While high-flying international art dealers and collectors descend on Miami Beach to wheel and deal during Art Basel, there are plenty of other wild and wonderful distractions at the international fair — from live tigers to human cannonballs — to keep casual fans amused.
We’re told Albert Trummer — famed for infuriating the New York Fire Department by setting a bar alight at his Chinatown haunt Apotheke — has a new medicinal-themed cocktail bar in Miami, Drogerie at the Albion Hotel. Consummate showman Trummer is bringing in a Siberian tiger for a Wednesday night party in conjunction with Gallery 212 and artist Kappa. He told us, “The tiger will be in a cage but will also have a handler who will keep it on a leash, and it will roam around its own private area of the bar. We’re borrowing him from the Miami zoo.”
Asked if he’s concerned the beast might eat some scrawny art lovers, Trummer said, not entirely reassuringly, “The tiger will be given regular breaks so the animal doesn’t become stressed.”
Meanwhile, rumors abound that following a party for hip London Gallery White Cube, a man will be shot from a cannon at the stroke of midnight. Buzz has also been burbling that Banksy — who made headlines during his New York street art “residency” in October — will strike the annual art jamboree or one of its many satellite fairs.
Spies said that over at Art Miami, which kicked off Tuesday, “Two guys wearing bandanas and masks were painting what looked like Banksy works before a VIP preview began.” But when the men were confronted, they were mum on where they were from, we’re told. One of Banksy’s legitimate New York works, which has been referred to as “Red Hook Balloon,” is going up for sale during Art Miami through gallerist Stephan Keszler.