Ever since this past December, I've been telling anyone who would listen to add Art Basel Miami Beach to their bucket list. After years of trying to get there, I was looking forward to the Miami Art Week festivities. But I was a little worried it couldn't possibly live up to the hype.
Art Basel Miami Beach and Art Week Miami did more than live up to the hype. It redefined hype. It was amazing.
I had the good fortune to get press credentials to write a piece for The Ekphrastic Review. Challenging is an understatement. How do you capture a once-in-a-lifetime experience with hundreds upon thousands of pieces of art spread over numerous associated art shows amidst what could arguably be called one of the greatest parties in the world?
You talk about the 80s movie Porky's, of course. Not just Porky's, but the spectacular Nina Chanel Abney, whose show at the ICA Miami coincided with Art Basel and Miami Art Week and seemed to capture the essence of the very best in contemporary art as well as the experience of looking inherent in a trip to Miami Beach during Art Week.
Recently everyone has been worried about AI impacting art and artists. We may get there someday, but I won't hold my breath until machine learning figures out how to write a hybrid poetry/art criticism piece that references Jay Gatsby, the American Pie movies, and stealing money from McDonald's.
You don't have to hold your breath, either. One of my most ambitious publications, my piece on Art Basel Miami Beach, 2022, can be found at The Ekphrastic Review.
And for those of you in the know, you can find out more about the further adventures of Arthur Oswald Fischel in Art Official, out now from Terror House Press.