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Art Basel Miami Beach: Where weird becomes normal!

The sixth edition of Art Basel Miami Beach has ended. It is the largest, craziest art bazaar in the world -- five days and four nights of hundreds of galleries selling thousands of artists to an insatiable herd of 43,000 of the trendiest, “coolest” people on Earth! Many of them were swathed in black enveloping wraps with silk linings of funky loud purples, pinks and fuchsias!

It was big, it was bold and it was everywhere. Think Andy Warhol meets the space shuttle?
Art Basel Miami Beach, the largest contemporary art show in the world closed on Sunday with a record number of visitors from every continent plus 1,600.

We, here at KBTVonline, road tripped down to the Miami Convention Center on Saturday. But like many thousands of the other guests we were drawn to the surrounding cultural exhibitions and events – known as the satellite shows or the Sati Scene. But that’s a whole other story, or episode, so to speak. Check out my blog over the weekend to find out what we uncovered – off the beaten path.

All that said, at the Convention Center, celebrated artists and leading art-world personalities participated in programs. More than 100 museums from the US, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The 200 galleries from 30 countries exhibited works by more than 2,000 artists.

Curiously I overheard an art dealer who had an interesting insight into desperate plight of the US dollar at the moment. She said she’s pricing all of her art work in Euros because she has “taken a bath” on the US dollar – currently trading at about $1.45 to the Euro.

At the Miami Beach Convention Center, where the proper show was installed meaning the works that had been shipped here from the city of Basel in Switzerland, everything was extremely uptight.

I can sum it up with a visual. One exhausted art dealer perched on the lap of a well-known gallery owner whom I know well but who asked not to be named. They were both perched on the hood of a silver bullet-proof Mercedes SUV … and this is what I heard: "He's got some big walls."

A guy called Earth Man was walking around the fair in a space suit breathing through a hose connected to a potted plant. There was a girl in a dress made of clothespins.

Speaking of, let me share our favorite pieces – or installations … or … ? A mobile of giant lava rocks by Robert Chambers for $30,000. A "400% cotton" hand-dyed T-shirt, titled "Pimp," by Dutch artist HuskMitNavn, for $60. Dammit … I missed it … are they selling on eBay? And finally there's Ralph Provisero's "Earthramp," two yards of pounded Everglades topsoil, and it's not even for sale. It will just . . . compost.

Don’t forget to watch are show tonight: “Art Basel Miami Beach." We’ll take you down to South Beach to the back courtyard of the Aqua Hotel on Collins Avenue where the real action was taking place – off campus. Just like at a university!

posted by J.P. @ 6:03 PM