On the Road, Miami

In our last two newsletters, I told you how my daughter Kim and I spent our first two days at the art and design shows surrounding the big Art Basel show in Miami Beach. During the last two days, we visited smaller exhibits. Once again we looked with the eyes of antiques collectors and were surprised at how modern designers alter the old to create the new.

We saw a gallery filled with antique Middle Eastern furniture that was ÒmodernizedÓ with large round glass bottles. A Dutch artist had heated the bottles, then placed them on antique wooden chairs and tables. The hot glass burned the wood, and the bottom of the bottle slumped and stuck to the furniture. Each furniture piece became a sculpture. The gallery, Al Sabah Art & Design, also had colorful new sofas upholstered with a patchwork of vintage Middle Eastern fabrics.

Our favorite was an exhibit by Meta, a design house thatÕs an offshoot of Mallet, a famous English antique shop. Meta displayed modern pieces next to the antiques that inspired them. A new light fixture made of paktong, an ancient Chinese alloy, was shown next to antique Chinese paktong candlesticks. An antique armoire with carvings was paired with a modern example sprouting flowers. The antiques were fabulous, including Venetian commodes, an Empire desk chair, a Queen Anne needlework pillow and 18th-century Chinese wallpaper. The modern pieces were of equal qualityÑand everything was very pricey.

We also saw an exhibit spanning 60 years of work by Kartell, an Italian design firm, including chairs, ceramics, kitchen wares and more, most made of plastic.

The next morning we went to a garden breakfast where the hosts were serving coconuts filled with rum. The garden ÒartÓ included two John Deere tractors welded together to form a tractor with two fronts, no backs. A very large tree had what looked like strips of toilet paper hanging as decorations. And there were also several small ÒislandsÓ made of bricks, plants and attractive rocks or sculptures.

We ate at the newly restored Fontainebleau Hotel, which was laughed at by architecture critics but loved by the public when it opened in 1954. Over the years, as it gracefully aged, the hotel earned recognition as a Modernist masterpiece. Most of it closed in 2006 for a two-year restoration and expansion. The ÒnewÓ hotel kept the best features of the old but added modern artworks and technologies.

We also went to the Wolfsonian Museum to see an exhibit of posters and other visual art from the New Deal years, 1933 to 1943. The exhibit was planned long before todayÕs economy made it so relevant. Most of the artwork was from federal projects meant to create jobs and boost the economy. The displays included art made for post office walls, schools and other public buildings, plus posters and illustrations that promoted national pride, trumpeted ethnic cultures and recorded the lives of ordinary people. All are popular with collectors today.