Tara Solomon

Guests at Unix Fine Art in Wynwood last night

One man freed his soul from the prisons of Italian master painters four years ago. One man paints in ribbons and straws and paces by the phases of the moon. One man hijacks Los Angeles billboards to challenge the inane system. More >>

Art Wynwood draws throngs during inaugural.

​View more photos from the grand opening of Art Wynwood here.

The inaugural edition of Art Wynwood opened last night and featured some arresting work to celebrate President's Day weekend.

In the newbie fair's Art Video New Media Lounge, housing 11 works in eight screening rooms, Lindsay Scoggins ranked in at number one with a bullet, with videos in which she created twitchy, chronological works revisiting Reagan's attempted assassination and Kennedy's assassination in eerie fashion.

The compelling collection of videos on display in the section were curated and presented by Grela Orihuela of Miami's Wet Heat Project and also featured works by Monika Bravo, David Antonio Cruz, Teresa Diehl, Guerra de la Paz, Rivane Neueshwander, and others.

Art Wynwood had plenty of gritty offerings on view that included a silicone Damien Hirst blowing his brains out and old school dance hall strumpets ready to kick your teeth out.

Check out some of the works that had the huge crowds abuzz early after the jump.
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Midtown's newest tent pole

​Is the Magic City ready to challenge well-established art capitals around the globe as a cultural destination? Can we convince the world's 1% that there's a sustainable, year-round market here for contemporary art?

Nick Korniloff thinks so. That's why he's debuting the inaugural version of Art Wynwood this weekend. "We are in a cultural growth mode unlike any other city in the country, including New York," he says. "Soon the Wynwood Arts District's name will be rolling off tastemakers' tongues like 'Chelsea' and 'Soho.'"

As director of Art Miami, one of the area's top fairs during Art Basel week, Korniloff has earned the event's critical acclaim as one of the highlights of the busiest weeks of the season. Now, he's ready to see if he can match that buzz beyond Basel, with the help of Wynwood's contemporary arts leaders in a stand-alone event focused on the area's hastening revitalization and distinctly urban flavor.
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Magnus Sigurdarson

where Ali Baba meets Obama

​Magnus Sigurdarson stands on the corner of Ali Baba and Barack Obama Avenues in Opa-locka while holding a cardboard sign that reads, "Occupy My Innocence."

"The 'Other' is in the White House," cracks the Icelandic artist, who has appropriated the Moorish-themed municipality as the conceptual stomping grounds for his show opening at 6 p.m., Friday, February 10 at the Dorsch Gallery in Wynwood.

Sigurdarson plans to exhibit photos and a video piece documenting what he calls his "protest" in front of Opa-locka City Hall. There will also be a rotating camel and computer drawings of scenes inspired by French colonial-era postcards depicting life in a Saharan oasis, nomadic encampments, and camel caravans departing for trade on the Silk Road.

In some of his images, the artist appears at various locales throughout Opa-locka, such as city hall and a train station, holding signs that say, "Occupy My Dreams," "What's in It for Me?" and "Fundamentally Right."
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​Art Wynwood hasn't raised the curtain yet on its inaugural edition, but it has already surpassed Art Basel Miami Beach in at least one category. The spin-off of Art Miami, taking place President's Day Weekend, February 16-20, has announced its exhibitor list of more than 50 galleries and nearly a quarter of participants are local spaces.

That's more than the number of South Florida galleries (which you could count on your fingers) that managed to purchase a toehold at the Miami Beach Convention Center during the past decade of Basel.

With decidedly more of a homegrown flavor, Art Wynwood has corralled 500 artists from 13 countries who will be exhibiting an arsenal of contemporary works from every conceivable genre. On view you'll find paintings, photography, sculpture, video, and new media -- not to mention conceptual and urban street art. Some of the countries represented at the fair include Austria, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
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Second Saturday Madness

​Want to figure out what's addling the collective unconscious? No need to consult a shrink. Just head to Wynwood this weekend for the first Art Walk of the year.

Beginning at 6 p.m. this Saturday, several psychologically freighted new exhibits will riff on unnerving themes. Offerings will explore everything from the anxiety caused by a feeble economy to the harshness of living in contemporary society to notions of the hysterical and sublime.

You can also catch a whiff of the angst-ridden orchestrations of the GOP's top power-grabbers at a pair of shows mining notions of mass manipulation or Cold War annihilation. As the election season heats up, both these exhibits offer a timely reminder of how ultimately it's the public that gets burned by a scorched-earth approach to political campaigning.

Here are our picks for this month's edition of the Second Saturday arts crawl.
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Art Wynwood

​Of the estimated 14 million people that visit Miami each year, about 300,000 of them flock to the Big Mango during President's Day Weekend. And Nick Korniloff is confident that number includes a "culturally and socially savvy art-buying audience."

Korniloff is fair director and partner for Art Wynwood, Art Miami LLC's latest contemporary art fair. Just two months removed from Basel week, the inaugural five-day festival will take place at the 125,000-square-foot Art Miami pavilion in Midtown February 16-20, and will feature about 70 international galleries.

We caught up with Korniloff over the holidays via email and talked about Wynwood's emerging art scene, the International Yacht & Brokerage Show, and the future of Art Miami.
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