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12/04/2008: "ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2008"
(MIAMI BEACH) - It seems to have become customary for me to hold my breath in anticipation of something great at Art Basel Miami Beach. After all, this is my third pilgrimage here and with more than two dozen, independent art fairs taking place all over the city, you’re bound to see something that knocks you dead. Right? Hold that thought.
If you’re an art lover, one of the great things about art fairs is that they lift you out of your hum-drum existence. Nothing accomplishes this better than a show-stopper. Many things caught my fancy this year, not the least of which, the economy. How did the tense, bailout-laced, economy play here? Well, I must say that I’ve just returned here to my hotel room after attending Media/Art Collector Preview Day. Judging by the obviously well-heeled crowd, finding the pick of the day still topped the agenda. If you’ve got the money, isn’t this the best time to buy? Anyway, you know that I was snooping. Here are some bits and pieces of conversations that I overheard - I’ll leave it up to you to fill in the context:
"I think there are enough new collectors out there to keep this going!" one dealer said on his cellphone.
"Oh, I’m looking around for cheap stuff," a collector said to someone.
"Are the prices softening up a bit?" a collector asked one dealer who replied, "They ARE and that’s GOOD!"
"I’m glad you’re here. I just hope it goes well!" another collector told a dealer.
Of course, these things might be uttered anytime at any art fair, but the current economy made them all the more poignant.
Art Basel Miami Beach is full of incessant chit-chat. Basically, society, small-talk. I wanted to just yell out - "LET’S CUT TO THE CHASE PEOPLE! NOBODY REALLY CARES ABOUT HOW YOUR POODLE MUFFIE IS DOING!" Let’s face it. All that the freaked out dealers want to hear is - "I'LL TAKE IT!" and all that the hungry collectors want to hear is, "I can cut you a GREAT deal on that!"
Moving on - there are so many great things to see. Alex Katz has two fantastic, oversized paintings here that would look great in my living room, but you know how that goes. I love his work. He’s always so fresh and modern - but let me focus on some unusual standouts this year:
Belgium artist Kris Martin has an absolutely fantastic, steel and bronze installation piece here. It’s called, "For Whom…" It’s a gigantic, bronze bell that rocks back and forth, hanging from huge, steel beams. It reportedly weighs three tons and yes, the bell tolls (in an Ernest Hemingway kind of way).
The dealer told me that it belongs to a private, American collector who paid roughly $250,000 for it. The installation signifies the 1929 financial crises. Really? So, I asked the dealer if this was a case of total coincidence or foreboding genius? That’s when Kris Martin himself came up and starting talking with me. First off, let me say that he could not have been nicer. He’s such a cool, down to earth guy. I told him that I saw him recently on the cover of Art Review. He told me that he had no idea that his piece would be so timely.
"It’s just by coincidence! These coincidences are crazy," Martin said. "It just flashes through my mind. It’s always happening like this. The majority of things are out of my control but they come together in very interesting ways." Nice, quick chat. After that, I moved on, but moments later, he came up to me at another booth and said, "If you find something better here you can have your money back!" I replied by saying, "I won’t!" We both laughed at his joke. At that point, two art dealers looked at me and scowled. Such angry, humorless people. Oh, I asked him if he planned any future large installations and he said, "Maybe BIGGER!" That’s the spirit.
I also loved Michelangelo Pistoletto’s "Buddha 2008." It’s a life-sized, standing Buddha sculpture that’s touching and presumably looking at its reflection in a tall mirror that’s part of the piece. Profound, yet funny. Perfect.
Another great piece was Farhard Moshiri’s tri-paneled, huge encaustic concoction of a roughly six foot tall by twelve foot wide cherry cake that had dozens of yellow-tipped knives seemingly thrown into it that spell out the words, "RUN LIKE HELL." It totally rocked.
Jon Kessler’s "Random Acts of Senseless Violence (Part 2)," also caught my eye. In a nutshell, it’s a tall rotating, steel contraption with a bunch of round, colored photos of minor celebrities that are spinning around with a small, live camera projecting their images into an Edward Hopper-esque television monitor. It’s a Deitch Projects piece. Very cool and original.
I won’t bore you with all of the other notable art pieces. There were plenty. It would take forever. There is one thing that I did strangely notice. There were a lot of face-lifted ladies here. Do you know when you look at someone and you say, "She (or he) has definitely had work done"? That was certainly the case here this year. I’m not judging this - I’m just saying. Why wouldn’t well-heeled art collectors turn the scalpel on themselves? I guess collectors of beautiful things also want to be beautiful themselves. I guess my point is that if you can afford to collect art AND get a face job, you’re doing okay - even in this tough economy.
Oh, did I mention who I saw amid the crowd? I saw super All-Star Mike Piazza pose for photos with a couple of fans in between looking at art. I shook hands briefly with Art Basel Miami Beach Founder Samuel Keller. He’s shorter than I thought he would be. I also spotted Blaine Trump (Donald’s former sister in law?) hungrily seeking a possible art purchase. Network Newsman Brian Ross, fresh from busting auto executives using expensive jets to fly to Washington in search of federal bailout money, was also here chatting on his cellphone. Also, at one point, I heard a woman yell out - "Lisa! Lisa!" That’s when Former Guggenheim Museum head Lisa Dennison, responding to some friends walked by me. Nice.
Finally, thank God that I decided to go against the advice of artist friends Matthew Beall and Scott Andrew Spencer who told me that I should just relax on the beach my first day here at Basel. That’s because as I left the Miami Beach Convention Center - my eyes met the glory of THE SHOW-STOPPER!
As I exited Convention Hall D, my eyes veered over to the left and there she was - SUPERMODEL NAOMI CAMPBELL - in the flesh, baby! She looked very much like her lovely self. She was wearing big, brownish, Jackie O type sunglasses, a baseball cap and a white, short, low-cut ballerina looking dress that showed off her bad-ass legs. Wow! I kept my gaze on her as I headed over to a nearby bench. I parked myself next to a woman and said, "Pardon me Mam, I just have to sit here and stare at Naomi Campbell!" Suddenly, I was lifted out of my hum-drum existence.
"Well, don’t let ME get in your way!" the woman snapped as she leaned back on the bench, giving me a clear, glorious view of Naomi who knew full well that I and everyone else outside was staring at her while she talked on her cellphone. I watched her the entire time until she went inside with her group of mostly male friends.
At that moment, I realized that I might have been rude. "Oh, I hope I wasn’t being rude," I said to the woman slumping down next to me. "YOU’RE very lovely too!" I said.
"Well, THANK YOU very much!" the woman replied - rather triumphantly.
MICHAEL CORBIN IS AN AVID ART COLLECTOR AND AUTHOR OF THE NEW BOOK, "THE ART OF EVERYDAY JOE: A COLLECTOR’S JOURNAL." CHECK IT OUT AT WWW.ARTMAESTROGALLERY.COM
