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Artist and activist Marilyn Minter has been reasserting the female gaze through her sensual photographs and paintings since the 1980s, but it wasn’t until 2009 that she made a personal appearance at an Art Basel show. Over a video call from her studio in Manhattan, she talks about her memories of going to Miami Beach and how her experience proved her expectations wrong.
‘The first time I ever went to an Art Basel show was in Miami Beach in 2009. I participated in the Conversations program with Richard Flood, who was the curator-at-large and director of special projects at the New Museum. Walking around was mind-boggling – it blew my mind. I’d seen the Armory Show in New York City, but this was much more intense. If I were a collector, I wouldn’t have known what to do! I mean, I’m an art junkie – I love to look at other people’s art so my own gets better. My work is in dialogue with and refers to the artistic practices of a lot of dead artists and all of art history. I go to museums and galleries all the time, but I can’t see more than one floor of MoMA, otherwise I get brain overload. In Miami, the situation was similar: I saw a lot of great stuff, but I couldn’t even remember what it was.
‘I was reluctant to go to Miami at first because I grew up in Florida and saw horrible things in the Deep South. I knew what racism was from the time I was a little girl. It was a really racist, sexist place, and it was still like that when I left. So I didn’t expect to have much fun – but I did. There’s culture now in South Florida, and I think Miami is one of the most diverse places on the planet. Art Basel in Miami Beach is the only fair I’ve ever seen with such diversity. It was really encouraging and exciting
‘But do you know what the coolest part of that first visit was? I met Serena Williams. We were invited to this huge party at this really nice restaurant, she was sitting down, and someone said, “Let me introduce you.” She knew my work and I’d seen her play a couple of times at Forest Hills Stadium [in New York City]. We talked about jewelry – she was designing jewelry at the time – and she couldn’t have been lovelier. I know I should say, “Oh I saw this and that show,” but meeting Serena Williams was the biggest highlight of my first visit to Art Basel.
‘Since 2009, I’ve been back twice – in 2014 to launch my book Plush at the Edition Hotel with Richard Prince and his publishing company, Fulton Ryder, and last year, when I did a talk about Planned Parenthood. The second time I was in Miami, I actually bought a work by John Beech from Peter Blum. I’ve been a collector of John Beech’s tabletop sculptures, so I traded one for another. I’ve honestly never gone to Miami of my own accord – I work too much – but whenever someone wants me to come down, I will always show up and have a good time.’
Marilyn Minter is represented by Salon 94, New York City; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Baldwin Gallery, Aspen; and Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong and Seoul.