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Art Basel Miami Beach Etc.
A Report From Miami
By M. Brendon MacInnis
Now that the dust has settled, following the latest installment
of Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) and the remarkable constellation
of mini fairs it has inspired, two news items stand out as
particularly significant: Ilana Vardy’s bold and gutsy
reinvention of Art Miami, and the departure of Sam Keller
from the Miami art scene. Keller, whom the previous Art Basel
director, Lorenzo Rudolf, brought to Miami as his public relations
assistant to help launch ABMB and who would serve as the Show’s
director since 2000, is returning to his native Switzerland
to take the reins of the museum, Foundation Beyeler. A committee
of three directors comprised of Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, (artistic
director) Annette Schönholzerbecome, (organization and
finances) and Marc Spiegler (strategy and development) will
lead the the next edition of ABMB.
While Keller’s departure was anticipated, the turn-around
at Art Miami, under Vardy’s directorship, was a real
coup. The city’s second largest fair, after ABMB, the
show nevertheless seemed destined for extinction in recent
years, largely because it took place the month following ABMB.
Getting quality exhibitors to return to Miami after the world’s
most famous art party had just come through town proved to
be an untenable situation. Vardy’s new Art Miami takes
place during “Art Basel Week” in the heart of
Miami’s Wynwood Art District, an area teaming with art
galleries, that was pioneered by Tony Goldman and his son,
Joey, of Goldman Properties. Tony Goldman is the humanist
visionair behind the renaisence of New York’s fashionable
Soho and Miami Beach’s Art Deco District. Vardy’s
retooling of Art Miami is more than a scene change, however,
as she signed up roster of exhibitors that reads like a who’s
who of the art world, and the show’s production pulled
out all the stops.
Beyond ABMB and Art Miami, an armada of some twenty plus
fairs, in all shapes and sizes, came to work and play in Miami
during Art Basel Week. These ranged from Thierry Alet’s
unassuming Pool Art, which features international artists
showing their own art in hotel rooms on Miami Beache’s
Ocean Drive, (Alet’s DIVA Miami did not take place this
year); to the traditional hotel fairs, such as Red Dot and
Flow; to the gigantic pavilion-like booth fairs (some of which
evolved from hotels). Then there were special project’s
such as Ethan Cohen’s — and fellow curators —
ArtHaus, which hosted several RSVP events in a large private
residence just off Lincoln Road, and the team effort of Ronald
Feldman Fine Art, Joe Arnheim’s Pierogi and Hales Gallery
(of London), held at a large converted office space in Wynwood.
There was even art art fair on a boat, called SeaFair, which
was organized by the art world power-house duo, the Lesters,
who also founded Art Miami, (all those years ago...).
Also new this year, the Japanese fair, Geisai, made it’s
debut in Wynwood, taking place next door to Helen Allen’s
Pulse Miami. The hotel art fair, Aqua (named for the Aqua
Hotel in which it is held) opened a booth fair in Wynwood
called Aqua Wynwood, which ran concurrently, providing its
own shuttle service between the two locations. The Brooklyn
based gorilla art fair, Fountain, which started out as one
of the satellite fairs in the orbit of New York’s The
Armory Show, launched a Miami edition in Wynwood. The decidedly
edgy art fair tapped into the local art scene, showing works
by the painter Miguel Paredes and performance artist, Rachel
Hoffman, among a cacophony like-minded artist/dealers. Aipad,
(Association of International Art Photography Art Dealers)
which has long been a fixture in New York’s art fair
calendar also launched a Miami edition this year, with a tent
booth fair in Wynwood, located next door to Stephen Cohen’s
Photo Miami. The two tents were connected by a shared cafe
restaurant.
Here is a full list (with contact information) of the rest
of the fairs that took place during Art Basel Week, beginning
with the booth fairs in Wynwood: Scope Miami www.scope-art.com;
NADA www.newartdealers.org; Pulse Miami wwwpulse-art.com;
Aqua Wynwood www.aquaartmiami.com; Geisai www.geisai.us; Aipad
www.aipad.com; Photo Miami www.artfairsinc.com; Art Miami
www.art-miami.com; Fountain www.fountainexhibit.com.
In Miami Beach, you have ABMB, at the Maimi Beach Convention
Center, and nearby in a private residence, ArtHaus www.arthausmiami.info.
The Lesters’ SeaFair boat was anchored in the harbor.
Then, you have the art fairs in hotels: Red Dot www.reddotfair.com;
Art Now Fair www.artnowfair.com; Flow Art Fair www.flowfair.com;
Casa Décor www.casadecor-usa.com; Ink Miami inkartfair.com.
Thierry Alet’s DiVA Miami, which took place last year
in shipping containers on the beach, apparently could not
get approval to use the beach this year. But Alet’s
indefatigable Pool Art, whereby artists “pool”
there own resources to present their work directly to visitors,
took place at the Cavalier Hotel on Ocean Drive. As it turns
out, this seemingly least likely of venues is where I saw
work that inspired me enough to take out a piece of paper
and write down the name, etc. Now if only I could find that
piece of paper...
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About Running an Art Fair
A Conversation with Alexis Hubsman
The M Interview
Alexis Hubsman, founder of Scope-Art, Inc., talks about the
nuts and bolts of running an art fair. An artist, who co-founded
one of the early galleries in Chelsea, Rare Art, Hubsman started
Scope in the late 1990s as an alternative art fair that took
its cue from The Armory Show. In this conversation, we cover
the practical matters involved in getting an art fair into
orbit, as well as taking a frank look at some of the issues
and personalities to be navigated while doing business in
Miami’s super-charged art world.
Do you have a system in place to guarantee a turnover
of new galleries each year?
You mean like the “Liste” fair in Basel, where
they limit participation to three years?
Yes, something like that.
No, because that doesn’t work. Even the Liste is now
having to pitch a tent to accommodate more galleries. We have
a kind of hierarchy, which we built around price points that
can be negotiated to bring everyone in. For example, we have
the Breeder section, where we take a hard look at investing
in young galleries, to bring them up through the ranks. For
example, our normal price quote is from $6,000 to $12,000
for a booth, and it goes upwards. We have some that go up
to $18,000 for a booth. They’re starting to get more
expensive this year, as they get bigger.
The booths are getting bigger?
Yes. It’s a scale of square feet for dollars. For the
Breeders, we offer a 150 square-foot booth, and the charge
is $4000 and $5,000 depending on the situation. And there
are occasions where grants are given that let some people
in pretty cheap. It depends on if they are really interesting
for us. It’s more often people you may not know, like
for example a gallery called “White Trash” from
Hamburg. I don’t know if you know them.
I haven’t been to Hamburg in a long time, but I
remember there were these interesting pockets in the city
where you had this radical edge.
Absolutely. A lot of interesting stuff going on, Germany
sets precedents. But aside from all that, White Trash is an
example where we gave them a space for $2,500 because they’re
new, they’re young, they’re special.
What’s your relationship with museums?
We have great relationships with museums. In New York, we
work with Guggenheim, The New Museum…
You mean in a fund raising role?
It’s all varied. In the Hamptons, we’re in a
fund raising posture, whether it’s Guild Hall; Parrish;
Watermill. We don’t just drop down our circus tent,
and then do nothing for the community. We had to work on a
permit application, and send them a list of the organizations
that we have benefited in the past, and it’s like two
pages. We benefit a lot of nonprofits, we’re really
proud of that.
In the beginning, when you were starting Scope-Art, what
was your model? Did you look at, for example, Peter Blau’s
“Young Art Fair” in Basel?
No. It was The Armory Show, the Armory gets full hand credit.
But they all do; I mean the idea that there can be an alternative
fair. I can have a congenial relationship. A lot of people
thought this would be a parasitic fair. I can appreciate that.
I mean, there is an element of that being financially, realistically
true. There’s no way we could’ve done this with
nothing else going on.
How is your relationship with The Armory Show now?
It’s great. In fact, we’re the first fair they
called out to when they switched their dates, to see if we
would switch with them. They’re like our big brother.
I see.
So it’s been comfortable for us. It’s been, you
know, it legitimizes them too. They have to deal with Art
Basel coming down to Miami, and then you have Frieze in London…
How are things with Frieze?
Frieze has not been friendly. We kept trying to be near them,
but then we saw no benefit to it.
How about Art Basel? I’ve heard they aren’t
so open to other art fairs doing business in Miami.
Yeah, I mean, I can be specifically honest about that. You
know, there’s one thing that’s said to you and
there’s another thing that’s done behind your
back. To be frank, you know Sam Keller had been very friendly
early on. In fact, he was one of the reasons I got, with Rare,
into the first Miami Basel fair. There was a friendship there,
or at least a reasonable respect. And, but ultimately, I think,
yeah, it steals a bit of thunder. You know, and at a certain
point, if your collectors are not at your place, spending
money, and they’re elsewhere, it can only be…
The pie is only so big.
It’s only so big. Although what’s interesting
is that this year [last year], people thought there would
be so many fairs, that there would be dropouts for a lot of
them. But we did bigger sales than we’ve ever done.
Pulse did very well, Aqua did very well. I mean everybody
did very well. So it’s clear that there’s room
for it. And I think, frankly, when you look at the thing —
like Pulse, Scope and NADA being in Wynwood now — you
start to get galleries of the same scale as Art Basel’s.
Ultimately you get the emerging market.
Was there a turning point in your relationship with Sam?
Yes, he’s got a lot of control down there. I mean frankly,
Lorenzo Rudolf is the guy that brain-stormed this whole thing,
[Art Basel Miami Beach] and Sam has been lucky to be on the
receiving end. He carried the ball down court.
Yeah, I know the history.
I mean, to be fair, Sam’s amazing for what he’s
done; he’s added a jewel-like quality to the art fair
mentality. It’s no longer just a few fairs, it’s
really opened the door.
What’s an example of a moratorium?
Advertising. Where you can put up billboards. Where you can
do another fair. In South Beach, for example, there’s
a whole area, of plots of land, that are marked off as sort
of no-fly zones for art fairs as well as advertising.
So, who would Sam talk with down there to get that done?
Well, I mean, I know the names, but it’s probably not
appropriate for me to throw them out.
So that’s that. What’s next for Scope? How
many Scopes are there now?
Right now we have four; I mean of the ones that are generating
revenue, that are working. We have London, New York, Miami
and the Hamptons.
Aren’t you doing something in Palm Beach?
We’re playing with the idea; there’s a few secondary
markets we’re looking at. Palm Beach. L A. I don’t
know if I should really call it secondary, but that’s
what it is for us now. Then there’s Basel, St. Moritz
and Monaco; these are part of the European push — Scope-Europe.
Monaco sounds interesting.
Yeah, well, you know, we learned a lesson from the Hamptons;
people said we were crazy; why are you going there? They said
nobody wants to look at art in the summer, that it’s
all about antiques. We did a very modest first show last year,
and it was very successful.
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