MIA Day Five – Rainy Saturday

0800 – I’m awake and out of the Little Havana apartment bright and early as I want to do some visiting before heading out to Miami Beach. It is rainy and cold (in the 40s).

1200 – Fair opens and there is also another fair at the Convention Center which is now open; appears to be some sort of medical expo.

1400 – There seems to be a marked increase in traffic; maybe the bad weather is driving people indoors. I’ve shot a little video of the fair and dropped by to talk to LA gallerist Seth Carmichael. He represents DC-based artist Mark Jenkins (DC’s famous Tape Dude) and will give Mark a solo in his LA gallery in a couple of months. Seth has a well-known Jenkins sculpture in his booth.

1500 – The lady whose husband busted the Ann Plan piece on opening night comes back and buys a Sandra Ramos original collage. You reap what you sow.

1510 – The curator of the Latin American pavilion at the Shanghai Art Fair comes over and invites me to exhibit at the fair.

1605 - A local curator who has been walking around the fair invites me to leave some of my artwork with her for some of her curatorial projects. She is one of the curator's at MIA's "Next Generation" hall and so I agree to leave some drawings with her.

1630 – The woman who put the Tim Tate on hold a few days ago returns with her husband and another couple. They ask a million technical questions. She really wants the piece, but hubby is tough. He then wants to switch video cards between two separate sculptures and offers $5,000 for the piece. I say no. The wife still wants the piece. He then wants to see if he can work directly with Tate. I tell him that Tate can consider a commission. Wife still wants the piece that she wanted. He then mulls back about $5,000. I say no. He says he only wants the glass part and the Digiviewer and not the stand. I tell him that what he does with the piece once he owns it is his business, but that one can never tell what the future holds and that separating the pieces may harm the integrity of the work. I suggest that he can install the work so that only the glass part shows, and give him a couple of ideas on how to do this. He seems to like that aspect. He wants to come over to Washington and see what else Tate has. I tell him that he is welcome to do that, but that I have his latest work here and Tate is preparing for a museum show and doesn’t have that much more work available. Wife still wants the piece. They give me their contact info and promise to come back after they debate it. He mulls about $5,000 and I say no.

1645 – The director of the fair comes back and tells me that I have the best installation in the fair.

1730 – German collector comes by and is really interested in a Tate piece. As I am working with him, the 1630 couple comes back. I’m in the booth by myself and can only work one at a time. The German collector notices that the other couple when they say: “Let’s close the deal.” He tells me that he’ll be back and leaves.

1900 – 90 minutes later I am exhausted after working the most difficult sale in my life with the most difficult man in Boca Raton. They buy a Tim Tate and I believe that they will swap video cards and play their own videos in the sculpture once the piece gets delivered. It is an exhausting exercise which is fueled by a bad economy and the need to at least break even in this fair.

2100 - Saturday is over. Tomorrow is the last day. I head over to Little Havana; it's in the 30s in Miami Beach and raining.