UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

Biology professor creates award-winning art with scientist's eye

A UM professor's background in science is playing out in the acrylics he paints at home. He already has won several awards.

Collecting 101: Here are some tips on how you can get started

If you're looking for advice on starting a contemporary art collection, don't approach Peter Menéndez. ''If I hear one more person ask me what I bought recently, I'm going to pull out a gun and shoot them,'' he jokes. 'All they want is for me to say `This is going to be worth X in the future.' You have to learn what you're getting into first. Go out to the galleries. Go out to the museums. Talk to the dealers without worrying about buying anything.''

Quick picks for Sunday

CRITIC'S PICK Fortunate Objects: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection is a treasure trove of contemporary art, and hands-down, the best new exhibit in town. From Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's moving belt mobile, Standards and Double Standards, to the stacked Forever Bicycles by Ai Weiwei, this is a true VIP show, and fortunately for Miami, here through February. Open 9-noon today; regular hours 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. 1018 N. Miami Ave., Miami.

Family's collection just full of surprises

Oliver Wechsler may not be old enough to have extensively studied art history -- or even to have hit puberty. But he knows a striking sculpture when he sees one.

As his art collection grows, so too does the scope of his theme

Call him the accidental collector. When the Cuban-born Peter Menéndez arrived in New York City fresh from his 1963 graduation from Miami Beach Senior High, he quickly embraced the downtown art world.

South Beach collector stays in touch with the feminine side

Alberto Chehebar loves the ladies. Their images -- barely clothed, provocatively standing on their heads or trussed up in ropes -- fill his South Beach condo. Before you've even gotten past his front door, you're greeted by a Richard Kern photograph of a topless young woman, legs splayed in the air, yet still composed enough to fix the viewer with a sultry come-hither stare.

ART BASEL

Wynwood buzzing during Basel

Art Basel has drawn crowds to the Wynwood arts district, an area bustling with galleries -- but lacking in eateries.

ART BASEL

If the bubble has burst, no one's told art buyers

What subprime mortgage crisis? Wealthy Americans continue buying pricey art, but galleries wonder when the economic downturn will catch up to their elite industry.

Visionaire party lives up to the hype

Despite the generous use of the word ''hottest'' to describe most, if not all, Art Basel parties, the Visionaire party at The Florida Room on Friday night was definitely deserving of the adjective in more ways than one.

Open-mike commentary turns to [bleep]

It was an open mike and a free-for-all for about 50 people at Art Positions on the beachfront at Collins Park early Saturday evening. During Hear it Here, a performance conceived by Los Angeles-based artist Shana Lutker, two men stood on stage, headphones covering their ears and their vision limited by bug-eyed sunglasses. Audience members approached microphones near the stage, and spoke, well, whatever they pleased. The men on stage repeated what they heard as words were transmitted to their ears...

ART BASEL NOTEBOOK

No apologies from 'Last Supper' artist

Controversial New York artist Renee Cox is rocking the Art Basel house. The Jamaican-born 47-year-old is probably best known for the 2001 hubbub that surrounded Yo Mama's Last Supper, a photographic reimagining of the Da Vinci classic that features a nude Cox surrounded by black apostles. When it appeared in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, then mayor Rudy Giuliani called it ''anti-Catholic,'' and created an uproar.

New MAM inspires new 'Sleepwalkers' project

Artists and architects share a creative sensibility when pursuing their crafts, but that's probably where the similarities end. Swiss architect Jacques Herzog and Los Angeles-based artist Doug Aitken shared their thoughts on this topic Friday night during the Art Loves Architecture conversation moderated by Terry Riley, director of the Miami Art Museum.

MAM ball returns to classic form

After a long live auction last year that left patrons yawning, the Miami Art Museum reverted to classic form -- cocktails, dinner and lots of dancing -- for its Power of Ten ball Saturday, marking a decade since the art institution refashioned itself as a collecting museum.

Quick picks for Saturday

CRITIC'S PICK In the photographs of Julia Fullerton-Batten at the Galerie Caprice Horn from Berlin at photo Miami, woman is larger than life, a giant walking over the highways, strewn across the lawn of a neighborhood like an exhausted Alice. She rolls her luggage over an airplane, towers over a McDonald's, but alas, still gets gum stuck to her shoes! Brilliant.

A feast of art at Sagamore brunch

Crowds at South Beach's Sagamore Hotel sipped champagne and cappuccinos Saturday morning and feasted on art, art and more art. Images by photographer Spencer Tunick, who got more than 500 volunteers naked for a photo shoot at the hotel in October, lined the walls in the lobby. A video installation by Brooklyn artist Ken Solomon, who coaxed dozens of folks who attended last year's Basel brunch at the hotel (always one of the hottest tickets of the week) to pose wearing an Afro wig, played in the bar...

Art Loves Film -- and Lou Reed

In 1973, singer Lou Reed released a dark concept album called Berlin, about lost loves, drug addiction, domestic violence and the ugly underbelly of glam-rock life.

LISA TISHMAN

Collages reconstruct rooms

A Davie homemaker and artist creates surreal collages from magazine and newspaper clippings.

ART BASEL | SATELLITE ART FAIRS

Fed by Basel, independent fairs gain fresh fans

Art fairs thriving on the popularity of Basel are doing a brisk business showcasing the work of newer artists.

ART BASEL | HIGH SCHOOLS

Galleries shine spotlight on student artists

SOME LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WILL EXPERIENCE THE THRILL OF HAVING THEIR ART DISPLAYED IN GALLERIES AS THOUSANDS OF ART BASEL FANS DESCEND ON SOUTH FLORIDA

DANIEL ARSHAM

Arsham hopes newsprint piece brings Basel to you

Miami artist Daniel Arsham followed up his much-publicized collaboration with Merce Cunningham by exploring printed material as art medium.

Hip-hop mogul eats under `Yo Mama's Last Supper'

Controversial New York artist Renee Cox is rocking the Art Basel house. The Jamaican-born 47-year-old is probably best known for the 2001 hubbub that surrounded Yo Mama's Last Supper, a photographic reimagining of the Da Vinci classic that features a nude Cox surrounded by black apostles.

Crime-fighting as art

You never know who you'll bump into during Art Basel. For example: Thor, the crime-fighting thunder god. He was picking up litter on the way to Hall D of the Miami Beach Convention Center on Thursday afternoon, before an unidentified villain wrapped him in rope and took the costumed super-hero captive. It was all the work of a Boston-based street performance act called The Super Heroes Project, which seeks to humble self-absorbed artists with comic-book analogies.

Good fortune at CIFO brunch

There were no fortune cookies, but plenty of exquisite brunch fare, artists with star power, international VIPs, and art spaces glowing with ''fortunate objects'' at Friday's brunch to celebrate the new exhibit at CIFO in downtown Miami.

VELVET UNDERGROUND

People-watching can be artful at Basel

Not all Art Basel events are created equal, and that goes for the invitees as well. Don't fret if you're not a billionaire collector or artist. Some events and parties are open to those who participate in the inexpensive art of people watching. Among them is Gen Art's Vanguard Exhibition and Party from 8 p.m.-midnight Friday at the Palm Court, 309 23rd St., Miami Beach. With works from more than 25 cutting-edge urban contemporary and pop surrealism artists, the party celebrates the Francesco LoCastro-curated...

ART BASEL NOTEBOOK

First, bacon and eggs, then on to art

Domino magazine and Miami's own Jennifer Rubell, one of the mag's contributing food editors, hosted the first meal of the morning for their 5,000 closest friends.

Virtual reality for Basel, Design Miami

Those who can't attend Art Basel Miami Beach or who want more details about art works displayed there will be able to take a virtual tour after the show.

Jimmy Choo, art blend in bags

Staff at the front door of the Raleigh Hotel on South Beach herded chic crowds going to three different Art Basel parties Friday night. In the penthouse, an art exhibit sponsored by Scion. In the tropical ''Oasis'' out back by the pool, a cocktail gathering celebrating contemporary Russian art. In the ballroom, a dinner hosted by Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon to preview two new clutches that will be available for sale in January.

Get your avatar on at Art Positions

The sign outside one of the units in Art Basel's Container Village at Collins Park appears to advertise real estate deals. Make that unreal estate.

Quick picks for Friday

CRITIC'S PICK Jorge Pardo's architectural work is tough to display in a museum, but the notion of home is elegantly examined in the large photomurals and sculptures in Jorge Pardo: House, his solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami.

Bubbles and balloons

Art Basel Miami Beach has become such a high-profile happening that ever-more luxury purveyors have jumped on the artwagon. Krug, the boutique champagne house whose Grande Cuvee retails around $200 per bottle, used Art Basel as a launch pad for its year of hot-air balloon experiences, tied to the 225th anniversary of the first balloon flight.

Aphorisms headline at the Wolfsonian

Austrian-born graphic artist Stefan Sagmeister spent hours putting together his piece at The Wolfsonian-FIU in preparation for Friday night's party of more than 200 museum friends and VIPs: 2,000 martini glasses full of pink cocktails that were part of the latest installation for his Things I have Learned in My Life, So Far series. The glasses, stacked three levels high on a 35-foot long table, spelled out the message: ''Low Expectations,'' which continued on each cocktail's mixer stick: ``Are a...

Emerging artists selling better at Basel

While some galleries specializing in modern masters saw softer first-day sales, some with newer artists reported enthusiastic results.

Fair's tentacles spread north to Ft. Lauderdale

Not to be outdone by the tidal wave of art and attending celebration 30 miles to the south, American Friends of the Louvre threw a soiree Thursday night at the St. Regis on Fort Lauderdale beach. The American Friends -- with a distinctly French sensibility -- gathered to fete Geometrie Amoreuse, an installation by artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, whose whimsical glass-bead cupolas grace the entrance to the Paris Metro stop at Palais Royal and the Louvre.

In celebration of Chinese art

The chauffeured Maybachs streamed into the Mandarin Oriental Thursday night for a party celebrating contemporary Asian art. In the bayfront lobby sipping lychee martinis: Some of the world's top collectors in town for Basel. On the walls on a couple of the hotel's floors: works by some of the hottest artists from China, Japan and Korea on preview by Sotheby's, which will make the pieces available at its spring auction in New York.

ART BASEL

Some complain of Art Basel's high prices

Art Basel Miami Beach opens with freshest art in years – but some say an inflated art market and the devalued dollar slowed sales

ADLER GUERRIER

Artist's quest: `Capture relationship of places to people'

Adler Guerrier's art reflects urban life and social struggles.

These quilts uncover imagination

Wynwood also offers opportunities to see -- and sometimes meet -- lesser-known artists. Among them is Mike Cloud, a 32-year-old artist with an MFA from Yale whose work is shown in New York by gallerist Max Protetch. Protetch likes the work so well that he's put on a one-man show of Cloud's work in a Wynwood warehouse. Cloud has spent most of the last month in that warehouse, creating ''quilts'' that combine clothing sewn onto canvas, stretched onto wood and painted.

Tipping allowed in this hairy booth

This year at Art Basel, you can get your hair styled while you buy art at the Miami Beach Convention Center. At Herald St, gallery in the Art SuperNova section of the fair, the three-person show included finely detailed pen-and-paper drawings by Cary Kwok -- also a hair stylist. To mark this, one of his first art showings, the gallery space was designed with a salon look in mind, with works by Kwok, Djordje Ozbot and Donald Urquhart on the walls, and a stylist's chair in the center. Showgoers can...

Sculpture Park opens in revitalized Wynwood

A bright December sun glinted off five giant brushed stainless steel sculptures at the new Wynwood Sculpture Park, which opened Thursday in an empty, formerly garbage-filled lot at 2229 NW Second Ave. Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and other city and art world players turned out for the croissants-and-coffee event.

Food is art when Rubells do breakfast

domino magazine and Miami's own Jennifer Rubell, one of the mag's contributing food editors, hosted the first meal of the morning for their 5,000 closest friends.

High-end jewelers ride Basel's coattails

If the past is any guide, shopping action happens outside the art fairs as well. ''The world-class jewelers understand who's in town,'' said Cheryl Stephenson, marketing director at the Bal Harbour Shops, 'and they fly in their most exquisite one-of-a-kind pieces just for Art Basel week. If you go to Bal Harbour and look in the windows of the jewelers, you're gong to see items that no one has seen before that they're hoping to sell to this market. Based on past years' experience, they do.''

Quirky CasaLin is all local

One of the most enjoyable moments of the fair this year and last came at CasaLin, an outdoor exhibition space around a private home. The exhibition is arranged by local collector Lin Lougheed and this year, was curated by local artist Mette Tommerup.

Art loves sex!

When it comes to sex, Art Basel is always X-rated. But this year, artists and dealers really pushed the limits. Among the subjects: Animal sex (a slow-moving, two-minute DVD of a woman with swan titled That White Rush), sexual toys in the form of chocolate Santas holding an enhancement device I am not allowed to describe in a family newspaper or website. There's also a video of a blond man wearing nothing but a fur hat and black boots writhing in the snow, and perhaps the most creative rendering...

ART BASEL NOTEBOOK

Breakfast served with music performance

Musical performance art was served with breakfast Wednesday at the Cisneros Fontanals Collection with Descarga, a collaborative Fluxus performance by Robert Chambers and Gustavo Matamoros.

Jewel of the Fair

One of Thursday's hot tickets: Dinner at the red-lit Cartier Dome at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens. Sipping Cartier champagne and munching on appetizers by celebrity chef David Bouley, whose South Beach restaurant closed its doors this fall: 135 guests as they viewed the collection of one-of a kind diamonds, emeralds and amethysts.

Indie fairs full of surprises

Fifty-seven galleries exhibited contemporary photography at Photo Miami in a 40,000 square-foot tent in Wynwood. ''It's hard to gauge sales, but we had some folks from the Guggenheim Museum and Santa Barbara Museum of Art come through earlier,'' said Tim Fleming, director of the 2-year-old fair that's gained about 15 galleries since its debut. On Thursday afternoon, the second day of fair, there were just a few red dots on the walls, indicating sold pieces. ''There's no rush. There's plenty of time...

Indpendent Art Fairs

MIAMI BEACH Aqua Miami Beach, Aqua Hotel, 1530 Collins Ave., www.aquartmiami.com: 44 dealers with a focus on young dealers. One-third of the galleries from the West Coast.

Thousands pack Design District for Art Loves Design

and JANE WOOLDRIDGE Sustainability, good works, fast cars, internationalism, the vibrance of youth, celebrity, and good champagne came together Thursday night in the Design District for the Design Miami VIP vernissage and opening of Art Loves Design.

Quick picks for Thursday

CRITIC'S PICK Yard Arm, a large blackboard drawing by Tacita Dean, at Marian Goodman Gallery in the Miami Beach Convention Center. In the Basel dazzle, this black and white quietly manages to convey action and emotion of men in a storm in a display of masterful technique.

Pucci prints at the fair -- and on the party scene

It's the 60th anniversary of Emilio Pucci's first collection, and the late designer's daughter Laudomia has returned this week to the country that rushed to embrace her father's raucous jersey prints.

Development worth writing about

The Aqua development on Miami Beach is a testament to the idea that if you build it stylishly, they will not only come -- they'll publish a book about it.

First Look kicks off Basel madness

First Look -- the official opening for Art Basel that only very very important people are invited to attend -- got underway early Wednesday afternoon, kicking off the fair that is supposed to run from Thursday through Sunday, but really began as early as last Friday.

MAM's Riley launches book

It has been 10 years since Miami Art Museum Director Terry Riley last practiced architecture with the firm he and John Keenan founded 20 years ago. But the passion for design has never left Riley's system.

ART BASEL SETS UP HOUSE

Art, street culture flow in 'Concrete Waves'

From tony galleries to street culture of 'Concrete Waves,' artwork flows

ART ON NEWSPRINT CONTEST

FriendsWithYou brings childlike joy to art

The FriendsWithYou artist pairing brings childlike joy to art meant for grown-ups.

New Heritage museum chronicles Haitian experience

In a tiny space in the Design District, the photos hanging on the walls tell the story of Haiti. Visitors mingle, listen to a troubadour band and absorb the exhibit by Haitian artist Marc Arthur Jean-Louis at the newly minted Haitian Heritage Museum. Founders Eveline Pierre and Serge Rodrigue say the cultural institution will house a permanent collection of art, documents and artifacts chronicling the Haitian Diaspora experience. The opening exhibit called Dim Saw We -- vibrant, telling scenes from...

The heady mix of art, ads -- and alcohol

In creating his swanky modern art gallery, Isaiah Orlen has the tricky task this week of deciding which pieces pair best with Jagermeister.

MAM shops at Basel, too

The Miami Art Museum, in the midst of building a new, $220 million home in Bicentennial Park, also expects to bring home some art from the fair.

ART BASEL NOTEBOOK

Art Basel Notebook

Art collectors and enthusiasts have strapped on their running shoes and started chugging Red Bull as the non-stop Art Basel festivities kicked into high gear Tuesday. Though the namesake fair -- Art Basel Miami Beach -- doesn't officially open until Wednesday, private celebrity dinners, news conferences and VIP openings crammed the schedule.