Miami Art Basel Part 1

Another Miami Art Basel has come and gone, another month's worth of art viewing rolled up into a few days has passed. It was intense, man. It was absolutely nutz. Yes nuts with a "Z".

Scion flew my pal Jon and I out and put us up at the Royal Palm in Miami Beach. Lot of the same characters from last year but a whole slew of new ones too. Seemed like the artwork I wanted to see was more concentrated on the mainland- Miami's Wynwood district.

Here's a few of the 300+ pictures I took:

Dallas Airport Magic Castle

Mandatory out the airplane window shot

After a whole day of traveling we're finally in Miami

When we got settled we headed out to see friends Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters who had rented a Miami Beach condo for the weekend. Mark Murphy and a sleepy Chris Ryniak were also there.


It wasn't the creepy clown or the mirrored kitchen that got me. It was the custom lamps that looked kinda like a dog skeleton with an internal butt plug. These things were tripping me out, we were afraid that when Brandt plugged it in it'd start vibrating or something. The owners of the condo had some strange things going on, but right on, that's pretty cool. Do it your own way!

Next day got up on California time, nice weather, warm breeze blowing. Let's get some food and go see some art.


Pulled pork sandwich. Good, but the watermelon was a little unripe. This the South Beach diet?

Ran into Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson on bikes. No helmet for Mark. Then we caught the free shuttle to the mainland...


Fred Stonehouse at Aqua. Philip Slein Gallery.


A giant woodblock print by Tom Huck at Baer Ridgeway Exhibitions at Aqua.

One of my new favorite artists- Jean-Pierre Roy at Alix Sloan Fine Art.

Alix Sloan with a nice Marion Peck canvas.

Gary Baseman with Jonathan Levine Gallery's Laura Pinello and Malena Seldin, and the wicker hat bandit himself.

Mario Martinez piece on paper. Very cool.

Jonathan "Straw hat" LeVine co-chillin.

A.J. Fosik (center) with Travis and David B. Smith of the newly renamed David B. Smith gallery.

Jon capturing some Shepard Fairey magic with his iPhone.

There was a lot of street art going up in the Wynwood district courtesy of Primary Flight.

Madman Will Barras up on the high ladder.

Sever


Logan Hicks with giant stencil piece.

WK Interact... we heard he was beat pretty seriously by an L.A. graffiti crew who thought he had painted over some of their graf. Heard they had dogs on him too. Crazy. I hate graffiti/gang shit like this. One of the reasons I quit graffiti. I hope what I heard was just rumors and I hope you're doing alright Mr. WK..

Not 100% sure who's work this is but it was dope. *Edit* Artist is L.A.'s own Asylm SH. Click on the link to his blog for tons of flcks from Miami, wow I missed quite a bit!.

Stopped in at a print show hosted by Theme Magazine. Some nice work in there. Tomokazu Matsuyama print.

Maya Hayuk print.

Kenji Hirata print.

Deanne Cheuk print.

Colin Christian's space lady at Vanguard fair.

A.J. Fosik sculpture.

Then back to Miami Beach for the Scion party. I had painted a car for Scion- a slammed XB Bonneville Salt Flats Racer. It was a little hard to see in the dark though.



Yoskay, a guy who's name is slipping my mind, Nate Frizzel (who's cousins with Mike Scaduto- a kid I grew up with), and Tessar at the Scion thing.

Edwin Ushiro, Souther Salazar and Kelsey Brooks at the party.

David Choe hooked me up and signed me a copy of his new book. Thanks homie.

Scion party pics:


People at the party had a view of a couple putting on a show with the drapes open. You pervs, hehe.

After the party it was time to get some Cuban food. Apologies to any vegetarians out there, but it was damn goood. I think I ate too much pork on this trip..

Then we went to some party that everyone was calling the "Shepard Fairey" party. DJ Z Trip was spinning and there was free drinks, but the best thing was the warm feel good vibe, seemed like lots of friends and artists all around. Had a great time.

Souther "L.A." Salazar and LeVine.

My head is not that huge in real life. Me and LeVine and Shepard.

David "Westside" Choong Lee was in the house.

Dalek is tall and gave me a hug. Baseman and Minnie Driver's little sister.

Miami Beach car porn.

Next entry coming soon...