The Art Basel Award goes to…
The inaugural Art Basel Awards took place on Thursday at Miami Beach’s New World Center, honouring artists, institutions and patrons across ten categories. Dapper host Swizz Beatz told a packed audience: “Let’s celebrate hustle, craft, the reward,” welcoming feedback and grooving to the orchestra. Nairy Baghramian, joint winner of the Established Artist award, exclaimed: “Who the hell wants to be established? I want to keep emerging and be with the youngsters.” Cecilia Vicuña, who won the Icon Artist award, closed the evening with an impassioned plea: “The future of humanity, kindness and art is under threat. We have to bring up from the bottom of the earth total love.”
Warhol’s blow-up doll is on public view for the first time
Photo: Gareth harris
Randy Andy returns
For those seeking an alternative to Art Basel, consider the Satellite Art Show, a unique fair on Collins Avenue. Off-beat treats served up by fair founder Brian Andrew Whiteley include Andy Warhol’s blow-up doll, known as Randy Andy, which is displayed publicly for the first time. The doll, a fixture at Warhol’s Factory parties, has a dubious claim to fame (it was allegedly peed on by Lou Reed in the 1960s). There’s also a shark in the fair’s dotted bar, recalling bad boy Damien Hirst and his famous creation in formaldehyde. “His rotting cow covered in flies made me question what I can get away with,” Whiteley tells us.
Must be love on the brain: Rihanna supported her beau A$AP Rocky in Miami
Sansho Scott/BFA.com
Pon de Replay-Bans
Pop superstar Rihanna showed up in Miami, giving extra star wattage Thursday night to an event attended by her partner A$AP Rocky, who’s in town to announce a new partnership between Art Basel and sunglasses brand Ray-Ban. Rihanna and Rocky were guests of honour at the launch of the Ray-Ban Clubhouse, a publicly accessible venue at Carl Fisher’s Clubhouse. For the occasion, Rocky selected two Ray-Ban models, the Classic Wayfarer and Mega Wayfarer, “elevating them to the realm of art through a never-before-seen DON’T BE DUMB logo, hand-crafted entirely in crystals and set directly into the temple”, says a statement. Sounds classy.
Cameron Barker’s drawing Epiphyte is based on botched AI porn
Courtesy of the artist
Party time at Art Gaysel
They’re here, they’re queer, they’d like you to leer—so it goes at Art Gaysel, a satellite fair of its rhyming antecedent celebrating ten years. Taking up residence in the top two floors of all-male sauna motel Hôtel Gaythering, the event features more than 30 artists, each taking over a room with work that ranges from raunchy to riveting. “The tenth anniversary of this event is a big deal, especially in terms of the political moment,” says founder Alex Guerra. Erotically charged figuration reigns supreme at Gaysel—stand-outs include sexy-yet-tender painterly realism by Chris Minard and steamy monotype compositions by Cameron Barker. Art Gaysel opens at 5pm and closes at midnight. Prepare for a party.
Art for the masses
It’s not just blue-chip art that is tempting collectors at Art Basel Miami Beach this year. A series of rather humble T-shirts hanging on Canada gallery’s stand by the artist Marc Hundley are proving popular with fairgoers who may have less expensive tastes. Hundley has selected 18 original T-shirts from his archive that are emblazoned with life-affirming maxims such as “Seen and not seen” and “All of this will end so sing it now”. Visitors can order reproductions of any of the garments on display, priced at $120 each, by filling out an old-fashioned order form. “This is all about slowing down,” says a gallery spokesperson. Stacks of free flyers and posters are also available at the stand, reflecting Hundley’s aim of making art truly democratic. Who says art can’t be affordable (even in Miami)?
The artist Artemio brings together loose ends in The End I-XX (2005-25), on show at Untitled Art fair
Courtesy Curro
An end in itself
The golden age of film is evoked in a charming piece by the Mexican artist Artemio on show at the Untitled Art fair with Curro gallery. The End I-XX (2005-25) comprises a series of light boxes showing “The End” credit (naturally) from some famous 1930s films such as Grand Hotel and modern classics such as The Day the Earth Stood Still and 2001: A Space Odyssey. “Life is a movie full of short films. These light boxes celebrate and mark 20 personal endings with which each person can identify according to their own personal short films,” says the artist in an eloquent statement, also citing the late Doors frontman Jim Morrison: “This is the end, Beautiful friend, This is the end, My only friend, the end.” The end is clearly in sight.
Katrina Majkut’s portrait of baseballer Toni Stone in a “baseball flowers shower” is a home run
Courtesy the Camp Gallery
Ball breaker
Portraits of unsung sportswomen are making an impression at Scope Art Show courtesy of the artist Katrina Majkut. Her portrayals of pioneering athletes are turning heads at the Camp gallery, especially a portrait of Toni Stone, the first US woman to play baseball regularly in a major men's professional league. “My series Game Changers highlights important women forgotten to history,” says Majkut, stressing that her women embody “self-actualisation, power, strength, fortitude and perseverance”. The Stone picture has an extra-special touch, showing the sporting star surrounded by a swarm of actual baseballs. “The baseball flowers are from real baseballs. Each baseball was lost by someone playing ball, but I dug them out of dirt, ditches and brambles and collected them,” Majkut says. “The baseball flowers shower Toni Stone like a hero in a parade.”
Naughty yachty
Miami during Art Basel is a magnetic force for superyachts, but few are as notorious as the Amadea, docked at Watson Island in Biscayne Bay since Wednesday. The 106-metre vessel once belonged to the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, an ally of Vladimir Putin. That connection led US authorities to seize the yacht off Fiji in 2022, where officials thought they may have discovered a Fabergé egg (experts cast doubt on that at the time). After a lengthy court battle over ownership, the US government unloaded the Amadea in a sealed-bid auction in September. The winning price was not disclosed but the yacht had been previously valued at roughly $230m. Media reports have linked its new owner to holding companies tied to the Dubai real-estate billionaire Hussain Sajwani. The Amadea packs eight lavish staterooms for 16 guests, plus space for 36 crewmembers, along with a beauty salon, spa, gym, pool and helipad.
