I’m finally getting around to reflect on what went down during the biggest Art event in the US, Art Basel. Here is a breakdown of my experience what I could fit in my week long of marathon of parties and multisensory experiences in Miami Beach.

DAY 1

I was greeted to Miami by rain and horrible traffic but my excitement to see FKA Twigs was so high that I quickly dropped off my bags and headed over The National Young Arts Foundation just in time to catch her preform. The sound in the venue did not do justice to this goddess voice, but what was lacking on production, Twigs made up with an impressive dance routine as well as eye candy from her band that were jamming out. She humbly thank the public of America for such a warm welcome and left everyone’s heart fluttering including her boyfriend Robert Pattison that was in attendance. 

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Photo courtesy of Getty Images

After the performance I went over the Life and Death showcase at Grand Central where Dixon played an incredible set. This guy was dropping some David Bowie and Smith remixes that were really hard to walk away from. I had to physically pull myself out the venue to get enough sleep to survived the busy day ahead of me.

DAY 2

Woke up early and was ready to explore. SCOPE was my first stop. As I entered the first person I spot is Swizz beatz for getting photographed in front of Swoon’s monumental. This art innovator was in charged of curating “The Dean Collection” for scope this year. I quickly moved passed the paparazzo and ran straight on Salvador Dali's head. An incredible sculpture by Japanese artist Kazuhiro Tsuji, known for his hyper realistic sculptures. Super trippy stuff.

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Photo by Angela del Sol

I did not have a particular way to go about moving around the fair, so I scanned and scanned and just went for the things that caught my attention. Some of my favorites was “House of Worship” by Jeremiah Johnson made out of medicine bottles. A commentary on our society addicted to pharmaceuticals and quick fixes.
Photo by Angela del Sol

Another piece that I enjoyed was Paul Rousso’s three dimensional sculpture of a newspaper and the wonderful conversation that led with North Carolina native about the extinction of print and technology.

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Photo by Angela del Sol

The sensory overload was intense and I had to catch some air by the beach conveniently located in front of Scope, before making my way down Untitled. In this very well spread out space you had works from renowned artist like Dustin Yellin and all time favorite, "Bling Funeral"” from Jamaican artist Ebony G. Patterson. Here I found a nice balance between upcoming and established artists that happened to be super multicultural. Needless to say, I felt like a kid in candy store and this satellite fair gave me just the right sugar rush!

Before heading to the Soho House to catch Questlove play a groovy set, I briefly stopped by the Wolfsonian and checked fascinating exhibit on World War Culture and visual art. It was get in some world history and talk to a more mature crowd about the festival.

DAY 3

The sun was shining bright and with an umbrella and bottle of water at hand, my friend and I headed to Wyndwood. In every street and in every corner, was filled of incredible murals. When I say incredible, I mean these visual artists grab you and hold you really tight with diverse colors, themes and great detail. It was great catching Alexis Diaz http://cargocollective.com/alexisdiaz working on an elephant octopus piece. Despite the heat, this Puerto Rican artist kept immaculate concentration and worked hard in the details of the piece. This type of dedication and restlessness was a constant in all artist that were working in Wynwood. Sweat dropping and strokes flowing.

This made me realized why I loved street art so much, because it’s always about WE and free to the world see. Yet another reason why its important to support to financially support all these talented minds by buying their work so they keep on beautifying our world’s walls.

After bypassing some street marketers trying to push on some new brand of hummus, we made it CONTEXT www.contextartmiami.com/ This fair had some really interesting work that really worked with space and light. Many of the pieces I saw there were practical and had a very commercial edge without losing their essence. There were some pieces that were so captivating that even kids could not move away.


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Photo by Angela del Sol

Scenes like this one made me very happy because this is what this fair is all about, expanding peoples mind and its always a plus when you little minds behind exposed to higher ideas found in contemporary art. Then I ran into a piece of yet another picture of Marilyn Monroe and made me upset. Have we not have enough of this image? Can we please start reproducing the images of other iconic women like Maya Angelou or Malala?

Then we moved down to Aqua www.aquaartmiami.com/ that was one of my favorite for the relaxed vibe and layout. This hotel turned into gallery showcased work in every rooms. One my favorite finds, were Miami native, Alex Yanis. He made three dimensional wood puzzled pieces that are colorful, engaging, AND multi functional since some of them had speaker incorporated. All of his pieces sold which made me realized that sometimes less is more and when you have smaller showing spaces you have a more intimate interaction with the art and artists that were often present and very approachable.

Another favorite was the room from Ed Victory Gallery from New York. 

DAY 4

I guess you must save best for last and I finally got a chance to check out Art Basel Miami located at the convention center. I was first greeted by a huge piece Acrylic that read “blah blah blah” by artist Mel Bochner which describes how I felt about it. Yes, there were Picassos and Boteros but the vibe in the convention center that was just too much to really absorb the beauty of all this outstanding world class art there.

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Courtesy of Telegraph UK

It felt like people were more worrying of taking pictures looking at art, rather than actually looking and analyzing at the pieces.

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Photo by Angela del Sol

I guess everyone just wanted to feel like they were part of this amazing fair that is after all what we owe Art Miami week too. Will I return next year ? Absolutely! But this time I will make sure to arrive early and give each fair the time it deserves as well as give your brain enough time to internalized and digest what you’re seeing.

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Photo by Angela del Sol

Like oysters, I wish you had some sort of paste clean your palette and be really able to taste the complex flavors that this week offers. Whether you are here for two days or week, is important to pace yourself and remind yourself that there’s nowhere else to be except where you are at that moment. Take it all in.

There is a lot of debate about what is art and how is produced, consumed and sold. Whether you are a collector or somebody that doesn’t know much about art, Miami Beach was definitely the place to soak your feet in colorful, complex waters or buy the whole pool. Besides the amazing art and epic parties, the enriching human connections and view shifting conversations was the biggest things I left Miami with. Connecting and opening your brain to different ideas is not easy process but certainly worth trying. Like the beautiful mural in Wyndwood said over and over again, Love is risk. Do it anyway.

New friends! 

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 Photo by Angela del Sol

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