ABMB | A Fashion Retrospective Starring Dynasty Handbag

 

“Poor Aim” (Sophie Morner)

With Liza Minnelli debuting her new show at the Palace Theater on Broadway and The Moment’s reporting from Art Basel Miami Beach this week, we thought it was important to give some due to the performance art world’s answer to Ms. Minnelli, Dynasty Handbag. With an overexcited tongue, a twitch and a synthesizer, Ms. Handbag (the alter ego of Jibz Cameron) mixes vocal recordings of her self-loathing inner monologues with live songs and writhing dance moves. The result? Cameron is as committed to her performance as Dynasty Handbag should be to Bellevue.

ABMB | Sacking the Art World

A tote designed by Jeremy Blake for Tommy Hilfiger and Free Arts NYC.

There have been a lot “it” bags popping up at Miami Basel. From the limited-edition canvas totes by Sean Landers at the White Columns booth to Banana Republic’s “I Need Money” version that has proven popular with those who can’t afford the actual art. But our favorite is the one from Tommy Hilfiger and Free Arts NYC, a charity which brings art-related programming to underprivileged kids in New York City.

ABMB | ‘It Ain’t Fair’

(Norman Lendzion)

One of the coolest (and most aptly-named) events surrounding Art Basel Miami Beach this week is “It Ain’t Fair,” a multi-media art, music and film extravaganza located in Aaron Bondaroff and Al Moran’s expansive O.H.W.O.W. alternative art space in the Wynwood section of town. With some of the art world’s hippest galleries on board, including Deitch Projects and Peres Projects, and hyper-connected curators like Tim Barber, Kathy Grayson, Nicola Vassell and the artist Terence Koh, it’s no wonder the exhibit-slash-temporary nightclub has been drawing some of the best crowds of the week.

ABMB | Meet the Vogels

Megumi Sasaki’s documentary film “ Herb & Dorothy” debuts tonight at The Colony Theater in Miami as part of ABMB’s “Art Loves Film” series. The movie is a sweet tale about Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, a postal worker and a librarian, respectively, who amassed one of the most important contemporary art collections to date on a modest budget. (An excerpt from the film is above.) Here, The Moment caught up with Dorothy Vogel about the fluctuating art economy, dealer camaraderie, and advice for collecting in today’s market.

The Day In the Life of a Basel Player

A center piece created by the interior decorator Rick Clifton for the Art in America dinner in honor of its redesign. (Nick Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com)

Where else in the art world do business and pleasure mix as effortlessly as at Art Basel Miami Beach? We asked Mariko Munro, a fair regular and the associate director of 303 Gallery, to report from the trenches. Her play-by-play from yesterday’s activities are below.

Art Basel Miami Beach | Olaf Breuning’s Sand Sculpture

The official public opening of Art Basel Miami Beach is in a few hours, but the satellite shows around town are already up and running. The Sagamore Hotel – which has a year-round arty edge thanks to owner Marty Taplin showcasing his private collection onsite – has another public art project under way following last year’s Spencer Tunick-directed mass strip-off. The impish Swiss artist Olaf Breuning, tapped as this week’s guest creative, is ramping up the raunchiness with an abstracted 150-ton sphinx-like sand sculpture of a reclining woman. “Miami has something, not sleazy or cheesy about it, but you see people walking around in very tight bathing suits, big breasts, plastic surgery so I thought I’d make something about the relationship between sexuality and art history,” he said.

Art Basel Miami Beach | A Naomi Campbell Retrospective

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Sometimes the jokes just write themselves, punchlines and all. This year, as Art Photo Expo Miami tries to move up from the children’s table during the cultural caviar-stuffed buffet that’s Art Basel Miami Beach, it’s tapped a heavy hitter for some help. The start-up show, now in its second year, has surrendered a chunk of its space to Naomi Campbell, whose oeuvre will be feted in a 50-strong selection of career-spanning snaps.