MIAMI’S ART
ENERGY SIZZLES (EVEN WITHOUT ART BASEL)
February 25,
2016 by Sandra Hale Schulman
All the
world knows that Miami is the center of the art world when Art Basel Miami
Beach comes to town, bringing with it a carnival of art fairs during the first
week of December every year. But South Florida residents and visitors in all
seasons know that there is a terrifically vibrant art scene in Miami
year-round.
To cite just
three examples of this creative energy, consider these art happenings: a new
garden space and murals at Wynwood Walls; Magnus Sodamin’s explosions of color
transforming a neighborhood; and the red fabric installation at the Bass Museum
annex at the Miami Beach Library.
“Walls of
Change” Goes Big in Wynwood
Miami’s Wynwood Walls project
continues to dominate the regional mural conversation, with the enormous new
Wynwood Walls Garden space as well as a new indoor gallery space woven into the
project’s curatorial theme of “The Art of Collaboration.”
“Walls of
Change,” created for Miami Art Week 2015 in December, features 14 new murals
and installations in the newly completed back courtyard that is Wynwood Walls
Garden. Officially opened in December, the garden space represents another
project spearheaded by Goldman Properties, the real-estate and urban
development company that revitalized/gentrified the area after revitalizing
Soho in New York in the 1970s and South Miami Beach in the 1980s.
Prior to his
appointment in 2010 as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles—a post he
resigned in 2013—curator Jeffrey Deitch co-curated the original exhibition of
murals in the original courtyard space by the restaurant. For Wynwood Walls
Garden, Goldman Properties commissioned the Spanish murals team of Pichi and
Avo to create works on discarded, repurposed metal shipping containers, and
then stacked them on top of each other to create an installation sculpture.
Five U.S.
muralists — Crash, Cryptik, Hueman, Logan Hicks, and Magnus Sodamin — were
chosen to join international artists to create an array of large murals for the
Wynwood Walls Garden space curated by Goldman Properties CEO Jessica Goldman
Srebnick, the daughter of Goldman Properties founder, the late Tony Goldman.
The
international artists included: Case (Germany), el Seed (France), Ernest
Zacharevic (Singapore), Fafi (France), INTI (Chile), the London Police (UK),
Pichi & Avo (Spain), and Alexis Diaz (Puerto Rico).
Coconut
Grove’s award-winning design firm PlusUrbia worked in conjunction with Goldman Properties to
conceptualize the space, carving out angular pathways, slanted planters, and
landscaped nooks for sitting and gazing. It’s a pretty breathtaking space,
solely designed for mural viewing.
Santiago
Eliaschev, director of architecture at PlusUrbia, noted in a press release that
“the idea was to take the Wynwood Walls and Doors concept a step further by
merging art and nature. The garden itself was designed around sight lines and
vantage points to experience the murals. In essence, the garden functions
as a stage where the murals are the protagonists. It’s a serene place to relax
in the shade, a retreat from the concrete and asphalt.”
According to
the Real Deal
website, the Wynwood Walls Garden could soon be home to a restaurant or other
retail space, which would join the popular Goldman family eateries flanking the
original Wynwood Walls: Joey’s Italian Café and Wynwood Kitchen &
Bar.
For now,
though, the space is open to the public, now free from Art Basel and
Miami Art Week traffic and tourists.
“Wynwood is
about exploration and discovery as much as it is edgy and unrefined,"
Eliaschev added. "We incorporate all these elements into an urban
landscape, an oasis that enhances the way you experience art.”
“In whatever
way this space is used,” he concluded, “we hope people can appreciate and
experience how art and architecture and landscape can be combined to create a
unique place.”
