The Art World™ is in full swing in Miami celebrating the art market’s dominance as the main distribution system for contemporary art under global capitalism. I’m thinking about what it means to be an anti-capitalist, which I cannot claim to be while my products are on display at Art Miami. It is more of an aspirational position, while I remain stuck in contradiction trying to sell work critical of the role of art and artists in a global art market. I’m thinking about it because you don’t have to identify as a capitalist when you participate in the art world. That distinction is reserved for actual anti-capitalists (some of whom are probably showing and selling work tbf). It’s not like you have to append your role to include ‘capitalist’ along with your other identity markers. I think would be embarrassing for many of us who have rather progressive social and political beliefs about how society should operate, particularly in the state of Florida where Republican Ron DeSantis is gearing up for his presidential campaign. That contradiction doesn’t seem to matter much when so many people invested in art descend on South Beach for the party. For a few more days the art world will revel in the fullness of its embodiment of capitalism and congratulate the winners including those politically-minded artists who embrace the contradiction to get their messages in front of the ruling class with the money to buy their work. It’s a bit gross to watch unfold across the various media platforms, but it is also an accurate distillation of the dominant forces driving contemporary art - aspiration, speculation, and compliance. At the very least, I do not have be there to kiss all the ass. At this point, I’d rather just send the art into the Miamiasma. I have to credit artist Paul D’Agostino for that term and the title of this brief post, after he coined the phrase from my obligatory Instagram post of my work for the fairs. And of course, the works are available through Gallery Poulsen, if you happen to identify with my position.