Art Basel 2011

I’m back in my beloved Miami for a long weekend, and it just struck me that I never posted about my visit in December….

It was my first time at Art Basel and what I quickly realized is that there is a ridiculous amount to do and simply not enough time. There are art events galore and now a ton of great street art and music events in the Wynwood art district. We only scratched the surface and still managed to sleep very little. Best party was HolyGhost! at Bardot…didn’t stop dancing…

Here are some pics of the most interesting, striking, and downright bizarre art works from Art Miami and Design Miami.

B & me

A great Warhol…

It’s made out of raisins…ha!

WOW, talk about meticulous

Downright creepy but at the same time kind of sweet and cuddly

These maps are all thread and beading

It’s electric! Literally. The new wave of art meets technology

This series is made of entirely electrical wires, how wild

Next to his mobiles, this is a great Calder piece

Love the texture of these. Oh, and you wouldn’t believe how much they go for!

A table made of yellow leather

I want this record player

xoxo

Typeface Tuesdays: Design Miami’s French Inspired Posters

Happy Tuesday… err… Wednesday!

While I was in Miami for Art Basel, I checked out Design Miami which features fairly exotic and artsy furniture and jewelry. It was really quite cool. Among the pieces I observed was an installation by the Wolfsonian at Florida International University on French objects called Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity–the French national motto. The designs, which comprise photos of various French objects sitting on or above a patriotic-inspired stool, “investigate how objects embody the ideas that have defined the French public life for more than two centuries. Featured objects include furniture, industrial design, and other craft by some of the most celebrated French designer of past and present–Roger Tallon, Pierre Paulin, and Philippe Starck.”

I like this project on several levels. First, I like that it’s French-inspired because that’s my heritage and I’m proud. Plus I think the angle that the designers took for this project is really quite interesting and fairly unstudied. People across the world love French products. Why? Second, I like the use of typography in the posters as they become part of the design of the poster and border on being illegible unless you really pause to look. It’s like a fun little puzzle, and who doesn’t love a good challenge?

I don’t recall exactly what the first poster says exactly, but the second reads: French Design Framework. Do you see it? The type itself is a modern, geometric sans serif, probably something they created from scratch so they could easily manipulate and distort the letter sizes and their relationship to one another. As for the objects, the first one is looks like rocks, but obviously it’s not and I didn’t get a chance to inquire–intriguing indeed. The second is a Hermes bag–something I’m far too familiar with! Guilty.

Getting in the mood

In T minus ~21 hours I will be in Miami LIVING IT UP and SOAKING UP art, music, and the beach lifestyle. In honor of Art Basel, I am sharing some art I experienced at DC’s Uncapped Live art event hosted by Art Whino and BYT earlier this year…which I totally dug! Those little vinyl dudes are outrageous. Art Whino will be doing their thing at Basel this year, in addition to a plethora of other exhibits and events.

I promise to take lots of pictures and report back.