ArtBlog for ArtBaselMiamiBeach

Eco ArtLand on Star Island

2009-12-01T08:48:00.004-05:00

click any 2 c all photos

Audi A8 World Premiere @ Fontainebleau / Audi Pavillion

2009-12-01T07:18:00.005-05:00

click any pic 2 c full photo gallery

Art Basel . Burning Man inspired on Star Island

2009-01-01T08:56:00.002-05:00

see or click any image to see all photos from this wonderfully amazing event, produced and curated by HOPE of Hope International @ Thomas Kramer's on Star Island

How to use ArtBaselDaily / ArtWeekDaily, 2008 Edition

2008-12-31T09:56:00.001-05:00

Click on any of the images in the indiviual posting to open a full gallery of that event. Best is to right click and "open link in a new tab" or "... in a new window" so you don't loose the overview. Same with the SLIDE SHOWs, clearly marked as such. Click, lean back and enjoy what you missed. Or maybe you are in the photo...
Enjoy. Tomáš

Art Basel 2008 . Tuesday

2008-12-11T06:03:00.002-05:00

click any image to see full gallery
Design Miami Vernissage
Design Miami, Al-Sabah
architecture showroom
Marni
Luminaire
In Fashion Photo
Bertin Toublanc
Punk Rock Bourgeoisie

Art Basel 2008 . Thursday

2008-12-10T14:32:00.000-05:00

... includes: Wynwood"Zoo" with
Rubbell, Margulies, Casa Lynn;
Art Asia;
SCOPE;
PULSE;
Arno Valere Gallery;
Marylin Manson Art Show ;
MAM with Jeff Koons rabbit;
Animal Farm at La Comunidad Warehouse; Moore Building Photo Show; Punk Concert in Gallery

Art Basel 2008 . Wednesday

2008-12-09T23:35:00.000-05:00

cl i c k any photo

to see impressions from:
Sagamore, Olaf Breuning, Sand Art, Day
Sagamore, Stairwell Project
Sagamore, Jude Tallichet DWR Trailer
Dali @ Freedom Tower
NADA Ice Palace
Vernissage ArtBasel
Ritz-Carlton Master’s Mystery Art Show
Sagamore, Olaf Breuning, Sand Art, Night
Bass Museum
Mondrian
Forge David LaChappelle

Art Basel 2008 . Friday

2008-12-09T17:59:00.000-05:00

FRIDA Y inclu d es:
Thomas Kramer’s Party (my canvases in pool); CIFO brunch; In Fashion Photo; Animal Farm; Fred Snitzer & Kevin Bruck Galleries; Ocean Drive (Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary); NADA / Nike Party @ Karu & Y; Gen Art Vanguard Charcoal Studios

Art Basel 2008 . Saturday

2008-12-03T19:31:00.000-05:00

Saturday includes: Sagamore Brunch; Setai Asprey; Casa Casuarina Lei Marco Fashion Show; Alex Grey; Gansevoort Plunge / Loui: Surface Magazine Closing Party; Mondrian, The Last Magazine

Art Basel 2008 . Sunday

2008-12-02T16:37:00.006-05:00

includes: Collector's Houses visits; Art Positions Containers; SCULPT; Rocco Donna; Goodbye Party @ Fontainebleau

SeaFair Vernissage

2008-12-01T09:58:00.003-05:00

Welcome to 2008

2008-12-01T09:55:00.001-05:00

Posts below are 2007 and prior...
Coming posts ... 2..0..0..8 !

Casa Blanca . Art & Style Soiree

2007-12-09T14:37:00.000-05:00

Produced & curated by Hope of Hope International~ Once again this soiree got the buzz for being the best private party of Art Basel Week.
And not only because the canvases in the pool are art works by ... well, by me. :-). tomas

Pucci . 60th Anniversary Celebration @ Norma Quintero's

2007-12-09T11:47:00.000-05:00

Roy Lichtenstein Sculptures @ Fairchild Tropical Gardens

2007-12-09T11:27:00.000-05:00

Art Photo Expo @ Surfcomber . Opening

2007-12-09T11:20:00.000-05:00

Twenty of the world's best Fashion and Advertising photographers, 10 works each, magnificent setting @ Surfcomber hotel. Beautiful people, obviously. Donatella Versace. First Art Basel related event: feel good. Bring on more (I know I will regret saying this by Thursday. On the other hand... no, I won't).
Tomáš

click on any image to see the full gallery. open in new tab if you know how u do it. use F11 to make your viewing space BIGGER.
or... lean back & watch the slide show

Surface Magazine's Avantguardian

2007-12-09T11:07:00.000-05:00

Shore Club . Good Bye Event

2007-12-09T10:52:00.000-05:00

New World Symphony @ Catalina Hotel

2007-12-09T10:50:00.000-05:00

Rosa de la Cruz

2007-12-09T09:47:00.000-05:00

Rubell Collection, incl. amazing breakfast art...

2007-12-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

Iggy Pop

2007-12-09T01:26:00.000-05:00

The 40M$ Art Yacht

2007-12-09T01:10:00.000-05:00

click on any image to see the full gallery. open in new tab if you know how u do it. u se F11 to make your viewing space BIGGER.

Wolfsonian . Ballet Mecanique

2007-12-09T01:02:00.000-05:00

Ballet Mecanique @ The Wolfsonian: a live musical-mechanical performance of a 1924 controversial, fascinating (and noisy) musical piece adapted for two dozen pianos, xylophones, an airplane propeller, bells, sirens and fans....

Rozenblum Foundation, Merrill Lynch, Ocean Drive en Español

2007-12-09T01:01:00.000-05:00

click on any image to see the full gallery. use F11 to make your vi ewing s pace BIGGER

Bentley event at Casa Blanca

2007-12-08T23:54:00.000-05:00

(photographed by Moris Moreno)

Art Basel Miami Beach . 2007 Edition starts here

2007-11-22T11:04:00.000-05:00

Scroll down ... it will be 2006 and 2005 again.
Scroll up and you'll travel in time thru the Art Basel week in Miami Beach 2007...

Surface Magazine AvantGuardian

2006-12-12T10:25:00.000-05:00

Turchin's Casa Blanca Soiree

2006-12-12T10:09:00.000-05:00

I.M. Pei Building / Bank of America . KickOff Event

2006-12-12T03:23:00.000-05:00

Ivo Vergara's Cerebral Architecture

2006-12-12T02:46:00.000-05:00

Turchin's Casa Blanca . 360 degree images

2006-12-10T10:38:00.000-05:00

QuickTime VRs take a moment to load. Then you can navigate them with your mouse. Click, hold & move mouse around:

Art Basel Miami Beach . 2006 Edition starts here

2006-12-05T07:35:00.000-05:00

Waiting for the next Art Basel...

2005-12-14T10:47:00.000-05:00

See what´s happening in Miami Beach all year long at CoolPoolEvents.com

Day 6. Goodbye Party @ Shore Club

2005-12-05T08:46:00.000-05:00

Well, this is it for 2005.
Exhaustion sets in.
We´ve covered almost fifty events and exhibitions in this short time. I can´t believe it myself. Exhaustion set in around midnight at the Shore Club.
Ecstatic exhaustion.

Art exhaustion.
Party exhaustion.
Event exhaustion.
Wonderment exhaustion.
In a week we´ll be looking back to this Art Basel as great, and looking forward to next year with big impatient eyes.
Right now, we are glad it´s over.
Nobody can take so much joy without falling apart. And already missing the excitement at the same time.

Go back in time day by day, blog entry by blog entry, post by post.

We loved every minute of Art Basel Miami Beach 2005. We hope you do too. EnJoy!
Cheers.

tomáš & jill

Click on any of the photos to see the full gallery of this event. Or click HERE to see a slide show. Lean Back and enjoy.

For the whole photo gallery line up look to the long list on the right side. Smile and be good.

Day 6. Strike 6. SCOPE

2005-12-05T08:31:00.000-05:00

Ahh Scope.
The end of the day but still more art to see. I was on a mission--a march of fun and it wasn't going to end until I soaked up as much inspiration as possible. We still had 2 hours before SCOPE closed for good. Enough time to see 5 floors and 70 exhibitors? Yes.

As soon as I arrived at the Townhouse Hotel--the space that hosts and is completely consumed by SCOPE--the warm and fuzzy memories of last year's show came flooding back. SCOPE takes art and intimacy to a whole new level. Each gallery/art collective rents a room in this small boutique hotel and does with it what they think best for the 4 days of the show. The visitors enter the hotel and are welcome to peek in, or spend as long as they like in someone else's bedroom. The rooms are not large and once you step in, it is you and the curator, or you and the artist, or you and the gallerist immediately hanging out together. I love the earnestness of exploration in this show's pieces. I love how many different things can be done with 4 white walls, a white epoxied floor, and a reasonably sized bathroom.

Video was much more prominent this year than last. Everyone and their mother had some sort of moving image on display, be it coming from a portable DVD player in a sink full of rocks, or a 42" flat screen playing a film of a teenager putting on make-up while a man has his way from behind, or a 2"x2" screen nestled inside a diarama of a sex shop. When a room was completely still and none of the art moved, it was almost novel, refreshing. Over stimulation is almost a standard at this point.

Admittedly a sucker for folk tradition and craft, I couldn't help falling in love with Greely Myatt and Memphis' David Lusk Gallery. Greely explained that the origin of his wooden quilt for the hotel room bed was a Tennessee grant application that called for collaboration. Since Greely is not one for collaboration, he decided to submit a proposal with his dead grandmother. She was a quilter and had inspired him to take quilting in new directions. Now he uses industrial detritus to create "quilts" that hang on clotheslines, drape on beds, or serve as rugs. Quilting got him into washboards.

Jill

More photos here. Or slideshow here

Day 6. Strike 5. The Push Button House

2005-12-05T08:27:00.000-05:00

As soon as I read about the push button house--a home inside a shipping container with operational walls and doors by Adam Kalkin--in the NYTimes Home and Garden Section, I wanted to see it. So, when I was finally in the area, I ran across the grassy field that is Collins Park only to find Adam and colleagues locking it up.

I literally fell down on my knees in despair.

Adam asked me how sad I was and I drew a giant globe--the radius of which was the length of my arms . "Very sad," I yelled as he headed to his car.

I didn't want to lay the guilt on too heavy, so I let him go.
He promised to put up a video of the house in action on his website

Jill

More photos of Jill´s despair here
Or... A slide show, so you don´t have to click thru.

Day 6. Strike 4. Art Positions

2005-12-05T08:25:00.000-05:00

Using shipping containers as their four walls, 20 galleries from around the world set up shop just behind Collins Avenue and just in front of the boardwalk around 21st Street in Miami Beach. The area is quickly becoming a hub of luxurious prominence, with the magnificent new Setai (see LaChapelle´s extravaganza) on one side of the gigantic parking lot and W residences & hotel ("from 700,000 to 15 million") on the other.

One gallery took this opportunity to crush their container and present it as their very customized, site specific installation.

Another container screened a video of a camera falling 17,000 feet out of a plane. The gallery had an addendum to their installation in the form of a giant Bourek in the park as an isolated sculpture. I love boureks--filo pastries common in central europe--so I ran over to go see it. This bourek is an airplane flattened and rolled, held together with a canvas strap and standing on its side!

Like everything at Art Basel, it was very sleek, very hip, very now. In case walking in and out of each of these shipping containers might wear you out a lovely cafe was set up in the center of the exhibit.

And if you wanted to lounge about, in an even more recumbent position, there was an audio installation replete with reclining beach chairs and iPODs.

Only in Miami, I say. Even if the iPODs were attached with a security wire....

jill

More photos here.
Or slide show here.

Day 6. Strike 3. NADA

2005-12-05T08:24:00.000-05:00

What can you say when a circle with the hand written words Buy me. I´m at an art fair sells 50 times (this restriction was arbitrary, the gallerist only offered fifty)?
You can say... well, NADA.

Lots of art works with text were shown, some obvious if you come from New York

Some putting forward radical medical or personal advice

Some very personal cries of protest when you only get minimum wage to hang around all day. Or maybe his brother with the shirt "I´m only in it for the money" was on lunch break.

The fair was succesful. Many of the 80 gallery owners represented at NADA sold out their collection during the preview viewing. That left them with 5 days to schmooze with new/old artists, friends, curators, dealers with perhaps a little less pressure than usual. Still, they looked worn out by the end and I think will be happy to keep conversations to essentials only for a couple of weeks. Apparently, NADA people were envied by Art Basel Convention Center people for having access to daylight during the grueling days chained to their booth. No one said the Art World was a bowl of cherries.

tomáš and jill

More photos to give you an impression here.
Or the lazy persons version... a slide show.

Day 6. Strike 2. Walk btw CIFO & NADA

2005-12-05T08:06:00.000-05:00

Just creating some ideas and art of my own.
The continuation of a series we started with Jill a while ago at this building in Wynwood.
Walking the four short blocks from CIFO to NADA underneath I95 and getting to know the locals on the way we stumbled upon this one.

Not such a long title, but it fits the line.

tomáš

More experimental photos here.
For a slide show click here...

Day 6. Strike 1. CIFO (re)visited

2005-12-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Maybe it should not be that way, but the realities of chance decisions and tempting events left the last day to be the art day. And what better way to start the day with a panel discussion breakfast at the Ella Fontanals Cisneros Art Collection (ok, now that i used the full name I can revert to CIFO in the future).
Panel talks are often useful but boring. The one this morning with Marina Abramovic and Julian Rosenfeldt was great because their works were to be seen literally behind their backs. Rosenfeldt´s elaborate eternally moving people oriented video projects play six to a room and are fascinating in their arrangements. Abramovic´s tryst with a skeleton lying on top of her also has its moments.
And Fiona Tan´s downside up was more than beautiful irony at work. Shadows become main actors and humans, the shadow´s generators are just, well, their shadows shadows.
The entire museum, open only 3 days is for photography and video! When you have finished seeing the entire exhibit you don't feel depleted or that you took in more than you should have. It is the perfect size, very tightly curated, rich in terms of content, diverse in terms of nations/cultures represented and a welcome addition to the exponential growth of small to mid-sized private/public collections in Miami.

jill and tomáš

And the whole photo gallery is here.

Day 5. Strike 6. 59th Street Warehouse

2005-12-04T09:40:00.000-05:00

Not too many of the people at the 59th Street warehouse event also went to the Setai. Glad I called Amber Joy, the most amazing Firebird in existance, from the Setai pool Visionaire event and went over to this, which displaying lots of very psychedelic and also innovative art had the feel of a mini Burning Man (shameless plug: visit my Burning Man photo galleries). The best was the digeridoo headset. Cool idea, man!
tomáš

The whole photo gallery is here.
And the slide show is here.

Day 5. Strike 5. Visionaire @ Setai

2005-12-04T09:36:00.000-05:00

Perhaps it was because of the cooler weather, or perhaps because there was no open bar, no 40 strikingly beautiful waiters rushing back and forth with edible delicacies, and no 6'7" naked drag queen dancing in a glass house in the middle of the pool, but somehow the Visionaire event felt lacking compared to the LaChapelle/Taschen event a couple of days ago at the same place.

But at least we got Kiehl's generous goodie bags, smartly taking them upon arrival, instead of assuming that they would be there when we left. This was some serious loot amidst the cut-throat Art Basel goodie bag hierarchy.

Jill and Tomáš

Photo gallery of this event is here. As always look to the long list of photo galleries to the right for more visual goodies.
Or lean back and let the slide show entertain you.

Audio Bit. Flavor Tasting @ Visionaire

2005-12-04T09:35:00.000-05:00

Taste the art!

Visionaire and IFF (International Flavors and Fragrances Inc.) teamed up to give a literal taste to artists' conjurings. A taste was produced in response to artist renderings of each of the following 12 concepts:

Can you imagine placing a 'taste-film' drenched in these flavors on your tongue?

Mommy
Summer
Youth
Adrenaline
Life
Art
Feast
Guilty
Exotic
Luxury
Power
Orgasm (Multiple Orgasm)

Click to hear a chat with one of the Flavorists (the audio file will open in your preset audio player)

...

Day 5. Strike 4. Design District Party

2005-12-04T09:34:00.000-05:00

ooops. we missed it. This page (un)intentionally left blank. We´ll have to see it thru Florencia´s eyes as I totally fell asleep for a couple of hours. Apologies to Mark Kostabi and Angelika, who´s shows I really wanted to visit in the Design District, but exhaustion sometimes dictates.

Day 5. Strike 3. Art Basel . Exhibition floor

2005-12-04T09:29:00.000-05:00

Was there something missing from our lives? Yes. Art. The main reason why all these masses are here. After seeing Pulse, the Design District shows, CIFO, the Wynwood collections, the MAC, the Video lounge and more tidbits here and there it was time to hit the exhibition floor, literally.

With 270 galleries present, representing 2000 artists from around the world, the convention center can easily overwhelm the weaker among us.

Jill and Tomas

The photo gallery is here.
Same photos in a slide show by clicking here.

Day 5. Strike 2. Lunch @ Casa Blanca

2005-12-04T09:17:00.000-05:00

There must be a reason I love this house. Maybe because before it became the Casa Blanca,

I used to share the house with some pretty interesting people (I´ll share the look of the very old house on the same lot we had with you if you want to see, just for comparison purposes). But, no. 24 South Hibiscus Drive has a special enchanted feel to it today too. And not only because Morgan, the only inhabitant from the old days of 2000, has a voliére bigger than the average New York City apartment (The New Yorkers invited to this party were certainly not average, however).

The peruvian beef tenderloin was exquisito (this remark coming from an Argentinian, who went back for thirds) and caipirinhas and vodka flowed in the blazing sun of a gorgeous Miami Beach midday. How many different vodkas does the world need? The one promoted at The Turchin was Polish. Whatever, who am I to say.
The art displayed (this is Art Basel after all, we have to keep reminding ourselves) was mixed in authorship and in the glory of it's creators.

See for yourself in this photo gallery
... and in this slide show.

tomáš

Day 5. Strike 1. Rosa de la Cruz´s House

2005-12-04T08:42:00.000-05:00

Rosa. We love Rosa! Such a beautiful person.
On what must have been her 237th tour showing guests her collection her voice was hoarse, but her enthusiasm unfaltered. Always worth a trip over to Key Biscayne to drop in on her--apparently about 2,000 people also feel the same way and made the trek out to her surreally exquisite location. Breakfast was a very civilized affair, with muffins and strawberries on the rear lawn looking out onto the bay. Well heeled folks chatted and dined alongside Bozidar Brazda's Bogus Fellow Journey Man

--an installation consisting of a fallen parachutist, his reading material and his parachute caught in a tree. Somewhat gruesome but no challenge for the seduction of the modern white palace, the bright florida sun, and the mimosas.
Inside, we were handed 2 packets of a self-guided tour--one for each floor. The house's exhibit changes every year just in time for Art Basel. This year, there are almost 35 international visual artists and a variety of video artists represented within 30 rooms of the house (and the garden). All but 10 of the pieces were created in the 21st Century! The others are from the 1990's. Rosa curates and collects all the pieces herself and is clearly dedicated to supporting contemporary international artisits!On one of her tours, she explained that the theme running through this year's exhibit is cultural debris. Building on the idea that we cannot escape pop culture and the images therein, artists are again appropriating those which may have already been appropriated by our culture and repackaging within a new context, adding or teasing out additional significance.
On another tour, Rosa admitted that she has told her kids to "bulldoze the house when I'm gone. Who's going to want to buy a 16,000 square foot house with one bedroom?" Originally, this was the house she lived in. She kept buying more art that rendered her furniture invasive, so she kept removing the furniture and eventually had to buy the house across the street so that she could keep her bed. She told us this, she says, "just so we don't worry about her [welfare]." One of the attendees said, "we were concerned."By leading the tours herself with an infectious enthusiasm for life and art, she hopes to create a situation such that when people find themselves in a museum looking at contemporary works, they won't find it a hostile experience.I found her collection and the way she shared it to be tranformative. Although this is quite certainly a private collection, Rosa says the house is open to the public all year round. Just get in touch with her and make a reservation!

Jill

More photos of Rosa's House 2005 here. Or the same pictures in a slide show. For validation of the claim that almost everything changes in Rosa's house between Art Basels check Rosa's house in 2004, see Rosa's party in 2004 (it ain't going to happen again she says, 500 invitees, 1500 showed up) and Rosa's house in 2003. And many more photo galleries listed on the right.

Jill also did a wonderful house tour of Rosa´s house on the informative & entertaining Apartment Therapy site. Read the comments, some of them are hilarious ("Hey, toward the end of the slideshow was that a dead maid lying face down in the yard?"), but most deal with the fact that we all wish we´d live like Rosa, combing art & daily life in such a beautiful setting.

Day 4. Strike 5. Frida Kahlo Vodka at Swarovski Crystal Palace / Paris Theatre

2005-12-03T09:56:00.000-05:00

So besides the fact that poor Frida is rolling in her grave yet again as the icon of a mundane bottle of alcohol, and that the ex-movie theater was lit up like a supermarket, this was actually a wonderful party. The crowd was happy. Free vodka and arriving at the end of the evening are both helpful in reaching this end, but still.

Little did I know when doing my hair earlier in the evening in my signature '2 puffballs' that I would end up at this party with people looking at me and pointing. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but boy did I feel famous. Finally, people started approaching me to ask if I were a relative of Frida. Would a relative of Frida carry on the tradition of a hairdo? Doubtful, but you never know and I guess it doesn't hurt to ask.

Gallery with lots of light and Swarovski crystal hanging in the palace here.
And the slide show to enjoy in style with or without a cigar.

Jill (and Tomáš)

Day 4. Strike 4. Art Nexus Event Downtown

2005-12-03T09:54:00.000-05:00

It was not quite warm enough to spend the evening outdoors, but that didn't stop what seemed to be about 1500 people at the Art Nexus event in Downtown Miami just beyond the gigantic Christmas Tree near Bayside. These invites were not easy to come by, but with persistence, there is nothing that can stop ArtBaselDaily from getting into an event especially if there is food involved after the long period of my near starvation at the Surface Magazine event.
The nice thing about Art Nexus' party was that it was full of great dancers. I like nothing more than watching a well dressed, middle aged couple break it down on the dance floor, and look really good while doing so. I keep forgetting that Miami must have more good dancers as a percent of the general population than any other city in this US of A.

Jill

Go to this photo Gallery by clicking here.
Or to the slide show by clicking this.

Day 4. Strike 3. Surface @ Oppenheim´s

2005-12-03T09:47:00.000-05:00

Surface magazine gave a party at Chad Oppenheim´s unique house on one of the Sunset Islands. It was the best lighted event of the Art Basel parties we went to.

Only complaint--an event from 7 to 10 pm and not even one cracker or potato chip to eat? OK, there were these delicious Sweetriot cacao nibs--little tiny chocolate beans,

which (together with an avocado) saved Jill from expiring right on the walnut hardwood floor next to the gorgeous cantilevered steps.

Or maybe she should have had several glasses of Woodford Reserve whisky? as there was plenty of that.

Chad built this house to sell but when he finished it, he loved it so much that he had to keep it for himself. He also likes to share it with others. In a typical week, there might be a music video, fashion shoot, and TV commercial shot here, not to mention all the parties.

Where?
There!
Really?

For more photos go to the full 350 image photo gallery.
And to save you from having to click thru all of them ... here' the slide show.

Day 4. Strike 2. SoundBike

2005-12-03T08:42:00.000-05:00

If you have to ask.....

While riding along the Miami Beach promenade on Jessica Thompson's wonderful mobile art piece, the Sound Bike, I was stopped by three strikingly beautiful Scandinavians who had clearly just walked off a photo shoot on the beach. One asked, "What is it?" I explained that it is a bike that laughs at you or with you once you start pedaling. The more you pedal, the more it laughs. And if you are lucky, it keeps laughing after you have stopped. He then asked "Why?" I was taken aback but wanted to clarify before starting my rant. "Why, or how does it laugh?" He confirmed my fear and chose the 'why.' After working on Christo's Gates in Central Park last winter and dealing with one too many "why's," my patience for philistines is quite low at this point.

So I looked sternly at him, turned away, and, as I biked off yelled, "it's art." That should be enough.

A bike that laughs when you ride it...
And the slide show version of the photos, so it even moves by itself.

Day 4. Strike 1. CIFO Opening

2005-12-02T14:46:00.000-05:00

Ella Cisneros seems to have had a good year investing. Or she really loves Miami. Or both. Besides the MAC suddenly a beautiful building rose up in the downtown area, just a couple of blocks from some pretty derelict places.

And literally there was no beautiful building there before Wilma (our hurricane from late October). Talking to the architect we found out why. The building permit was given to them on... October 31st 1005. How anything like this (outside mosaic, A/C systems, etc, etc) can be done in Miami in one month is a mystery to me. I am waiting for three weeks to have my kitchen installed. And let´s not talk about the bathroom area.
Anyway, Ella Cisneros has become a force as a patron of the arts, as not only the outside is an instant landmark, but inside the collection is just great.

Video installations au masse
and on top of that a small (by Margulies´ standards) but excellent photo collection.
Chapeau!

tomáš

P.S. Click here to see the photo gallery. Alternatively you can see the same images as a slide show.
Or choose one of the many themed photo galleries corresponding to the events from sidebar.

Day 3. Strike 4. Le Baron Nightclub

2005-12-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

The opening of the Perrotin Gallery in Miami's hot Wynwood area was reason enough for a great crowd to gather in the semi-underground on loan Le Baron nightclub (usually it's in Paris). The club found comfort in the basement of the Shelborne Hotel in what is normally a 70's karaoke bar. The bar has supposedly the largest amount of karaoke songs available (14,000? 40,000?) and a stage with an instrument collection from which to choose, in order to enhance your Karaoke performance. Tonight was all dance and no karaoke. The bar owner held court from on stage, next to the 80's DJ and looked to be enjoying himself.
We are told Le Baron is Samuel Keller's favorite night spot in Paris.
And we learned earlier in the day that being friendly at a parking meter near the Convention Center is good. We met Eva, one of the organizers, who gave us all the sought-after entry buttons we could handle. Be nice to each other, people.

Jill and Tomáš

And more photos here, including the Delano pool, changed for the Art Basel occassion. Or you can see all this as an automatic slide show.

Day 3. Strike 3. Design District shows

2005-12-02T07:58:00.000-05:00

... and more woows.
The playfulness and good humor spread by Deitch projects´ Live Through This: New York in the Year 2005 in the ground floor of the Newton Building
was enhanced by the experience of a disturbing performance piece, which started seemingly on cue when we walked by the stage and were in the perfect position to see ALL.
You´ll have to see for yourself in the main photo gallery.

woow.

And then the colorful but still somewhat serene atmosphere fostered by the New York gallery/design store Mossin the Buick Building.

The Buena Vista Building provided an intensely staffed chip buffet for its bevy of galleries. Buffet might be a strong word for 2 kinds of chips--platains and turnips with black bean dip, replenished by a team of FOUR people. Appreciated nonetheless.
Changed also the look of the Delano pool . What happened to "my" table and chairs? No worry. I´m sure they´ll bring them back after this madness subsides.

Oh, and Jill arrived.
tomáš

P.S. Click here to see the photo gallery.
The unique slide show of the fascinating Deitch Gallery performance is here, so you don´t miss any details. Or the slide show of the Design District that evening is here.
Or choose one of the many themed photo galleries corresponding to the events from sidebar.

Day 3. Strike 2. design05 opening

2005-12-02T07:42:00.000-05:00

Grandeur! Craftsmanship! Classics in the making!

All this and more can be used to describe the first of what will surely be a long tradition of annual Miami design fairs. The Moore Building--one of the wonderful original structures in Miami's Design District--hosted the presentations by 14 furniture and design galleries from around the world. They could not have had a better setting or a better audience.
For more coverage, check out ApartmentTherapy

what class.

what beauty.

judge for yourself.

tomáš

P.S. Click here to see the photo gallery. Or choose one of the many themed photo galleries corresponding to the events from sidebar. Here is the same event as a slide show, so you don´t have to have your fingers do the clicking.

Day 3. Strike 1. Wynwood Zoo

2005-12-01T17:19:00.000-05:00

When worlds collide. As somebody who´s seen Wynwood become what it is now, the "Art & Gallery Capital of Miami" (my title, I trademark it with this) and photographed when it still was the "Fashion District" (an interesting way of saying shmates central) it was a beautiful day this morning. The blue skies and the locals taking immediate entrepreneurial possession of the typically artsy visitors. The car washer made me smile, the MOCA addition at the Goldman warehouse too. Tony Goldman "invented" the modern Miami Beach in the early 80's and is at it again, putting energy & money into Wynwood.

The area is changing before our eyes. And the big collection warehouses (Rubell, Margulies, Goldman from today on) almost couldn't contain the ARtBaselian tourists, eeeh, visitors. Same thing with the Pulse! art fair which seemed like a supermarket before the hurricane. Everybody seemed busy buying and carting stuff away. The contrast of german speaking visitors carrying their loot in front of the very humble local housing couldn't have been greater. Times change.
Very zoo-like, very funny, very good for Miami. The number of galleries in Wynwood is at 56 now, a year ago it was about 32, and two years ago maybe, 11? Un-be-lie-va-ble.

But somewhat cool ...

P.S. Click here to see the photo gallery2005. For comparison of the feel of the area now called Wynwood go back to 2003. Or choose one of the many themed photo galleries corresponding to the events from sidebar.

Day 2. Strike 5. NY Dolls concert on beach

2005-12-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

And then there was the concert of the New York Dolls on the beach. Whoever woke David Johanssen from the dead had a good idea. He looks better than Mick Jagger at a similar age. Good lifestyle? I am sure he does his daily yoga on the beach too.

P.S. Click here to see the photo gallery. Or choose one of the many themed photo galleries corresponding to the events from sidebar.
To see the New York Dolls as a slide show click here.

Day 2. Strike 4. LaChapelle.Taschen.Setai

2005-12-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

The highlight of any evening in Miami Beach is the elegance of the Setai.
This time the Taschen editorial organized a huge, and i mean HUGE - party for the release of David LaChapelle´s book "Artists & Prostitutes 1985-2005" .
Benedikt Taschen obviously catered the crowd and himself with german beer

Mr. LaChapelle had brought in lots of buddies from the book and attracted many who would have liked to be in the book.
He also serenaded his friends and bystanders with silent karaoke renditions, all with the passion of the man on top of his abilities to woo a crowd.

Un-be-lie-va-ble! DOzens (and I mean several dozen, literally) of well charming waiters (this is the Setai after all) kept bringing in trays and trays (and trays) of food well after midnight and people were begging to get in, to see for example this gentleman, who managed to attract even Mr. Taschen´s attention with his attire.

Considering the scenes in and outside the glasshouse (onto which no one threw stones, I guess all of use were thinking about possibly sitting in for this poetry reading ourselves in that fragile shell) that was tame.

David LaChapelle had to jump into the pool to please the crowd... That is that first image which made you read this whole posting, right?

check out the photos online, lots of them. and interesting ones, :-) !
or lean back to enjoy the slide show without streesing your fingers.

tomáš

Day 2. Strike 3. Bass Museum Reception

2005-12-01T09:26:00.000-05:00

Well, I missed the Vernissage of Art Basel. Didn't go. Gorlin was more interesting, a unique crowd, with all three architects of the Aqua buildings there (and me making an exception of the no posing rule for photos).
We are all here because of Art BAsel, but knowing that the show floor would be unchanged today until Sunday the Bass Museum seemed a better place to go, as that event was unique.
Carlos Betancourt´s big show was outside the museum (yes, Carlos likes murals with himself 15 feet / 5 meters tall. Inside a huge crowd, but extremely boring. AT least I missed the highlights if there were any. OK, Nicole and her models is always a highlight, especially since we have our not so secret code greeting when we see each other at events.
"Where's the food?". Well, at the Bass there was none...

P.S. Click here to see the photo gallery. You can also see the slide show here.
Or choose one of the many themed photo galleries corresponding to the events from sidebar.

Day 2. Strike 2. Alex Gorlin at Aqua

2005-12-01T09:23:00.000-05:00

The architect Alexander Gorlin presented a beautiful book he made about "Creating the new American Townhouse" at his apartment in the Gorlin building (yes, he designed that too) at Aqua.

P.S. Click here to see photo gallery. Or choose one of the many themed photo galleries corresponding to the events from sidebar.

Day 2. Strike 1. Sotheby´s Art Experience

2005-12-01T09:10:00.000-05:00

The striking Stacy organized a high level Sotheby's Contemporary Art experience tour from London, which had their opening cocktail at the Ritz Carlton. Regrettably, I will miss the lecture series which this goup attends and such. Well, there´s always next year. Or other Art fairs.

CLick here for photo gallery.

Day 1. Strike 4. MAC

2005-11-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

there is this wonderful privately funded museum called the miami art central. MAC. it is kind of out of the way. but it has a great program, a great director in rina carvajal (i couldn´t say hi yesterday; so this way "hi, rina") and a HUGE party the day before the day before ABMB.

all these people are only one quarter of those that were there.
yes it was packed.
and, thankfully, people spend as much time looking at the wonderful william kentridge exhibition

as at the bars.

i´ll have to leave the photo gallery for later (gotta run to the convention center now), but it was a wonderful start of ABMB.

some call MAC a vanity museum financed by ella fontanals cisneros, but - honestly - it is a great place in a part of town where there was little culture and art before. and the MAC is bringing all of this.

i admit to going there for films, lectures (and the occasional party, but, hey, this IS miami).
so, if that is what a vanity project looks like... well, give me more vanity. who wants to compete with ella? (ok, there is the margulies colelction and the rubbels and now the goldman ... thinking about, we are not that badly of in miami with cool "vanity" projects. if greed is not good and this is vanity... then vanity is good.

tomáš

the photo gallery is online now... also available in slide show format.

Day 1. Strike 3. MOCA

2005-11-30T10:05:00.000-05:00

and on it goes. to the museum of contemporary art. yes. miami does have a MOCA! not in the most easy to find location, but conveniently close to my house anyway. and, the show of hands (and feet, faces, not to mention legs and other parts of the human anatomy) at the art basel parties make me think that people do know what the MOCA is, but they just can´t find it without the shuttle buses from south beach. or something.
definitely PARADISE.

At least that is what the wonderful art work says that lights up the Art Basel parties.
Like this woman, with a positive attitude and a colorful dress code--which might be inappropriate anywhere else than here.

but, if there is somebody to single out then it is HIM.
DA MAN.
DA art basel MAN!

Da SAM!
DA KELLER!
first sighting of this wonderful guy, who brought so much joy to miami, that they should start polishing the bronze for the sculpture to sam keller´s bald head.
just from here... thanks, sam!

ok, no ode to sam joy, but the joy of finding a new camera "technique". you can copy it. stand in a party crowd, ideally where people must pass by. talk to your friends. set camera on your left shoulder. use wide angle. when people come by shoot them. always fun, as people often do realize in the last moment they are being photographed and turn their face to "surprised". which is fun... someone even manages to raise the hand in a defensive "what can i do, you caught me" greeting. i like it.

as always, more photos in the gallery to the MOCA party.
Or, if you prefer to not move a finger and see a slide show... voilá click here.
tomáš

and as a bonus for reading this far down you get the double headed smile of

abbey.

Day 1. Strike 2. Aqua . Pons´ Floating House

2005-11-30T08:54:00.000-05:00

same aqua. different style. same playfulness. luis pons. venezuelan architect. had this monument to a villa in the city floating in biscayne bay for a couple of days. then anchored it at aqua.
great backdrop for photo ops and great opportunity for art and design and architecture to meet. the rain had stopped and the miami night was miami style again.
the take home gifts were rather different.

no, it was not the cute redhead, but the kind-of-necklace she is wearing.
and luis showed that you can be the center of dressed-up people´s attention with just a white t-shirt (blond hair and a cigarette in your lips help too).

an art basel event at it´s best. not overcrowded, but enough people. playful showcased art and a couple of hours to remember, especially in the inside view of the gorlin building at aqua (great choice to live there, florencia & xavier; i´ll come visit often) with the two story back lobby area from above.

that you will have to see in the online gallery . Or as an online slide show.

tomáš

p.s. another look at this thingy ... cute!

Day 1. Strike 1. Aqua . R.Tuttle´s Splash

2005-11-30T08:16:00.000-05:00

how spoiled are we here in miami? "it´s raining, lets skip the delano". and we did. rain in late november even at 78 degrees F (26 C) spoils any event.
Good idea, anyway, as the sky cleared up (and it is a beuatiful morning now! this is the real sun rising out of the ocean, as seen from my terrace an hour or so ago). it is 78F/26C in the shade and 92F/33C in the sun at 8:30. so, don´t fear the rain. come to miami.
time is short, gotta go soon, so only in short the story of yesterday in four installments.

one:

richard tuttle´s splash sculpture was unveiled at aqua. cool idea. a giant object is thrown into the pool and makes a big, yes, SPLASH!, on the building next to it. funky.

there i also learned that
a) models do eat sometimes
in style obviously (and i was too late to get the $140 swimwear given away by the sponsor; only L and XL remained and the women i know wear S at most; sorry girls).
b) artists can be recognized by their colorful, well artistic, attire

(cool stuff, rich)
c) susan grant lewin wears silver shoes.

very cool. matching her handbag. yes, they are prada. but they would be cool anyway.

all else is to befound in the gallery for this event. model pictures here, female AND male, don´t miss!

tomáš

Day 0, Strike 1 . design05 Preview at Aqua

2005-11-29T02:10:00.000-05:00

So it is time to say hello Art Basel.
Craig Robbins does it in the name of design05, a - what else? - design fair and show, which runs parallel to Art Basel (what a coincidence... not). Craig is the king of the island. Well, lets say king of the ALlison Island peninsula, which he transformed from a dump into a beautiful - though a tad expensive - village. Instead of building some 40 story tower, architects were invited to participate in designing unique townhouses, with a couple of semi-high rises sprinkled in. A good idea, as you see in the Places 2C: Aqua photo gallery to the right.

All those galleries by the way are worth seeing (ok, ok, I photographed all of them, but you´ll understand when you click on them).

Craig kept a couple of the several million dollar townhouses and had the guest house decorated by the exquisite Ambra Medda.

A delight to look at. The design, I mean, obviously.
The king of the hill then took us on a charming tour of the island, with Miami´s sensual breeze paving the way. Or was it Craig who was paving the way?

Up, up. And not away.
But, wait, there's more. As a complement to Ambra´s charms, Venezuelan architect Luis Pons came out of the woodwork and explained why he chose to put a lit and floating parthenon
into the waters of Indian Creek.
Convincing. Seriously.
We´ll be back at Aqua tomorrow for the unveiling of this artwork...

Can´t wait.
tomáš

Click to see Photo Gallery related to this post.
also, as a reference, see Aqua during daylinght.

Day 0 . Strike 2 . Lighting I.M. Pei Building

2005-11-29T01:53:00.000-05:00

After the nonchalant showing at Aqua it was off to Bright Lights, Big Buildings in downtown Miami.
Bank of America owns a building designed by I.M. Pei, and found a way to light it for Christmas and link it to Art Basel in one fell flick of the switch. And why not? If there is a sponsor there is a way. If there is cheese and champagne, a balmy Miami night and a couple hundred people who can't wait for the beginning of the Basel marathon, you've got yourself a party.
The locals are friendly, of course, and are happy to introduce foreigners to the Miami way of living it up.
The light show is a fun reminder of The Day when presents will be unwrapped in the same way as Miamians unwrap their clothing.
Not a bad idea overall. Not much to do with art (some photos in the sky lobby at least provided an oblique reference to Art Basel), but, hey, they tried.

And we know how to light up a town.
Just keep those colors changing.

And changing.

tomáš

Click to see Photo Gallery related to this post

almost there, first Reception, Monday

2005-11-28T07:44:00.000-05:00

Well, this is it. Today there are already two events which link themselves somehow to Art Basel Miami Beach. There is the Illumination of the I.M. Pei Building which is the Kickoff Reception for Art Week, Monday, Nov. 28th where HopeAmerica is bombarding us with her Media Alert for Art Basel Monday night .Let´s see how different this is from last year. This is what the same building looked like last year, nicely lit…

so, we´ll talk ´later.

x minus 9

2005-11-22T09:26:00.000-05:00

Getting close. 9 days to go to the official opening of ABMB, short for ArtBaselMiamiBeach.
Or just 7 days to the first events on our fast filling list of places to go, stuff 2 c.
Those first events on November 29th? The MOCA Art in America Party (RSVPd 305.8936211 x23, check) and (at the same time 7pm, obviously) Bank of America Tower at International Place (100 SE 2nd St, Sky Lobby & Terrace, parking available under building) the Champagne Kickoff Reception Art Loves Architecture. Billed as the illumination of world renowned I.M. Pei designed skyscraper with artistic light display plus photographic exhibition of architectural landscapes and distinctive sculptures.
That will be the beginning of a frantic week, where the 26 hours a day has will not be enough to see 1/3rd of what this town has to offer. Miami (a short for the area, although technically most of the activity will be on Miami Beach) makes a party out of everything. I am awaiting the day when I go to a funeral and they serve chocolate martinis, but for here & now this line-up should suffice.
We will be taking you to all (well, maybe many; ok, some) of the events around NADA, pulse-art, SCOPE, design05, Aqua and - let us not forget why we are here - Art Basel Miami Beach itself, the mothership around which all these symbiotic art shows are circling.

Until tomorrow then when we will be putting some flesh on these bones.
your ARtBaselDailies.

26 hours

2005-11-22T07:06:00.000-05:00

ok, ok. we know. the day only has 25 hours. the "26 hours" error was just to get your attention.
t

Art Basel Miami Beach 2003 & 2004 photos

2005-11-21T10:57:00.000-05:00

... can be found on our web site ArtBaselPix.info .

Enjoy!

tomáš

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2000-10-14T10:28:00.000-04:00