Hasta La Ideas

(Photos: UnBeige))

Sunny and downright steamy Miami is awash in black ensembles and chunky eyewear as Art Basel Miami Beach, Design Miami, and the growing list of parallel fairs—we counted 14—are in full swing. Hotels are hopping, from the budget-priced Days Inn (we liked its low-fi marquee, pictured above) to the slick Setai and the freshly renovated Fontainebleau, where the rooms are decorated with John Baldessari prints and the legacy of Morris Lapidus endures. Over at the convention center, where a mind-boggling 265 galleries are exhibiting their wares, Wednesday’s seizure of $6 million worth of paintings from Gmurzynska gallery made the front page of yesterday’s special edition of The Art Newspaper, but all was calm when we stopped by the booth, which is dominated by a giant Yves Klein canvas. Among the celebrities spotted prowling the aisles so far: Steve Wynn (who snapped up a 2007 James Rosenquist canvas from Acquavella), John McEnroe, Calvin Klein, and Sylvester Stallone, who has taken up painting himself. We also spied fashion designer Peter Som and oodles of art folks, including Ai Weiwei, Richard Prince, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Eli Broad, and Glenn Lowry. The mood is upbeat, a marked improvement over last year but nothing near the frenetic vibe of 2007. With so much to see and do in Miami in just a few days, we’re taking the advice of artist Santiago Sierra, whose monumental sculpture is among the 13 works displayed in the public spaces of Miami Beach as part of the fair’s Art Projects division. His truck-bound 2009 work (pictured below) offers a concise answer to the eternal question: Can I manage to see it all?

Santiago Sierra, “NO,” 2009

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