Friday 7th December

Pulse and Swizz Beatz.

“Today I wore the Ann Taylor pajama suit, Fendi shades and slippers, Tenth Street hat, my Dior purse, and Bvlgari accessories.

In Miami, on South Beach, there’s a free trolley that takes you to every avenue – which does save you money if you don’t want to take a cab. So we tried to get the trolley but it was full so we decided to walk. We saw this family paddle-boarding and they said hi to us. The daughter has just started modeling, but the Mom has the most ridiculous body and she was 52! A little lifestyle anecdote for you there! Across the street, we saw the outfit called Pulse. We went in and there was a lot of different exhibitions on show and many of them in line with this year’s general theme at Art Basel: putting women in the spotlight. This show featured paintings, textile pieces, and cinematic experiences and really told the story of the artist’s lives. Quite a few of them really spoke to me. One was like a display of white underwear of which some were dirty. And I was like “oh, what is with this dirty underwear!” When I read the information though, it was meant to represent women who have suffered from rape; one in 5 women experience rape which is an awful statistic.”

“When we were walking around I suddenly noticed these huge canvases with lots of colorful features and I recognized some of the African styles in them. It turned out that the artist was there, her name is Bisa Butler and she looked gorgeous! I loved her hair, her braids, and her suit.” Bisa Butler is represented by the Claire Oliver Gallery in New York and she is a fiber artist. Her work showed some intricate fabric pieces that Ik really connected with. “Her work really spoke to me, at a distance her work looked like a painting which is how she started out, but close up you could see that each piece and form was a piece of colored fabric. Numerous fabrics are used to create texture: wool, batik, chiffon, and some traditional Ghanaian fabrics to incorporate her heritage. Her depiction of people in her work is striking, the facial expressions are captured expressively.” Bisa’s work is personal and she creates pieces with stories and people from her own life.

“After this, we took an Uber to the Sip and Paint Workshop by Swizz Beatz, where everyone had a canvas and some paints and aprons. I wanted to paint something that showed the happiness and the emotion of our time there. While I was there I spoke with Swizz Beatz, commended him on the event and he was really nice. You always read about him being so chilled in interviews and he was exactly that. There was another artist working there who would take a picture of you on his phone and then do a super quick, realistic sketch of you there and then. His name was Antonio Clark (see our Instagram stories on the Art Basel highlight to see them!)” Earlier this year Swizz Beatz gifted $5000 to 20 selected artists from around the world and gave 50 photographers from New York the opportunity to present a gallery show at the Bacardi Rum Room; he continues to be a huge supporter of all kinds of artists across America.

“Before getting some dinner we went to the beach where there was an exhibition on called This is Not America which was a juxtaposition of what Art Basel is assumed to be. It featured different works from different artists, one was called American Playground by artist, Derrick Adams who is popular in pop culture.

This night was the BACARDÍ party, which is always a big one, there are always A-List performers and they are some of the most fun nights. We saw Serena and Venus Williams, Alicia Keys, Busta Rhymes and Nicole Scherzinger there.”

Thanks to Swizz Beatz and his collaboration with BACARDÍ and The Dean Collection, the artists featured in the NO COMMISSION exhibitions do not pay to exhibit and retain 100% of proceeds from the sale of their work. BACARDÍ and The Dean Collection first launched NO COMMISSION during Miami Art Week in 2015 as a first-of-its-kind platform to give artists total control of their sales and make showcases accessible to everyone. NO COMMISSION is fueled by the belief that people should always do what they love, to do what moves them.

“As expected, it was a really cool party, ASAP Ferg came on stage and gave an amazing performance and I’m really into him, he came on after Meek Mill. Swizz Beatz brought Fat Joe on stage and did some of the favorite tunes including “Lean Back” and “All the Way Up”. This year, although it was super fun, wasn’t as good as last year because there were fewer artists. Last year featured Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes, DJ Khaled, Two Chains, ASAP Rocky and this year there was only really 3 or 4. The DJ was really good and played lots of old-school hip-hop.

My voice is almost gone, and my ears are ringing from the Bacardi party, Art Basel day 3 done good.”