2008

The most appropriate way to answer an inquiry may probably be formulating a question. One would avoid so many uncomfortable situations like blushing, getting nervous, or (worse) acting as if not finding an intelligent response was not important. “Are you happy?” someone asked me not too long ago, and I didn’t know what to say. But not all questions are there to … +

The artists Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz, known as Guerra de la Paz, have been working as a collaborative unit since 1996. They reside and work in Miami, using the city as a launch pad for a life in art that has an ambitious scope above and beyond the local art milieu. Self-described “outsiders”, they make work scavenged from the … +

Little I really know about the city’s public transportation system, about how it all works, or where it goes, or from where to where. However, Miami has it all: The Metrorail, the Metromover, bus-lines traces. It all make sense, or maybe it doesn’t – thinking on how many people I know that actually make use of public transportation in Miami. Except for … +

It’s a rainy Friday. It’s very difficult to drive on North East 2nd Street because construction workers have designed a new roadway for people to go through. Cars take other routes to make their trip easier.

“Humor, which is the function of wit in any medium, linguistics as well as visual, is the triumph of context, not content, form not image, manner, not message,” says critic Ricardo Pau-Llosa in his essay “Esteban Blanco’s ‘Playing with Dolls.’” Esteban Blanco is the kind of artist who uses his acquired knowledge very wisely for his work.

Michelle Weinberg, Neil Bender and Elisabeth Condon exhibited in a group show at the ArtCenter/SouthFlorida. Creating the imaginary city of Picturopolis was the le motif for these artists to collaborate in a harmonic visual interaction.

There’s been a ship wrecking. The body of a young man appears floating in the waters of the ocean. Is he still alive? His eyes are open, but his face looks pale as if he were almost entering the kingdom of death. Two men peacefully rest on the grass under the sunset. A couple of boys stare at a volcanic eruption while … +

Fans of indie films in Los Angeles know to go to the Nuart. In New York, the Quad Cinema is the movie house for those with a taste for the unique. On Miami Beach, there is a theater dedicated to showing non-commercial movies and much more: the Miami Beach Cinematheque on South Beach. And it’s due to the determination and vision of … +

Leonard Tachmes has one of the coolest gallery spaces in town – three cozy rooms in an old house, with wooden floors and fireplace. That setting happens to be the perfect place to delve even more deeply into the world of interiors, through the large paintings hanging on those walls from one of the most talented painters in town, Jordan Massengale. These … +

Xu Zhen’s ShanghART Supermarket. Art Basel Miami Beach 2007. Xu Zhen’s project for Art Basel Miami Beach 2007 was a full-scale replica of what is alleged to be a proto-typical Chinese convenience store. Yes, one of those 24h little stores that are populated by an eclectic mix of well-known international goods – such as soft drinks, cigarettes and dairy – inter-mingling with … +

Sarkisian uses technology to explore the concept of illusion. His work resembles that of a magician who transforms a tiger into a mouse in front of thousands of perplexed spectators. Although the artist doesn’t present live performances, the actions shown in his video projections may be taken from real life events like driving, swimming, hammering, or walking. The characters captured on his … +

It has been said that art is a reflection of the world and time in which we live in. Parting from this notion, would it be too far-fetched to assume that history could be studied through art? Maybe it would not have been so hard to stay up during fourth period history had our high school text-books been filled with images of … +

The use of technology is commonplace in contemporary artists. More and more we see artists venturing into non-traditional ways of art making, being “new technologies” – namely digital imaging and video, – the most generalized practices. Wendy Wischer is an artist whose work is often based in the use of technology. However, while most of the artists are using it to comment … +

Art in Public Places is a program of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs dedicated to promoting creative art projects with the purpose of improving the visual quality of Miami-Dade County public spaces. For the last 35 years, the outcomes of the program have succeeded in transforming ordinary civic areas into artistic sites that not only have enriched the artistic dimension … +

There are moments when art reaches unexpected dimensions that go far beyond people’s prospects. Sometimes it happens so fast that one can’t even notice it, as when a shooting star crosses the air. Only those who have telescopes or spend too much time looking at the sky are able to see it. Fortunately, we may still have this kind of event within … +

Among all different events that happened during Art Basel Miami Beach 2007, The Cane Art Fair presented by the Department of Art and Art History of the University of Miami became a major success. The fair took place at the UM’s Project Space in the Wynwood Art District, and it featured the works of a great number of faculty members and artist … +

At first, what really impresses about La Galerie Bertin-Toublanc is its ampleness. When visiting the space, one doubts whether this is the biggest art gallery in town or just a palace standing in front of one’s eyes. Rooms are connected through long corridors in which the viewer can see the work of young artists from different parts of the world. The gallery … +