MIA – Day 5: The Last Day

0900 – Up and early again and heading out to Miami Beach. Thank Mr. Garmin for GPS navigation, as Calle Ocho was closed for some sort of event and I just kept driving parallel to it until the GPS found a back way to Miami Beach. It’s very cold at the beach, in the low 30s and everyone is wearing coats and hats. At the door to the café where I stop for coffee and pastries, two old Cuban black men are discussing various Cuban dances and arguing which one is the best one. I listen to their discussion while I drink my coffee. Picking up the machine-gun fire speed of the dialects from Havana and Oriente as they argue back and forth.

1000 – I run into Dr. Fred Ognibene, who is here with the medical convention that is taking place alongside the art fair at the convention center. I leave a couple of passes for Dr. Fred at the “will call.”

1100 – The fair opens and it is pretty quiet, so I walk around and shoot an 11 minute walkthrough video of the art fair. It will be uploaded later.

1530 – A trustee from the Miami Art Museum drops by and we chat a long time about Sandra Ramos’ work. She wants to see more images of the new work that I just received back in DC while I was here. We also discuss some possible museum donations. She also asks me to send her a CD with my own images and CV.

1600 – I sell one of my pieces to a collector who gets very passionate about it.

1645 – Although attendance has not been spectacular, the last two days have been the busiest. Still, sales are slow to come by. My niece and mother come to visit. It is the first time that my mother has visited me in an art fair. She also participates in the Argentinean fingerprint art project.

1700 – A young collector falls in love with two of Michael Janis’ gorgeous scraffito pieces. She asks for a collectors’ discount on two. I give it to her, and then she says that she has to clear it with her husband. She comes back repeatedly and takes photos of the works which she then sends to her husband. He is recalcitrant. To make a long story short, after nearly two hours of texting and negotiating, she gets one of the pieces at a dealer’s discount (she’s a Ft. Lauderdale gallerist).

1900 – Fair ends and I am exhausted and now the real hard work of packing begins.

2400 – I am finished packing and cleaning the walls. The fair is over. Tomorrow the shipper comes by, picks up the work and ships it back North (except for all the Tim Tate’s works, which will be at Art Palm Beach next weekend with Projects Gallery.

0030 – I arrive at Little Havana; the power has been off in my cousin’s side of the street for hours and he has been waiting for me to let me into his walled compound, as the electric gates do not work.

0100 – I get to bed, a flashlight by my side; feh!