Art in Miami

 It has been an inspiring few days in one of the hottest/coolest cities in America this December with the Miami Art Basel contemporary art fair. To quote their own website the show is ‘the most important art show in the United States, a cultural and social highlight for the Americas’. The event is a host of many scenes at once:

For starters and most importantly the Art Basel fair itself which compares to its Swiss counterpart held every Spring in Basel from which it draws its name, closely followed by the Art Miami and Pulse show pavilions in the trendy  Design District where all the sexiest accessories for decorating the home are collected in chic boutiques selling high brow and trendy brands. A couple of the more interesing are the NiBa Home Store and UZCA, both on NE 2nd Avenue in the downtown District.

Bigger and better known galleries and artists are in the Miami Beach Convention Center whereas smaller shows like Pulse feature a wide range of gallerists from the Americas and beyond. Some gallery names to remember are the Brancolini Grimaldi Arte based in Rome and Florence who feature photography by Massimo Vitali as well as Vermelho from Sao Paulo displaying the brand new creations of Marcelo Cidade.

My personal favourite was the NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) Art Fair held at the nostalgically glamourous Deauville Hotel. In 1964 The Beatles appeared in their second US performance ever, broadcast live on the Ed Sullivan Show, direct from the hotel’s famed Napoleon Ballroom which between December 2nd and 5th, 2010 contained a little more than half of the NADA gallerists’ stands. The best stand prize went to the Kate Gerble Gallery of Vandam Street in downtown New York City who represents the beautiful works of my friend the sculptor Ernest Burgos. His work was not at NADA this year but at an independent show called ‘The Every Other Day’ at Ideobox Artspace in Wynwood curated by Donald Jonson Montenegro and well worth a visit before it closes its doors on January 7th, 2011.

Miami Art Basel is a concentration of the most exciting international contemporary art with a strong focus on the Americas in particular. Less of a high brow manifestation than its Swiss older sister it attracts visitors and international collectors, mostly people who come for the art, but many who also come for the party. I didn’t need but a little help from my friends to partake in the latter, with numerous private gallery-held, brand- and store-sponsored events every evening all over town as well as late night art and non-art celebrations in homes and famous South Beach hotels like the Delano which this year opened its cellar to the Parisian Le Baron nightclub for a special Miami Art Basel edition. My culture and art experience however was guided throughout by another friend and true curated art professional Anna Di Stasi, director at the unique travel and service provider Pinacoteca NYC, who shared with me some of the inside knowledge about up and coming art that she normally only saves for her bespoke clientele.

Some of Ariella’s Villas owners and clients will highly appreciate my new awakening to the world of contemporary collecting. I am referring for to collectors themselves who travel to inspiring places in search of new art or to those who fill their own homes with special pieces like at La Fàbrica in Ibiza. For next year’s edition of the show there will be an assortment of apartments and villas in Miami for rent through the exclusive villa agency; the collection continues to grow with every new destination visited and will constantly evolve around the events which keep the interested and interesting citizens of the world on the move.