What a week Miami was.
Aqua
Wynwood was amazing. The building was subdivided into what seemed like little galleries, perfect walls, concrete walls and little newts scurrying around the floor and walls. This was the best kept secret fair that was supposed to not be a secret.
Julia's work flew off the wall. As expected, she drew a great response. Nathan Baker, who's amazing "detergent" and "Ashes" greeted people as they entered the "back" area stopped traffic. Margot
Quan Knight, Lori Nix and
Etsuko Ichikawa all showed well. Cara
Ober was gobbled up by a Swiss collector.
RSG introduced two new artists at the fair.
Shen Wei, from NY captures people in intimate settings, people he hardly knows, granted closeness and trust in his handling of a private moment. What emerges is a quiet nobility, a voyeuristic pleasure into the lives of strangers. The subjects may not be the most attractive people to photograph, but they are real. Real to Wei, real to themselves and in relation, real to us.
≈Ryoko Suzuki, towered over the aisle with a seductive "you should be ashamed of yourself" attitude in her #5
Anikora-
Seifuku image. Standing 7.5' tall, placed on the edge of the booth, it dominated the corner. Jane
Corkin from Toronto went mad with excitement. She brought several people back to see it and then asked if she could have an exhibition of
Ryoko's series in her Toronto Gallery.
Ryoko, rocks. If you
have not seen the work, click on her link.
Visiting Miami were Nathan Baker, Lawrence
Gipe,
Shen Wei and
Etsuko Ichikawa. Much appreciation to my drop dead beautiful art fair assistant, Cheri' Landry who put up with my shit for 6 days without bitch slapping me (except when I let a collector walk on a $15,000 sale cause I didn't give him a big discount). Money ain't everything
sweety!
Cheri rocks, and she somehow kept the booth stocked with a steady stream of single young males (oh how exciting...not). Can it boys..she has a boyfriend, who cutely leaves singing messages on her voicemail.
Oh, we had celeb sightings too. Steve Martin came to the booth and looked over Lu
Zhang. Mandy Moore supposedly came by, still don't know who she is. And a guy who looked like Michael
Stipe, straw hat, white shirt gave Nathan Baker's work a hard look.
High points to the week...
Seeing old friends from LA day's long since passed. Watching naked men taunt security guards in the Raleigh pool. Waiting 30 minutes for Larry
Gipe to bring us a glass of $20 wine, also at the Raleigh. Running into an old art fair friend and getting a mad crush on her. Bear hugging Bennett Roberts. Having Caprice Horn scowl at me. Meeting a million collectors. Meeting a million curators. Meeting a million single young guys who were hovering around my assistant.
Resisting buying a Joel Peter
Witkin, and buying Lawrence
Gipe instead. Discovering Cuban coffee. That stuff is like moonshine.
Now, on to NY.
