More #PAM Commentary #2 - "All about art" in @miamiherald @miamiartmuseum #art

 I was sorry to read that Carlos and Rosa De La Cruz don’t like the Miami Art Museum’s name change any more than do Mary and Howard Frank. Sadly, I don’t remember seeing a meaningful contribution from the De la Cruzes on the capital campaign roster.

All MAM wants is to build an extraordinary museum and create a world-class collection. By a vast majority, the MAM board voted in support of Jorge Perez’s incredible act of generosity and vision in helping us build a public art museum in downtown Miami.

He has stepped up to provide a level of financial support many of us wish we could. By contributing art and dollars, he reminds us what this museum is all about and the opportunities that await our community when the new museum is complete.

Diane Grob, member,

MAM board of trustees, Miami

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/14/2546591/all-about-art.html#ixzz1gcIQVZNl

#PAM Makes it to @Bloomberg News! "Lauder Shows Up Miami Developer Museum Deal" - #art #miamiartmuseum

"Mademoiselle Pogany II" (1919) by Constantin Brancusi. The sculpture, made of veined marble on limestone and wood bases, is among the Modern works in the Ronald S. Lauder Collection. Source: Neue Galerie via Bloomberg

By Lance Esplund - Dec 14, 2011 1:38 PM ET

While a distracted art world picked over Art Basel Miami Beach, a real estate developer got the biggest bargain next door.

I mean Jorge M. Perez. For a mere $35 million gift in cash and art he got the Miami Art Museum to change its name to the Jorge M. Perez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County....

More #PAM Commentary - "We’re all losers" in @miamiherald #art @miamiartmuseum

Howard Frank neglected to mention that the Miami Art Museum is planned for a site that’s currently a waterfront public park. Using comparable sales data from the recent Genting land purchase, the city of Miami is providing MAM with a site worth well over $150 million. While the county is expected to provide $100 million, the true cost to the taxpayers will exceed $400 million because you must calculate the cost of debt service. Therefore, taxpayers are contributing well over $500 million to MAM even though it is scorned in the art world.

The taxpayers of Miami-Dade County are the losers at every step of this embarrassing venture. How many small local arts groups will be defunded to pay for MAM and its new grandiose building on prime waterfront land?

Peter Ehrlich, Miami


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/14/2546583/were-all-losers.html#ixzz1gcHisI6V

Just In Case You Were Out of Town...#ABMB #Art Basel

Below is a list of the top 21 links of recaps, articles, lists of events, etc, to relive the moments...and prepare for next year!

  1. Art | Basel | Miami Beach - Home
    www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/
    Art Basel Miami Beach is the most important art show in the United States, a cultural and social highlight for the Americas
  2. Is a Celebrity Invasion Turning Art Basel Miami Beach Into ... nymag.com/daily/entertainment/.../art-basel-diddy-will-smith.html Dec 5, 2011 – Over the past decade, the Art Basel Miami Beach extravaganza — the art fair and the hundreds of events around it — has made a name for ...
  3. www.artbasel.com - www.artbasel.com/ Art Basel | The International Art Show.
  4. Recap and List of Events 2011 Art Basel Miami Beach Fairs - Page 1 - Arts - Miami www.miaminewtimes.com/.../guide-to-2011-art-basel-miami-beach-f... Dec 1, 2011 – Some Art Baselites strive for 24/7 consciousness, relying on chemical aids to cram in every possible exhibit. Others limit themselves to the fresh ... 
  5.  Art Basel Miami Beach - Review - NYTimes.com www.nytimes.com/2011/.../arts/.../art-basel-miami-beach-review.html... Dec 2, 2011 – Art Basel Miami Beach: The fair includes the mixed-media “Vespa” by Mark Handforth, at MOCA North Miami. More Photos » ...
  6. Art Basel Miami in Pictures: See What Four Days of Debauchery ... - nymag.com/daily/fashion/2011/12/art-basel-miami-in-pictures.html Dec 6, 2011 – And what better to kick it off than a four-day art-fest in the sun? Ten years after its start, Art Basel Miami – which took place last week from ...
  7. Attending Art Basel Miami Beach - Trips | Travel + Leisure - www.travelandleisure.com/trips/attending-art-basel-miami-beach - The Best Tips for Attending Art Basel Miami Beach. From Attending Art Basel Miami Beach adventure travel to family travel, Travel + Leisure has ..
  8. Art Basel Miami Beach - Miami Beach, FL - www.yelp.com/biz/art-basel-miami-beach-miami-beach 28 Reviews of Art Basel Miami Beach "Sensory overload in the best visual way possible. It was my first time experiencing Art Basel Miami Beach. Immediate ...

9. Free Beverages! A Photographic Look Back at Art Basel Miami Beach - Vanity Fair - ‎Dec 13, 2011‎ - It might well  be renamed: “FBABMB: Free Beverages Art Basel Miami Beach,” as there was little shortage of art-free institutions  that gave parties, such as Dior (which got Anselm Reyle to design a purse), Pringle of Scotland (which engaged Liam  Gillick ...


10. Lauder Shows Up Miami Developer Museum Deal: Lance Esplund

  11. Art Basel 2011 - Miami, Florida

6.jpgPopMatters - ‎Dec 14, 2011 - For the last ten years, Miami has served as the warm-in-December outpost of Art Basel, the big art market where the premier galleries of the world gather to sell modern and contemporary art. ..

  12. Design Miami 2011 www.wallpaper.com - Dec 14, 2011 - There is nothing quite like the first week in December  in Miami, when the design, art and fashion crowd congregate en masse in the sunshine for Design Miami and Art  Basel Miami Beach. Topped off by a colourful spectrum of exhibitions and parties around ...

6_1.jpg

 13. Miami Beach Has Found Its Niche - The genesis of this sea change can be attributed in part to Art Basel Miami  Beach. Since Basel first erupted on the scene a decade ago, momentum has been mounting and Miami Beach's visual  and performing arts scene has morphed into so much more than a .... 

  14. Art Basel - Miami Herald www.miamiherald.comEntertainmentVisual ArtsArt Basel Nov 26, 2011 – Art  Basel Miami Beach opens its 10th fair to a city far more culturally aware than it was a decade ago. The Swiss-run fair  amped up the volume ...

  15. Art Basel Miami Beach Starts Tomorrow | Travel News from Fodor's ...www.fodors.com/news/story_4979.html  - Nov 30, 2011 – The gallery show that began as a blip on the screen of collectors and became a major international  event within a decade brings of-the-moment ...

  16. Art Basel Miami | VISIT FLORIDA Dining, Entertainment & Luxury 

www.visitflorida.com/insiders/dining...and.../6031-art-basel-miami - Nov 29, 2011 – If you're a fan of art and luxury,  then Miami Beach is the place to be this weekend for th..

  17. Art Basel Miami 2011: The Best Under-The-Radar Events of ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/.../art-basel-miami-2011-events-wednesday...
Nov 30, 2011 – Art Basel Miami Beach is the more celebrity-obsessed, nightlife-centric sibling to the original Swiss  contemporary art fair. And while the main art ...

  18. Art Basel Miami Beach - Review - NYTimes.com - www.nytimes.com/2011/.../arts/.../art-basel-miami-beach- review.html... Dec 2, 2011 – Art Basel Miami Beach: The fair includes the mixed-media “Vespa” by Mark Handforth,  at MOCA North Miami. More Photos » ...

  19. Flavorwire » The Best of Art Basel Miami Beach - flavorwire.com/237979/the-best-of-art-basel-miami- beach Dec  5, 2011 – Art Basel Miami Beach, the most fabulous art fair in the world, marked its 10th anniversary over the past  few days with one of its best ...

  20. Art Basel Miami Beach - www.hotspotsmagazine.com/.../2012-art-basel-miami-beach.html
  Dec 1, 2011 – From December 1 through 4, Miami Beach, will host the 10th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, the  most prestigious art show in the Americas.

  21. Art Basel Miami Beach 2011 - miami.about.com/od/artsandentertainment/a/artbasel.htm - Each year, the cities of Miami Beach, Florida and Basel, Switzerland join forces to present one of the world's premier international art shows. Art Basel takes ...

Any more thoughts on the new #PAM - "Don’t like the name of new art museum? Move on" - by Michael Putney in @miamiherald #art #bassmuseum

Welcome to the intersection of art, ego, philanthropy and jealousy. It’s where you’ll find the Jorge M. Perez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County.

My initial reaction to renaming the Miami Art Museum for Jorge Perez was negative. Why should our stunning new $225 million civic art museum — with $103 million coming from taxpayers — be named for any individual, no matter how generous his donation? The decision by MAM’s board of trustees to change the name struck me as weak-kneed and wrong-headed. And the requirement by Perez to do so as arrogant and self-aggrandizing. I said as much on TV.

But I’ve reconsidered. After speaking to Perez and looking at how other arts institutions are funded here and across the country, I’ve concluded that Perez should be thanked, not condemned for his $35 million gift to MAM. If the price is for the museum to bear his name, hang his art and be his legacy, well, why not? He’s certainly not the first South Florida art patron to make a deal like this. The Arsht Center? Taxpayers kicked in about $440 million toward the PAC and Adrienne Arsht got her name on it for $30 million, supplanting Carnival Cruise Lines, which had given $20 million.

The new Frost Museum of Science, to be built across from the Perez Art Museum, honors Pat and Phil Frost for their $35 million contribution. There appears to be a $35 million threshold here for naming rights, and Perez has met it, although he’s doing it on the installment plan — $20 million over 10 years and his $15 million art collection. Still, it all adds up to the requisite magic number. You can’t really change the rules in the middle of the game, which is what his critics seem to want.

Like those critics, there’s part of me that rebels against having Miami’s main civic art museum named for anyone except those who mainly paid for it. But we can’t really call it the Taxpayers’ Art Museum of Miami-Dade, can we? Many years ago when the Metropolitan in New York or the Art Institute of Chicago or the Louvre in Paris or Prado in Madrid were created they were paid for by the cities that built them because they were tangible symbols of culture and achievement. Wealthy art lovers contributed money and works of art, but didn’t expect civic museums to carry their names. A wing, a gallery, a plaza, yes. The entire museum, no.

But times have changed. Museums along with other cultural, academic, medical and academic institutions are now more often than not paid for by a major donor who gets his or her name on the edifice. Locally, think of the Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami ($100 million from the Lennar founder Leonard Miller and family); The Frost Art Museum at Florida International University (Pat and Phil Frost once again), the Lowe Art Museum at UM and the Bass Museum on Miami Beach. Joe Robbie Stadium. There are, of course, exceptions. Lin and the late Ted Arison started and continue to sustain the New World Symphony.

Jorge Perez tells me some of the furor over the MAM renaming may have to do with his Hispanic heritage. “You know, the name Perez is new to Miami’s philanthropic society,” he said. “I think we need names of Latin descent to go hand in hand with great Anglo and Jewish names that have shown generosity in the past.”

It’s possible there could be an anti-Cuban tinge to the criticism, although I don’t see it. Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz, prominent art collectors who’ve been outspoken about the MAM name change, are proudly Cuban American. I suspect some part of the criticism is because of Perez’s role as a major real-estate developer who got very rich by helping overheat the housing market . But as he points out, when it cooled down he lost three-quarters of his wealth. And still ponied up $20 million in cash and art worth $15 million. “That’s art I look at every day,” he says, “art that I have an emotional attachment to.”

He’ll be able to see it, as will we, at the Jorge M. Perez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County. Got a problem with that? I did at first, but I’m OK with it now.

"Art World Star Doesn't Change His Spots - Hirst’s Spot Paintings Will Fill All 11 Gagosians" in @nytimes #art #contemporaryart #damienhurst

Damien Hirst with one of his spot paintings. He is reviving this earlier genre with a bang.

By CAROL VOGEL
Published: December 13, 2011

LONDON — Just as the financial markets were heading for disaster in 2008, the British artist Damien Hirst snubbed his dealers and persuaded Sotheby’s here to sell 223 primarily new artworks. There were dead animals — sharks, zebras, piglets and even a calf — floating in giant glass tanks of formaldehyde; cabinets filled with diamonds; and cigarette butts. And paintings galore: spin paintings, spot paintings, paintings with butterflies pinned under glass...

Press could be a bit more weighty but Miami is in @NYTimes still...A week after Art Basel!!! "Riding, Artfully, Into the Sunset" - By @GuyTrebay @KimKardashian @bassmuseum

“IT was an honest gesture at the moment Kris gave it to me, so I feel the ring is mine,” said Kim Kardashian, or anyway Metisha Larocca, who happened at that particular moment to be channeling the tabloid staple at an art party staged by MoMA P.S. 1 in the waning hours of Art Basel Miami Beach, the art world’s version of a reality television show....

Difficult Situation... "Keep it the ‘Miami Art Museum’" - in @miamiherald @MiamiArtMuseum #art #jorgeperez @bassmuseum

Jorge Pérez has made what appears to be a generous gift to the Miami Art Museum, an act that has been billed as one of the most generous in the city’s philanthropic history. In return, the museum sold him its name. Before we break out the Champagne, let’s do the math on this gift.

The headline gift totals $35 million: $20 million in cash and $15 million in art from his collection. Let’s start with the cash, because that’s what the museum needs immediately to fund construction of its new building. When the project began in 2005, Mr. Pérez made a $5 million pledge, which remains part of the $10 million cash gift he proposes to pay by 2012. He also proposes to pay another $10 million in 2022, 10 years from now, so let’s say the present value is $5 million. That’s a cash total of $15 million. This compares to Miami-Dade giving $100 million of its citizens’ money and the city giving land worth $50 million for a total of $150 million. Mr. Pérez’ gift amounts to 10 percent of Miami’s gift and he gets the name of the museum. And this doesn’t consider the risk of a substantial loss of funding from existing and future donors. Something doesn’t compute.

The $15 million worth of art was added to bring the headline gift to a level commensurate with the Frosts’ and Adrienne Arsht’s recent cash gifts. Until now, MAM’s capital campaign policy was “cash only.” Any professional fund raiser will tell you that a gift of art (which the museum can’t sell for ethical reasons) doesn’t pay for construction costs and doesn’t count towards naming rights.

When the MAM board approved the renaming there was no discussion of the longterm implications of the name change. No one mentioned that the American Association of Museum Directors, which accredits MAM, cannot find a single instance of a civic art museum selling its name to a donor, for any amount of money.

MAM’s leadership and Mr. Pérez have turned a deaf ear to the outpouring of negative responses to the name change, ignoring the constituency they ostensibly serve. The citizens of this great community paid for the museum and it should bear their name. How about a wing, Mr. Pérez? That would compute.

Howard S. Frank, Miami

head of PAC comes out against gambling!

Anti-casino advocates gathered in Miami’s artiest neighborhood Saturday morning and warned that bringing mega-casinos to South Florida threatens to reverse the city’s cultural progress.

“Downtown is finally becoming what we want downtown to be,’’ former Miami-Dade commissioner Katy Sorenson told a crowd of about 120 people at the Light Box Theater, a performance space in Wynwood. “We’ve got some unique, funky Miami kind of things going on. Why do we want to these huge mega-resorts to come in?”

The speakers at the Urban Environment League forum covered the full range of anti-casino arguments, from worries over gambling addictions to traffic woes if Florida approves a bill designed to bring three $2 billion casino resorts to South Florida. But the setting — the Goldman Warehouse, home to art non-profits and owned by Tony Goldman, the developer behind Wynwood’s emergence as a gallery district — highlighted the role the arts are playing in the debate.

In May, Genting Group announced its $236 million purchase of The Miami Herald site at an Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center conference room. The chairman of the center’s board, Mike Eidson, joined executives of the Malaysian casino company at that first press conference, and later talked about the center running a 700-seat theater for Genting.

But after the friendly debut, Eidson and others in the Arsht leadership backed off, voicing worries about Genting’s plan to build the world’s largest casino across the street. In an interview Saturday, Eidson, a prominent lawyer, spoke in the harshest terms yet on the Genting resort’s potential impact on the county-owned Arsht center as a cultural hub for downtown.

“It’s too big. It overwhelms the entire arts concept we had there,’’ Eidson said. “We could never come up with a plan that could accommodate that.”

He said the center’s initial willingness to work with its new neighbor in developing the neighborhood turned to “grave” concerns at a subsequent lavish dinner on an Arsht stage when Genting executives outlined just how big the resort would be.

“It makes the Arsht Center look insignificant,’’ he said. “All that money we put into that facility, and you wouldn’t even notice it anymore.”

Genting executives were not available for interviews Saturday. But in past statements, the company has argued its 30-acre Resorts World Miami will elevate the city as a global destination by bringing stunning architecture and a new wave of Asian tourists.

It also argues the 5,200-room resort would bolster the Arsht center by delivering a steady stream of guests to the tax-funded facility and paying for permanent shows on slow nights.

Genting’s plan has galvanized many in Miami’s growing arts scene. Norman Braman, one of the city’s wealthiest art collectors, is a leader in the anti-casino movement. Jorge Perez, whose $35 million gift would put his name on the Miami Art Museum’s new home across I-395 from the Genting site, has criticized the plan. Art Basel, the Swiss-based arts show that comes to Miami Beach in December, has privately warned it might seek a different winter home if the casino resorts move in, according to city officials.