Recent Events – December

Art Miami

 
We have been visiting and exhibiting at the Miami art shows in early December for several years and each year we moved to a different hotel as we never really felt quite at home. It is the big week of the art year, but it is also intense, impersonal and frantic.

But this year we found our permanent peaceful home away from home in Miami - as Miky Grendene asked me to be artist in residence at his beautiful Casa Tua villa, boutique hotel and restaurant in the heart of South Beach. It is an oasis of Italian sophistication and hospitality in the midst of the zoo that is Art Basel and Miky and his wife Leticia run an unparalleled restaurant show. To have 16 of my works on the walls throughout the beautiful villa (they are still up) was a thrill and I was really quite emotional when we left. The staff - mostly from Italy and Argentina - set a very high bar in service and charm. No wonder it remains the place to be seen.

We are not working for tripadvisor, but always have a meal at Casa Tua if you are in Miami. It is now one of my favourite places in the world and Miky is rightly one of the most liked men in the American hospitality industry. He is quite a remarkable man.

At Art Miami itself we were represented by Holden Luntz and Maddox Gallery. As always, we met some fascinating people and ate and drank too much. I admit to getting a little rush when we first arrived seeing my work sandwiching Basquiat in the Maddox booth.

Thank you Miky and Leticia for a wonderful week.

End of 2018 Charity Events

 
We had a very busy end to the year for our auction work. In December we collaborated with Ian Poulter - the Ryder Cup legend - for his charity event in Florida and also with Ronan Keating in London for his annual Maria Keating Foundation fundraiser in memory of his mother who passed away when so young from cancer. In total our lots at these two events raised £75,000 and this took the final figure for the year to £1.6m. We thank all bidders across the world for their generosity - no more so than in the great city of Moscow, where over £350,000 was raised in a single evening just before the World Cup.
 

 
 
The table below shows the distribution of the year’s work. This is integral to the goals and aspirations of DYP and we look forward to starting again in 2019.