Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Why I’m Not Going to Miami
For some reason, people have a hard time believing that I don’t make the annual pilgrimage to Miami for Art Basel Miami Beach. The fact of the matter is that I just don’t have a lot of interest in spending the weekend that deep in the belly of the art market beast.I’m more into the art than into the art scene. I get the sense that early December in Miami has rapidly become more about the scene than about the art.
But there is a host of secondary reasons why I don’t make the trip. Here’s a partial list:
- I like having Chelsea all to myself for one weekend a year.
- ABMB is not that interested in credentialing bloggers, so why bother giving the fair the publicity. (Side note to any arts publicists not yet convinced that blogs are as important as traditional print media: Back in the day, I used to work on a small but credible print publication. This site gets more than thirty-five times more unique visits each month than that magazine had subscribers.)
- NetJets gets all maxed out during this week and can’t provide me with a plane to get into Miami at exactly the time I want to go (um, as if...).
- If a huge crowd of people is all looking in the same direction, I tend to think that there’s probably something more interesting going on in another direction where nobody else is looking.
- I do so much travel for work that I’ve developed a philosophical aversion to paying my own way to go anywhere; I haven’t yet found anyone willing to cover my expenses for a trip to ABMB.
- Speaking of work, I can’t afford the time off right now.
- Not speaking of work, I really can’t stand the feeling of having sand stuck in a wet bathing suit while I’m looking at art.
- Finally, I’ve become so fed up with it that I’m sort of boycotting the art market these days. My last several purchases have been commissions directly from artists. I find this a much, much more rewarding way to purchase art than buying from gallery booths at fairs.
