Throw your hands up
One of the hottest tickets in town during Art Basel in Miami Beach week is always the White Cube party held in the swanky Soho Beach House, which draws the great and the good of the art world keen to let their hair down beside the Florida seaside. Earlier this week, the 1970s soul group Sister Sledge put the crowd in a spin with toe-tapping hits such as Lost in Music. But the real highlight of the evening was a duet featuring UK pop star Ellie Goulding and the charismatic musician Serpentwithfeet, which enraptured the arty crowd filled with high-profile art names such as ex-Sotheby’s supremo Amy Cappellazzo and Victoria Siddall, the board director at Frieze. (The pair even boogied together by the bar.) Another high point was seeing Goulding’s husband Caspar and his uncle, White Cube founder Jay Jopling, swaying, hands aloft, lost in the moment.
Snoop Dogg and mixed-media artist buddy Coldie let rip with their newly minted NFT Photo courtesy the artist
Snoop Dogg diggs NFTs
NFTs are everywhere in Miami this week but some are making more of a splash than others. Step forward the rapper Snoop Dogg and mixed-media artist Coldie, who are showing their freshly minted NFT—Decentral Eyes Dogg—at both The Gateway Space in downtown Miami and the Flager Street Art Festival. “Coldie is a thought leader and I am a big fan of what he is creating, so when he told me about his concept for this portrait I was immediately on board,” Mr Dogg says. “In fact, I had to get in the lab and give it that personal touch. You don’t just see it, you feel it and you hear it. You digg.” We digg Snoop, we digg.
Sweet dreams? Haring made the eye-popping crib for his friend’s children Photo: Eric Thayer
Haring’s hand makes cradle rock
A bright yellow crib and dresser on the stand of Jeffrey Deitch at Art Basel in Miami Beach is turning heads. And visitors are even more surprised when they find out that the eye-popping baby items were made by Keith Haring. Deitch explains that the legendary late street artist made the enamel-on-wood items for the children of his long-time friend, Kermit Oswald. The pair met as kids in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, and remained firm friends. “We [had given] each other works since we were children,” Oswald, an artist himself, told the Sotheby’s website. Deitch hopes the works will be bought for someone else’s children, bringing a happy ending to this Haring story.
Lefty Out There is hoping his Cheetos-based works won't bite the dust Photo courtesy the artist
The big cheese
Cheetos Puffs are an addictive snack loved the world over (especially by hungry students, video game addicts—and journalists on deadline). The street artist Lefty Out There loves them so much, though, he is turning the orange dust that covers the cheesy treats into works of art. This ground-breaking art event, organised by the Rock the Bells hip-hop company, is due to take place on 4 December on the SeaFair yacht docked at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. Lefty Out There promises to make seven “vibrant and dynamic pieces”, pointing out that “it was challenging; many works had to be redone multiple times in order to achieve the level of quality that I bring to all my studio works”. What’s next? Cheeto Kahlo?