Time to Party...

The mood at Art Basel Miami Beach mellowed out by 3 o'clock in the afternoon, before an infusion of new collectors, advisers and other folks stopped in for the "Vernissage." By 3, though, a lot had had already sold, including the Evan Penny sculpture of a woman talking and a couple of Malcolm Morleys, all at Sperone Westwater. "A lot was already sold. There's not a lot to buy," a trustee of SculptureCenter, Arline Feinberg, whose husband, Norman, is the chairman of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, said. The director of the Brooklyn Museum, Arnold Lehman, arrived with his wife, Pamela, and friends Richard and Jennie DeScherer, at around 4 o'clock, with their first stop Deitch Projects (they'd all come directly from the Pulse fair). Nearby society photographer Patrick McMullan was meeting the head of publicity for the fair, Sara FitzMaurice, who was going to help him track down notables. My two "celebrity" sightings of the afternoon were Lance Armstrong at White Cube and Takashi Murakami at Blum & Poe, his L.A. gallery. Tonight Marlborough Gallery is hosting a dinner; the Whitney Museum of Art is toasting artists that have been included in its Biennials; Pucci is having a posh 60th anniversary dinner (Angela Westwater of Sperone Westwater will be attending with her daughter, who is an editor at Harpers Bazaar), and the Containers on the beach open. And so much more...