The Aqua fair, which just finished up its second year in Miami, had its location a little farther away from Art Basel Miami Beach than Ink, Flow and Bridge, but this fair was worth the trip.

It was originally set up to give more representation to West Coast galleries during ABMB, although its reach expanded somewhat this year, with the addition of some East Coast and Midwest dealers.

Yet even with this expansion, it remained a nice-size fair. There were 45 dealers present and, like Ink, they were situated in hotel rooms that opened onto a central courtyard with fountains. The quality of the work on offer—and the way in which it was presented—varied somewhat, but there were some wonderful things to be had here.

Particularly at Western Exhibitions, a wacky outfit from Chicago. “I specialize in obsessives,” said director Scott Speh, with a smile. Obviously falling into that bracket was Stan Shellabarger, whose maniacal Signature Books, 1-12, 2002-present—composed of nothing but page after page of Shellabarger’s signature—could be had for $1,800. (That’s probably less than $1 per signature.) I also liked the Butter Book he created as one-half of art team Miller & Shellabarger, using re-purposed (though scrupulously cleaned) butter wrappers as pages. Only $1,000 for a butter-scented work of art.

At the booth of San Francisco gallerist Lisa Dent, I found Maiko Suganos Ripples (2002), a sculpture/furniture piece that was surprisingly comfortable given that its cushioning was actually made from routed Russian birch plywood. Available for $4,500.

And at Greg Kucera from Seattle, there was a mixed bag of big names and lesser-known ones. I particularly liked Mark Newports embroidered comic book covers at $2,500 each.

Othergallery from Winnipeg, Canada had a room full of interesting stuff, presented in a relaxed way that seemed perfectly suited to the work. For example they had a little cardboard box of cartoon-ish drawings for only $250 each, by a young graffiti artist who calls himself Slomotion.” Visitors were invited to just sift through the box and pick out a drawing they liked.

In terms of sales, the variety and unique presentation of the work seemed to pay off for many of the galleries. “We’ve had a great time,” said Larry Walczak, owner of Eyewash from Brooklyn. “There are some really serious collectors here.” His gallery had on offer Edward Monovichs mixed-media watercolors, featuring cartoon characters that have inexplicably wandered into a war zone. Export Ex and Ecstasy (2005) was tagged at $3,000.

The artist-run gallery Soil from Seattle was also seeing commerce with a number of interesting pieces, including Claire Johnsons paintings of doughnuts, at $400 each. “I’ve sold 17 of them,” Johnson told me with understandable excitement.

Very different, but equally desirable, were Jennifer Zwicks beautiful, stark photographs of empty museum galleries that were still lit up for an exhibition that had been removed. Her Robyn O'Neill: 'Oh, How the Heartless Haunt Us All,' for example, had sold two of an edition of eight at $1,000. And I, for one, can understand why. I give these works one of my highest recommendations.