Can art be intoxicating?

About halfway through the visit at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair this year, I felt like intoxicated, it was not by alcohol, but art...and maybe lack of sleep to catch the airplane: more than 200 galleries, 2000 artists. Art fairs are taking a toll on the visitor. The American version of the well-established Swiss Art Basel is celebrating its 10Th anniversary. This year, the galleries have ample space and an area is available for the visitors to rest and even lay on artificial grass for a snooze.

Why visit Art Basel Miami Beach? Rub elbows with the rich and famous? Feel the thrill of power and money? Take a glance at million dollar works? One can come close to a painting from Jean-Michel Basquiat worth 2.8 millions, but it is not one of his iconic graffiti. Farther, a piece from Ai Weiwei is a reminder of the artist and his absence.

Visitors are wandering , groups following guides, taking pictures... no milliardaire in sight. Gatherings happen in front of catchy galleries like L&M with its wallpaper of blue and yellow cows heads or Tony Shafrazi decorated with an installation of stuffed animals (seen above). Some, like The Pace Gallery, stay subdued with a conservative content (as opposed to the display at the recent FIAC in Paris).

This year Kusama's dots are peppered around the fair. Is this sudden fad related to her ongoing exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris?

Chamberlains' small and big sculptures, Tom Wesselmann, Nikki de Saint-Phalle, Fernando Botero, risque works from Linda Benglis, few Joan Mitchell, a small de Kooning, very few Kandinski ... the list goes on. I relish the occasion to be emotionally overloaded by all these works displayed in close proximity. It is exhilarating.

The Beyeler Foundation has an entire booth dedicated to one work from Louise Bourgeois, the sculpture, about communication between individuals or lack of it, entices the visitor to interact with its mirrors and benches, but few take the leap into the sculpture.

I was surprised to see so few South American artists or galleries represent them as opposed to the recent Houston Fine Art Fair, very much in its infancy but inviting galleries from Cuba among others. It seems that the galleries were not taking any risk this year. Overall, the show was big by its size but deceiving by its content.
It feels like Art Basel Miami Beach is about making money, not about promoting artists. Could galleries do both?

photographs by the author:

installation Mike Kelly

"Mr. Kipper" Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1983

Ai Weiwei, 2011

gallery

Jonathan Messe

Where art meets money

Setting: the Convention Center located in the (dilapidated) Art Deco District of Miami Beach.
The tickets were available at the lower level, then, the crowd had to stand in lines to get in the exhibition area. The bags were screened mainly for cameras by burly guards who were enforcing the rule and made me leave mine at the cloak room (which is ludicrous, the visitors were making pictures with their phones!)

Finding the galleries was very difficult even with the floor plan in my hands. I felt caught in a maze at times, and the art was poorly displayed. The space was so crowded that it was not possible to see one piece and take a step back. This made it tiring for the eyes and the mind. The lighting also was poorly set up, so bright in an area that it made a beautiful collection of Calders look like soundless chimes. A Calder needs to be seen with its shadows. I made the comment casually to the gallerist who just went back reading her newspaper. (see picture attached from ARTOBSERVED
Can you guess where are the sculptures of Calder?

One gallery was showing next to each other a blue painting from Yves Klein, Fernando Botero and paintings from the actor Stallone...in such a confined space that it was impossible to take a great look at any of the works. The paintings from Sylvester Stallone were out of place next to outstanding artists. He is a great actor. I was not there when he visited the fair. I got this picture from the site "ARTOBSERVED", already linked above.
His paintings are in the background.


The well known galleries brought small works from well known artists. and the young galleries brought mediocre to poor works from unknown artists.




I was glad, the Galerie Thomas from Munich (present at the FIAC) brought its treasures to Miami. As an added treat, a small booklet of the works on display for each fair is available for the visitors to take as a souvenir. My preferred work is a painting from Kandinsky. This "chef d'oeuvre" made the trip from Paris to Miami.


The crowd was not interesting/interested. From schoolchildren brought by buses to well groomed South Americans VIPs conducted by guides through the galleries , the crowd was confused and tired. The areas to rest were very limited and occupied at all times.


I found the whole fair dragging me down. I came back the following day to spend more time and was not able to stay more than two hours, again exhausted by the presentation of the works.


I read the local papers and blogs and figured out that Art Basel Miami Beach is really a succession of private parties where it is important to be seen. This year, Lance Armstrong and Naomi Campbell made the headlines...

Let's not forget, UBS is the principal sponsor of this event.

Art Basel Miami Beach

I am leaving tomorrow to attend Art Basel Miami Beach. This is the sister fair to Art Basel.
How to prepare for my first visit ?

I went to the website...and was overhelmed at first.

Then I printed the floor plan, and looked at the galleries and artists.

Well, it must be what it advertises... the biggest fair in the United States, 250 galleries and 2000 artists.

From A to Z the galleries, from A to Z the artists, the list was long and tedious.
What to do, I am not a professional, I am an amateur.

The site is almost dull in its presentation. Maybe the point is ...to get to the point and not get distracted.

No informations are available about the price to attend the fair, a day? two days? I am unable to buy the tickets on line...Oh well, we'll see.


Going to Miami is the only way to have an idea about the fair.