Art collectors, dealers, celebrities and hangers-on have a dizzying number of social events to choose from, with everyone from art dealer Larry Gagosian to cyclist Lance Armstrong throwing dinner gatherings and parties. (Sleep is apparently optional, with many starting as late as 11 p.m. and a few winding down as the sun is coming up.) A year ago, with galleries and artists stressed about a sales downturn, the mood was more subdued, veterans say.
Guests watch Santigold perform at an event hosted by Jeffery Deitch at the Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach.
Late Wednesday night, singer Santigold, in a sparkly top and silver pants, performed underneath al fresco chandeliers at the Raleigh Hotel in South Beach at a bash thrown by New York art dealer Jeffrey Deitch. Throngs of partiers sat at VIP tables or stood in the sand underneath palm trees, holding their stiletto heels and sweating in the late-night humidity while sipping pink Campari cocktails. "There's no compromise," said Mr. Deitch of his annual Art Basel fetes, which always feature an up-and-coming musical act. "We go all the way with parties."
Earlier that evening, guests like Scott Stapp, lead singer of rock band Creed, and hip-hop/fashion mogul Russell Simmons posed for photos at a party on a balcony at the Mondrian South Beach Hotel.The host, Mr. Simmons, who collects works by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Barbara Krueger, was raising money for his charity, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. He said he'd been inundated with calls from friends wanting to know where the cool events were this year. "I get a lot of young-party-people emails," he said.
Also there was Morgans Hotel Group CEO Fred Kleisner, who said that unlike in 2008, his hotels, including the starkly designed Mondrian, are fully booked for Art Basel, with more dinners and parties scheduled.
Wandering through Convention Center on Wednesday afternoon, magazine publisher Jason Binn scrolled through his BlackBerry calendar ticking off the half dozen parties he'd RSVP'd for that evening, including one hosted by rapper Dr. Dre and another by Sylvester Stallone. "I can't even eat dinner while I'm here, there's too many parties," he said. This year feels different than last year, he said, with more exclusive and VIP-studded parties.
One of his magazines, "Ocean Drive," hosted a guest-listed affair at the Sunset Island home of fashion photography collector Gert Elfering. On Wednesday morning, at least a dozen workers hung artwork and rearranged furniture in the collector's minimalist home, once owned by the late Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. As they hung artwork—including a wall-sized face relief sculpture of Buddha made of a cow's hide—Colombian artist Efren Isaza put the final dabs of paint on his digitally altered photographs, which depict models with elongated features. His images, along with several live models dressed in origami sculpture outfits that he designed, would be the centerpiece of the party, with one standing on a platform in the middle of the home's ocean-view infinity pool. "Everybody has a Damien Hirst," said Mr. Elfering. "I want to do something no one's ever seen before."
Thursday night's options included an event hosted by Lance Armstrong to celebrate the opening of "Stages," an art exhibit to raise money for his cancer foundation, which was expected to draw guests such as Nike CEO Mark Parker. There was also a Tequila Casa Dragones brand launch party to take place aboard a sailboat. For the first time this year, the Box, a Manhattan burlesque club and celebrity hot spot, moved its operation down to Miami's Nikki Beach nightclub for the week, bringing body painters, aerialist acrobats and "a divine chanteuse." (Basel VIPs received jewelry-box invitations that cooed seductively when opened.)
Basel regulars said that smaller, more intimate dinners and cocktail parties were more prevalent this year. Heiress and designer Nadja Swarovski hosted a dinner and after-party at the W South Beach. Collectors Aby Rosen and Peter Brant also hosted a dinner there, with an after-party thrown by 23-year-old art dealer Vito Schnabel, son of artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel. Friday night at the W: the Sex Pistols.
The most conservative hosts this year may be Art Basel's corporate sponsors, which include UBS, NetJets and Cartier. For the past couple of fairs, Cartier constructed a freestanding geodesic dome for VIPs across from the Convention Center. This year, the luxury jeweler hosted a dinner and a cocktail party, but built their lounge inside the Convention Center, with a large gold and bejeweled column designed by architect Alessandro Mendini. UBS also has a lounge for VIPs at the fair but says it's cut back on parties this year. NetJets isn't having a big bash, either.
Write to Candace Jackson at candace.jackson@wsj.com
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment