The art world’s newest inspiration: Obama

Wednesday, 10th December 2008

Not content with making political history, the President-elect was everywhere at Art Basel in Miami, says Olivia Cole

My favourite ever line overheard at Art Basel Miami Beach, in a broad growl, is: ‘I gave my wife an unlimited budget… and da-ya-know-what, she exceeded it.’ This year, however, there was at least one pre-eminent London collector who was ‘forbidden’ from attending by her husband. On the other hand, Dasha Zukhova (girlfriend of Roman Abramovich) was in town, and Ivana Trump was to be seen teetering round enthusiastically.

Art Basel Miami Beach, with its heady cocktail of world-class art and world-class bling (Estelle and Grace Jones sang at two of the parties this year) has become one of the most important weeks in the art world calendar and the US’s most important art fair. The brainchild of Sam Keller, director until this year of the pre-eminent Swiss fair, the winter version, with the surprising but universally enticing choice of South Beach location, was an instant hit when it was launched in 2000. Since then it has boomed; its fusion of credibility, carnival and novelty — for example, the shipping containers filled with art on the beach, and the in-fair spa to sooth aching art-chasing limbs — has been the inspiration for the new global crop of fairs, from Frieze in London to Art Dubai and Art Hong Kong. Art Sydney began as the Affordable Art Fair in 2003 with works on offer for under $3,000. Demand for works up to $100,000 in value led to its rebirth as Art Sydney in 2005, and to the development of Art Melbourne and Art Brisbane.

In past years, at all of these fairs, phrases like ‘art supermarket’ have been used. In Miami, one story has the Canadian publishing magnate Louise T. McBlouin rather embarrassingly rumbled for trying to get into the fair before it had opened, such was the speed with which art would sell. Charles Saatchi used to have his minions running around snapping works on their phones to text him back in London.

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