holler miami art party style

hi kiddies. Well, patty, while youve been toiling away eating cabbage and veggie burgers in what i assume is some school cafeteria (i do not miss those recent portions of my law school experience), ive been staying up too late as well but for wholly opposite reasons. Tuesday began the week of art basel miami beach, which is ongoing through the weekend. Basically the entire art world (new york, l.a., international) come here– from what i can gather, the galleries that are well-established have space at the huge miami beach convention center- and form the art basel miami proper art fair. Then there are smaller art fairs all around town– one called dot, or spot, or something; several that are media specific; there are also apparently huge shipping containers on the beach that are open to the public and act as additional floating gallery spaces- pretty cool huh? Hopefully i will get to take some pictures of the madness so you can all see.

So the city has been temporarily transformed, for the better if you ask me (minus all the increased crazy traffic). The hotel bars are packed, the roads are packed, the people are beautiful and non-miamian, and there are tons of things to do. Hey, its almost like i live in a real city again!!

Tuesday night we went to the nada art fair opening- a friend was outside dj’ing, there were tons of booths inside, and deliciousness vodka sodas and grolsht beer as far as the eye could see. I was thankfully granted two extra passes for my co-worker nicole & her husband, so they got to come along. After staying for a few hours after work, we packed up my car with three other people, and headed out to another art opening- this one called "the station," curated by an artist as well as a woman who curated the last whitney bienniel.

It was less selling-, more show-like, and it took place in a really interesting space: all around miami there are these totally unused apartment or office buildings, that were built in the real estate heyday and have yet to be used. So apparently the curators of this show were able to get to use this space for the art, and this opening party, naturally, sponsored by grey goose, so again there were plentiful servings of vodka soda and mini champagne bottles all around. I tell you, i cant say it enough- these arty kids know how to party. The first floor of the exhibit was in the main lobby- still under construction- with some exposed beams and sandy floor in parts, where no actual cement had yet been laid. Downstairs there were larger installation sculptures and the like; the second floor had more "normal" mediums- paintings, drawings, smaller scultpures; and the third floor was actually an amazing installation: a meth lab (!!!). it was so unbelievable, so creepy, so intensely... real seeming.

One area was glassed off and was set up to look like the actual lab, with tons of bottles and tubing, cooking, filtering the meth; a table nearby held copious amounts of sudafed. Up some rickety stairs, you went into the meth-lab-apartment, where there were disshelved, creepy arrays of random collections in glass jars on many bookshelves; crawl through another opening and you were in a room with dirty gross carpet, dirty walls, stacks of old newspapers; through another room, and you entered what was probably the ‘bedroom’- again just a bare, sad, depressed looking space, old carpet, wallpaper, a single lamp and bulb blaring on the floor, and a sad looking calendar, open to the month of December. This being miami of course, at the end of that room was the normal built-in terrace space, where undeniably there were four or five european middle aged men, dressed very well, smoking cigarettes and drinking, as if they couldnt really be bothered by the nearby installation or the irony of them standing outside doing that in light of what was only a few feet away. Very interesting class-dichotomy.

After taking a nice tour, we were standing outside for a while, and thats when mary-kate olsen showed up. I know i know, i shouldnt brag, and actually it was benjamin who pointed her out to me- but then she came to stand *right* next to us so i couldnt even stare. It was almost a form of bizarre torture. I did get to see her slightly out of the corner of my eye- the littlest petite little thing, with facial features as delicate as a doll, truly. She was wearing a floppy hat with feathers on it, and looked so fragile. (Her boyfriend is the aforementioned artist who was one of the curators for the show). Perhaps expectedly, she traveled with an israeli bodyguard, who was very protective of her, but in a nonchalant way, and cleared the way to ensure she & the boyf could walk to the bar for a drink, unencumbered.

Shortly thereafter, we headed out to yet another party- this one for the T magazine, of the ny times; it was in the penthouse of one of these very fancy famous hotels, the raleigh, which is quite lovely outback. Again, expectedly- it was totally packed and impossible to get into. We waited for a while outside but then decided to just head out to the back area, where the pool and bar and dinner is served, and i tolerated (just barely) some more drinking and socializing before i put my foot down and made us leave, around 1am. The cranky factor was at an all time high- we didnt hadnt had dinner yet! At the time, it seemed like a good idea to hit up the ihop by my house, although the next morning, it was a regrettable decision. Still, by 1am on a Tuesday morning, there arent much choices out there (little deli action in these parts, my friends! Enjoy them while you can). Thus, six hours of sleep and back at work- living a double life.

Yesterday there was more excitement, of course. We thought we were going to some kind of opening party for a new show at the rubbell family collection, called ‘30 americans’ – all african-american contemporary artists. But once we got there, we realized it was the dinner for all the artists, etc- but ended up getting in and staying anyway. The rose champagne flowed freely once again, and we got to meet such an interesting array of characters- from crazy, freewheeling artists, in your face, to funny, normal gallery dealers, to the editor in chief of a serious japanese art magazine (who had just spent all day with david lynch...? weirdness), to a writer from the times, and a whole other assortment of art variety people. Oh- and naomi campbell. And no, she did not throw a cell phone at anyone’s head, although, i guess you never know what happens across the room from you at these things anyway. It was a ton of fun, but exhausting still, so once we piddled out of there around midnight, i was ready for bed. I dropped benjamin off at yet another party (i couldnt handle it!) And went to bed. And now- gearing up for yet another night. Hopefully it will be less hectic, more calming- just meeting some people for dinner down on south beach at what i assume is a ridiculously froufrou steak restaurant on the ocean. Wowza. Well, lets just cross our fingers that this too will be all complimentarily taken care of.

It has truly been a wonderful past few days! Although i must admit- i am looking forward to some relaxing time this weekend, beach time if it warms up, just not so much hecticness. I am always amazed that people can gear up for these kinds of things: the party does not stop, literally. It goes all night. Good thing i am very adept at taking myself home when i can tell i will be a wreck the next day. Tomorrow is Friday Friday, and this week has just flown by. Off to pack up from work, and start another evening of my double life... well, you know, after a nice run outside.

xoxoxo