A Conversation About Art Basel

A recent conversation I had regarding ‪#‎ArtBasel‬, the mega-cluster-F. 
I start. 
"So this year there are come cool events happening--"
"I'm not going to anything where we have to wait in line with a gaggle of people trying to get in while some snooty person with an iPad looks for our name."
"Right. Okay, well there's also---"
"And then we get there and the crowd isn't the right crowd, or not a big enough crowd, or not a smart enough crowd. Or where parking is a headache, or where we get stuck in traffic. Or where the valet line is 100 a-holes long. Or where we have to fight to get a drink/tiny bite/spoon of tuna tartar. Or where I get elbowed by Julian Schnabel and Jeffrey Deitch starts yelling at his door people. Or anything where we stand around WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN."
"Yep. So I guess that covers it. See you in a week?"
"Sounds good."

Design Miami Photos

Native Shoes Art Basel Pop-Up

Native Shoes is hosting a pop-up shop this weekend at the Friends With You Rainbow City installation in the Design District. The shoes are sort of the happy love child of Crocs and Ked's or Chuck Taylors. I'm sort of in love with them. Also, they gave me a free pair to try out and I broke them in over a day hard core Baseling and was impressed with how they held up. I got a pair of tiny stompers for my toddler and the little dude loves them, refusing to wear anything but the red slip-ons. And for someone with an amphibious lifestyle ( i.e. constantly navigating water sports or rainy climates) they are truly brilliant, whimsical, and fun. If only the world would embrace wackiness more often. The spongy material is akin to walking on a firm marshmallow. The playful holes provide much needed A/C for overworked toes. There are those who refuse to give in, who shun the mere suggestion that the candy-colored sneaks could be respectable footwear. And to those I say - endure the agony of de feet.
Adult shoes: $49
Kids: $38

Fiat and FADER Party Tonight

Come out tonight and listen to music from DJ Nick Catchdubs and DJ Artime. There will be FREE food and drinks.

RSVP here.

Event is tonight from 8-11pm. The address is 70 NW 25th St, Miami FL 33127
DJ Artime and DJ Nick Catchdubs will have sets. Live art by Jesse Nite and 131 Projects. Complimentary food and beverages.

Art Basel Schedule: Thursday Night

The plan for tonight - clone myself.
There's a Bruce Weber party at the Standard. The Camper store on Lincoln Road opens with a cocktail party.  Dror Benshetrit unveils his TRON chair at Capellini. NERD performs at Rainbow City. The MAM has their party on the plaza. There will be cocktails and art from Antwerp at Maison Martin Margiela.Wynwood Walls will be throwing down with Shepard Fairey. Back on the beach NADA kicks things off at the Canyon Ranch. Scope is getting jiggy with Artists Wanted. And everyone gets free tattoos at the Sanrio pop-up in Wynwood.

LCD Sound System @ The Raleigh

Saturday: Primary Flight's Closing Party

Andres Balazs Goes Barefoot For a Good Cause

Well, sort of.
If by "good cause" we mean a sleek speedboat designed by Marc Newson. Which is doing the world a service in some way, if we consider that there are wealthy people out there who may find themselves on the high seas in a vessel not designed by a cultural superstar.
But forget about the boat, which was gorgeous and arrived with much fanfare and then spent the night docked by the Standard's pool deck. Let's focus on the champagne, which was flowing and made by Dom Perignon. And let's get back to Mr. Balazs (the debonair fellow to right) and his impeccable smile. It takes a special kind of cool to pull off the barefoot-in-a-suit look and the hotelier, oozing relaxed charm and weaving his way through the crowd, certainly seemed at home. Because, in a way, he was. Now that he's given up the Raleigh, his bayfront Standard is his Miami crashpad of choice. And the place is still holding its own against the newbies like Soho House and the W. The key to maintaining its cool cachet? The man himself.

Eurocinema @ Plunge at the Gansevoort

Art Basel Schedule: Tuesday Night

What's on the event agenda for tonight?
Art Miami opens tonight for VIP's. Magrit Mondavi is hosting a wine dinner at the Soho House. Then there's the MOCA/Vanity Fair party, of course. Andre Balazs is unveils a shmancy new boat designed by Marc Newson at the Standard pool deck (expected guests: Thomas Krens, Ryan McGinness) . The Townhouse rooftop hosts a cocktail party for Trey Speegle. The official Art Basel opening party hunkers down at the W South Beach. There's a Pulse VIP preview party with the New World Symphony. Emmanuel Perrotin hosts an opening of Daniel Arsham's new show (didn't he shutter his gallery?). The Marquis building downtown is graced by performance artist Pamela Masik. And the MOCA Shakers get busy at Bardot after the museum's opening tonight.
-photo via C-Monster's Flickr

Basel Kickoff: Bubbles and BBQ @ The Soho House

It used to be that Basel kicked off Tuesday with the MOCA/Vanity Fair party and the usual Calvin Klein/Chuck Close/bald-headed cross-dressing twins sightings. But this year things got all Monday night on us with Design Miami's Veuve Clicquot beach barbecue at the Soho House.
I promised myself I wouldn't start Basel week with a hangover but, alas, like all good Basel parties, the booze was easy to procure, the food, not so much. But the champagne was abundant, crisp and refreshing. The party wasn't really on the beach, but rather at the Soho House's tiki bar, a space built for an intimate gathering of 30 that then accommodated oh, about 200 mostly-French speaking arty types.
Typical ensemble: crayola-red pants, leather moccasins (no socks), pastel sweater tied around the shoulders. Also, a few extras from an episode of Schprockets.
The grub: delicious mini hamburgers that were too few and far between, spicy lamb skewers, truffle pizzas, chips and salsa.
Sightings: Marc Jacobs having dinner at Cecconi's.

-photo via WorldRedEye

Le Baron Miami @ The Florida Room

This year the French nightclub lands at the Florida Room. Expect plenty of socialites, collectors and assorted riff-raff acting naughty and doing karaoke until 4am. Also, expect a strict door policy. But something tells me if you're wearing something like this you should be fine.

Art Basel To Do Lists

I'm still putting together my Art Basel must-see and must-drink/play list (hint: lots of champagne and ping pong, and maybe a boat ride with Andre Balazs, god that hotelier is handsome) but it's good to take a gander at the rec's from fellow mavens.

Art Fag City has a map and itinerary for you.

HyperAllergic has five intriguing projects.

The New Times has an exhaustive list of events and their blog, Cultist, has loads of Basel-y goodness here.

Duncan Quinn's Basel Party

For this year’s four-night bacchanalia UK designer Duncan Quinn is taking a page out of the Daniel Craig handbook by transforming his Design District store into a Casino Royale wonderland. Expect a black tie staff serving gin cocktails, a gambling pit and a screening room streaming Michael Caine movies. Also, you can stock up on limited-edition ties and slim-fitting polos.
December 1-4, 11am – 7pm, 4040 NE 2nd Ave,786-972-5021.

MOCA/Vanity Fair Party, November 30

Blue Velvet Makes So Much Sense Now

Plenty of silliness makes its way to our city every year for Art Basel (cue Dita Von Teese straddling a giant lipstick that bucked like a mechanical bull above the Delano pool in 2006), but this temporary installation put together by Isabella Rosselini is a special kind of crazy. It's called Seduce Me and it's a series of five short videos written, directed and starring the Blue Velvet icon in which she explores the seduction rituals of seahorses, dolphins and ducks.
And in honor of artistic exploration why don't we take one minute and fifty-nine seconds to have our minds blown with Isabella's depiction of the mating habits of bedbugs.


December 1-5, 12-6p, $7, at The Wolfsonian 1001 Washington Ave,
305-531-1001.

Your Daily Art

Shot at the Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz Collection.

Red Carter Basel Party @ Barneys CO-OP

Donuts=Art

Breakfast at the Rubell Family Collection this morning - a wall of donuts. Some coffee, too. Over at the Rosa de la Cruz collection you could get fresh-brewed cappuccinos and butter cookies. The art was better there too. Rosa's a generous hostess.

Irreversible @ Metropole South Beach