ART BASEL 2016 IS HERE!

In his opening remarks, curator Nicholas Baume, of New York's Public Art Fund, called it "a huge treat" to be down in Miami for a second year at the sector's helm, telling the crowd that up north, "come December, we don't like to open public art exhibitions."

PHOTOS BY ANGEL REYES

Public's 2014 theme, Field Work, gets artists out of their studios and away from the white cube of the museum or gallery. As Baume put it, "it's about taking all that fury you had and seeing how it works in public."

The curator made no reference to the two hulking bodyguards who stood flanking him throughout the evening, a performance piece from Ryan Gander titled Thank you, but I am promised to the company of my artist this evening during the opening.

When asked if he had helped Gander devise the unorthodox work, Baume demurred: "This was totally his idea!" He insisted the bodyguards were there to help, although artnet News did get physically brushed aside while approaching to get a photograph.

Later, Baume was spotted in the crowd of participants for Christian Falsnaes's performance piece Front, pulling double duty as a performer. Falsnaes rallied the troops in front of the Bass Museum before leading everyone over to a white plywood wall with the warning that "without you, there will not be any work."

After signing release forms, volunteers from the crowd took turns spray painting the piece in black, white, and silver—a popular color palette for graffiti artists, according to Falsnaes. The artist's assistants then began sawing the wall into pieces, which the crowd carried to a frame across the park, and then nailed up in a new arrangement.

PHOTOS BY ANGEL REYES

The final piece, called Front, will only exist until about 9:00 this evening, when Falsnaes will begin the process all over again. "The wall is just a projection surface for whatever we put down," he told artnet News, describing his interest in the crowd as a material for his work.

The Shining, a less in-your-face performance piece by Alix Pearlstein, involved a group of actors traversing the park holding what appeared to be LED flashlights. What the artist calls "personal illumination devices," their purpose was totally unclear. Mystified, artnet News initially suspected they were somehow assisting photographers as night fell in Collins Park. But no, it was just art.

PHOTOS BY ANGEL REYES

Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016!

Talk about a booming market. The contemporary art auctions in New York in November set a bar as high as — well, the record-breaking prices they commanded. Consider these figures: $142.4 million at Christie’s for Francis Bacon’s triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud, the most expensive art work ever sold at auction; $105 million at Sotheby’s for Andy Warhol’s Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), the highest price ever paid at auction for the pop artist; and $58.4 million at Christie’s for Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog, an auction record for a living artist. “It’s becoming like the tulip market in Holland,” said Palm Beach collector Irene Karp, referring to the 17th-century economic bubble. But will that deter an expected 55,000 contemporary art enthusiasts from flocking to Miami Beach for Art Basel fair week? Not at all. Palm Beach collector Peggy Greenfield explained why: “It’s the bustle. It’s seeing people we know from other parts of the country. It’s talking to artists. It’s the whole scene of being surrounded by so much art.” Art Basel in Miami Beach will open with a VIP preview on Wednesday and run through Sunday at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

PHOTO BY ANGEL REYES

At least 20 satellite fairs and a blizzard of other events will cash in on the action. Museum and collector spaces will flaunt their most impressive shows of the season. High demand The Society of the Four Arts’ field trip to the main fair sold out in two weeks. A Four Arts tour led by art historian Lacy Davisson Doyle to the PULSE and NADA satellite fairs was near capacity at press time. Demand was so strong for the Armory Art Center’s trip to Art Basel Miami Beach and to Art Miami that a second bus was added. At the center of it all is Art Basel, which will field 258 galleries from 31 countries. New this year is a section devoted to editions — not just prints, but editions of every kind, fair director Marc Spiegler said. For the first time, the large-scale art exhibition in Collins Park will not end with the fair but will extend through March. A strong group of younger American galleries has joined the fair, including Elizabeth Dee, Corbett vs. Dempsey, 47 Canal, Bureau and Real Fine Arts. Thanks to the debut of Art Basel Hong Kong in May, more Asian galleries are participating. Spiegler is bullish about the increasingly global contemporary art market. “The long-term trend is toward more and more people buying art,” he said. “Whatever the state of the general economy, more and more people have the means to buy art.” At the top level, buyers are competing for trophy works, said Anna Lipskaya, head of research at Skate’s Art Market Research. But “many works that were recently presented to the market have not had the time to pass the art history test, meaning that, over time, their value might not be preserved,” she said. The best way to describe the contemporary art market is “a flight to safety,” said Al Brenner, chief executive officer of MutualArt.com and chief operating officer of the Artist Pension Trust. Demand is high for masterworks by a small number of established artists and for low-risk, reasonably priced works by emerging artists, while the middle market is suffering, he said. As far as hot prospects go, he points toward artists from Asian countries with rich cultural heritages, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar. Palm Beach collector Christine Aylward and her husband, Bill, recognized that trend a few years ago. “Blue-chip Chinese contemporary art is in such demand, and the prices are so high,” she said. “It’s just a matter of time before other Asian artists come to the fore.” Trend-setting contemporary art collectors Mera and Don Rubell have been making art-buying trips to China since 2001.

They will showcase their finds in the exhibition “28 Chinese,” which opens Wednesday at The Rubell Family Collection in Miami. Key to gallery success Fairs such as the ones in Miami have become essential to galleries wooing major collectors. “If you are not in fairs, you are a local gallery,” Brenner said. Fair exhibitors generate 30 percent to 50 percent of their annual sales at such events, he said. Palm Beach dealer Sarah Gavlak first participated in Art Basel Miami Beach in 2006. She has worked her way up through the Positions and Nova sectors to secure a coveted place in the top-tier Galleries section this year. “The pressure is on,” she said. “This is my big chance. Everyone will be looking at what I present.” Gavlak will show works that emphasize craftsmanship and re-purposed materials by artists such as Rob Wynne, Andrew Brischler, Jose Alvarez, Bovey Lee and Orly Genger. Not all the art on offer in Miami will be worthy of attention, Palm Beach collector Ruth Baum said. “It’s uneven. You just have to keep looking. That’s the fun of it — the search.”

Major Project Announcement ! !

Hello!! Calling all fellow creative cosmonauts!! 

I would like to announce a project in where Miami-based 

contributors will have their work printed within a book filled with pages of creations from one of the most culturally colorful cities in the world!

Have you ever wished to have your name and lovingly (or 

hatefully) crafted words published in a book?? 

If this doesn't appeal to you then please relay the message to potential contributors whom you know would love to jump on this opportunity.

I would like to ask everyone and anyone, poets and artists of all kind, shape and form to please submit poems, short stories, narratives and illustrations to MIApoets@gmail.com

All poems will be reviewed by our team and selected accordingly.

Selected poets will be contacted with further information.

 MIApoets@gmail.com

WMC 3DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

The Ultra Music Festival begins on Friday, March 15, 2013. The first weekend of the electronic music fest runs through March 17 before the second weekend takes place March 22-24. The festival bookends the Winter Music Festival that takes place March 15-24. 

The festival will include the final live performance by Swedish House Mafia. On top of Swedish House Mafia, the festival will hose Deadmau5, Tiësto, David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Kaskade, Avicii and Major Lazer.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Ultra Music Festival. It is held in Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. The 2012 edition of the festival saw about 55,000 people per day attend. This is the first time that the event will be held on two separate weekends. It was originally a one day festival, but by 2012, the event took over three days. This year, the event is spread out over six days with dozens of performers taking over one of the seven stages. 

Opening reception for “Frames of Reference” / Conversation with Jorge Pérez and Tobias Ostrander

Miami Fashion Week 2015

Ultra Music Festival 2013

Who's Ready???? @Avicii to release another highly anticipated ID as ‘UMF,’ official anthem for @ultramusic: