Miami Art Basel Photo Diary
a joy scroll of art that looks hot in person and online 🎨
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Miami is full of contradictions. Raw authenticity coupled with JUVÉDERM filler. Hard knock grit paired with obscene luxury and ease. Cartier bracelets clasped around gang-signed tattooed wrists. A Kusama x Doritos party at the Faena1. This mix of high and low is what some people find ‘tacky’ but I believe that this juxtaposition is what makes Miami the perfect place for creativity and an ideal setting for Art Basel, an international art fair held in Miami Beach annually in December. As I flew into Miami last week, I thought about these contradictions, and how they might manifest in the art itself and the people I’d meet.
One night, I was at a dinner with a collection of artists and curators, all in town for Basel, when I met Delfin Finley — a painter. He told me how integral his phone is to his artistic process and how he often snaps images with his phone as he completes a painting in order to see the artwork with fresh eyes. I envisioned him putting down a paint brush and picking up a phone, another uncanny juxtaposition — a blend of high and low brow that is normal in today’s context. But, as I thought deeper, I came to the conclusion that this shouldn’t have been surprising at all. Much of art, new and old, is observed through the phone nowadays. Only a small percentage of an artist’s audience get the chance to experience their work up close, in real life. As a result, art in the modern age must not only look good in person but also online. We laughed about this, a painting having the same predicament as humans: looking hot online and in person.
Last year, I went to Miami Art Basel for the first time and kept a running list of notes of the things I witnessed. Very On Keeping a Notebook Notes App. This year, I decided to keep a photo diary of the artwork that caught my eye. I wanted to share my favourites with you. I hope they are as hot to you in this newsletter as they were to me when I saw them up close. Let’s go for a scroll, shall we?
Art Basel Photo Diary
Thanks for scrolling through. Let me know if you have any faves or if you wanna buy me any of the artwork above.
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Lol okay, I made this one up but if you’ve been to Art Basel you know it can be like this at times.
“Hard knock grit paired with obscene luxury and ease.” Me as hell. Borrowing for memoir.
Alonsa Guevara, Adriana Varejão, Rugiyatou Jallow and Alysha Rahmat really moved me!!
TM Davy - unsettling in the best way.
Looking up Jim Krantz to send to all my friends in Colorado! Whew.
Hajime Sorayama…Zendaya’s influence.
Of all the art, the Zack Bia private driver pic was my favorite.
Thanks for sharing all these pics!