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!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Now Is the Time to Clean up Wynwood!
Dear Diary,
Roseanne Barr was right when Johnny Carson ruled, and she's still right. Why is it that women so often clean up the messes that other people, especially men and kids, keep making??
Take the program called "Women in Wynwood," a terrific idea to clean up the not-terribly-tidy streets of Wynwood, recently proposed by Constance and Martin Margulies as well as by Thea Goldman, Rhonda Mitrani, and Nina Johnson of Gallery Diet. It involves hiring the homeless women of Lotus Shelter started by Constance Margulies, for sure a visionary philanthropist in Miami, to operate cleaning carts on the streets of Wynwood. Their initial idea has been to locate 15 women to raise $5,000 each or 30 women to raise $25,000. Each woman could be photographed by a talented photographer, and featured in a marketing campaign as one of the pioneering Women of Wynwood. What a bold idea!!
Why didn't someone think of this earlier? But, hey, I am NOT complaining! Let's count our blessings that at least a few artcentric folks are thinking about ways for Wynwood to clean up its act and be more user-friendly. A former Wynwood gallery director told me that, on Sunday mornings after gallery openings the night before, she often swept up piles of empty plastic cups tossed on the sidewalk near especially popular galleries. Why am I not surprised??
I recall how Roseanne Barr, before she had her own famous TV show, cracked HILARIOUS jokes on the Johnny Carson show about being "just a housewife." As I remember, she said she hated pushing a vacuum cleaner and thought someone should invent one that you could ride, similar to lawn mowers men ride on their mine-is-bigger-than-yours lawns. I also remember that she wondered why everyone in her family seemed to think her uterus was a homing device, because they all came to her looking for things they had lost.
Can I relate!!! For years when my head was stuffed to the max with newspaper deadlines and HEALTHY dinner recipes, I fielded questions about why favorite t-shirts were not washed yet, and where did those school books and must-have shoes hide? And why didn't I know and could I run to the mall and find new ones?? And would I mind picking up cookies and ice cream on the way because there's never anything fun to eat in the house?? Thank goodness those days are over, and my terrific husband and I have raised our kids into wonderful adults!!!
So how about this fab idea for the Women of Wynwood? I wonder who will be the first to step up to the plate (er, cart) to get things going? And will this visionary idea spark even more big ideas to make a difference for Miami's artcentric community?? Never mind that Sarah What's-Her-Name gave up her gig in Alaska. Once again we see that the REAL action is where the grrrlz are!!!
As Thea Goldman wrote in a June 2009 e-mail, "We forsee each cleaning cart being sponsored by various galleries eventually and this program funding itself in the future but it needs to be made tangible and real for Art Basel this year."
WOW!!! So what in the world is Miami waiting for? I want people to send me their ideas inspired by these audacious Women of Wynwood so I can post them on my new ArtCentric BLOG. Come to think of it, this reminds me of a famous verse by Spanish poet Antonio Machado I recently discovered in a school book in the never-totally-neat room of my adult son.
Machado wrote, "Wayfarer, there is no way, you make the way as you go."
Now is the time for Miami to make its own way to an improved Wynwood!! No more delays!!
Roseanne Barr was right when Johnny Carson ruled, and she's still right. Why is it that women so often clean up the messes that other people, especially men and kids, keep making??
Take the program called "Women in Wynwood," a terrific idea to clean up the not-terribly-tidy streets of Wynwood, recently proposed by Constance and Martin Margulies as well as by Thea Goldman, Rhonda Mitrani, and Nina Johnson of Gallery Diet. It involves hiring the homeless women of Lotus Shelter started by Constance Margulies, for sure a visionary philanthropist in Miami, to operate cleaning carts on the streets of Wynwood. Their initial idea has been to locate 15 women to raise $5,000 each or 30 women to raise $25,000. Each woman could be photographed by a talented photographer, and featured in a marketing campaign as one of the pioneering Women of Wynwood. What a bold idea!!
Why didn't someone think of this earlier? But, hey, I am NOT complaining! Let's count our blessings that at least a few artcentric folks are thinking about ways for Wynwood to clean up its act and be more user-friendly. A former Wynwood gallery director told me that, on Sunday mornings after gallery openings the night before, she often swept up piles of empty plastic cups tossed on the sidewalk near especially popular galleries. Why am I not surprised??
I recall how Roseanne Barr, before she had her own famous TV show, cracked HILARIOUS jokes on the Johnny Carson show about being "just a housewife." As I remember, she said she hated pushing a vacuum cleaner and thought someone should invent one that you could ride, similar to lawn mowers men ride on their mine-is-bigger-than-yours lawns. I also remember that she wondered why everyone in her family seemed to think her uterus was a homing device, because they all came to her looking for things they had lost.
Can I relate!!! For years when my head was stuffed to the max with newspaper deadlines and HEALTHY dinner recipes, I fielded questions about why favorite t-shirts were not washed yet, and where did those school books and must-have shoes hide? And why didn't I know and could I run to the mall and find new ones?? And would I mind picking up cookies and ice cream on the way because there's never anything fun to eat in the house?? Thank goodness those days are over, and my terrific husband and I have raised our kids into wonderful adults!!!
So how about this fab idea for the Women of Wynwood? I wonder who will be the first to step up to the plate (er, cart) to get things going? And will this visionary idea spark even more big ideas to make a difference for Miami's artcentric community?? Never mind that Sarah What's-Her-Name gave up her gig in Alaska. Once again we see that the REAL action is where the grrrlz are!!!
As Thea Goldman wrote in a June 2009 e-mail, "We forsee each cleaning cart being sponsored by various galleries eventually and this program funding itself in the future but it needs to be made tangible and real for Art Basel this year."
WOW!!! So what in the world is Miami waiting for? I want people to send me their ideas inspired by these audacious Women of Wynwood so I can post them on my new ArtCentric BLOG. Come to think of it, this reminds me of a famous verse by Spanish poet Antonio Machado I recently discovered in a school book in the never-totally-neat room of my adult son.
Machado wrote, "Wayfarer, there is no way, you make the way as you go."
Now is the time for Miami to make its own way to an improved Wynwood!! No more delays!!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Collaboration among arts groups: Why not?
Memo to Miami museums, The Artsht Center, galleries and arts groups: Celebrate our cultural riches and collaborate with each other! Positive energy begets more positive energy! As grim economic news jolts us along a rocky road from bad to worse to bad again, bold artcentric types, including curator Hans Ulrich Obrist of the Serpentine Gallery in London, hold fast to the value of art. This determination leads them to foster collaboration among the visual and performing arts. For this year's Art Basel in Switzerland, Obrist, Philipe Parreno, and others helped create "Il Tempo del Postino" (Postman Time), hailed in the British press as "The world's first visual arts opera." We have all the talent and terrific ideas in Miami to be our own pioneers in this bold new age for collaboration among the visual and performing arts! How about it, Miami? Are you ready for the challenge? Send me your great ideas and I'll post them on this blog! Don't disappoint me. I have been writing about the amazing creative souls in this visual arts community for years, so I know those ideas are out there! It doesn't cost anything to share your ideas with the community! You never know who may read this and want to help make things happen!
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