Art Collectors: The New Lobbyists?
Today I hosted a panel at the Scope Art Fair entitled "The Rise and Rise of Satellite Fairs." It was a good lineup: Scope director Alexis Hubshman, NADA director Heather Hubbs, Pulse director Helen Allen and Volta director Amanda Coulson. As the panel drew to a close, I asked whether there were any questions. There were none from the audience, but Hubbs had one for the other panelists: How did they handle letters from collectors urging them to admit some gallery or another? Despite having written an article on art fair selection politics for the current issue of Art+Auction, this tactic was news to me. Politics indeed! When collectors are acting as lobbyists, how far are art fairs from the machinations of Washington?

Making Waves in Dubai
Art fairs aren't just for selling art; they are also for selling other art fairs. That is, they are not a bad place at which to drum up a bit of publicity. Enter the PR firms. Today the London-based company Brunswick Group hosted a lunch at the stylish Restaurant Fischerstube in order to present a handful of events, including the Italian fair Artissima and Art Dubai. Art Dubai director John Martin, a London dealer, says that fair's 2009 edition will be timed to coincide with the Sharjah Biennial. According to Martin, Sharjah is just a short drive from Dubai—"a half hour on a good day." But he isn't running the risk of traffic slowdowns. Instead he’s arranging for a boat to take biennial-goers to the fair and vice versa. On board, he'll show passengers works of video art. But Martin admitted, with a dash of sheepishness, that the idea wasn't entirely his. Giving credit where credit is due, he conceded that it was the brainchild of Ben Rawlingson Plant of Brunswick.

Art or Babies?
My colleague Robert Ayers sends this over today:

By now, we all know that the swarthy half of Brangelina was here yesterday, raising the pulses of fairgoers and dealers alike. But the celeb did some serious shopping at Design Miami/Basel, where he snatched up two Max Lamb Bronze Poly chairs from New York’s Johnson Trading Gallery; Family Lamp, by Atelier van Lieshout, and a Jeroen Verhoeven Rococo-style hollow-white-marble table from London’s Carpenters Workshop Gallery (the table went for $293,000); and two Ron Arad chairs from New York–based Sebastian + Barquet. He also ordered Silver Sky, an aluminum-thread rug designed by Colombian Jorge Lizarazo and woven in Colombia at the Hechizoo studio, from New York dealer Cristina Grajales. The rug sells for $175 per square foot; no one's quite sure how big of a piece he ordered. Pitt also reportedly showed interest in — though he hasn't yet shelled out any cash, as far as we know — a gold lacquer–coated fiberglass sofa designed by Zaha Hadid, on offer from London's Kenny Schachter for $300,000.

When he wasn't busy furnishing his home, Pitt was apparently turning on the charm for dozens of women. Everybody has their Braderie to share, including one account passed on to me by an artist friend and assigned to Hanna Schouwink, director at David Zwirner: “He held my hand between both of his. He stared into my eyes for a full five minutes. I thought he was meditating.” Cruel wits are suggesting that there’s something of a family rivalry developing here: while the arrival of their own twins means that La Jolie is prevented from buying up babies for the moment, Brad is spending his part of the fortune (precise details of which are no doubt specified down to the last cent in their much-discussed $200 million prenup) on works of art. Art or babies? I know where I’d be throwing my cash. In fact, it had occurred to me to pose Abramovich a similar question — art or soccer players? — when one of his “friends” made it clear by eye contact alone that the tovarich would prefer not to be troubled.

Change of Pace
“Oh, hello,” said PaceWildenstein director Marc Glimcher as a woman walked through his booth. “Who was that?,” I asked. “Maya Lin,” said Glimcher. “She joined the gallery recently.” The artist had been with Gagosian.