Everything you missed at Art Basel

Representing Montreal in Miami, from left to right: A Squid Called Sebastian, Kevin Ledo, Five and Omen. Photo by Adam Vieira

Art Basel Miami has become the cultural event of the year, and with many of Montreal’s key art scene players heading down to represent local talent, Station 16 couldn’t miss the opportunity to document all of the great art being created.

The annual art fair spreads across the Wynwood art district of Miami, as large and small murals, posters, sticker bombs and galleries show up at every corner. Literally every square inch gets painted or creatively covered. Station 16 was excited to be visiting and covering everything happening in Basel 2013, Dec. 4–8 — an exhausting task, since the event and openings are non-stop.

On the first day of the fest, we somehow found ourselves invited to the Vanity Fair Cadillac Dinner, the opening dinner to the fest with the festival’s creators and organizers, the Goldman family, plus some of the biggest artists at Miami this year, including Shepard Fairey, Ron English, Kenny Scharf and the artists who made up “the women on the walls,” a new section of the fest devoted to the talented women of street art including Lady Aiko, Miss Van, Faith47 and Olek. It seemed as though everything just fell into place, as we were introducing ourselves and telling them about the Montreal art scene and the MURAL festival organized by LNDMRK.

Beside the mega-art happening in Wynwood, Art Basel also extends its reach well into South Beach, just across the water. There are several cool art fairs happening, and surrounding this is a significant amount of street art.

We spotted several pieces by Space Invader from his “Miami Mission” in 2012, some new work by Mr. Brainwash and work by Montreal names Whatisadam and Stikki Peaches. Also new to Basel and South Beach this year was street art duo Faile and Bast’s Deluxx Fluxx Arcade show, which debuted in NYC a few years back. The show takes several used arcade machines, which have been reprogrammed with the artists’ signature characters and designs, taking art to a more fun and interactive level. Even the arcade tokens have the engraved Faile & Bast images and logos! The entire arcade, run by a fun and charismatic guy conveniently named conveniently Mr.Pinball is also covered from floor to ceiling in wheatpaste and UV-painted wheatpaste imagery from the artists. The Deluxx Fluxx arcade show was probably the most fun we’ve ever had at an art show.

Hopefully, with our video teaser and photographs from the trip, you’ll be able to get an idea of the overwhelming visual experience that is Art Basel Miami. ■

[lg_folder folder=”131213-art-basel”]

ART BASEL PART 1 from Station 16 on Vimeo.