As a girl in Miami, Beatriz Monteavaro liked to make noise and watch women fight. She got her first drum set when she was 12. Countless drum rolls later, she has been keeping the beat with a Miami band called Beings. Around the age of 4--soon after her family settled in Miami after leaving Havana, Cuba, where she was born--Monteavaro became a fan of Wonder Woman TV shows.
During my visit to her studio in Miami's Wynwood Arts District earlier this year, I saw her collection of dozens of action figure toys, including Wonder Woman dolls. Why the early attraction to this woman warrior? "What wasn't there to like?" Monteavari reflected. "There was the cool super hero outfit, which was like the American flag. She would spin around and there would be explosions. She had powers. She was against the Nazis."
A multi-tasking artist known for her drawing, painting, sculpture, and video, as well as for her drumming, Monteavaro seems like a woman warrior herself. You could even call her Miami's Wonder Woman.
A ferocious dinosaur is tattooed on her shoulder blade. To create it, she describes collaborating with Mike Taylor, a tattoo artist in Miami. It covers an old tattoo resembling "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. Why the recent change? "The colors had bled out a little bit. It looked sloppy," Monteavaro explained.
Less interested in video these days, she has been focusing on her early fascination with TV and comic book characters who fight. Another inspiration has been Florida's Disney World. It was a popular vacation spot for Monteavaro's family when she was young. Smiling, she recalled how much she loved to enter fantasy worlds conjured by elaborate rides there. "I remember thinking on Mission to Mars that we were going to Mars. We had left the earth. I remember thinking I had seen ghosts in the Haunted Mansion," she said.
But now Monteavaro, 39, generally avoids the costly allure of theme park special effects. Yes, she retains a child-like fascination with scary stories, comic book warriors, and monsters including dinosaurs and Frankenstein. Lately, her ideas also derive from amateurish, home-made materials that produce chills and thrills. From Internet searches, she has discovered, as she explained to me, "this whole culture of people who make their own Halloween decorations and haunted houses." That's why recent sculpture, painting, and collaged drawings incorporate kitschy materials like latex masks, fake fur, and foam sprayed from a can.
More ideas spring from "The Mad Doctor of Blood Island," the 1969 horror movie classic. As Monteavaro went on to explain, "It's set in a Polynesian island and has this monster with disgusting skin--a really badly put together yet aesthetically pleasing monster." Such an outrageous paradox clearly delights this graduate of Tyler School of Art at Temple University.
She has shown her art in Miami and Paris. In Miami, Monteavaro is represented by Fredric Snitzer Gallery, where her art has usually been selling for between $500 and $10,000. More affordable is a recently published book of drawings from [NAME] Publications, "Quiet Village," at $15. True to its title, this book is indeed quietly charming and provocative.
Intrigued by doomed monsters, she roots for the underdog. "Quiet Village," sold with a CD by the band Beings, retells the story of Frankenstein. "It's kind of a pathetic creature, not a winner," Monteavaro said, a bit ruefully. "It has to find a way to survive, but ultimately doesn't, because it's an outsider."
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Immigrants in Miami: Saying Hello to New Home
Perhaps it takes an artist to convey the emotional complexity of immigration. Immigration is a rancorous topic in political debates all across the map, especially given recent legislation in Arizona and ethnic violence in Kyrgystan. Eduardo del Valle and Mirta Gomez, widely-exhibited photographers in Miami who work as a team, are authors of the exquisite book, Witness Number 4 (published by The Joy of Giving Something in 2008, distributed by Nazraeli Press, 96 pages, 77 four-color images)
At once tender and tough, the book is informed by their departure from Cuba as youngsters in the 1960s. The two fled Castro's regime in Cuba to make a new life and career in the United States, as did other Cuban-born photographers of their generation in this book, Tony Mendoza and Abelardo Morell. The book belongs to the innovative "Witness" series of books produced by the Joy of Giving Something, Inc.
Del Valle and Gomez have framed their book with apt quotations from the first and last pages of a classic 1965 book in Cuban literature, View of Dawn in the Tropics by Guillermo Caberera Infante. With poetic prose, Infante recounts the history of Cuba, starting with the Spanish slaughtering of the island's indigenous population and continuing through the rise of Castro's dictatorship. In statements by the artists beginning their respective sections of this book, they write about resisting nostalgia and making creative new lives after leaving their homeland.
The photographs in the book, with each section reflecting a a distinct aesthetic, convey a wealth of imaginative ways one can move forward after the tumultuous experience of immigration. Returning over many years to photograph Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, del Valle and Gomez document how simple huts built by Maya descendants have changed, as urban growth significantly alters the once remote surroundings of these huts. As powerful visual metaphors, the huts suggest ways that immigrants evolve and change. In photographs capturing the point of view of his short-legged pet dog, Mendoza the adult evokes a child's distorted view of the world to parallel his childhood memories of Cuba. Morell's fascinating camera obscura photographs combine upside-down images of cities and countryside with right-side-up images of interior rooms. In the context of this truly exceptional book, all these remarkable photographs show how leaving home is a universally disorienting experience, but that it is possible to come to terms with the troubling past and move into a vibrant present.
At once tender and tough, the book is informed by their departure from Cuba as youngsters in the 1960s. The two fled Castro's regime in Cuba to make a new life and career in the United States, as did other Cuban-born photographers of their generation in this book, Tony Mendoza and Abelardo Morell. The book belongs to the innovative "Witness" series of books produced by the Joy of Giving Something, Inc.
Del Valle and Gomez have framed their book with apt quotations from the first and last pages of a classic 1965 book in Cuban literature, View of Dawn in the Tropics by Guillermo Caberera Infante. With poetic prose, Infante recounts the history of Cuba, starting with the Spanish slaughtering of the island's indigenous population and continuing through the rise of Castro's dictatorship. In statements by the artists beginning their respective sections of this book, they write about resisting nostalgia and making creative new lives after leaving their homeland.
The photographs in the book, with each section reflecting a a distinct aesthetic, convey a wealth of imaginative ways one can move forward after the tumultuous experience of immigration. Returning over many years to photograph Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, del Valle and Gomez document how simple huts built by Maya descendants have changed, as urban growth significantly alters the once remote surroundings of these huts. As powerful visual metaphors, the huts suggest ways that immigrants evolve and change. In photographs capturing the point of view of his short-legged pet dog, Mendoza the adult evokes a child's distorted view of the world to parallel his childhood memories of Cuba. Morell's fascinating camera obscura photographs combine upside-down images of cities and countryside with right-side-up images of interior rooms. In the context of this truly exceptional book, all these remarkable photographs show how leaving home is a universally disorienting experience, but that it is possible to come to terms with the troubling past and move into a vibrant present.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Summer Smarts in Miami: Feel the Heat
Summertime in Miami is more than a scalding stroll on South Beach with glamazons and guys.
For years the city has sung a siren call to forward-minded folks with visionary smarts. Looking at the world, they ask, "Why not?" Even when naysayers shriek, "You can't do this because it's never been done!"
Over two decades ago Miami naysayers tried to block Christo and Jeanne-Claude from stretching 11 miles of pink fabric across Biscayne Bay to create the sparkling "Surrounded Islands." Thankfully those visionary artists didn't listen. Look at the legendary legacy they created for Miami in May 1983.
Recently I sat in the turquoise kitchen in the Little Haiti home of another visionary artist, the mercurial Miralda. We shared memories and laughs. It's been some time since our paths have crossed for his shows with Miami Art Museum and Centro Cultural Espanol. Once again the forward-minded CCE exhibits his art.
We spoke about his summer show in Madrid, with the Reina Sofia at the Palacio Velazquez in the graciously green Retiro Park. It starts with the first audacious public projects he created in Paris to startle the status quo. From the beginning, his art has involved festivals, processions, and performances.
It incorporates some of his most recent art: the "imaginary museum," as he calls the Food Cultura Museum, exhibited in Germany.
"Miami was the beginning of this project," he tells me. It's about trying to combine all the "wonderful diversity of Latino countries." Like so much of his art, this encourages people to notice how food infiltrates ways we interact with language and popular culture found in jokes, poetry, religion, magic. "Miami was the very beginning of the whole thing," he adds. "I really need to say Cesar Trasobares is part of that."
The fabulous fusion you find in Miami fascinates him. "I moved here because of this cross-cultural situation," says the Spanish-born artist. For him, Little Haiti is an endearing part of "the large urban fabric of Miami."
Like Christo and Jeanne-Claude, this internationally celebrated artist has made a mark on urban fabric throughout Miami and the world.
A much younger artist in Miami is starting to do the same, garnering attention on opposite sides of the globe. Look at paintings by Diego Singh, an Argentine-born artist. Find them at Fredric Snitzer Gallery in Wynwood and Tomio Kayama Gallery in Japan. They mix geometry with hints of human figures. Though many think abstraction and figurative forms are poles apart, Singh boldly mixes the two types of painting in a single canvas, signaling his highly original gifts with eye-popping colors.
Robert Chambers has long rewarded Miami with his forward-minded, original talents. He's used astonishing materials, from abandoned machine parts to a helicopter, to fashion absolutely riveting instllations that you can't forget. This summer he's making his mark on international waters--how very Miami of him! As Mariangela Capuzzo, artistic director for International Corporate Art in Miami, explains, his installation art "is one of the main features on board Eclipse, Celebrity Cruise's next ship." When you read this, it's probably sailing far from England.
At Miami Intenational Airport, lucky travelers explore the outstanding public art work "Foreverglades" by Barbara Neijna. Made over ten years, it was produced in elaborate facilities in four countries.
Walking through this vast artwork, you'll see how Neijna forges a spectacular fusion of form and color with glass, stone and photography. It's as unique as the Everglades, so near to our sprawling urban fabric. Like the book River of Grass by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, a visionary crusader for the Everglades whose words weave through this public art, "Foreverglades" is a poetic gem.
More gems that sparkle, even scald like Miami summers: retablos by Nicario Jimenez in University of Miami office of Steven Stein. Stein thinks Jimenez suffuses this Peruvian folk tradition with outrage in art by Spanish master Goya. Shaping tiny figures partly made with potatoes, Jimenez describes horrific human rights abuses by Shining Path guerrillas in his native Peru. Having witnessed these atrocities, he came to Florida in the early 1990s, adapting this tradition to evoke problems suffered by undocumented immigrants in this country. The UM Wesley Art and Sciences Gallery and museums around the country have shown these retablos, says Stein, adding that the Smithsonian Institution owns them.
When anti-democratic forces explode everywhere, from power grabs by Chavez in Venezuela to Internet woes for Google in China, why don't these Goya-esque retablos have a MUCH brighter pride of place here in Miami?
As a shrewd Miami Dade College student reminded me, you have to think.
Yes, I'm thinking, but am clueless about why our crusading summer smarts STILL do not shine brighter in Miami.
That tradition REALLY smarts.
For years the city has sung a siren call to forward-minded folks with visionary smarts. Looking at the world, they ask, "Why not?" Even when naysayers shriek, "You can't do this because it's never been done!"
Over two decades ago Miami naysayers tried to block Christo and Jeanne-Claude from stretching 11 miles of pink fabric across Biscayne Bay to create the sparkling "Surrounded Islands." Thankfully those visionary artists didn't listen. Look at the legendary legacy they created for Miami in May 1983.
Recently I sat in the turquoise kitchen in the Little Haiti home of another visionary artist, the mercurial Miralda. We shared memories and laughs. It's been some time since our paths have crossed for his shows with Miami Art Museum and Centro Cultural Espanol. Once again the forward-minded CCE exhibits his art.
We spoke about his summer show in Madrid, with the Reina Sofia at the Palacio Velazquez in the graciously green Retiro Park. It starts with the first audacious public projects he created in Paris to startle the status quo. From the beginning, his art has involved festivals, processions, and performances.
It incorporates some of his most recent art: the "imaginary museum," as he calls the Food Cultura Museum, exhibited in Germany.
"Miami was the beginning of this project," he tells me. It's about trying to combine all the "wonderful diversity of Latino countries." Like so much of his art, this encourages people to notice how food infiltrates ways we interact with language and popular culture found in jokes, poetry, religion, magic. "Miami was the very beginning of the whole thing," he adds. "I really need to say Cesar Trasobares is part of that."
The fabulous fusion you find in Miami fascinates him. "I moved here because of this cross-cultural situation," says the Spanish-born artist. For him, Little Haiti is an endearing part of "the large urban fabric of Miami."
Like Christo and Jeanne-Claude, this internationally celebrated artist has made a mark on urban fabric throughout Miami and the world.
A much younger artist in Miami is starting to do the same, garnering attention on opposite sides of the globe. Look at paintings by Diego Singh, an Argentine-born artist. Find them at Fredric Snitzer Gallery in Wynwood and Tomio Kayama Gallery in Japan. They mix geometry with hints of human figures. Though many think abstraction and figurative forms are poles apart, Singh boldly mixes the two types of painting in a single canvas, signaling his highly original gifts with eye-popping colors.
Robert Chambers has long rewarded Miami with his forward-minded, original talents. He's used astonishing materials, from abandoned machine parts to a helicopter, to fashion absolutely riveting instllations that you can't forget. This summer he's making his mark on international waters--how very Miami of him! As Mariangela Capuzzo, artistic director for International Corporate Art in Miami, explains, his installation art "is one of the main features on board Eclipse, Celebrity Cruise's next ship." When you read this, it's probably sailing far from England.
At Miami Intenational Airport, lucky travelers explore the outstanding public art work "Foreverglades" by Barbara Neijna. Made over ten years, it was produced in elaborate facilities in four countries.
Walking through this vast artwork, you'll see how Neijna forges a spectacular fusion of form and color with glass, stone and photography. It's as unique as the Everglades, so near to our sprawling urban fabric. Like the book River of Grass by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, a visionary crusader for the Everglades whose words weave through this public art, "Foreverglades" is a poetic gem.
More gems that sparkle, even scald like Miami summers: retablos by Nicario Jimenez in University of Miami office of Steven Stein. Stein thinks Jimenez suffuses this Peruvian folk tradition with outrage in art by Spanish master Goya. Shaping tiny figures partly made with potatoes, Jimenez describes horrific human rights abuses by Shining Path guerrillas in his native Peru. Having witnessed these atrocities, he came to Florida in the early 1990s, adapting this tradition to evoke problems suffered by undocumented immigrants in this country. The UM Wesley Art and Sciences Gallery and museums around the country have shown these retablos, says Stein, adding that the Smithsonian Institution owns them.
When anti-democratic forces explode everywhere, from power grabs by Chavez in Venezuela to Internet woes for Google in China, why don't these Goya-esque retablos have a MUCH brighter pride of place here in Miami?
As a shrewd Miami Dade College student reminded me, you have to think.
Yes, I'm thinking, but am clueless about why our crusading summer smarts STILL do not shine brighter in Miami.
That tradition REALLY smarts.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Latin American Art:From Ghetto to Global Stage
Adios, ghetto! Latin American art is finally a prime-time player in the Brave New Digital World.
“We have passed through some kind of threshold culturally in which artists of Latin America or Latin origins are no longer reduced to as much homogenizing,” says Olga Viso, director of Walker Art Center, via e-mail. “More complex and nuanced interpretations…now seem to have more mainstream appeal.” But, she adds, “it feels like it has been a brutally long haul and that there is still a long way to go despite recent progress.”
The boldness of Latin American art was once crammed into a ghetto-like niche where people babbled about “art of the fantastic.” It was a North American and Euro-centric place. Art historians thought gringos knew best.
“This prejudiced and limited understanding of the art of the region wipes out most of the diverse and complex art production in the continent since the beginning of the 20th Century, including abstract geometry and conceptual art,” says Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, chief curator of Museum of Latin American Art , via e-mail.
Gringos missed symbols animating grids in forward-minded Constructivist paintings of Joaquín Torres-García (1874-1949). Born in Uruguay, he fused pre-Columbian art with major 20th Century forms: a brilliant synthesis of Old and New Worlds. In Miami ’s Wynwood Arts District, find his painting at Sammer Gallery. You can also see his art in “Constructive Spirit: Abstract Art in South and North America, 1920s -50s,” now at the Newark Museum. Though a recessionary sea change shrinks world economies and transforms journalism, pioneering artists and curators offer new perspectives. Latin American artists, curators, and scholars reveal diverse ways to interact with the 21st Century global stage.
Miami has a front-row seat to this performance. “America has become the first universal nation on this planet,” Robert Farris Thompson, noted scholar on the African diaspora, once told me. “Particularly in Miami. Miami is teaching the world what it will be like to live in the 21st Century.”
He cited diversity in art by José Bedia, one of Miami ’s famed artists. “Bedia’s right at the forefront of contemporary art and culture…José is teaching us how to move into this multi-ethnic situation. He is at the very least trilingual.” Miami is more than the multilingual city vexing to the rest of the country for its flow of immigrants and proximity to troubled Caribbean, Central and South American countries . This is true despite corrupt politics—hence sly jokes about the city’s “Cuban mafia”—and vulnerable location during hurricane season.
This cultural mix—with vibrant ties to Latin America as well as the Caribbean —has much to show the world. Miami ’s cultural connections, in a word, rock!
“If you look at exhibitions that have dealt with Latin American artists, it’s as if the Caribbean is not part of Latin America,” says Elizabeth Cerejido, artist and curator from Miami who’s seen art in Cuba and Haiti. “We don’t hear a lot about artists who are coming out of Santo Domingo or Haiti, or even Jamaica. Or how the Caribbean affects countries in Latin America."
The Caribbean has often been ignored by art history, just as Latin America was. In Miami , their cultures converge.
In 2009, Cerejido left her home in Little Haiti for Texas. Now assistant curator of Latino and Latin American art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, she told me, “I will be working very closely with Mari Carmen Ramírez, who has single-handedly built the Latin American collection there.” Ramírez has long defied those limiting, “fantastic” views of Latin American art.
In so many ways, the global promise of Latin American art can be clearly seen in Miami.
Miami Art Museum presents “Carlos Cruz Diéz: The Embodied Experience of Color.” Put together by MAM adjunct curator Rina Carvajal, the exhibition looks at Cruz Diéz with new eyes. At long last, this exhibit concentrates on the artist’s early experimentation with color and sensory environments. It highlights his contributions to interactive concerns so vital to artists today. One of Venezuela’s most revered artists, Cruz Diéz has long lived in Paris, and is best known in Europe and Latin America for his pioneering art in the 1960s and 1970s.
A curator for the São Paulo Biennial, Carvajal says, “I think we are in a very different moment.” In this game-changing moment, Latin American artists now show their work everywhere, part of a broad, international art network.
Will Miami soon play a much grander role in that network? Don’t hold your breath. Missed opportunities litter our landscape.
“We have passed through some kind of threshold culturally in which artists of Latin America or Latin origins are no longer reduced to as much homogenizing,” says Olga Viso, director of Walker Art Center, via e-mail. “More complex and nuanced interpretations…now seem to have more mainstream appeal.” But, she adds, “it feels like it has been a brutally long haul and that there is still a long way to go despite recent progress.”
The boldness of Latin American art was once crammed into a ghetto-like niche where people babbled about “art of the fantastic.” It was a North American and Euro-centric place. Art historians thought gringos knew best.
“This prejudiced and limited understanding of the art of the region wipes out most of the diverse and complex art production in the continent since the beginning of the 20th Century, including abstract geometry and conceptual art,” says Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, chief curator of Museum of Latin American Art , via e-mail.
Gringos missed symbols animating grids in forward-minded Constructivist paintings of Joaquín Torres-García (1874-1949). Born in Uruguay, he fused pre-Columbian art with major 20th Century forms: a brilliant synthesis of Old and New Worlds. In Miami ’s Wynwood Arts District, find his painting at Sammer Gallery. You can also see his art in “Constructive Spirit: Abstract Art in South and North America, 1920s -50s,” now at the Newark Museum. Though a recessionary sea change shrinks world economies and transforms journalism, pioneering artists and curators offer new perspectives. Latin American artists, curators, and scholars reveal diverse ways to interact with the 21st Century global stage.Miami has a front-row seat to this performance. “America has become the first universal nation on this planet,” Robert Farris Thompson, noted scholar on the African diaspora, once told me. “Particularly in Miami. Miami is teaching the world what it will be like to live in the 21st Century.”
He cited diversity in art by José Bedia, one of Miami ’s famed artists. “Bedia’s right at the forefront of contemporary art and culture…José is teaching us how to move into this multi-ethnic situation. He is at the very least trilingual.” Miami is more than the multilingual city vexing to the rest of the country for its flow of immigrants and proximity to troubled Caribbean, Central and South American countries . This is true despite corrupt politics—hence sly jokes about the city’s “Cuban mafia”—and vulnerable location during hurricane season.
This cultural mix—with vibrant ties to Latin America as well as the Caribbean —has much to show the world. Miami ’s cultural connections, in a word, rock!
“If you look at exhibitions that have dealt with Latin American artists, it’s as if the Caribbean is not part of Latin America,” says Elizabeth Cerejido, artist and curator from Miami who’s seen art in Cuba and Haiti. “We don’t hear a lot about artists who are coming out of Santo Domingo or Haiti, or even Jamaica. Or how the Caribbean affects countries in Latin America."The Caribbean has often been ignored by art history, just as Latin America was. In Miami , their cultures converge.
In 2009, Cerejido left her home in Little Haiti for Texas. Now assistant curator of Latino and Latin American art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, she told me, “I will be working very closely with Mari Carmen Ramírez, who has single-handedly built the Latin American collection there.” Ramírez has long defied those limiting, “fantastic” views of Latin American art.
In so many ways, the global promise of Latin American art can be clearly seen in Miami.
Miami Art Museum presents “Carlos Cruz Diéz: The Embodied Experience of Color.” Put together by MAM adjunct curator Rina Carvajal, the exhibition looks at Cruz Diéz with new eyes. At long last, this exhibit concentrates on the artist’s early experimentation with color and sensory environments. It highlights his contributions to interactive concerns so vital to artists today. One of Venezuela’s most revered artists, Cruz Diéz has long lived in Paris, and is best known in Europe and Latin America for his pioneering art in the 1960s and 1970s.A curator for the São Paulo Biennial, Carvajal says, “I think we are in a very different moment.” In this game-changing moment, Latin American artists now show their work everywhere, part of a broad, international art network.
Will Miami soon play a much grander role in that network? Don’t hold your breath. Missed opportunities litter our landscape.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Public Art in Miami: Missing the Boat?
How is it that boring and derivative artwork by the alarmingly prolific Romero Britto and others clutter public spaces in Miami?
How is that artcentric cities in the Midwest like Chicago and Des Moines know how to invigorate urban spaces with an engaging mix of greenspace, art museums, architecture, and sculpture by noted contemporary artists?
Why is this not happening in Miami? It is exceptionally hard to understand, especially when we have spectacular public art in the collections of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County. This paradoxical situation is even harder to understand when Art Basel Miami Beach and its satellite art fairs come to town. How can we truly think of our city as a significant art capital when, after these fairs depart, there is not enough civic awareness of these wonderful public art collections, and we still have too many uninspired public artworks cluttering our urban landscape?
This shortcoming is especially noticeable in the winter months, when Miami's already clogged expressways become even more hectic with visitors. Often they come here because they are charmed by our balmy winters. Yes, we are still the beguiling city by the bay "where summer spends the winter," as a tourist brochure once claimed.
Yet Miami is a city of rampant urban sprawl and suburbs so distant from downtown that they encroach on the Everglades. It's not uncommon to hear stories of alligators gobbling up small pets. Miami is a city aspiring to artful sophistication yet it tragically lacks intelligent urban design.
Why don't we have a network of pocket parks thoughtfully placed among the canyons of condos and office towers crowding downtown Miami? This would be a welcome use of greenspace for city dwellers, workers, and pedestrians. These pocket parks could be enriched by significant public art.
Downtown Miami should also be graced by a substantially artful public park, engaging and open to all. If this happens in the Midwest, why not in Miami?
I recently spoke with Dennis Leyva, Art & Entertainment Liasion for Miami Beach Tourism & Cultural Development, about the wonderful public art collections in Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County. We bemoaned the fact that all too often we see visitors to the Arsht Center downtown and travelers at Miami International Airport rush past astoundingly breathtaking works by Barbara Neijna and others. They are too busy trying to reach performances and planes on time to see the art.
But in their haste they miss one of the most memorable and ongoing performances in all of Miami--public art. "It's really an undervalued aspect of our community," says Leyva. He would like to see "more community outreach making people aware of what is around them. It's great public art."
A great idea would be to create a free application for iPhone and Blackberry with information about public art in Miami, with an interactive map like the Google one and a brief description of each artwork. The user, local or visiting, would download the application and have access to the information in a fast, friendly, and easy way. This could let more people learn about the art enlivening our streets, plazas, airport, and cruise terminals. The application could be promoted online and at the airport and cruise terminal.
A truly "killer app" in this case would be if specially-commissioned made-in-Miami music accompanied the information about public art--not to interfere, but to enhance. Perhaps music students at New World School of the Arts could assist?
We are fortunate that our city is graced by public art by contemporary artists like Roberto M. Behar and Rosario Marquardt, Michele Oka Doner, and Wendy Wischer. We also boast the art historical treasure of "Cheval Majeur" by Raymond Duchamp-Villon, on a plaza just steps from two museums and the Main Library.
Each one of these artists is clearly far more talented than the ubiquitous Britto. All the living artists I just mentioned have worked in Miami, a magnet for creativity. Artists like these should be supported with more public art commissions throughout the city. This is a lasting benefit for everyone who comes here to work and play.
These artists deserve more venues and funding for creating public art. Moreover, we must have sufficient funding to care for our outstanding public art, so that aging artwork doesn't decay. Then we all can share and enjoy Miami's artcentric wealth.
At last, we will be the art capital we have always wanted to be. We will not miss the boat on our own bonanza of public art.
How is that artcentric cities in the Midwest like Chicago and Des Moines know how to invigorate urban spaces with an engaging mix of greenspace, art museums, architecture, and sculpture by noted contemporary artists?
Why is this not happening in Miami? It is exceptionally hard to understand, especially when we have spectacular public art in the collections of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County. This paradoxical situation is even harder to understand when Art Basel Miami Beach and its satellite art fairs come to town. How can we truly think of our city as a significant art capital when, after these fairs depart, there is not enough civic awareness of these wonderful public art collections, and we still have too many uninspired public artworks cluttering our urban landscape?
This shortcoming is especially noticeable in the winter months, when Miami's already clogged expressways become even more hectic with visitors. Often they come here because they are charmed by our balmy winters. Yes, we are still the beguiling city by the bay "where summer spends the winter," as a tourist brochure once claimed.
Yet Miami is a city of rampant urban sprawl and suburbs so distant from downtown that they encroach on the Everglades. It's not uncommon to hear stories of alligators gobbling up small pets. Miami is a city aspiring to artful sophistication yet it tragically lacks intelligent urban design.
Why don't we have a network of pocket parks thoughtfully placed among the canyons of condos and office towers crowding downtown Miami? This would be a welcome use of greenspace for city dwellers, workers, and pedestrians. These pocket parks could be enriched by significant public art.
Downtown Miami should also be graced by a substantially artful public park, engaging and open to all. If this happens in the Midwest, why not in Miami?
I recently spoke with Dennis Leyva, Art & Entertainment Liasion for Miami Beach Tourism & Cultural Development, about the wonderful public art collections in Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County. We bemoaned the fact that all too often we see visitors to the Arsht Center downtown and travelers at Miami International Airport rush past astoundingly breathtaking works by Barbara Neijna and others. They are too busy trying to reach performances and planes on time to see the art.
But in their haste they miss one of the most memorable and ongoing performances in all of Miami--public art. "It's really an undervalued aspect of our community," says Leyva. He would like to see "more community outreach making people aware of what is around them. It's great public art."
A great idea would be to create a free application for iPhone and Blackberry with information about public art in Miami, with an interactive map like the Google one and a brief description of each artwork. The user, local or visiting, would download the application and have access to the information in a fast, friendly, and easy way. This could let more people learn about the art enlivening our streets, plazas, airport, and cruise terminals. The application could be promoted online and at the airport and cruise terminal.
A truly "killer app" in this case would be if specially-commissioned made-in-Miami music accompanied the information about public art--not to interfere, but to enhance. Perhaps music students at New World School of the Arts could assist?
We are fortunate that our city is graced by public art by contemporary artists like Roberto M. Behar and Rosario Marquardt, Michele Oka Doner, and Wendy Wischer. We also boast the art historical treasure of "Cheval Majeur" by Raymond Duchamp-Villon, on a plaza just steps from two museums and the Main Library.
Each one of these artists is clearly far more talented than the ubiquitous Britto. All the living artists I just mentioned have worked in Miami, a magnet for creativity. Artists like these should be supported with more public art commissions throughout the city. This is a lasting benefit for everyone who comes here to work and play.
These artists deserve more venues and funding for creating public art. Moreover, we must have sufficient funding to care for our outstanding public art, so that aging artwork doesn't decay. Then we all can share and enjoy Miami's artcentric wealth.
At last, we will be the art capital we have always wanted to be. We will not miss the boat on our own bonanza of public art.
Friday, November 6, 2009
When the Chips Are Down, Miami Plays a Dynamite Hand
Miami has always been a place alluring to folks who dare to dream on a grand scale and place equally grand bets that those dreams will come true. Think of America's Gilded Age titan, Henry Flagler, who slapped the lust for living large into Miami, once a muddy swamp at the turn of the 20th Century. Undaunted by huge challenges, he brought his Florida East Coast Railway to Miami in 1896, paving the way for countless visitors and riches to follow.
At the turn of the 21st Century, the heart of Miami is true to this spectacular tradition. Never mind the gloom and doom pervading the art world, with museums cutting budgets and staff and galleries closing everywhere you look. When the chips are down, leave it to Miami to play with a dynamite hand. As preparations around town gather speed for the arrival of Art Basel Miami Beach and its satellite art fairs, Miami art lovers and artcentric visitors can relish stunning offerings in their midst.
Stopping first in Miami is the traveling show "Guillermo Kuitca: Everything, Paintings and Works on Paper, 1980-2008." Co-organized by the Miami Art Museum and other institutions, it promises to be a remarkable survey of the multi-tasking talents for which this outstanding Argentine artist is known. Kuitca possesses a vibrant flair for melding music and mapmaking, theater and topography. Those of us in Miami merit a special treat: MAM is hosting "Guillermo Kuitca: Everything (else)" at Miami's Freedom Tower. This features his recent art inspired by Wagnerian opera and the dramatic fusion of light, space, and image.
An exquisite architectural landmark, the Freedom Tower offers more art this season with two shows providing incisive looks at the metaphorical and truth-telling powers of photography. "Tetralogy: Lies, Adaptation, Tracing and Duplicity as Identity" explores compelling photography recently created by María Martinez-Cañas. It is curated by Gean Moreno. As both artist and curator have long ties to Miami, the show reveals the city's deeply-rooted talents.
Then there's "Invasion 68 Prague." Documentary street photography by Josef Koudelka explores the historic 1968 week in Prague when Soviets crushed cries for freedom animating Czechoslavakia and the world. With images never seen before, this exhibit is co-produced by Aperture Foundation, Magnum Photos, and the Art Galleries of Miami Dade College. "We found that combining two different forms of photography from Miami and Europe becomes a very interesting mixture during Art Basel," says Jorge Gutierrez of Miami Dade College.
At the Bass Museum of Art is "Where Do We Go From Here? Selections from La Collección Jumex," drawn from the famed Eugenio Lopez Alonso collection in Mexico. Iconic images by Andy Warhol and Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss mingle with internationally-known contemporary art. Co-organized by the Bass with Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, this show is a further example of how the Basel season in Miami becomes a dynamite hand for our city's artcentric natives and visitors. It is co-curated by Bass director Silvia Karman Cubiña. Of course, this much-anticipated show arrives here first.
But as superb art comes and goes from Miami museums in an era darkened by a historically battered economy, one exceptionally bright spot now gleams. This is the opening of the Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz Collection in the city's Design District. Three floors of richly varied art promise to lure art lovers and students long after art fairs depart. Special attention goes to artists with profound ties to Miami: Ana Mendieta and Félix Gonzalez-Torres. This collection, along with its library, is open to the public for free.
It has all the hallmarks of an outstanding community resource, especially in Miami where museums don't have space to show their permanent collections permanently. "I think people do like to look at a permanent collection," says Rosa de la Cruz. "I do not want to do shows. There's no curator here pushing any agenda. I think people are hungry to spend an afternoon looking at art just for the sake of looking at art," she adds. "It is going to make a difference in Miami."
Years pass, yet this is still the same eye-catching story: To make a difference sure to dazzle, people place spectacular bets on Miami.
At the turn of the 21st Century, the heart of Miami is true to this spectacular tradition. Never mind the gloom and doom pervading the art world, with museums cutting budgets and staff and galleries closing everywhere you look. When the chips are down, leave it to Miami to play with a dynamite hand. As preparations around town gather speed for the arrival of Art Basel Miami Beach and its satellite art fairs, Miami art lovers and artcentric visitors can relish stunning offerings in their midst.
Stopping first in Miami is the traveling show "Guillermo Kuitca: Everything, Paintings and Works on Paper, 1980-2008." Co-organized by the Miami Art Museum and other institutions, it promises to be a remarkable survey of the multi-tasking talents for which this outstanding Argentine artist is known. Kuitca possesses a vibrant flair for melding music and mapmaking, theater and topography. Those of us in Miami merit a special treat: MAM is hosting "Guillermo Kuitca: Everything (else)" at Miami's Freedom Tower. This features his recent art inspired by Wagnerian opera and the dramatic fusion of light, space, and image.
An exquisite architectural landmark, the Freedom Tower offers more art this season with two shows providing incisive looks at the metaphorical and truth-telling powers of photography. "Tetralogy: Lies, Adaptation, Tracing and Duplicity as Identity" explores compelling photography recently created by María Martinez-Cañas. It is curated by Gean Moreno. As both artist and curator have long ties to Miami, the show reveals the city's deeply-rooted talents.
Then there's "Invasion 68 Prague." Documentary street photography by Josef Koudelka explores the historic 1968 week in Prague when Soviets crushed cries for freedom animating Czechoslavakia and the world. With images never seen before, this exhibit is co-produced by Aperture Foundation, Magnum Photos, and the Art Galleries of Miami Dade College. "We found that combining two different forms of photography from Miami and Europe becomes a very interesting mixture during Art Basel," says Jorge Gutierrez of Miami Dade College.
At the Bass Museum of Art is "Where Do We Go From Here? Selections from La Collección Jumex," drawn from the famed Eugenio Lopez Alonso collection in Mexico. Iconic images by Andy Warhol and Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss mingle with internationally-known contemporary art. Co-organized by the Bass with Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, this show is a further example of how the Basel season in Miami becomes a dynamite hand for our city's artcentric natives and visitors. It is co-curated by Bass director Silvia Karman Cubiña. Of course, this much-anticipated show arrives here first.
But as superb art comes and goes from Miami museums in an era darkened by a historically battered economy, one exceptionally bright spot now gleams. This is the opening of the Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz Collection in the city's Design District. Three floors of richly varied art promise to lure art lovers and students long after art fairs depart. Special attention goes to artists with profound ties to Miami: Ana Mendieta and Félix Gonzalez-Torres. This collection, along with its library, is open to the public for free.
It has all the hallmarks of an outstanding community resource, especially in Miami where museums don't have space to show their permanent collections permanently. "I think people do like to look at a permanent collection," says Rosa de la Cruz. "I do not want to do shows. There's no curator here pushing any agenda. I think people are hungry to spend an afternoon looking at art just for the sake of looking at art," she adds. "It is going to make a difference in Miami."
Years pass, yet this is still the same eye-catching story: To make a difference sure to dazzle, people place spectacular bets on Miami.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Miami's Accelerating Caribbean Connections
Miami is becoming a hub for contemporary Caribbean art. The city is in a geographically perfect location for this role, especially when Art Basel Miami Beach and its satellite fairs come to town.
At a planning session for Miami ArtTable meetings at Books & Books in Coral Gables that I held this summer, we talked about having a program devoted to this community's accelerating Caribbean connections.
A number of contemporary artists working in Miami have strong ties not only to Cuba but also to islands throughout the Caribbean, and Caribbean artists exhibit increasingly lively contemporary art in Miami.
Think of the recently published book, Miami Contemporary Artists by Paul Clemence and Julie Davidow. This beautiful book features over 100 artists connected to the city's diverse art scene, with ties to the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Many artists in the book do possess a strong Caribbean connection. Can you believe it--artists in the book hail from Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic!
The match between Miami and the Caribbean is MUCH more than one of convenience. Consider parallels between the city and these nearby islands. DREADFUL tropical storms batter both places. Both are places of BEAUTY and BRUTALITY.
Miami's cultural identity is diverse and evolving. Crime and culture are front-page stories here. Located in rough and lovely waters, islands of the Caribbean are also diverse: hard to count and even harder to define. They number about 27 island nations. Major languages are English, Spanish, French, and Dutch. Others are uniquely Caribbean, like Creole in Haiti.
Don't forget that some of these languages are spoken DAILY on Miami streets. And there are more parallels of brutality and beauty. Look on Caribbean streets and you will see distressing reminders of crowded slave ships in the past and glamorous cruise ships in the present.
Another reason why Miami plays an increasingly important role as a cultural hub for the region is that it's difficult for contemporary Caribbean culture to flourish and grow in a central place. Some islands are vexingly remote. Multiple strands of Caribbean art mesh in Miami.
You can encounter exhibits in Miami by artists with ties to contemporary Caribbean art at art fairs, Chelsea Galleria http://www.chelseagalleria.com/ , David Castillo Gallery http://www.davidcastillogallery.com/, Diaspora Vibe Gallery http://www.diasporavibe.net/, Edge Zones http://www.edgezones.org/, Farside Gallery (for info e-mail:farsidegallery@bellsouth.net) and Yeelen Art Gallery http://www.yeleenart.com/
There are MORE places in Miami to find arresting artwork by artists with ties to the Caribbean.
I want Artcentric readers of my blog about the Caribbean to post ideas about these places by responding to this blog. And I want directors of the galleries and non-profit spaces I just listed to respond to this blog by posting exciting news about what they and their artists are doing!
OF COURSE contemporary artists with ties to the Caribbean can respond too!
The time is now, so let's get started! We all know that forces of the contemporary Caribbean are converging in Miami!
At a planning session for Miami ArtTable meetings at Books & Books in Coral Gables that I held this summer, we talked about having a program devoted to this community's accelerating Caribbean connections.
A number of contemporary artists working in Miami have strong ties not only to Cuba but also to islands throughout the Caribbean, and Caribbean artists exhibit increasingly lively contemporary art in Miami.
Think of the recently published book, Miami Contemporary Artists by Paul Clemence and Julie Davidow. This beautiful book features over 100 artists connected to the city's diverse art scene, with ties to the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Many artists in the book do possess a strong Caribbean connection. Can you believe it--artists in the book hail from Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic!
The match between Miami and the Caribbean is MUCH more than one of convenience. Consider parallels between the city and these nearby islands. DREADFUL tropical storms batter both places. Both are places of BEAUTY and BRUTALITY.
Miami's cultural identity is diverse and evolving. Crime and culture are front-page stories here. Located in rough and lovely waters, islands of the Caribbean are also diverse: hard to count and even harder to define. They number about 27 island nations. Major languages are English, Spanish, French, and Dutch. Others are uniquely Caribbean, like Creole in Haiti.
Don't forget that some of these languages are spoken DAILY on Miami streets. And there are more parallels of brutality and beauty. Look on Caribbean streets and you will see distressing reminders of crowded slave ships in the past and glamorous cruise ships in the present.
Another reason why Miami plays an increasingly important role as a cultural hub for the region is that it's difficult for contemporary Caribbean culture to flourish and grow in a central place. Some islands are vexingly remote. Multiple strands of Caribbean art mesh in Miami.
You can encounter exhibits in Miami by artists with ties to contemporary Caribbean art at art fairs, Chelsea Galleria http://www.chelseagalleria.com/ , David Castillo Gallery http://www.davidcastillogallery.com/, Diaspora Vibe Gallery http://www.diasporavibe.net/, Edge Zones http://www.edgezones.org/, Farside Gallery (for info e-mail:farsidegallery@bellsouth.net) and Yeelen Art Gallery http://www.yeleenart.com/
There are MORE places in Miami to find arresting artwork by artists with ties to the Caribbean.
I want Artcentric readers of my blog about the Caribbean to post ideas about these places by responding to this blog. And I want directors of the galleries and non-profit spaces I just listed to respond to this blog by posting exciting news about what they and their artists are doing!
OF COURSE contemporary artists with ties to the Caribbean can respond too!
The time is now, so let's get started! We all know that forces of the contemporary Caribbean are converging in Miami!
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