Art Palm Beach

I'm back in NY after a few days in Florida attending Art Palm Beach. I spent two days winding my way through booths, chatting up dealers, and enjoying those balmy January evenings.

These niche satellite fairs are inevitably much more conservative than their New York/Miami/Basel counterparts, and less shocking to say the least. Palm Beach's scene is much... shinier. It's art that we want to own, live with, hang over our sofas. Rothko called this category of work 'mantle paintings' for that very reason. Yes, he meant it as an offensive critique, but there is a time and a place for art that we relate to on a aesthetically visceral level.

The art was good. It was solid, clean, and worthy. But as wonderful as it felt to sip coffee at 9am by a turquoise pool, I'll be ready for something a little less shiny come March.