Art Basel Miami Beach, an event as cherished as it is despised for its ability to, over the course of a few days, turn any rational art lover into an under-slept, over-stimulated yet completely inspired zombie. Unlike some fellow fair goers, I was only running the gauntlet from Thursday evening through Monday (I had to stay in NYC to finish up the Winter issue of PAPER Magazine so I arrived a few days late), so I had less time to pack in an overabundance of fairs, events, parties, restaurants and receptions that I had so diligently catalogued and organized into manila folders for each day. I was on a mission! Here, a list of a few highlights:

1. The Underbelly Project

This show in the Wynwood district displayed work by a selection of over 103 street artists that risked life, limb and liberty by climbing down into a secret abandoned room deep in the NYC subway tunnels to create a entombed museum (see front page of the NYTimes Arts Section, Oct. 31, 2010). The show featured work by some of the biggest and best of the bunch, not to mention a piece by Logan Hicks featuring a portrait of yours truly and artist HAZE sitting on a bus!

2. ParisParis underneath the Shelbourne on Thursday night.

By the time we arrived around 3 am the dance party at the Rock n' Roll live Karaoke open mic night was in full swing! An absinthe tasting bar, and at least four separate groups of friends (including my lawyer, and dear friends artist Brock Enright and musician Seasick Mama) that I ran into there made it feel like our attendance was destiny. Then we shut down the dance floor. 

3. Nails by Dzine

On Friday night The Standard, Miami threw a launch party for a new book entitled NAILED by the exuberantly over-the-top artist Dzine. In celebration of the release, The Imperial Salon was erected on the outside terrace so that a lucky few got their own nails embellished. I stayed away from the 4 inch, Eiffel-tower-rhinestone bonanzas in favor of a smaller piece less-likely to injure myself and others. It made me feel more than fabulous while it lasted, and when it finally popped off I kept it safe, stored for a rainy day in need of an elaborate enhancement.

4. 5. and 6. FOOD!

I was fortunate enough to be accompanied on this trip by the foremost foodie in my life, the wonderful Liz Rosen (currently presiding over the private events for Chef Joey Campanaro's The Little Owl) who I charged with creating our dining schedule for the weekend. First and foremost, she arranged for what was one of the best meals I've ever had in my life at Michael's Genuine, a restaurant that takes the farm-to-table trend to another level. The food was simple, and perfect; ingredients shining from each dish’s faultless composition.   

Then came brunch at Yardbird, with it's Southern influenced menu and cheeky chalk signs. The food was all pretty good but it was the heaping pile of flat top mountain tomatoes, dressed with lemon olive oil, house smoked sea salt and bourbon sherry vinegar that I will be dreaming about for years to come.

Oh, and the (inedible but totally relevant) Olive Totem by Martha Friedman. I dream of one day installing it next to my pool.

7. 8. Home-Ec art!

Two pieces of work that I became obsessed with at Art Basel were based in the realm of Home Economics. The first was Tara Donovan's Bluffs, a gorgeously gelatinous colored coral shaped sculpture composed entirely of clear buttons. The second was the wall installation by Yinka Shonibare, MBE, entitled Little Rich Girls. A virtual Smorgasbord of deliciously boldly patterned Dutch wax printed cotton sewn into designs of Victorian children's dresses, epic enough to inspire even the most plain-clothed of us to try out a little pattern mixing.

9. Fauna!

My favorite booth of the fair was by Cintra + Box 4 from Rio de Janeiro in which they installed Cinthia Marcelle's Utopic Reserve, a piece that was unexpected, refreshing and completely unique among sea of installations at the convention center. The booth had no gallerists, no table and no tag. It was bricked up with cinder blocks and inside it was a jungle of wild Brazilian capim grass. 

10. Cherry-on-top

Scope was the last fair I made it to on my whirlwind art adventure, and it didn't disappoint. I was immediately sucked in by the extravagantly energetic work of artist Brent Birnbaum. His mixed media sculptures composed of bits and pieces culled from the artist's hoarded tzotchkes popped off the wall at me, a perfect cherry-on-top to my sensory-overloaded weekend. 

Monica LcCascio is Production Director for Paper and Curator as well as author of several art books including on about stickers.