Art Basel and Design Miami

 Art Basel and Design Miami were held the first week in December 2015 in Miami Beach. Kim and I joined the over $77,000 others who wanted to see the latest in art and design. Many of the pieces on display were made using new technologies like 3-D printing, laser “carving,” and chemical methods of changing patina especially on metals.

I always concentrate on the Design section, looking for displays that are innovative, unintentionally funny, or a new idea that is easy to copy. Prices were high at all the fairs—up to millions of dollars for an important painting or sculpture, and thousands for beaded stuffed animals or a sculpture made of dandelion seeds. There were also hundreds of other exhibits and galleries in town. Major companies like Fendi, Swarovski, and Louis Vuitton displayed conceptual and limited edition designs by major artists for their lines.

There were also exhibits of modular, mobile homes designed by world class architects/industrial designers and a special exhibit inspired by the Dean & DeLuca NYC store, featuring huge wheels of gruyere cheese with mirrors and marble (with noticeable odor).

Changing trends we noticed: less neon sculptures; less glass, but much more contemporary pottery. There were more examples of classic pieces like the Dutch 1934 Rietveld Zig-Zag chair, the 1939 Jean Prouvé 4 x 4-meter prefabricated shelter designed for the military, and even a room with copies of furniture originally designed for the 1942 World’s Fair in Rome, but never built because of World War II.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sitting in a shark’s mouth may be fun for some, but it might be scary for young children. The hanging leather chair swings from the ceiling just like the plastic bubble chair of the 1950s.

We loved the four-foot-tall “Moss girls,” two different figures made of porcelain and nylon with a green finish that looks like real moss. Priced at $15,000 each, all three sold before lunch. We heard it was a limited edition and more have been ordered.

 
The Haas Brothers, famous American designers, are working with women in an African village (whom they named the Haas Sisters) to make beaded furniture and toys sold at Miami Design to raise money for the basic needs of the village. The collection, called “Afreaks,” featured some small animals for $15,000 each. Over-six-foot-tall beaded mushrooms are about $40,000 each.

The Campana Brothers of Brazil are famous for unusual chairs like those made of teddy bears or stuffed dolls. This is a wicker chair covered with machine-embroidered, embossed and pierced leather. It is part of a limited collection of six different pieces of furniture. The frames are aluminum, steel or wood, and they are decorated with leather, woven wicker and braided straw.

Ladders and broken mirrors seem to be the inspirations of the year. There were at least five large sculptures that included old ladders, three wall hangings with broken mirror pieces, and even more broken pieces in collages. I was amused by this ladder, an antique from Ireland I was told. The artist encased it in clear plastic, leaned it against the wall, and put a price of $40,000 on the finished artwork.

Looking for a unique bathroom? This multicolored tub was designed by the famous Korean artists, Ha Chong-hyun and Yun Hyong-keun. The Boat tub seems ideal for a seaside house.

Contemporary pottery (above and below) was on display at several galleries. One vase looked like a jumble of crushed vases. A group from the 1960s, looked like the smooth symmetrical long-necked vases still being made.

 


 

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