Art Basel Miami Beach – Day 1

By Abigail Goodman

Day 1 of Art Basel Miami did not disappoint! First stop was the Rubell Collection bright and early at 9 am. American Exuberance, their new exhibit was timely, sincere and impressive. From John Miller and Sterling Ruby, whose respective monumental installation and paintings made up the first two galleries, to the seductive (and early) Jacob Kassay and Analia Saban works, the exhibition boasted a variety of expression and material exploration. Other sure favorites were the John McAllister’s paintings, Hannah Greely’s installation Dual, Dana Schutz’s ever painterly and bold canvases, Ruby Neri “naïve” classicism and Kaari Upson’s grotto. Also not to be missed was Jennifer Rubell’s food installation Incubation — servings of homemade yogurt in glass jars and honey dripping from a box on ceiling, leaving visitors to catch their sweetness as it falls to earth.

From there I headed to the M Building – the former Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery – now home to an event space and temporary exhibition venues for galleries. Among the most satisfying things here was a collection of objects curated just to the right of the front door by owner Kathy Vedovy: a massive Sterling Ruby ceramic work, a gold-toned Glenn Ligon, a Wade Guyton Kelley Walker coconut chandelier and a screen by Peter Lane. Among the galleries there – Liz Larner’s wall mounted ceramic tablets from Regen Projects and Haegue Yang’s light sculptures were standouts.

I arrived at the main fair at 11 am for the first choice entrance and did not depart until after 7 pm! My first stop was CRG Gallery to see great dealers and friends Carla Chammas and Glenn McMillan. Their booth boasted tremendous works by Alexandre da Cunha, Tonico Lemos Auad, Tomory Dodge and Pia Fries among others. From there I headed to visit David Zwrirner Gallery where Carol Bove’s new paintings and installation were total knock-outs…really among my favorite works of the day. The rest of the stops were too many to enumerate, but as an indication of the fever pitch of the fair, my cell phone battery had already died for the first (but not last time!) by noon from my constant photos and emailing.

Highlight of the day beyond those mentioned above in no particular order:

The free-standing Jorge Pardo lamp at Friedrich Petzel, Olafur Eliasson’s bike Kepler Was Right, Ai Wei Wei’s table, and Isa Genzken’s Wolfgang at Neuger Reimschneider, Amy Sillman and Arturo Herrera at Sikkema Jenkins, Thiago Rochas Pitta’s Garden of Gorgona at Galeria Millan, Bill O’Brien at Marianne Boesky, Piotr Urklanski’s pencil shaving drawings at Gagosian, Sarah Openheimer at Anneley Juda Fine Art, Matthew Day Jackson’s new rust painting at Hauser + Wirth, Matt Saunders (2012 deCordova Biennial artist) at Harris Lieberman and Blum and Poe.

Looking forward to another magically maddening day at the art fair – always too much to see and not enough time – and in the case of this ABMB, an abundance of works to admire.