Originally published on Monday, 16th December 2013

Art Basel Miami Beach

So, it was UJ’s second year at Art Basel Miami Beach, and although we were a bit more organised this time round, it was still just as hectic. From the moment you step off the plane, there are several tough decisions: should we go see Takashi Murakami and Pharrell at Silencio, or join the Vuitton after party at Le Baron? Should we try Yardbird for dinner, or keep it classic with Joe’s? Should we do the main art show tomorrow, or head to Untitled or one of the other nine shows in town? Should we get off the strip and head to Soho House, or should we stay on track? And so on….

For us, this year was all about the art and less about the all-nighters. Why? Because the art was great, and we can’t say the same thing about most of the evening events we saw. If you are there for all-nighters though, make sure you get yourself on a list or don’t bother: the nightly scrums on the doors are best missed.

So, the art. UJ was lucky enough to be gifted a VIP preview card by Absolut (gold dust!) to trawl the show with the glitterati at the main fair – which was inspiring, of course – and Design Miami next door definitely stepped it up this year. Off piste, UJ skipped NADA and headed over to Wynwood to browse the walls (10,000 people showed up for the art walks here on Sat eve), see the galleries (many global pop ups there, especially for Art Basel) and hit up Michael’s Genuine for kimchi Bloody Marys and Morgan’s for chicken and waffles, mmm. We also checked out A-Trak’s Fool’s Gold Day Off party here, and en route ended up in Overtown, which we hear isn’t the best place to find yourself after dark, oops.

Other highlights included Soho Beach House hanging (they set up a tent on the beach for parties and their picante margaritas can’t be beat), Le Baron’s day parties at The Mondrian (nice inflatable exhibition #UJloves), Wu-Tang Clan’s 20th anniversary auction at The Delano (great hearing old skool hip hop), Colette’s drive thru ($3,800 Damian Hirst Supreme skateboard, please), the Tiki Disco and Bungalow 8 pop up at The Gale, and Mark Ronson at Mansion. And as we were on tour with a friend who has an XXL Warhol collection in LA (and seemingly acquiring quite a large Hirst one as well), we learned a good lesson on the buying side: stick around until the last day when galleries are packing up, as there are definitely deals to be had. We missed Art Miami though, which he said was one of the best – next time.

Art Basel: it’s a whirlwind trip right before Christmas, but when you come away as inspired as we always do (with a bit of a sunshine glow), you realize how lucky you are to be able to make the trip.

THANKS ABMB! See you next year.

* Special thanks to Stevie King @ Purple PR and Federica Amati @ No. 8 for sorting us out.