It was still hot and humid on Friday so we began the day with the Nada Art Fair at the Deauville, a sprawling, shabby-chic hotel that hosted the fair in the lobby and two ballrooms. The Richelieu room featured galleries with solo exhibitions, which were far better than what was on view in the group show hangings in the Napoleon room. Highlights included Brendan Fowler’s canceled concert posters in fractured frames at Rental; Patrick Jackson’s stacked sculptures of kitsch objects at Francois Ghebally Gallery; and Scott Hug’s pie chart pieces at John Connelly Presents. We ran into Kavi Gupta in the lobby and he invited us to an impromptu celebration at the hotel’s Tiki Bar so we stopped looking at art long enough to enjoy a mojito by the pool.
Art Basel Miami Beach week started this year with yesterday’s Design Miami opening. Swiss Messe, ABMB’s parent company, is part owner of DM and decided to let the little sister bow first. It made for a lively day at the fair, however some of the celebrities that fly into town just in time for the ABMB opening seemed to be missing. The only star spotting at DM — other than the band OK Go, which was performing at the fair — was Naomi Campbell, although we later crossed paths with Pharrell Williams at the opening for Friends With You’s new shop in the Miami Design District.
Known for his video and photography manipulations of monumental news imagery, including the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, and the Tiananmen Square protests, Josh Azzarella is a whiz at altering and erasing history. The artist’s latest project, which was two years in the making, takes on something nearly as significant in pop culture, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video. Stripping it of its song and all signs of life — bar the ticket booth attendant at the cinema — Azzarella’s interpretation of the classic offers a landscape that ripe for new fantasies.
David LaChapelle, one of the most well-known (and controversial) photographers working today, recently retired from a publishing career spanning more than 20 years to focus full-time on his personal fine art. His much-anticipated new work, The Rape of Africa, a year-long labor of passion and persistence, casts a regal Naomi Campbell in the role of Venus from the Botticelli masterpiece Venus and Mars. It’s a monumental tableaux that seduces viewers with sexy bling, only to shock them with the environmental devastation and violent conflicts that pervade African mining. Read More »
Because we can’t all escape from our desks to enjoy 72 degree weather and international contemporary art, Flavorpill’s resident guru Paul Laster will be bringing you daily bold-name littered updates and photos from Art Basel Miami all week. Enjoy!
Miami Basel’s six days of art and design events officially kicked off with Design Miami, housed in a stunning new pavilion, designed by Aranda/Lasch. First on the agenda was lunch with Design Miami’s 2008 Designer of the Year, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Miami Design District guru Craig Robins, and HSBC Private Bank execs in the VIP lounge, which the Campana Brothers sensuously constructed from raffia, freshly transported from their native Brazil.
