Every week, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a gossip column of original scoops. If you have a tip, email Annie Armstrong at [email protected]

THE HEAT IS STILL ON AT ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH

I think we all touched down in newly Republican Miami-Dade County anticipating that this week might look like a shell of its former self. The recent festivities in Paris stole some of Miami’s energy, sure, and the market has been in the doldrums. You can also tell it’s an off-year when South Beach hotel rooms are still available deep into the week, as was the case this time. And I can confirm that there were fewer A-list celebrities on the ground than in years past.

However, judging by another metric, traffic along Collins Avenue, things are clearly happening: It has never been worse. The supposed mass exodus of important players from Miami’s festivities is mere rumor, in my opinion. It’s not as dead down here as many are saying.

Some vignettes: I’m sure you heard already that Larry Gagosian was hawking a $10 million Warhol on the floor at the VIP opening—and he did so with his new girlfriend, Erica Pelosini, at his side. (A socialite, it seems; she has half a million followers on Instagram, including Lana Del Rey.) I spotted Gladstone partner Gavin Brown (whom I also ran into at Mac’s Club Deuce with artist Matthew Barney earlier this week) giving storied dealer Tony Shafrazi a bear hug at Casa Tua late one evening, while artists Peter Halley and Francesco Clemente looked over from a nearby table. (Remember about a decade ago, when Shafrazi allegedly greeted Brown’s colleague Max Falkenstein with a shove at a Miami club? Different times!)

Another evening, at Lucy Bull’s after-party for her opening at the ICA Miami at a club called Medium Cool, Christie’s director Alex Marshall and the Ranch’s owner, Max Levai, were really rocking the dance floor, to say the least. I also spied big hitters like retired Yankee Derek Jeter, film legend Michael Bay, and NBA star Allen Iverson having dinner at Boulud Sud with photographer Russel Young, who is showing images of Jeter covered in diamond dust at Art Miami.

White Cube’s annual party may be a thing of the past, but other staples persist. Kasmin’s dinner at the Standard served three different styles of ceviche to kick off the week, and sales were casually closed over martinis and hash browns at Joe’s Stone Crab every night. Gagosian’s annual red-carpet dinner at Mr. Chow endures, and my invitation, as tradition dictates, was once again lost in the mail. Artist Harmony Korine threw a rager last night, just like last year—and I’m sure it led to missed flights this morning. (Tolga Albayrak‘s annual party did not, however, as I heard that police shut it down; one rumor is there was a bomb threat.) These are all things that bring me great comfort and instill confidence in the system.

Even now, as I write this column in a hotel lobby, I am watching Michael Chow himself shuffle past in head-to-toe Alo Yoga. Earlier in the week I ran into my old pal Leo Braudy here. The Washington, D.C.-area glass-art dealer and Love Is Blind contestant was on his way to the Untitled Art Fair, where he hoped to secure an artwork for a client.

As it happens, I had just come from Untitled, where I stumbled on one of the more interesting conversations of my week. Dealer Anna Erickson, who has a standout booth at the satellite fair with works by Sachi Moskowitz and Lacey Stoffer, told me that she was finally felt ready to talk about her brief experience as Inigo Philbrick’s employee around the time of his arrest back in 2019.

I was wondering if Philbrick would be spotted somewhere in Miami (where he once had a gallery), seeing as he got out of prison back in March, after serving just under four years for his $86 million wire fraud scheme. There was, alas, no sight of him, but his ghostly presence was felt.

After a lot of tedious small talk at fairs, it was nice to get some firsthand details about the notorious crook—and I’ll share them with you, too. For those who don’t know Erickson, she is a veteran of Gagosian and Hauser and Wirth. She met Philbrick in 2019, around the time she gave birth to her daughter, and decided to take a gig working for the dealer in Miami because he offered flexible work hours. “He had a good reputation at the time,” she said.

But it only took a few weeks before Philbrick started acting suspiciously, Erickson said. “He would fly to London for 10 hours just so he could sign papers,” she said. “He wanted to do the Palm Beach Art Fair, then he cancelled it. We started getting a ton of calls from lawyers. I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ He would leave the gallery and just pace up and down the street.”

A Wade Guyton painting was hanging in the gallery at the time, which was co-owned by acting buddies Leo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, she said. Erickson’s instincts told her she might need to save it from being seized by the FBI. “I was like, I have to get the painting out of the gallery!” She went to the space under the cover of night and brought it to her personal storage. Once it was secured, she emailed Philbrick her resignation and never returned, she said.

“He owes me a couple thousand dollars, and at the time that really sucked,” said Erickson, who is a single mother. Now, that debt is chump change; she sold out her Untitled booth.

In summary: Those who skipped the fair this year did, indeed, miss out on some compelling action. The energy here is changing, certainly, but let’s recall that some scientists estimate that the whole city won’t be underwater for at least 30 more years. There is still time to enjoy it.