The Collectors: Dan and Kathryn Mikesell, Miami
The Mikesells—an attractive pair of tech business leaders and
devoted collectors—are an engaging fixture on the Miami art
scene. They started collecting together just after they married
14 years ago, and they also founded the coveted Fountainhead
Residency/Studios/Haus to provide artists (both local and international)
with support and creative space.
Remember when: Currently, the duo has about 400 pieces in
the collection, ranging from paintings and sculpture to video (with
highlights including works by Daniel Arsham; Marquis Lewis, aka
Retna; and Ahmed Alsoudani), and they’ve retained some fond
memories of past Basel weeks: “We always have a few parties at our
house. We once hosted an event for Moby and the artist Andrew
Schoultz, followed by a dinner for the bands Holy Ghost! and Neon
Indian, and the crew from Paris’s Le Baron,” Dan Mikesell says.
“They eventually needed to get to a show at Bardot and no taxis were
available, so I just put them all on the bed of our pickup truck and
drove them there myself. Their ‘handlers’ were aghast, but the Baron
guys loved it.” Kathryn Mikesell points out, “Yeah, and someone
even shouted, ‘This is so American!’”
Looking Forward: For this edition, the Mikesells are
eagerly anticipating visits not only to Art Basel Miami Beach, where
two Fountainhead artists are showing in the Art Positions section—
Agustina Woodgate with Spinello Projects and Atsushi Kaga with
Mother’s Tankstation—but also to some of the alternative fairs, particularly
DesignMiami, NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance), Pulse,
Scope, and Art Miami. They’re equally enthused about a new fair,
Untitled, which will be housed in a tent designed by Keenen Riley
Architects, as well as Miami Art Museum’s annual Party on the Plaza
(with its “New Work Miami” exhibition), and the Vanity Fair event at
the Museum of Contemporary Art, where a major exhibition for
vanguard video artist Bill Viola will be on display.
Heart Art: Regarding advice for new buyers, Dan suggests
taking pictures of favored pieces and building relationships with a
few galleries. Adds Kathryn: “Buy with your heart, know your
budget, and don’t be intimidated. You don’t need an art history
degree—just interest and passion.”
Kathryn and Dan Mikesell
at their home in Miami’s
historic Morningside
neighborhood
The Curators: Shamim M. Momin and Christine Y. Kim,
Los Angeles
Both Shamim M. Momin and Christine Y. Kim are accomplished
curators who moved from New York to Los Angeles
with a shared interest in public/site-specific art—work that
transcends traditional gallery walls. Momin was the associate curator
for contemporary art at the Whitney Museum of American Art
(where she co-curated the 2004 and 2008 Biennials), while Kim
departed from The Studio Museum in Harlem (she was its associate
curator from 2000 to 2008). Together, they cofounded LAND (Los
Angeles Nomadic Division), a nonprofit public art initiative,
although Kim is no longer involved now that she has joined the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art as an associate curator.
Time Limits: For the duo, Miami Art Week is certainly hectic, but
Momin has a system: “I make lists and stick to them. In earlier years,
I spent more time at the evening events than I do now. So I try to see
everything I want to see before I fit those in.” Kim says she doesn’t
stay at one place more than 30 minutes (unless there’s a dinner or
project she’s involved in), and she opts for traveling alone or with a
very small group “to get to venues quickly and efficiently.”
Back to the Future: Recollecting indelible moments from
the 2011 edition, Kim mentions an Art Public performance she
curated featuring an intoning procession—including artist Theaster
Gates and The Black Monks of Mississippi—striding from the Miami
Beach Convention Center to the Bass Museum of Art, and eventually
the beach, as numerous onlookers spontaneously followed. Kim
is working on Art Public again, promising work that has more “dynamism
in scale, approach, and typology, from sculpture to video to
performance in Collins Park.” She’s also keen on visiting NADA, as
well as private collections and museum shows.
Eau Yes, They Did: Momin’s 2012 plans include soaking in
the curatorial possibilities of a city as unique as Miami: “Back in the
summer of 2010, I met with [Ohwow cofounder] Al Moran, and he
told me about Flagler Memorial Island, which became the site for our
Basel exhibition The Island. We went to visit it on a boat and realized
it was too chockablock with other boats to ground, so we dove in
from afar, fully clothed, and swam to shore to explore the site—that
became what is still one of my favorite exhibitions of my career.”
Shamim M. Momin
and Christine Y.
Kim at the Chris
Burden Metropolis
in California.
The Museum Director: Mark Robbins, New York
When Mark Robbins came to Miami in 2000 to create a
series of billboards for the Miami Arts Project (he was
one of five artists), he immediately was taken by the
city’s chaotic and peculiar cultural mishmash. “It seemed like a new
frontier, but the speed at which the Miami art scene has developed is
truly incredible,” he says. This year, Robbins will be coming down
for the first time as the new executive director at the vaunted
International Center of Photography in New York.
Through the Lens: A compelling artist in h is own right,
Robbins also has had a productive 25-year institutional career—from
his role as the curator of architecture at the Wexner Center for the
Arts in Columbus, Ohio, to director of design at the National
Endowment for the Arts and dean of the School of Architecture at
Syracuse University. But photography has always been a salient part
of his aesthetic sensibility. “For me, the best photos can show us very
familiar things in the most unexpected ways, like Andreas Gursky’s
satellite images of the earth’s oceans,” he says.
Art Week Strategy: Robbins recognizes the challenge of
taking in so much material: “You need to pause and breathe. The
whole city is turned upside down, and everyone is thinking and talking
about the arts. But you should make a schedule and decide on
what terrain you really want to cover.” Robbins is especially looking
forward to Christine Y. Kim’s curation of the Art Public sector, the
new Absolut art bar on the beach, the Cisneros Fontanals Art
Foundation’s 10th-anniversary exhibition, photographer Andy
Freeberg’s photo portfolio in Art Basel Miami Beach magazine, and
Richard Tuttle leading the annual Art Basel Conversations series.
Enduring Memory: “I recall a birthday party at [former
Miami Art Museum Director] Terence Riley’s house one year,”
Robbins says. “There were all these fantastic people (Thelma
Golden, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas), with huge, glowing balloons
over the pool, and great caipirinhas and conversation. That’s what
I love about Miami Art Week—meeting new people, learning and
seeing new things.”
Mark Robbins at New
York’s International
Center of Photography
The Dealer: Marianne Boesky, New York
Growing up surrounded by art, Marianne Boesky always
imagined she’d open a gallery in Soho—not such a quixotic
notion since that’s exactly what she did in 1996. Now, more
than 15 years later, Boesky runs two of New York’s foremost contemporary
art spaces under her name (one on the Upper East Side, the
other in Chelsea), representing such notable work as the vigorous,
gutsy paintings of Barnaby Furnas, the fluid sculptures and mixed-media
installations of Diana Al-Hadid, and even the lesser-known,
non-film pieces by John Waters.
From the Art: In terms of what art she prefers, Boesky says,
“What I’m drawn to is ever-evolving. Presently, I’m really interested
in artists’ personal histories and narratives being woven into
abstract form.” She’ll be spotlighting Al-Hadid, along with
Anthony Pearson, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Kon Trubkovich, Hannah
van Bart, Jay Heikes, Andisheh Avini, and Donald Moffett at her
booth at Art Basel Miami Beach.
Traffic Jam: When it comes to navigating the Miami Art
Week madness, Boesky recommends cabbing it with a few companions.
“Last year, after the opening night previews, I headed out to
some events with two friends and a very accommodating taxi driver
who was willing to stay with us throughout the evening. At each stop,
we seemed to multiply, and by the last event, we had piled what felt
like a dozen people into that poor taxi. The stop at A-Rod’s house
was definitely a highlight.”
Bigger and Better: Boesky knows this edition may be busier
than ever, given how much the art world has grown: “The sheer
size and breadth of it—the number of artists, galleries, curators, and
collectors has exploded around the globe.” That means she’ll have
her hands full running her Basel booth. Still, she never misses a visit
to the Rubell Family Collection and the Margulies Collection at the
Warehouse: “Miami is home to an amazingly dedicated group of art
collectors, and all the while I love seeing so many people in such
good moods at once. Never underestimate the benefit of a little
sunshine.”
Marianne
Boesky on her
private terrace.
