Art Basel Miami Beach VIP Preview Entrance, all photos on site for Art Observed by Erica Schwartzberg

On Wednesday, December 5th, 2012, Art Basel Miami Beach hosted its 11th annual VIP Preview at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Organizers claim Art Basel Miami has surpassed its Swiss sister Art Basel in size and popularity, though it has yet to surpass attendance figures (62,500 people in 2010). This year, 680 galleries competed to show at Art Basel Miami and 257 were selected. More than 2,000 artists are represented and attendance is expected to top last year’s 55,000 figure. Though definitive sales reports are difficult to pin down (Art Basel Miami never releases official records), $2.5 billion worth of art was on offer in 2011, and several galleries reported record sales. VIP guests include business magnates Steve Wynn, who purchased a Roy Lichtenstein, and Eli Broad, who purchased a Jeff Koons sculpture. Newsprint mogul Peter Brant gave Owen Wilson a tour, and Will Ferrell ceded the stage to his wife Viveca, who sits on the board of the Los Angeles County Museum. Also spotted: Sean “Puffy” Combs purchasing an Ivan Navarro sculpture, Diane von Furstenberg, comedian/actress Chelsea Handler, and music mogul Russell Simmons. The following is a photoset from the 2012 Art Basel Miami Beach VIP Preview.

Jesús Rafael Soto, Cubo de Roma, Galeria Elvira Gonzalez

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All images courtesy Maccarone Gallery.

Currently on view at Maccarone New York is Hanna Liden‘s “Out of My Mind, Back in 5 Minutes.” The installation includes three photographs and several sculptures made from plastic shopping bags, t-shirts, and garbage bags. These items are stacked and filled with poured plaster or covered with latex, rendering them heavy and useless.

Loaded with references to memento mori and tribal customs, this process-based work transforms markers of the ephemerality and mundaneness of city life. It offers what the exhibition’s press release calls “a meditation on urbanity […] The result is a gallery space turned reliquary, containing the ghosts of an urban tribe now obsolete.”

More images and text after the jump… (more…)