Art Basel Miami Beach: Portland Art meets Miami Vice You may as well call Miami "Portland South" this week, as dozens upon dozens of Stumptown artists, gallery owners, curators, collectors, and other sundry denizens have descended on South Beach for the annual Art Basel Miami Beach art fair. The event kicked off on Wednesday night (Dec. 5) with a preview of the mega-fair, followed by a blowout performance by Iggy Pop on the beach and after-party behind the Raleigh Hotel. Hosted by New York City gallerist Jeffrey Deitch, the shindig on the sand was the place to be on trendy Collins Avenue. Justin Oswald (p:ear supporter and former Gallery 500 director) and curator Marjorie Myers, along with painters Eugenia Pardue and Vanessa Calvert [see photo of Oswald, Pardue, and Calvert], cavorted with the nearly nude and blue-painted members of The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black [see photo of Oswald with blue woman]. Lead singer Kembra Pfaler rocked the house on a stage appointed with 5-foot-wide candy-colored volcanos spewing a fog of dry ice. Next morning (Thursday, Dec. 6), Art Basel officially kicked off for the hoi polloi. As always, the fair was an embarassment of aesthetic riches. Highlights included a take-no-prisoners 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat at New York City's Acquavella Gallery; an exuberant Sam Francis at Paris' Galerie Hopkins-Custot; and a ginormous Helen Frankenthaler for a cool $1.5 million at Knoedler (NYC), along with an uncharacteristically minimalist Hans Hofmann for a mere $300,000. A yellow, red, and black ...

VALPOLICELLA RIPASSO & AMARONE
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I've been a bit lax on the bLog-oMotives entries lately. It seems a busy social calendar, writing my new book Identity Crisis! (to be published by HOW Design Books in 2007), submitting articles for publication in Turkish and Russian design magazines, and preparing materials to be published in other books got in the way this past week. The social aspects were a great deal of fun and provided lots of design inspiration.

Last Tuesday night I attended a great cooking class at the culinary store In Good Taste in Portland's Pearl District. Holland + Knight, the law firm for which my partner is the business manager, had the cooking class "Hands-On Tropical Escape" as their summer associate activity. Chef Erika Carlson and her cohorts led us step-by-step through making Tamarind- Glazed Prawns on Won Ton Crisps; Watercress Salad with Oranges, Caramelized Coconut Spiced Macadamia Nuts and Chevre; Chicken Jerk and Halibut Pineapple Skewers on a bed of Caribbean Couscous with Dried Tropical Fruit and Flaked Coconut; and Banana-Rum Flambe with Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream. Along the way we sipped ...