TFAA

Richard Mosse, Flower of the Mountain, 2011 at Jack Shainman Gallery

This year’s art fair was jam packed with art, celebrities, performances and MEGA parties.  After navigating through the likes of Diddy (and his bodyguards), Naomi Campbell, Farrell, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones, I think we all deserve tee-shirts that read “I survived Art Basel Miami 2011.”

Here are some of my favorites:

BEST BOOTHS:

Andy Warhol installation at L&M's booth

L&M :  We cannot forget some of this super gallery’s past installations, specifically Frank Stella’s impossibly large wall sculptures.  This year, they wallpapered their entire booth and hung hundreds of beautiful Warhol drawings salon style.  It was blissful and reminded me that Warhol was a wonderful draftsman and not just a mechanical bull.  Bravo.

Nick Cave Soundsuits at Jack Shainman's booth

Jack Shainman:  This gallery really pulled out the stops  with large works by all of its gallery stars.  Up and coming artist, Richard Mosse, is having a standout year and his photograph in Jack’s booth showed why.  Shainman also brought works by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye whose small portraits already have a waiting list a mile long and Jack is selectively selling to museums first.

Invisible Exports at NADA

Invisible Exports at NADA:  Perfectly installed, this gallery really stepped it up this year.  Bravo.

Best Satellite Art Fair:

Snow Globes by LigoranoReese

Pulse:  This art fair pulled together a strong group of galleries that brought their best works.  Yancey Richardson and Yossi Milo both had strong showings as did Artware Editions, which brought their wonderful editioned snow globes by LigoranoReese, perfect for the holidays.

Best Party:

LA MOCA Beach Party:  Soulwax and 2ManyDJ’s rocked the bottle service event and Jeffrey Deitch wore a bright purple suit.

Most New and Exciting Experience:

Dzine's Imperial Nail Salon

Dzine’s Imperial Nail Salon at the Standard Hotel.  Dzine takes the idea of customization a step further to the physical body.  It’s events like this that make Miami special.

Best Museum Show:

Erwin Wurm at the Bass Museum (photo courtesy of Lehman Maupin)

The Bass Museum:  Leave it to Erwin Wurm to give you a good laugh.  This show, which travels to Dallas next, exemplifies Wurm’s conceptual brilliance.  His work is ultimately about the body and, although I will always love the potato body sculptures the most, I was taken aback by Wurm’s somber large scale installation.

Greatest Disappointments:

White Cube’s booth:  Usually a show stopper at the fair, this year’s booth felt predictable and tired.

Kavi Gupta:  We all love Theaster Gates, but this booth was a serious disappointment, especially because there was never anyone actually working the booth.  Face time goes a long way.