Vanity Fair: The myth of celebrity invades Miami art exhibitions

It's no secret that Art Basel Miami Beach is very much a star-studded event; we've already bumped into such notables as James Franco, Patricia Arquette and Demi (although, who's to say she's not in town for the concurrent Cougar Convention?). This year, the myth of celebrity is reappearing on the gallery walls. Forget the already-tired buzz word, "interventionism" — it's all about shiny faces.

Vanity is at peak pitch at the Pulse contemporary art fair, where Kate Moss is her own muse at the Danziger Projects booth. The supermodel has reinvented herself as a curator for the fair, selecting 11 of her favorite portraits starting with her premier pose for Calvin Klein Obsession in 1993. This isn't Moss' first foray into high art society — a decade ago, she collaborated with a slew of YBAs (Young British Artists) for an art issue of British Vogue. London's Daily Telegraph reports that the 30 limited edition portfolios begin at $75,000.

Look at you: Celebrities-cum-artists are increasingly being asked to look within, and when all else fails, produce a pastiche of oneself in an American West scene. The market for kitsch doesn't seem to have taken a hit.

Kristen isn't here to make friends, but Taylor's not about to cry about it. In the Richard Phillips' series at White Cube, "Most Wanted" (2010), which also includes depictions of Miley Cyrus and Taylor Momsen, starlets are brought back down to Earth in color pastel on grey toned paper. What everyone wanted to know but was afraid to ask: Will these portraits appreciate when the girls enter rehab?

Text-based artist Barbara Kruger went head-to-head with Kim Kardashian on the cover of last month's "Art Issue" of W. No doubt who came out ahead: Kim's got a crashed credit card, while Kruger is enjoying the new influx of attention while playing games with sculpture.

Brooklyn's Black and White gallery stole the show at Pulse with the work of Alicia Ross. The artist's "perverse reappropriation" of needle-and-thread studies of animals and celebrity ingenues gained the favor of New York magazine during the artist's fall gallery exhibition, Hot Mess.

Snap, crackle, Pop: John Baldessari ruled 2010 in terms of landmark art shows with the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition Pure Beauty, which undoubtedly boosted the current market's preference for the Pop prince.

It may be the most recognized fair in Miami, but Art Basel has its rebellious side — and it's beginning to celebrate it's place as the  deliciously deliquient daughter of its Swiss originator. Some galleries eschew the concept of walls almost entirely, such as Berlin's Neugerriemschneider.

While navigating among the brusque dealers and surly CEOs, spotting a familiar face merits a Cai of relief.

Despite the Pop bonanza, a motif of mortality looms large over many gallery spaces. Here, a 1980 Warhol diptych of Meryl Streep gazes towards a quasi-funerary sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, whose death this summer made the art world give pause — and sparked a tribute exhibition at Houston's DARKE | Gallery.

"Is that a lurking photographer or a Damien Hirst?" asked one novice collector. Tsk, tsk — musings on mortality aren't limited to Hirst these days. Marc Quinn's ominous "A Moment of Clarity" had little effect on the lively dealings at Salzburg's Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.

Jenny Holzer's messages grow more macabre with time. What began as East Village flyers and thoughtful slogans on T-shirts has evolved into epitaph-esque installations. Her grandiose 2001 projection on the façade of Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie has been featured at Houston's Barbara Davis Gallery.

Conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner's work plastered the walls of at least a handful of galleries. A conceptual eulogy or ode to Miami, you ask? Shh . . . just write the check.