The Ultimate Basel Blog: More from Day 2 of Miami

Art Basel Miami, December 1

COOL DEALS: THE SALES SCENE

The Sales Story
The crowds (and shoppers) were considerably thinner at Art Basel Miami Beach on Thursday as aficionados flocked to the opening day action at Pulse and the New Art Dealers Alliance (Nada) fair. Still, dealers in the big daddy fair racked up more transactions. Here are some highlights (more below): L&M Arts of New York sold: Jean-Michel Basquiat's Stickman (1982), a work on paper ($825,000 asking price); and Keith Haring's Untitled (Stacked Figure) (1987), a painted aluminum sculpture ($185,000 asking price); and Keith Haring's Untitled mural, executed by Haring on site at the 1982 Art Basel fair ($575,000 asking price). (L&M declined to cite actual sale prices which included some discounting off the asking price.) Mary-Ann Martin Fine Arts, also of New York, sold: A pair of circa 1935 watercolors on rice paper compositions by Diego Rivera. Turkey Market and Girl with Braid sold for $85,000 and $50,000, respectively.

Power Shopping
Speaking of big daddies at Art Basel, Glenn Lowry, the director of MoMA, was spotted caressing a surreal ceramic tea kettle by Bonnie Seeman at Galeria OMR of Mexico City. Something about the intensity of his affection for the piece (which he held closely to the light) made it seem like he was weighing a personal buying decision.

Notable Quotables
Dealer Peter Blum: "Despite the extreme activity of selling, a core group of collectors are making very discerning choices." What are they buying most, Peter? "Alex Katz, of course, John Beech and Yayoi Kusama." *** PaceWildenstein's Mark Glimcher said people are buying high and low-priced work, as you'd expect, and, unexpectedly, a lot in between. *** Asked how the fair was treating him so far, Jim Yohe of Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art said, "How am I doing? It's great, as art fairs go, for god sakes. People are tugging at your sleeves trying to buy things, but then they can get a small Hans Hofmann painting for $4,500." Yohe further observed that most buyers were American and that he saw no danger of a bubble bursting any time soon: "The buying being done is not speculative." *** Mary Sabbatino of Galerie Lelong added that she is selling a lot of Sean Scully, Kate Shepherd and Anna Mendieta.

Going, Going, Gone
Some galleries at the Nada fair have already sold out their booths, and all of the many galleries spoken to at the fair by ArtInfo reported that they have sold at least 65 to 75 percent of what they brought with them to Miami.

The scope Scoop: Big Names in Bathroom
scope, which bills itself as an alternative fair (note the edgy lower case), is being held at the TownHouse Hotel Dec. 1 to 4. While the fair's mission is to showcase emerging artists, ArtInfo noticed that many exhibiting galleries seemed to be anticipating a lot of secondary market trade and had stocked the bathrooms (which function as a sort of back office as each gallery shows its work in a hotel room) with big names. Among the art stars available for sale, if you knew where to look: Ed Ruscha, Red Grooms, Vija Celmins, Andy Warhol, Stephen Shore, Alex Katz and Cindy Sherman. Chicago's Carl Hammer Gallery had a large drawing by Henry Darger available for $60,000. The gallery said also doing well were hand-stitched embroideries by Orly Cogan.

InScope
At scope, major collector Beth Rubin De Woody bought a set of photographs by Hasty & Hasty of morphed hula-hoopers on sale at WeissPollack ($10,000 for the first of an edition of six). *** At the Lisa Kurts Gallery of Memphis, a buyer placed on hold two big painting from Simon Cassson for $26,500 (the large paintings-classical-looking works with superimposed patches of clouds-resemble a cross between a Titian and a de Kooning. The British artist is collected by Prince Charles himself. The gallery is also getting a lot of interest for photos of Havana by Michael Eastman. *** Christopher Cutts Gallery sold out of work by Drew Simpson: small, detailed paintings of interiors starting at $1,200.

Cheaper by the Dozen
At scope, Galerie Schuster sold 12 paintings by Eva Grun, five of which went to Susan and Michael Horts who own 30 pieces by her; the gallery also has a video Grun did for MTV Europe which was originally not for sale: But the Horts showed so much interest, the two sides are trying to reach a price. Said Helmut Schuster: "I covered my [exhibition] costs in the first hour." *** Gallery 55 from Shanghai couldn't show anything: it said its DHL delivery never showed. *** Looking for super-affordable art? Andy Moon Wilson has little drawings on Post-it notes for $20 a pop in the bathroom of curator's office, a D.C. gallery (that also favors lower cases).

Sales in Brief
At Art Basel Miami Beach, Paula Cooper of New York sold: Dan Walsh's Replete (2005), an acrylic abstraction on canvas for $24,000; and Wayne Gonzalez's Untitled, an acrylic on canvas (2005) for $8,000; and Christian Marclay's installation from 1994, Feedback, comprised of mirrors and CDs for $65,000. *** Peter Freeman of New York sold Michael Heizer's Thailand (1977), a sculpture comprised of eight teak elements mounted on a wood base for a sum in excess of $100,000. Freeman is also showing a rare and early Frank Stella painting, Tundra (1958), that has never before been on public view. A source outside the gallery said the Stella is being offered at $3.5 million. *** Among collectors strolling about, New York's Rachel Maurer was excited about her purchase of a Tara Donovan paper plate sculpture from PaceWildenstein for $30,000.

MIAMI HEAT: INSIDE THE FAIR

Mi Casa Es de la Cruz Casa
"Our house is open to everyone. You don't have to be in the art world," says Rosa de la Cruz, as she welcomes a museum group entering her home with the acclaimed collection she and her husband, Carlos, share. Even without the usual glamorous dinner at her house this year, Rosa was the ever-attentive hostess, running through a few of her new acquisitions with her guests.

There is assume vivid astro focus' large installation upstairs, with psychedelics covering the room (partnered with some video work); Sigmar Polke's photographs in the guest bedroom; Tal R sculptures and paintings taking up one of the exhibition rooms; and Christian Holstad's grouping of works involving collage, Marilyn Monroe, high heels, a large, bulging, floating head and "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to" playing in the background.

Set in their white modern home (if you ever need a reminder that white-on-white is très chic), guests were oohing and aahing at the works behind every corner and at the breakfast spread on the patio, overlooking the Miami bay.

And as visitors continued to file in, with a well-prepared map in hand, ABMB head Sam Keller stirred up the viewing as he made an appearance with a camera crew. Later, Keller was overheard arguing the pros of art fairs with Village Voice art critic Jerry Saltz, who wasn't budging from his own cons, even though Keller pointed out, "You're here, aren't you?"

Come On In, The Aqua Is Fine
A newcomer to the South Beach art fair circuit, Aqua Art Miami is proving to be exceptionally well-organized while offering slightly different fare. Twenty-two of its 36 exhibiting galleries are from the West Coast, an area that Seattle-based organizers Jaq Chartier and Dirk Park felt was being underrepresented in international fairs.

Galleries included Allston Skirt Gallery (Boston), bodybuilder & sportsman gallery (Chicago), Inman Gallery (Houston), Keith Talent (London) and Galerie Anne Barrault (Paris). Modeled after the successful Affair at the Jupiter in Portland, the vintage Aqua Hotel's breezy open courtyard design creates a festive but informal atmosphere. This, combined with the smooth professionalism of its operation, made for relaxed and confident gallerists.

Despite the scramble to preview the main Art Basel fair on Wednesday afternoon, attendance at Aqua held steady, offering what participant Carl Berg called, "a warm up for the coming busy days."

And things were already starting to happen. L.A.'s Bank reported selling Graham Caldwell's glass antlers to a Las Vegas collector; Lisa Dent placed a Mathew Cusick collage with a private foundation; Plus Ultra Gallery sold paintings by Chris Dorland and Christopher Johnson to New Yorkers; a serious collector from Hawaii picked up a Brian Sharp collage from Shaheen and put a hold on a painting by Tony de los Reyes at Carl Berg Gallery; and a work by Justin Moore went to an Arizona collector.

Well-wrought works on paper dominated the fair, particularly at Winnipeg's winning Othergallery. Highlights elsewhere include Erika Somogyi's allegorical mixed-media works at Monya Rowe Gallery; Claire Cowie's quirky watercolors and Sean O'Dell's noble gouaches at James Harris Gallery; tender graphite drawings by Emily Prince at Adobe Books; a haunting Dinh Q. Le woven photograph at Elizabeth Leach Gallery; T.J. Ahearn's body part collages at Lemon Sky Projects; and Stas Orlovski's virtuoso technique at Traywick Contemporary.

But unusual materials also popped up in delightful ways: Sofi Zezmer's badminton birdie wall sculptures at Gregory Lind Gallery; and Malia Jensen's soap sculptures at Elizabeth Leach. The strangest/most wonderful work award goes to Jose Alvarez's shamanistic "paintings" created from mica, crystals, feathers, and porcupine quills (Takashi Murakami bought Alvarez's drawings at the NADA fair).