Anthony K. Shriver and Peter Brant merged art and philanthropy to kick off Art Basel Miami Beach by auctioning works for Shriver’s charity Best Buddies.
In a Gatsby-esque scene, the auction was held by the palm-fringed pool of the waterfront Italian Renaissance-style estate of Miami moguls Ugo and Sara Columbo, and was graced by stars including Leo DiCaprio and Val Kilmer. Sotheby’s Gabriela Palmieri led the lively bidding for works donated by artists including Dan Colen, Patrick Demarchelier, Urs Fischer, Nate Lowman and Julian Schnabel. DiCaprio was seen bidding on dealer-turned-artist Tony Shafrazi’s piece “Egyptian Light,” which went to another bidder for $100,000. Colen’s “Fate,” donated by Gagosian Gallery, went for $110,000, while Lowman’s triangular painting of a slice of pizza reached $70,000.
Brant said, “This is a special event. Keith Haring himself [a college friend of Shriver who designed the Best Buddies logo] helped start all of this.”
Attendees included Alexander Acquavella, Alberto Mugrabi, Goga Ashkenazi, Romero Britto, Aby Rosen, Lady Liliana Cavendish, Vito Schnabel, Joseph Nahmad, Zani Gugelmann, Jon Neidich and John Varvatos. The auction raised nearly $1 million for Best Buddies, which aids people with developmental disabilities.
DiCaprio, meantime, has been trying his best to remain under the radar at Art Basel with mixed results. The cap-wearing star was seen later on Tuesday at Le Baron’s hip pop-up without model girlfriend Tony Garrn, and at Jeffrey Jah’s Café de la Musique party at Wall at the W Hotel with male friends till 4 a.m. On Wednesday, he was perusing a piece by Max Ernst at the art fair and touring a Galerie Gmurzynska space designed by Richard Meier with a group including billionaire Vladimir Doronin and a bodyguard.