Here’s What It’s Like on the Ground in Miami Beach, Where Zombie Art Basel Is Happening, Sort Of
By Nate Freeman
Walking to the Margulies Collection gave the surreal impression of Wynwood as Pompeii, a long-abandoned culture with a curious obsession with street art that was suddenly frozen in time.
Even more vertigo-inducing was the experience of taking in the gigantic Anselm Kiefer sculptures at the Margulies without another soul in sight. The gigantic funeral pyre of abandoned canvases always invoked death, but now they invoked the rising death count.
Suddenly, Martin Margulies himself arrived to jolt things back to reality.
“You really are quite courageous to come down here,” said Margulies, the mega-collector who has more than 4,000 works.
Asked how this Miami Art Week is different from most, Margulies smiled. “Last year, we had a record number of attendees, with 6,000 people coming, and this year I think we’re gonna hit seven,” he said.
He started counting on his fingers.
“We’ve had six people come in so far, and I think you’re the seventh,” he said.