Well I left the sun, surf and art of Miami to return to the cold, dark night called winter in New York. My second consecutive visit to Miami for Art Basel was everything I wanted it to be and more!

I met new friends, did plenty of networking, saw lots of great art, hung out with some incredible artists, curators, collectors and characters from all over the world. You can easily forget how big and diverse the world is when you spend too much time in one place. Art Basel Miami Beach is a reminder of how big, diverse, entertaining and colorful the world really is.

Regrettably I don't have a ton of photos for you because most of the fairs didn't allow cameras or I simply didn't feel like dragging a camera around. Also, some of the events I attended like private parties were hardly places for cameras so I left mine at my Miami home.

Thursday was a great day. I relaxed a bit, had a nice brunch at Balans on Lincoln Road and then went to Photo Miami (which was probably my favorite fair of them all this year). The highlight of that event was seeing Charles Guice's booth. He is the dealer for one of my favorite artists and associate Hank Willis Thomas (more on Hank in an upcoming artist profile). The booth was a solo presentation of Hanks' "Un-Branded" series which sold extremely well all weekend. I am very happy for Charles and Hank. They are both great guys who are among the first people in the art world to be kind to me and offer words of encouragement. My long time homey and rep Jarvis DuBois arrived late Thursday.

Friday Jarvis and I took in the Photo Miami (2nd time for me), Scope and Art Miami fairs. After a nice dinner at Nexxt on Lincoln Road we met up with our friend and super talented artist Iona Rozell Brown and went to Russell Simmons and Mickalene Thomas' hot little party at the Mondrian. That party was off the chain. It was a who's who of the movers and shakers in contemporary art. Though it was a very diverse crowd, it was also the biggest concentration of successful African-Americans in fine art I have been at since the Kehinde Wiley opening at the Studio Museum. As I honestly admit, I am a new face in this world and sorta like a freshman on campus. As such you can imagine how nice it felt when Mickalene Thomas' assistant Jordan Buschur recognized me because she reads this blog. (Special shout out to Mickalene and Jordan I really appreciate the kind words and your welcoming me).

After the party Jarvis and I got a late night snack at a Diner and did a 10 minute walkthru of one of the clubs on Washington Avenue before we each got some much needed rest.

Saturday Jarvis and I went to see "30 Americans" at The Rubell Family Collection which was incredible! There'll be a separate post about this show featuring African-American artists a little later. Then we hopped a shuttle back to South Beach to peep the "main fair" ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH. The show was good and of course it has to be when the biggest galleries in the world are showing their superstar artists, but it wasn't my favorite. We did get to stop and see friends and associates like Jack Shainman, stop in to see great booths like Dietch Projects where I met Nicola (who is incredibly talented, supremely beautiful and with whom I share a mutual friend in (clothing designer Malcolm Harris). After a quick change, we hopped BACK ON THE DAMN SHUTTLE (lol) and went to the Rush Arts reception for their show on display in Miami's design district.

As if all that art wasn't enough, I had to hit the streets too and I caught up with my people in Miami and hit up a night club as well.

On Sunday, Jarvis caught a flight back to DC and I spent the day hanging with another friend as I returned to Photo Miami to pick up my copy of Jessica Backhaus's new photo book called "What Still Remains" and made a brief visit to the Pulse and Gensai art fairs.

The weekend ended with my safe return to the confines of the cold, dark and crowded city that I love so much. I'm energized, excited and ready to return to work on my current projects and elevate my art practice still higher.

FYI - All the images found in this post are from work by African-American artists featured in the "30 Americans" show at the Rubell Family Collection in Miami.
http://www.30americans.com/