It’s become a go-to story idea for the New York Times during an art boom. Find a collector with an appetite for buying and publicity and follow along through an art fair. (See this version from 2007.) But don’t let that detract from Patricia Cohen’s excellent piece where she follows Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown, of the Brown-Forman Browns, through Miami’s fair as they go on a $250,000 shopping spree with a curator and videographer in tow:

In another aisle, they stop by a stack of bricks perched on a stripped-down bicycle. “So what’s going on here?” Mr. Wilson asks the dealer, Luciana Brito of São Paulo, Brazil. She tells him that the bike is the kind that workers ride on the streets of São Paulo.

“It’s about equilibrium,” she says.

“The class system,” Mr. Wilson adds. Ms. Brito nods in agreement.

The gallery is asking $15,000 for the work, by Héctor Zamora. There is a brief discussion. Sold.

It is 1:05.

“I like this one,” Ms. Brown says.

Mr. Heavrin, the videographer, lowers his camera: “Can I just say this is the second pile of bricks that Steve has bought today?”

A Collector Bets His Eye and His Gut  (NYTimes)