How many gold sculptures did we see at Art Basel Miami Beach today. Uh, we lost count. Here are just a few of the artists.
James Lee Byers’ golden zen globes
Marilyn Minter’s golden tongue
Chris Martin turns cardboard into gold
Rudy Stingel’s gouged gold
Sherry Levine’s double headed golden calf
These a just a few samples. But more to the point, a lot of gold was changing hands. We saw a Kara Walker silhouette group for $450,000 at Sikkema Jenkins. It was on reserve and pretty much sold, said Mr. Jenkins. Amy Sillman, at the same gallery, was selling $1. zines on the honor system. Put your buck in the glass jelly jar and take home your own Amy Sillman.
Also in the stratasphere was Nathalie Djurberg’s The Experiment (Cave), a video plus sculpture set for $65,000 at Zach Feuer. To help you put things into perspective, some nice ceramic assemblages of kitsch knicknacks by Brazilian artist Barrao were $18,000 to $30,000 at Marsiaj Gallery.
At Gallery Miro, we have Elmgreen and Dragset’s figure of fiberglass painted with 24 K gold lacquer, going for $95,000 on hold. Hold your wild horses and hold on to your last buck. And a Robert Indiana Love look-alike, the word Porn, by artist Marc Bijl, was asking $37,000 at Breeder gallery from Athens.
Some modest watercolor drawings (funny, charming, comic and full of Americana) by Robert Williams, at Tony Shafrazi were going for $16,000 each. We’re talking paper. And we saw a couple of trippy double-sided Julian Hoeber pieces, also not made of gold, that were asking $7,500. His gallery Blum + Poe said one sold.
