Every year Terry and I go to Art Basel in Miami Beach. We drove south on December 4th and returned on December 8th. Art Basel showcases the world’s top galleries. I read that over a billion dollars worth of art is sold here in one week. We stay with Terry’s friend Elaine Pasekoff and Derek Hewitt. Elaine is the host of a syndicated radio program called “The Book Report.” The couple have several condos in a high rise overlooking Miami Beach. The first thing I did when we arrived was to grab my sketchbook and take in the dusk view from their balcony.
This week was also Elaine’s birthday so plans were in place for a big Disco blow out of a party. Friends and relatives were all driving into town along with the Art Basel throngs. We all decided to go out to diner at a Cuban Restaurant only a few blocks from the condo. Although I have gotten press passes in the past, I didn’t manage to convince Art Basel management that I was a journalist. For that reason, most of my focus would be on the smaller art fairs that were scattered in large tents all around Miami.
Looking through the Art Basel pamphlet, I ran across a page that I had used to clean off my brush because I had forgotten a rag. It was one of the more abstract and expressive pages in the publication. Dinner with friends and watching the moon rise over the ocean made for a nice end cap to the day.