Miami Social Diary

One of the several Art Miami pavilions moments before the doors opened to several thousand fairgoers as a benefit for the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and Miami Light Project.

Art Miami 25 + Design Miami X + ICA I + Design District + Miami
By Augustus Mayhew

As Tuesday night’s opening of Art Miami’s 25th edition welcomed a VIP crowd of more than 14,000 collectors, curators, press, and art aficionados, the organization announced that the firstArt Miami New York has been booked at Pier 94 from May 14–17 2015 during the same calendar as the annual Frieze fair. After surviving yet another cultural marathon, and yes, otherworldly traffic and heat, by the time I arrived at ICA’s party in the Design District, it was time to leave. But not before I glanced at a few of the Design Districts latest attractions.

Art Miami 25th + CONTEXT VIP Preview
5:00 pm 2 December 2014
www.art-miami.com + www.contextartmiami.com
ART MIAMI is the city's original and longest running contemporary and modern art fair, the anchor event for Miami’s 24/7 Art Week. Together with its adjacent sister fair CONTEXT, Art Miami is presenting 250,000 square feet of project and exhibition space within three city blocks. The event houses 200 galleries showcasing 1,875 artists from 60 countries.

Moon over Miami.

Art Miami features 28 new exhibitors. Among them, Tokyo’s spectacular Yufuku Gallery, one of my favorite TEFAF venues. Now in its third year, CONTEXT will showcase 45 new exhibitors. Curated exhibitions will be presented throughout the Art Miami and CONTEXT pavilions and outdoor courtyard. Highlights of this year's special programs include: Perceived Values, Hot Spots, The Director's Project, A Piece of Me, Art from Berlin, Miami Light Project, 1AN Symposium, a collection of unique Banksy works presented by Keszler Gallery, and a special auction of the official commemorative image created for Art Miami's 25th Anniversary by cultural icon Jerry Powers.

Galerie Forslow, Helsinki.

Loretta Howard Gallery, New York.

Bernarducci. Meisel. New York. Cassandra, 2014. Hubert de Lartigue, artist, acrylic on canvas.. $75,000.

Chowaiki & Co., New York.

Peter Marcelle Project, New York-Southampton.

Yufukyu Gallery, Tokyo.

Nancy Hoffman Gallery, New York.

Birnam Woods/ Galleries, East Hampton & New York.

Abby M. Taylor Fine Art, New York/Greenwich.

Maserati was one of Art Miami's major sponsors.

Westwood Gallery, New York. Frank Stella, artist.

David Klein Gallery, Detroit. Jeanniebigbed 4, 2013. Jamie Adams, artist.

Stephanie Ansin, artistic director of Miami Theater Center, and Aaron Glickman, publisher,SocialMiami.com, "Who to know –Where to go."

Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London.

Lyons Wier Gallery, New York.

Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans.

Ethan Cohen, New York.

Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables. Arte Culinario, 2014. Robert Fabelo, artist. Oil on canvas. $85,000.

Ascaso Gallery, Miami.

Galerie Michael Schultz. Shower Tower Oase, 2014.Romer+Romer, artist.

Piece Unique, Paris.

Mayoral Gallery, Barcelona.

Art Miami, among the galleries.

Unix Gallery, New York.

Westwood Gallery, New York.

"We are delighted to once again present and build upon the recent successes of Art Miami and CONTEXT, two distinct fairs that have truly become part of the cultural fabric of the city and Miami Art Week," said Art Miami Director Nick Korniloff. "The special programming, exhibitions and installations at Art Miami are world-class, and we're confident attendees will notice and enjoy each fairs' growth and progressive direction."

CONTEXT
"The exhibitions and programs at CONTEXT will be even bigger and more impressive than in previous years," said CONTEXT Director Julian Navarro. "In addition to showcasing a solid group of international galleries, CONTEXT is unique in that it will feature a series of solo artist projects, curated spaces, unique programming, conversations and events — all aimed to immerse and entertain our attendees.

Art Miami + Context were adjacent pavilions.

"Perceived Values provides artists with a space to stretch out with solo presentations in the passageways linking Art Miami's three main pavilions, showcasing bold installations carefully selected by LaRete Art Projects' curators: Julia Draganović, Elena Forin and Claudia Löffelholz. Artists featured include: Soly Cissè (Ethan Cohen Fine Arts), Teresa Diehl (Galerie Anita Beckers), Jess Dugan (Catherine Edelman Gallery), Eldon Garnet (TORCH), Wen Hao (Klein Sun Gallery), Bob Snead (Arthur Roger Gallery), Simón Vega (Galerie Ernst Hilger), and Peter Weber (Galerie Renate Bender).

HOT SPOTS, also curated by LaRete Art Projects, positions provocative installations and projects by individual artists whose galleries are participating in the fairs. At Art Miami, the three artists are Jaildo Marinho (Durban Segnini Gallery; Victor Matthews (KM Fine Arts; and Antonio Pio Saracino (Todd Merrill Studio), an Italian-born artist, architect and designer who will present a marble sculpture "The Guardians: Hero" which is a reinterpretation of Michelangelo's "David". The 8,000-pound piece is a permanent exhibition in NYC's Bryant Park.

Society 2013. Rob and Nick Carter, artists. Cibachrome print mounted on aluminum with neon. Edition of 5. $16,000. The Fine Art Society, London.

Amy Li Gallery, Shanghai. Landscape in Orcher, No. 3. Ye Yongqing, artist.

Berlin Lounge at CONTEXT.

Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London.

Lincoln Road Walk
Miami Beach
Before heading over to Art Miami 25 and Design Miami X, I did my annual survey of Lincoln Road, a street I’ve been familiar with since the pre-Versace Era when Lum’s and The Back Porch were the only restaurants. For me, Herzog and de Meuron’s mixed-use al fresco car park at 1111 Lincoln is more of an uncommon architectural distraction rather than an integral part of the actual streetscape. The iconic centerpieces designed by Morris Lapidus are the walkway’s aesthetic essence. The Tesla showroom was empty except for a well-tailored gentleman. At the SRO Apple Store, millennial antenna heads were lined-up around the block eager to throw down for the latest virtual must-have. The Cupcake Generation’s insatiable appetite crowded the oodles of pizza, pasta and pastry stations. Although several smart Brazilian eateries have joined the Pottery Barn on this jam-packed midway, Lincoln Road’s fascination is still Books & Books, Balans, and the Raymond Jungles landscape. Ready to snap the fashionable, I didn’t see anyone wearing the at-the-moment looks offered in the shop windows.

My Lincoln Road hike began here at the Alton Road intersection and continued east to the ocean.

1111 Lincoln Road. Herzog & de Meuron, architect.

Landscape architect Raymond Jungles' work is one of Lincoln Road's most notable attractions.

The Ted Baker shoppe opening soon.

The Lincoln Center theatre building's tinted glass makes for colorful reflections of the 1111 complex.

The tables were filled at Balans.

From the seventh floor at the 1111 car park, a view to the southwest of the skyline down past South of Fifth.

Design Miami X — Miami Beach
2 December 2014/2pm. Press Preview

Peter Marino — 2014 Design Visionary Award

Doris Chevron, editor-at-large/Architectural Digest and Peter Marino.

Peter Marino, tailored in his signature look, sans jacket as it was 80+.

The exhibit features a multi-dimensional image of Peter Marino.

Peter Marino exhibit, Design Miami X.

Craig Robins. Design Miami and the Design District's guiding force.

Craig Robins, at the podium, along with Rodman Primack, Design Miami's executive director,left, and Marina Abramovic, right.

Before the Press Preview, the event's VIPs and First Choice VIPs toured the exhibition.

Aby J. Rosen, left.

Magen H, New York.

Maria Pergay, "grand dame of French collectable design."

Clockwise from above: Francois Laffanour, Paris; Rodman Primack, executive director of Design Miami X; Paul Laster, art journalist.

Galerie Downtown, Paris.

Patrick Seguin with a client.

Galerie Patrick Seguin.

Galerie Jacques Lacoste, Paris.

Fendi.

Design Miami X's parking lot was filled with Braman Motorcars' RRs, Arnages, sleek Audis, and the like, but none other like this old-gold Cadillac Eldorado.

Southern Guild, South Africa. Elephant vase. SOLD.

Zaha Hadid.

Hostler Burrows, New York.

En route from South Beach to Downtown Miami.

At Planet Faena on Collins Avenue, the Norman Foster + Partners and Rem Koolhaas/OMA designed buildings are in progress as Faena reportedly now has its own flag, coat of arms, and heraldry.

The Versailles' original Midcentury Modern mosaic tile mural contrasts with the Faena District's 21st century graphic compositions.

A hieroglyph gives the Faena construction sites some added aesthetic appeal.

Lunch @ Garcia's Seafood Grille & Fish Market
398 W North River Drive, Miami

La Goulue @ Bal Harbour closed! Having been refused an inside table for a single at Michael's for a third time, thou there were always numerous unreserved empty tables, I have fled to Garcia's. As the hostess at Michael's twirled her hair with an index finger, she said I was welcome to sit at the bar or outside but inside tables were only for two or more. I am thankful to have gone back to Garcia's. Garcia's on the Miami River is not the easiest spot to find.

However light years away from South Beach, it is one of my favorite places to step back into Old Miami other than the Versailles Restaurant on Calle Ocho. For years, my father would don his guayabera, drive us to Versailles for a Sunday afternoon lunch, and for a few brief moments, it was like we were back on the family farm in Camaguey. Though the Miami River's warehouses and docks were once best known as settings for Miami Vice episodes or today'sCSI Miami, the ever imposing multi-story skyline overshadows the working river's motley unvarnished charm.

From my table at Garcia's, looking southeast toward Brickell.

Garcia's blackboard specials.

Mural, Garcia's Seafood Grill. The artist David LeBatard, aka LEBO, is quite well-known as a Postmodern Cartoon Expressionist with a showroom in Wynwood and studio on Miami Beach. You may have seen his work on Norwegian Cruise Lines' ships, Harley Davidson, Audi, Google, Microsoft, Redbull, Ketel One, Bacardi, and Ferrari.

Docked across from Garcia's, this pleasure craft has probably never been mistaken for a Russian tycoon's superyacht.

From Garcia's, the view to the northwest.

Cruising along the Miami River.

Garcia's seafood market is a popular destination for colossal stone crabs, conch, and yellowtail snapper.

Mural, Garcia's Seafood. LEBO, artist.

Once known as Juvenile Court, this newly ribbon-cut 14-story Miami-Dade Children's Courthouse was designed by architects HOK + Perez & Perez, a setting for a myriad of Charles Dickens-like scenarios.

Miami-Dade County Courthouse, east and south elevations. 73 West Flagler Street, Miami. August Geiger and A. Ten Eyck Brown, architects. 1925. Although Palm Beachers like to believe Addison Mizner introduced the resort to Spanish architecture, it was actually August Geiger. Having arrived in Miami in 1910, Geiger opened a Palm Beach office in 1915. For Stanley Warrick, Geiger designed the elaborate Spanish-styled Fashion Beaux Arts Promenade that opened in January 1917 on North Lake Trail. A year later, Otto Kahn retained Geiger to design his oceanfront Mediterranean villa located one block north of The Breakers.

Miami-Dade County Courthouse, Facade. 73 West Flagler Street, Miami. August Geiger and A. Ten Eyck Brown, architects. 1925.

Design District

Design District planners appear to have reconceived the Renaissance piazza concept into more of an interactive global escapist landscape.

"Luxury Living."

Paseo Ponti. "Culture is Happening." Although the pedestrian lights don't yet flash "Avanti," the Design District is rapidly becoming a 21st-century Via Napoleone.

Tom Ford, Opening Soon.

Hermes.

"Louis Vuitton unveils …"

The open-air escalator to the upper level's Palm Court and rooftop garden.

Louis Vuitton.

Bulgari.

Another view of Buckminster Fuller's Fly's Eye Dome.

Looking through Sou Fujimoto's façade into the courtyard.

Prada.

Valentino, Opening Soon.

Hermes, Miami.

Tableau.

Several of the shops were having exclusive receptions.

1st Institute for Contemporary Art Miami (ICA) opening
7:30 pm 2 December 2014/Moore Building – Design District
On Monday, the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA) announced that philanthropistsNorman and Irma Braman will fund the building of a 37,000-square-foot museum building and 15,000-square-foot sculpture garden in the Design District. After a year of contentious back-and-forth with the City of North Miami, a core group of MoCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) board members broke away and formed ICA, their own arts organization led by Irma Braman.

ICA established a temporary presence in the Design District’s Moore Building. Last week, a 70/30 split of MoCA’s artwork was announced with ICA taking 30 percent of the existing collection. According to The Miami Herald, the museum will be designed by Madrid-based architects Aranguren & Gallegos Arquitectos and built on a parcel donated by Miami Design District Associates, a partnership by Dacra’s Craig Robins and Paris-based L Real Estate. ICA Miami’s collection will be set up primarily from the Bramans’ private collection in addition to other sources.

ICA's temporary move to the Design District has resulted in the serendipitous announcement that Norman and Irma Braman will be funding the organization's permanent museum.