Art Basel in Miami Beach isn’t what is used to be. It used to be a nice little four-day excursion to South Beach during an off-season, pre-holiday week in the city. Schedule used to be fairly straightforward: beach or pool in the morning, strolls through the fairs in the afternoon, some quiet dinner or cocktail in the evening. Elder collectors used to adore this itinerary. This year’s Basel in Miami has established itself as marketing Godzilla that’s now more reminiscent of LA Grammy gifting suites or New York Fashion Week. Is that a good thing? It might be if you love open bars, 2 AM after-after parties, aggressive hotel doors and cameos by Diddy and his security entourage. This time around, it seemed like everyone was either planning something at Basel, hosting something at Basel, or attending at least 4 or 5 events a night for friends who’re hosting or planning something. This year’s random event coterie encompassed a Bing art opening for some Beverly Hills 90210 actress, a Russell Simmons hosted brunch, a Tiffany’s Dinner starring Ivana Trump. Then we had fashion pop up-shops (not all art related), hotel marketing ploys, alcohol initiatives, and that’s just the tip of the party hell iceberg. No event (good or bad) was seemingly off-limits to the dozens of hungry crashers or curious tourists from Minneapolis. New York crasher Shaggy had a wonderful week in Miami. Every major hotel was flocked with events (with W or SoHo Beach house hosting up to 5 a night) and with crazies who were dreaming to take a picture with Nicky Hilton. In short, this wasn’t your 2005 Basel with nightly dinners at Casa Tua and a nice little V Magazine party after. Basel in Miami is now a monster that was credited by many to revitalizing the relevance of the South Beach’s art and fashion scene. However this year’s scary giant seemed very destructive and very vodka thirsty.

If you noticed, there were more notable fashion folks lurking around open bars of Art Basel Miami Beach than big artists. Still, there were some highlights. Brits Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin both made rare pilgrimage to South Beach. German stars Anselm Reyle and Josephine Meckseper both hosted bashes for Dior. Julian Schnabel quietly made rounds, and Richard Phillips presided over a party for his Exhibition A cocktail. Here are some of other notable art cameos. [caption id="attachment_13367" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="Sean "Diddy" Combs, Damien Hirst (Photo: BFAnyc.com)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_13435" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="Olaf Breuning (Photo: BFAnyc.com)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_13368" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="Kehinde Wiley (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_13371" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="Josephine Meckseper, Richard Phillips (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_13408" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="Laure Heriard Dubreuil, Aaron Young (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_13372" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="Ingrid Sischy, Sandra Brant, Tracey Emin (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_13380" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="China Chow, Anselm Reyle, Delphine Arnault, Pharrell Williams (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_13369" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="Mickalene Thomas (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_13373" align="alignnone" width="452" caption="Marco Brambilla, Jovana Stokic, Marina Abramovic (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption]

Admit it, you’re little tired. This was no ordinary Basel. Every marketing guru and PR genius in America decided to spend their event budgets in Miami this year and that translated to roughly 15 events each night. Some struggled, some prospered, and many stood out. Here are our 2011 Basel citations! Best artist cameo: Damien Hirst, who stopped by a few bashes including the Swarovski dinner, Diddy hosted Mazzucco meal at Mr. Chow, and then swallowed some glow-sticks at White Cube. [caption id="attachment_13413" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="Damien Hirst (Photo: BFAnyc.com)"][/caption] Best nail art lover: Tilda Swinton, who flew into Basel for one short day (for the Pringle event) and still managed a sparkling nail session with Dzine at The Standard. “I became officially obsessed,” she told us. “It felt like a nail salon from a different, wonderful planet.” Best dinner food: Stone crab buffet at White Cube’s disco SoHo Beach house BBQ. Best product collaboration: Anselm Reyle for Dior. “I worked on this for sixteen months with Dior,” the artist told us at the dinner. “So I hope at least all the women in my world like it.” Dinner guests got to take a bag home. [caption id="attachment_13414" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="Fabiola Beracasa, Jeanette Hayes, Jack Donogue (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] Best dinner swag: See above. Best party accessory: Red scarves (to help battle the wind at 1111 building) at Ferrari/ Interview bash. [caption id="attachment_13416" align="alignnone" width="366" caption="Val Kilmer, Brett Ratner (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] Best party location: Pretty much anything that was inside, due to this year’s cruel wind conditions. A heater on top of the Raleigh almost injured someone at some point after falling over during one of the many cocktails and one W events had to be cancelled. Lanvin’s party was moved inside too. Best proclamation: “I’m 65 and I feel divine,” Marina Abramovic at her Nowness party at SoHo Beach House. Best designer line-up: Donna Karan and Calvin Klein combo (who didn’t attend any other bashes) at Dewar’s/ MOCA Miami opening. [caption id="attachment_13418" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="Calvin Klein, Donna Karan (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] Best celebrity buyer: Diddy who shelled out a cool $45K on Tracey Emin during the VIP preview. [caption id="attachment_13420" align="alignnone" width="366" caption="P. Diddy, Vladimir Doronin, Pharrell Williams (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] Best dinner craving: Honey biscuits at the Aby Rosen’s Dutch dinner. Best celebrity Vernissage booth: Tony Sharfrazi of couse, who attracted Val Kilmer (!), Naomi Campbell, Dasha Zhukova, Pharell Williams, and Tamara Mellon just to name a few. [caption id="attachment_13421" align="alignnone" width="366" caption="Tony Shafrazi, Maria Bell (Photo: Patrick McMullan)"][/caption] Best overall Vernissage booth (tie): Lehmann Maupin’s showcase and our personal favorite: a banana truck installation by Brazilian artist Paulo Nazareth. Best random cameo (tie): Sean Penn coming to the Dom Perignon Aby Rosen dinner after-party for the second year in a row, Will Smith at the Raphael Mazzucco dinner, Ivana Trump at the Phillips de Pury party, and Paris and Nicky Hilton at the MOCA bash. [caption id="attachment_13427" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="Robin Thicke, Will Smith (Photo: BFAnyc.com)"][/caption] Best occupied hotel: W South Beach, for the third year in a row. Guests included everyone from Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas to Julian Schnabel to Stefano Tonchi to you get the point. Book your rooms for next year now, because they’ll be sold out by February. Best DJ: Venus X at Richard Phillips Exhibition A/ Details party. She pumped out the crowd with best hip-hop of the week, even through a rain delay at The Standard. Best Live Performance: (tie) Salem at The Delano, Brazilian Carnival Dancers at the Visionaire Bash, also at the hotel. Best Tribute to Andy: A flash mob at the Interview bash at The Standard.