Art Abounds

Last year when Art Basel came around, I was new to town and very skittish about finding my way to this huge art show. I did go find some free art down on the beach. It was a display of shipping containers that had been turned into art displays. The artists could do anything they wanted within the four walls of that container. Some were traditional, hanging art on the walls like a mini gallery. Others were far from it. Artists turned their containers into different and unique – I want to say bizarre but am trying not to be judgmental – presentations of their art. That’s what I thought Art Basel was all about.

This year, I am a year more experienced and more importantly I had a guide. My friend Larry came to town to partake of Art Basel and he was an excellent tour guide. While I still haven’t invested the time or money to go to the official Art Basel show at the Convention Center, I did venture into Art Miami, one of the satellite shows. I understand that Art Miami is about 20 years strong here in Miami while Art Basel came here in 2002. Oh, I’m sure there’s a story there. I need to meet more artsy people to find out the dish. Now here’s something I didn’t fully understand last year. When I call them art shows, what I really mean is art sales. These are galleries from all around the world who have come here to sell their wares. Sell. Now we’re talking some fun. These are folks who wouldn’t give me the time of day if I walked into their NY or Munich gallery and asked the price of a Lichtenstein or a Warhol. But here, well, that’s what they’re here for. Not to mention, in Miami everyone dresses crazily so it’s hard to tell who is filthy rich and who’s not. But I digress.

The fun began on Friday night when we went to a little furniture store/gallery. The stuff was very beautiful if completely over the top. Larry and I were looking at a magnificent, carved wood chest, an armoire of sorts. It had an inlaid front and was quite stunning. I stepped away to look at something and Larry asked the cost. When I came back, he told me it was “35.” I was thinking to myself…. It’s pricey in my world, but for a handmade chest, it’s really quite reasonable for $3500. Larry, watching my face and obvious inner workings said, “No Hannah, not $3500… $35,000.” And that was the perfect start to my weekend.

Saturday we went to Art Miami. It is a huge show that takes place in a tent (a very secure and substantial tent, but a tent nonetheless, in the Design District. Now you have to understand that during Art Basel, the entire city of Miami goes art crazy. It’s kind of cool. Every nook and cranny in every building has art. Stores put up some art, galleries come out of the wood work, people rent unoccupied space and throw up exhibits, hotel ballrooms transform to galleries. It’s a fascinating thing. For a city not usually high on intellectual pursuits, they seem to embrace this thing with fervor and appreciate and exploit the excesses of it all. It was great. So off we go to Art Miami. This was an absolutely amazing collection of galleries from around the world. And the art was cool. Very little, actually, of the white canvas with the red stripe variety. Much less than I expected of the geometric print repeated over and over on the same canvas. There were portraits, landscapes, still lives, pastels, watercolors, everything else you can imagine and even a good sampling of plug in art. And Larry’s right, when you see something that’s awesome; it’s usually a NYC gallery. He was the best tour guide I could have had. I guess if I really thought about it, I would have remembered that he is a collector, with some really beautiful artwork but I hadn’t. He was patient and knowledgeable and didn’t even laugh at me too much when I showed my complete and total ignorance about art. He gently showed me things that were beautiful and well done and steered me clear of one corner of the show which he described as a whirlpool of bad art. The great thing was that everything was for sale. When you went to ask someone a price, just like the night before in the furniture store, they’d say, “Oh, that’s 70. “ That means $70,000. I was in the know, now. There seemed to be a number of Warhols around and available so we started using them as a way to compare and contrast. First we saw two little ones. A Mao, which was going for $95.000. Then a self portrait for $240,000. Later we saw a much larger, though uglier Mao for $70,000. Ah, I was learning. Who owned it before mattered. The quality of the print mattered. The fact that they probably found what should have been a discarded print, mattered. (Editorial from the world according to Larry.) The next day, Larry went back to Art Basel. He saw a truly magnificent very large Mao that he loved. Just to finish our tour he asked how much it was. He was informed that it was sold. Just out of curiosity, he said, what did it sell for? $2.5 million. Ah. Interesting. First of all, I think that’s the different between Art Basel and Art Miami. Second of all, WOW.

We saw Lichtensteins, Diebenkorns, Hockneys. Boteros, and a million others. It was great fun. While museums are fun, the added element of these items being for sale was very exciting. Not that I could afford any of these any more than I could afford a museum piece, still. It made a difference.

People watching in Miami is always a good thing. People watching at art shows is just over the top. We saw so many interesting looks and characters that I can’t even begin to tell you. How about you come see for yourself! Next year I’m going in. I’m doing the real thing. Art Basel 2010 here I come. Wont’ you join me?