Miami Basel Art Fair

4 January 2017

Wednesday brought the big fair. We took a saunter there, feeling much less urgency than any of the years before.

Miami Basel Art Fair
We went straight to Casey Kaplan and purchased at last, a lovely work by Jonathan Gardner we had reserved earlier. All the galleries had sent their PDF previews so there was a feeling of déjà vu, which really eliminated the feeling of discovery and competition amongst the collectors.
Miami Basel Art Fair
There were still some surprises though as a few of the works extended beyond the jpeg. Such as this Alicja Kwade cast of a prehistoric bone which resembled something much more gothic and sinister at König Galerie.
Miami Basel Art Fair
At Metro Pictures we were taken aback by the beauty of Camille Henrot’s ‘Self Effacing Management Politics 2 (Desktop Series)’.
Miami Basel Art Fair
I was mesmerised by Jumana Manna’s ‘Blue Elbow’ at CRG Gallery.
Miami Basel Art Fair
Sculpture felt very much on the agenda. We loved the work of Erin Shirreff at Sikkema Jenkins & Co, they reminded us of an Anthony Caro series of works from when he was in Rome, which I had seen in Chicago a while back and mentioned in my diary.
Miami Basel Art Fair
There were a few friend moments. Tif managed to get together again with Felipe Dmab from Mendes Woods and Michael Xufu Huang.
Miami Basel Art Fair
But then it was back to pure concentration as we shifted through at least 10,000 works of art. My brain was sizzling, this Korakrit Arunanondchai explains it perfectly!
Miami Basel Art Fair
I stumbled across Yngve Holen’s new work at Modern Art and that age-old question again - art or not art?
Miami Basel Art Fair
Kelly Akashi at Francois Ghebaly was strong and very interesting, definitely an artist to collect.
Miami Basel Art Fair
But my favourite had to be Kelley Walker at Paula Cooper Gallery.