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Daniel Chazen

A side-show at a recent Art Basel in Miami Beach was the DenMi exhibit.  It was located in the Wynwood Art District of Miami, not too far from the Art Basel at the convention center.  The name of the exhibit (DenMi) is derived from a combination of the cities of Denver and Miami.  The exhibition featured some of Denver's top contemporary artists, such as Clark Richert, Homare Ikeda, and John McEnroe.

The key factor of the Art Basel side-show for the Denver artist is that it effectively provided instant "global" access and to what is probably one of the most important contemporary art fairs in the United States.  Collectors of contemporary art and others involved in the art market from around the world were at the show and able to visit the DenMi exhibit and see some of the best contemporary artwork Denver had to offer.  It was definitely an important networking opportunity for the artists in the DenMi exhibit, as well as artists in the other side-shows.

What is very interesting about the Art Basel in Miami is that it seems that the side-shows are probably as important as the show in the exhibition hall, especially for artists trying to get discovered.  As for the artists who got into the exhibition hall at the convention center, they probably have some sort of following to begin with.  It's kind of like if I was starting a new car company and could not afford to get into the New York Auto Show, I would try and rent out some space down the block from the Javits Center and try to lure people into my side-show to see the product.

Here is a piece by Denver contemporary artist Homare Ikeda that was displayed at the DenMi side-show:
Artist:  One top Denver artist whose work was displayed at the exhibit was Homare Ikeda.  When looking at his website, I see that she basically displayed at shows near his hometown (around Colorado and other western cities.) This sideshow allowed Ikeda to display his artwork to not only a whole new locale, but also one with a global dynamic.  Miami is already a big city for artwork, but it was the perfect time to do the exhibition while many top artists and collectors from throughout the world are present for the Art Basel.  The curator could benefit from this in a similar way the side-show artist does.  By doing a sideshow, it allows the artists to make a name for themselves, which in turn could benefits the curator of a side-show.

Here is a link to DenMi and their participation in a side show at the Art BasilBasel:

http://denverarts.org/other_exhibits/denmi_during_art_basel_miami_beach_2009.html

This is a link to the DenMi Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DENMI/153315093038

Here are links to Homare Ikead's 2 personal webpages which show some of his work:

http://www.homareikeda.com/

http://www.homareikeda.net/Homare2/Home.html