Side-dish photos to my Art Basel / Design Miami trip.
I flew to Miami to see Art Basel and Design Miami, partly for pleasure and partly for business. The business part was a bit of a clandestine operation. With no reputation and proven track record of success, I went to promote my digital collages during one of North America's premier art events. That's right, I went door to door. In spite being a bit of an interloper among the established art crowd, I received a warm welcome from the galleries and the curators I spoke with. These are my impressions from that trip.
I'll go ahead and say this here, as a bit of a break. The Design District / Wynwood neighbourhood in Miami is amazing. Established quite recently among a landscape of still-functioning industrial and warehousing structures, the Wynwood district is an interesting example of a cultural battle unfolding within the urban landscape. Dusty but active factories share elbow room with astonishingly edgy and avant-garde army of creative 20 and 30 - somethings and the services which often sprout up to service them. A few blocks down, a massive retail strip of fashion outlets and warehouses, which, upon my visit, were knee-deep in the outpouring of merchandise which had been brought by several convoys of trucks A deluge of shoes and dresses and an army of people sorting them out.
It was indeed ah-fuckn-mazing. The neighbourhood has the feel and flavour of a place that's really the epicentre of everything new and contemporary. New-new, a place where truly the unknown and undiscovered artist can hope to be accepted and to make a meaningful splash. Quiet by day under the oppressive December sun, the district came alive at night with some of the wildest and most fashionable parties I've ever had the privilege to attend, whether by invitation or by virtue of sneaking in. There was a real buzz in the air, and it was quite obvious that fun and experimentation, and not retail, were the predominant thriving philosophies here.
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