This is more than likely my last post on the Miami art fairs of this year – thanks for reading.
Snippets of conversations/ideas
I’m in a both at one of the Wynwood fairs and I hear a gallerist complain that as soon as a red dot is placed on an artwork, that artwork is immediately interesting to any number of people coming through the booth. Is this really something to be complaining about? Try pulling out the catalog of that artists work and show those people something…
On Art Basel Miami Beach (and other shows) being slow…
I’ll admit the traffic at ABMB for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (Saturday and Sunday is kind of like tourist season so I don’t count them as much) was slower than in times past, however some other things were missing as well, namely the blue chip artists (you know who they are) only a handful of very minor Warhols, almost nothing of note from the eighties, etc. I understand galleries bringing slightly less expensive works to the show – that makes sense, why fire sale something special if you can hold on to it for five years (frankly the idea of holding on to a multi-million dollar painting for five whole years seems so outlandish – doesn’t it? [end sarcasm]). But it still addresses the point – if you are concerned about the sales and the traffic, and you bring mid-line work to the fair, isn’t that what you deserve?
Sales are down, but so is the entire world economy – thats a non-story. The question is; why are galleries playing small when this is the time to be big and bold – grabbing eyeballs and new clients from other galleries that are sitting down and complaining. It’s business 101 – when all your competitors are creating a vacuum by leaving, something has to move in to take it’s place, it might as well be you.
Shoes
By this I mean women’s shoes. Miami Beach is usually a great place for shoes and people watching – as it’s all kind of wrapped up together – however the shoes that women were wearing this year were simply amazing – not in a slutty way nor in a “I love Sex and the City way, but in a stylistically amazing way. I know that there are people that are turned off by this kind of thing, I am always amazed (and probably a little turned on) at the sophistication of design that is on display in such a relatively simple thing like footwear.
On Art Miami
Evidently there was a bit of drama around Art Miami this year with galleries pulling out or not pulling out – along with whatever legal wrangling might come with all that. What really struck me was how grown up this show was compared to the others. A strong mix of recent work along side more mature work. It’s presentation was more like ABMB than any of the other fairs – which is nice. It also really shows the work in a better way than the other fairs. I heard no one complaining here as sales seemed as strong as suspected by the galleries I spoke to.
Showing the same artwork from booth to booth
I was shocked to see so many galleries selling the same multiple so close together in more than one fair. In one case it was literally two booths away. This is a shame – but at the same time are galleries supposed to put away the work? it’s unfortunate.