was a very small collection of artists and galleries showing. All I can really say is I am happy I didn't have to pay to get in.

The big disappointment was not making it to the Aqua or Verge art fairs. I also didn't make it to the Art Positions portion of Art Basel Miami Beach -  an area on the beach that is associated with the main fair. Up next is the satellite fairs I did make it to...