(Christian Balzano, closing up his Exhibitalia Installation)
Just when you thought it was impossible to wake up, get dressed and do it all over again, Saturday provided the final motivation after a week of marathon events, parties and eye candy. At FIAT's Exhibitalia space, there was no slowing down. After Friday's big FADER event (more on that Monday), the room only kept going at Saturday's big bash for Ducati. Guests at Basel were still strolling into the FIAT art space all day to check out the artworks by Italy's prestigious art movements.
Meanwhile, around the rest of Art Basel, visitors took advantage of their first day of downtime. Most of the attendees had accomplished their objectives, sold their art, or conversely, had their art purchased. Victory was had by all. This is the day to actually do what you came to Miami to truly do—SEE ART. Many hardworking enthusiasts took the day off to stroll around NADA, Design Miami, Aqua Art, Art Basel's Convention Center or whatever little gallery they missed during the hectic work week.
If you weren't seeing art, you were attending a mellow brunch hosted by Paper Magazine with Shepard Fairey at the Mondrian, or Rush Philanthropic's Eat My Art with Estelle and Kehinde Wiley. In essence, Saturday was a time to breathe and fall back.
As the evening came to a close, it seemed the most important events weren't fancy events or rubbing elbows at a club. Saturday was all about regrouping and restoring -- having dinner with your inner crew, or going to play billiards with lost friends at the local dive bar. Our first stop was the Standard Hotel, where the dining room was a veritable "who's who" of New York's downtown creative scene—artists Jose Parla and Julia Chiang, publicist John Lin, La Esquina owner Serge Becker with his lovely girlfriend, Refinery 29's Philippe von Borries and Justin Stefano, and Renaissance man Timothee Verrecchia.
On the other side of town, in the Design District is the Bar owned by New York's street impresario, Aaron Bondaroff and Al Moran. There were no famous people, no paparazzi, just a good ol’ fashioned dive bar full of locals living it up. At midnight, there was a performance by Aska, who scored Spike Jonze's I'm Here: A Love Story in an Absolut World. Photographer and Nike Skateboard pro, Todd Jordan, hosted this evening in the bar that feels like the Miami Beach analog to New York's downtown hub, Max Fish.
It seemed Le Baron hosted the other "last call" event of the week with a Jalouse party that attracted all the final diehards of the night hosted by André Saraiva. The room felt like a dirty basement party with low roof, neon lights and thick smoke in the air. As the guests danced with abandon, you could spot people like Anabelle Dexter Jones, Cobrasnake, Reza the Arab Parrot, Leigh Lezark, Ana Calderon, Jalouse's Jen Eymere, Mandy Coon, Mark Squires and DJ Oliver Stumm.
People were dropping like flies, with nightlife pro's like Heron Preston of Nike going down for the count. I bumped into him at Raleigh Hotel's humble cafe seeking sustenance and nourishment before his flight back to New York. Opting to pull out of the evening's craziness, Heron takes a last bite of his Cuban sandwich and wraps up a week of successful work, including Nike's contribution to Art Basel 2010, a show for New Image Art on Friday at Cafeina with artists Neck Face, Tino Razo, Os Gemeos and Jerry Hsu, among others.
Just like Heron, it was time for us to wrap it up. A good time was had by all. Stay tuned for pictures of FIAT and FADER's big event posted tomorrow as we look back on the week's wins.