Art Basel Prep

It is odd being here several days before Art Basel starts. Driving through Wynwood today, everyone was painting the outside of their buildings, and sweeping their sidewalks.
Most peculiar was seeing buildings that have obviously been abandoned for a long time, but were newly swept out, with deliveries of new printers and office furniture in boxes sitting right inside the front door, waiting for a temporary “gallery” to be set up. It seemed like a setting for a Twilight Zone episode, where people will come, buy art, and come back the following week to find that the place has reverted to an abandoned building.

One of the women I am showing with is this amazing artist from Finland, Kaarina Kaikkonen. If you look at the images in the above link, you will see creations made from men's jackets, suspended and sometimes reaching up towards the sky. Apparently she lost her father when she was quite young, and then years later, her mother, who was a dancer. In the gallery, she is showing a series of filleted shoes, mounted on the wall..... they look like orchids…. they are gorgeous and disturbing. This series began with the dissection of her mother's shoes. She is also having a show at the Bass Museum now. I was in the gallery today, and some early birds came in and walked around the gallery. They stopped for a while and asked me about my clothing pieces, but ultimately purchased one of her shoes. Being there and watching the process was weird… it was like being one of the children at the orphanage and watching one of the other kids drive off in the car of their new parents.