Miami News Blog

​Today's photo comes from MigRodz's Flickr. If you'd like to see your photo here join our Flickr group.

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Updated: I received an awful lot of e-mails from interested people, but it looks like it will go to the first to contact me: Nelson from Urban Real Estate in the Warehouse Distrrict. Thanks for playing!

For Art Basel, Brooklyn photographers James and Karla Murray brought to Miami an awesome concept that included recruiting talented graffiti artists to do their thing on to-scale photos of extinct old-school storefronts.

The art hordes have evacuated our city, but one artifact remains from the Murrays' "Graffiti Gone Global" show: a 12-by-8-foot "storefront," pictured above, adorned with original artwork from Japanese artist Shiro, Puerto Rican Sofia Maldonado, and New Yorker Billi Kid. The piece is still inside a showroom at 3252 NE First St. in midtown Miami -- but the showroom's owners have told the Murrays it has to be removed by the end of the week or it will be destroyed. The photographers haven't found anybody who can take the massive artwork.

Continue reading " Updated: One Giant Art Basel"...

Tags: Art Basel, Graffiti Gone Global, Jim and Karla Murray, MOM and POPism

Géza Szöllősi Cow II

​We know Art Basel wrapped up five days ago, which translates to approximately two decades in "blog time," but that's one of the problems with covering an event like Art Basel for a blog isn't it? The pressures of a non-stop deadline doesn't give you the luxury of digesting what you've seen, and there's so much to be seen that there's no way, unless you forgo sleep and adopt some serious stimulant habit, that you're going to be able to blog about it all. 

This work was made entirely of split color pencils.

​If you're not afraid of a little color, and we mean that in almost all senses of the word, Pulse Art Fair was for you. With a strong commitment to new works and contemporary artists, Pulse gives you a window into the mind of young artists. And what you'll find, more often than not, is a subversive, technicolor dreamscape.

Mac Premo's Making Stuff Is Totally Gay

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​There was plenty of imported NY snatch traipsing around Miami for Basel, but perhaps the most famous receptacle of naughty body parts designed to give you pleasure was the aptly named The Box. Straight from the Lower East Side and towing a reputation for providing some of the most naughty, avant-garde entertainment that can make the most jaded New Yorker cream with (cleverly disguised) joy.

We'd already seen a similar Big Apple show in Spiegelworld, and being such a huge hit, it wasn't a huge surprise that The Box was one of the most buzzed-about nightlife events of Basel. Buzz because of the promised taboo nature of the performances (burlesque, aerialists, contortionists, etc), but just as much chatter because of the steep $100 general admission. I guess raunch knows no recession. Hell, I know raunch knows no recession because people packed Nikki Beach for The Box's entire three-day run.

Dan Attoe's I'm Stealing Your ideas at Peres Projects

​Congratulations, Miami, you've survived another Art Basel. Riptide dropped by the main fair  one final time late yesterday afternoon. Galleries had put out some new works since opening day, while some gallerists were literally counting their revenue, reportedly up from last year. That's not surprising, considering much of the work looked like it was meant to sell. Video works, which hit a peak a few years ago, were rare this time. Interactive works and anything burgeoning on "performance" were rarer. Surprisingly, even photo works seemed sparse. Instead, the galleries relied on attention-attracting 2-D works and sculptures.

After part one, here are a few more of our favorites from Art Basel Miami Beach 2009.

Cordon Cheung, Neon Shadows, 2009 at Jack Shainman Gallery

​The mediums listed for this painting included The Financial Times as the painting was made over stock listings. It makes us wonder, if newspapers, in their traditional form, died, how would artists react?

via Miami-Dade Police Department

One of the stolen paintings, by Albert Gleizes (1914), valued at $1.4 million, according to police.

​A good lesson for Art Basel-goers: If you try to get millions in art for a buck, a cup of coffee, and a hastily brandished firearm, you're going to have some trouble with the fuzz.

Miami-Dade Police have arrested a local man accused of stealing millions of dollars in paintings at gunpoint Tuesday -- but they have yet to track down the missing artwork.

via Miami-Dade Police Department

The suspect, Jorge Alberto Gonzalez.

​Jorge Alberto Gonzalez, a 47-year-old Southwest Dade resident, was arrested late Wednesday and charged with two felonies, including the alleged theft of ten paintings worth more than $1 million.

Here's how it went down:

On Monday, Gonzalez made contact with a local art owner named Jorge Zaragozi and his dealer, Gustavo Grande Nuñez.

Nuñez showed Gonzalez a large collection of paintings and negotiated the sale of ten pieces for $985,000 -- including the painting by Albert Gleizes pictured above, which is valued at $1.4 million, says Det. Rebecca Perez, a Miami-Dade Police spokeswoman.

The two men met again, on December 1 around 1 p.m., and loaded the paintings into Gonzalez's car. The plan was to drive to his office, where he'd pay Nuñez for the artwork.

Nick Cave Soundsuit, 200 at Jack Shainman Gallery

​Art Basel Miami Beach is perhaps one of the most overwhelming events modern culture has to offer, and the rearranged layout sure doesn't help make it feel like any less of a bizarre labyrinth through multimillion dollars' worth of contemporary art.

It would be futile to pick some sort of narrative to string everything together, so instead we'll highlight a few of our favorites this week.

Continue reading " Highlights From Art Basel 2009:"...

Tags: Art Basel Miami Beach

Banana Republican kicked off his Art Basel festivities at the opening of Primary Flight's Blue

Francisco Alvarado

Iggy Pop's man boobs attract a crowd.

Print For Space inside Art Center South Florida on Lincoln Road. 

Photo by Ian Witlen

Work by Miami's Jen Stark. Click here to view more photos from this slideshow.

​One complaint about Art Basel: Local artists and galleries are given few opportunities to showcase their work. The only fair that has proven it values Miami's artistic community is Scope.

In this year's catalog, [former] Miami Mayor Manny Diaz welcomes the fair right up front. In addition, local galleries Arune 5 Art, Hardcore Art Contemporary Space, Gallery Diet and Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art were invited to exhibit. Add to that the return Karelle Levy's Krel 2 Go and locally driven performance space, Sweatshoppe, and market, Covet Garden, and it becomes clear the city is represented.

Photo by Tim Elfrink

​There's a reason David Lynch long ago joined the small pantheon of adjective-ized American artists alongside Hitchcock, Kubrick and Bon Jovi. (What? You've never heard a Bon Jovian song?)

The director's tightrope walk between macabre and mundane was plastered all over the walls of OHWOW last night in a show that, shockingly, was Lynchian to the max.

Eerily lit young women bled into tightly trimmed suburban grass. Smartly dressed '50s family units gathered around a Thanksgiving table serving a giant, terrified man's head. Men in tighty whities fled police officers armed with garden hoses.

The impossible to purchase collaboration between Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse -- called "Dark Night of the Soul," like the show -- only added to the Blue Velvet-aping feeling of unease. With guest vocals from the Flaming Lips and Frank Black, the tunes often struck a discordantly upbeat tone.

Click through for more photos from the show and OHWOW's other It Ain't Fair exhibits -- featuring the likes of Neck Face, Agathe Snow, and Julia Chang.

Art Log Live is a social site, bringing Art Basel to you one tweet at time.

​Art Basel has swooped in along with those denizens of the art world, and there's a nifty way to keep up with it all in real time at Art Log Live (@artlog).  The site, which officially launches today, offers a hashtag for every major Art Basel fair, as well as pop-up windows with dates, locations and descriptions.  There's also a Google map pinpointing events.

The main hashtag is #artbasel, which appears in a search window.  Follow it and you can be in two places at once, at least virtually.  Hopefully people will tweet insider dirt from the ultra exclusive parties for the benefit of the riff-raff who can't afford paintings or cover charges.

Folks who don't Twitter can contribute to the buzz by sending text messages to 41411.

Though not a work of art, a hashtag is a thing of social media beauty.  Being able to follow conversations about Art Basel on Twitter could lead to some networking among art lovers who haven't yet met in real life.  If you're an armchair art enthusiast, you'll know, at the very least, who's saying what about Art Basel without actually having to schlep anywhere.And you might even make a decision about attending an event based on Twitter.

Consider this the video counterpart to yesterday's review of Design Miami/ 2009. We still recommend you head out for yourself, but in the meantime enjoy OK Go's laser guitar performance, designer Maarten Baas's human-powered clockwork (that's the man himself opening the cabinet), and other assorted bits of fancy from the fair through the power of FlipCam and YouTube.

​Last year it was a portrait of then President-elect Obama that was the main focus of Dietch's project Art Basel booth. This year it's the King of Pop Michael Jackson. Painted by Kehinde Wiley, who's work usually puts hip-hop youth in the context of classical Royal portraiture, the piece was actually commissioned by Jackson himself. Unfortunately Jackson died before he could give his input, but Wiley finished it anyway. It's being displayed for the first time at Basel.

Of course, it wasn't the only Michael Jackson piece at the fair. Yvon Lambert also presented two works, Gold Bubbles and Silver Bubbles, by artist Jonathan Monk. (That picture is after the jump.) Plus we wouldn't be too surprised if we saw more Jackson-inspired artwork at the satellite fairs.

We'll have the rest of our initial perception of Basel up in the morning. We're understandably exhausted at the moment.

All photos by Ian Witlen. Check out the full slideshow here.

​During a week when unchecked imagination runs wild and art comes close to scrambling your brain, Design Miami/ always refreshingly mixes things up by showcasing work with at least somewhat of a foundation based in function. Though the fair's Aranda\Lasch-designed tent seemed a but smaller than years past, the fair still gives the delightful impression of wandering through a Martian version of a 2045 Pottery Barn store.

This year's designer of the year, Maarten Baas, steals the show. It's not often a spoiler alert can be applied to a design fair, but if you don't want ruined the whimsy of coming across some of his creations, perhaps skip to the next paragraph. Though there are pieces from many of his trademark furniture series on display, the highlight is his ongoing work with clocks. Baas keeps not one but two people locked in cabinets. Each one has the duty of manually changing the time on a clock, one digital, one analog. One side of the cabinet shows the timepiece, while the other side features a porthole through which spectators can watch the timekeeper at work.

Art Basel week Miami 2009 is all about music and street art. The "Primary Flight" exhibit is fucking it up all over Wynwood, and so is Tony Goldman's public art project Wynwood Walls, produced in concert with Deitch Projects of New York. Galleries on the Beach and in the city of Miami are taking the form seriously, and independent artists from Dade County and around the world are and will be illegally leaving their marks all over town for Basel week to represent in front of Scope, Pulse, Art Miami, Design Miami, Aqua, Photo Miami, Sculpt Miami, Red Dot, Art Asia, Art Basel, Littlest Sister, Fountain, and the many other art fairs.



The video above is of Shepard Fairey and his team of glue techs hanging posters last night around 8 for the Wynwood Walls public street art exhibition, next to Joey's Wynwood Modern Italian Café on NW Second Avenue between 25th and 27th streets. The Fairey piece deals with human rights and standing up for them.

Here are some sneak-preview images of some of the other walls that are part of the project in progress.

​Art Basel has a funny way of making us feel like we're outsiders in our own town. Traffic is horrible. Parking even moreso. The line at your favorite Cuban restaurant (even if that happens to be Pollo Tropical) gets filled with hoity-toity Europeans trying to work in a little "authentic Miami experience." That chick who knows that guy who can always get you into that place all of a sudden can't. Things can get so exhausting even for those of us who like art, that halfway through Basel week last year, we found ourselves contemplating an escape to Fort Lauderdale. And we never want to go to Fort Lauderdale!

So listen, if you live in the South Beach or the Wynwood/Design District/Midtown areas and are sick of pretending you know the difference between a Rauschenberg and a Rosenquist for one week a year, then get out! Get out! Get out while you still can!

Seriously. Put your place up for rent for the week on Craigslist. Some desperate soul will pay enough to finance your getaway, then get yourself, and more importantly your car out of here.

Luckily our esteemed Riptide travel department has come up with five suggestion of where you should go. Keep in mind these suggestions also work perfectly for New Year's Eve, Urban Beach Week and Winter Music Conference:

1. Tour de 'Burbs
Chances are if you live in an area affected by Basel-itis you haven't been to any of South Florida's fine suburbs in years. There are wonderful, beautiful places like Cutler Bay, Palmetto Estates, Goulds, Kendall, Kendall West and Kendale Lakes! Truth be told Riptide isn't sure what's out there. Probably some Wal-Marts ...we went to a Steak'n'Shake somewhere out there once. That was pretty good. We've even heard rumors that there's such a thing as "free parking."

2. Rehab
This suggestion goes out to our South Beach pals especially. Yes you. We saw you recently. You probably don't remember. You were so wasted they wouldn't even let you into Club Deuce. You were heading home with someone we're pretty sure isn't your preferred sex. And he looked like the age of soomeone with a medicine chest full of Medicare-supplied goodies in pill form. Maybe that was the reason. Maybe check into a detox for a few days. Work out a few of your personal problems (we're sure your dad actually loved you, he probably just didn't know how to show it). And be back in time to have a very sober New Year.

Courtesy of David Lynch/O.H.W.O.W.

​Most people know quixotic movie director David Lynch for his Academy Award-nominated films like Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man. But Lynch is also an accomplished visual artist who brings the same surreal, dream-like imagery and deadpan irony that are a staple of his films to his art work.

Also known for his quirky collaborations with actors, the iconoclastic auteur recently teamed up with sonic visionary Danger Mouse and rock recluse Sparkehorse for a project called "Dark Night of the Soul."

Their groundbreaking union has resulted in a full-length album and illustrated book with hypnotic photographs by Lynch, over 50 of which will be on view next week during Art Basel at local alt haunt, O.H.W.O.W. (3100 NW 7th Avenue, Miami).

The exhibition opens with a reception Wednesday, December 2, at 8 p.m. and Lynch's haunting imagery will be amped up by the accompanying soundtrack which also includes vocals from Flaming Lips, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega and many others.


Seven limited edition prints of each of Lynch's photographs will be available for purchase.

Jim Drain

​Beginning December 1, Jim Drain of Bas Fisher Invitational, British artist Graham Hudson, and I are co-curating a project inside Design Miami (where my wife works) called The Brief Happy Life of Workshop Workshop. Here's the press release, which I wrote, so I guess it's a press release in the literal sense of a "release from the press." Stop by and lend some content if you come by the fair.

Workshop Workshop, a factory and salon created by artist Jim Drain, poet P. Scott Cunningham, and sculptor Graham Hudson, produces zines that respond to Design/Miami itself--its participants, objects, conversations, histories, narratives, suggestions and shapes. Even the detritus of the tent's construction has been put to use by Hudson, who is in the act of constructing the space using leftover lumber, rubber, plastic, furniture--anything the fair and the city (the larger fair) has cast off. In Workshop Workshop, physical and metaphysical byproducts are recycled and put to use, creating an environment, a process, and a series of work that represents the heightened interplay that occurs in Miami each December, and creates a locus for collaboration.

Drain, Cunningham and Hudson will draw from a rotating--and ever-expanding--crew of local and international artists, designers and writers, in order to produce as many zines as it can during the length of fair, with as diverse a range of content as possible.

zine [zeen]

1. An abbreviation of the word fanzine, or magazine
2. A handmade journal, with small circulations and hyperlocal aesthetics, that maximizes the two-dimensional intersection of image and text, using both original and appropriated content.
3. Any self-published work of minority interest reproduced via photocopier.

Completed zines cost $5.00 each or can be bartered for intellectual property.

Proceeds will be donated to two local non-profits, Bas Fisher Invitational, an artist-run exhibition space, and the University of Wynwood, a literature advocacy organization.

Being one of the premiere art festivals of the year, not just any Joe Blow can show during Art Basel. You'd need connections, talent, or...a pack of markers, a glue gun, and some stray sequins. This year, the Scope Art Show has opened up their grand ol' doors to the OMNI Board of Tourism and invited them to invite you to design a bit of something to appear on their giant T-Shirt Wall. As a part of Covet Garden -- a marketplace of handmade goods, books, and live projects curated by Daria Brit Shapiro, Karelle Levy, and Andrew Lockhart -- the wall allows space for 100 one-of-a-kind shirts that show off style, Miami pride, or whatever the hell you want it to.

T minus one until Turkey Day, but the true date of anticipation is still a week away, Art Basel's kickoff -- December 2! There are events popping off from the Gables all the way up to Aventura, and if you think your head is spinning from all the Facebook invites clogging up your inbox, imagine how we feel. A wise man, whose name we forgot, once told us that the only way to deal with a lot of work is to, er, get working. SO, we've compiled a few lists of the must-hit events during Basel. They're all works in progress, so checking back would be great for your weekend and awesome for our pageviews so refresh, refresh, refresh!

Click here for music and parties.

Here for alllll the galleries, festivals, and free wine fests.

And here for a frequently updated resource of breaking news, even more events, and exclusive interviews.

There's no way that you'll get to them all, so check back with us after it's all over for recaps and slideshows that'll make you regret getting blazed and couch surfing the entire weekend, bro.

Photo by David Castor

​Every now and then you just have to let the press release speak for itself, as is the case with this year's ART BURN fair in Wynwood (123 NW 23rd Street). Setting off this Thursday, December 3, ART BURN bills itself as an "International Contemporary Art Expo and Immolation" and "the most combustible art fair in the world." But seriously, just hear it from them. I can't top this writing:

"ART BURN, the most combustible art show in the world, will combine an international selection of original art with fire. Original works on canvas, wood and paper by a selection of more than three dozen international artists will be displayed and then flambeed in Miami on the evening of Thursday, December 3, 2009 at sunset. The exhibition/grilling, curated by NYC artist El Celso, will take place in the Wynwood Arts District, within walking distance of Miami's lesser contemporary art fairs. An exclusive selection of more than three dozen exceptional pieces by the hottest renowned artists and sizzling, cutting-edge newcomers will be displayed from 1pm until sundown. After the brief exhibition, all of these original works will be burned for the public's viewing pleasure. Nothing is for sale."

Kingsford charcoal is even listed as an event sponsor. (Once you latch onto a theme, take all the way to the end.) Read another write-up of it here.

Not sure how good the art will be, but at the very least, I've had this same idea walking through some of the tent fairs in recent years. Bring your marshmellows and Britto sketches.

Koudelka used a by-stander's watch to document the exact time Soviet forces invaded

​Often you have to look past the white tents and convention centers for the best work being shown during Basel week. Case in point, Invasion 68 Prague, a little show at the Miami Freedom Tower (600 Biscayne Boulevard) that's easy to overlook.

Put together by Miami-Dade College and the Aperture Foundation in New York, Invasion 68 Prague is an exhibition of the photography of Josef Koudelka, who documented the 1968 invasion of Prague by Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces. The roughly sixty images capture the street-level perspective of a key moment in the 20th Century and many of them have never been exhibited before. More important than some collage by a kid who just graduated art school? Yeah, probably.

The opening reception is Tuesday, December 1 at 6 - 8 p.m. on the first floor at the Freedom Tower. The exhibition runs until February 6, 2010.

via Perofrma

​"The Black Factory," an art instillation of wheels, will be rolling into town next week. The brainchild of William L. Pope, the Factory invited people to bring objects that represent "blackness" to the truck. Many of the projects are then broken down and resold in the truck's gift shop.  Other projects include Eduardo Abaroa's "Aierel Diary," in which free parasailing rides are offered, but the parachutes used must have the day of the week writen on the back, "as if one had to be reminded of the day of the week during vacation." Jeez, art with the wit of a Ziggy cartoon. 

​In a move that would surely tickle its founder Andy Warhol, Interview Magazine will be curating the Mondrian South Beach's luxury vending machine during Art Basel. 

​The work of Friends With You has already redefined "absurdly cute," and through collaborations with Kid Robot and Memobots the duo of Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III have gently expanded their burgeoning design empire into retail. Now, they're set to open their own flagship boutique in the heart of the Design District.

Their new brick and mortar outpost, to be located at 3930 NE 2nd Avenue Suite 202, is scheduled to open Tuesday, December 1, during Art Basel week with a host of brand new limited edition products, including clothes, toys, prints, and fine art. Sam and Tury themselves will be on hand for a signing at 6pm, and all attendees will receive a free Super Malfi with purchase of any other product.

Riptide is super excited to see FWY further stake their claim as an artsy force to be reckoned with in the Magic City, and can only hope one day they overtake the dark overlord Britto as Miami's signature artist. They've already installed the playground at Aventura Mall, but seriously how great would it be to see a giant Malfi outside of some shopping center instead of another Britto sculpture of a beach ball? How many of those do we really need? And maybe they could even re-design the uniforms at M.I.A. Natacha Seijas' maid would be lucky to wear some Friends With You.

It's not often you get to see a curated show featuring the likes of Richard Prince, Jules de Balincourt, Shepard Fairey, Kenny Scharf, and KAWS, but it's not often that Lance Armstrong comes calling on the art world. 

Logan Fazio

You never knew what would pop out of those containers.

​The large orange shipping containers that find themselves filled with artwork just feet from the beach every year have become a trademark of Art Basel Miami Beach, but they won't return this year.

As part of a reorganization of the fair, the emerging galleries and artists relegated to Collins Park this year will be moved to the center of the exhibition hall. Instead, the Art Positions area will feature a "three-dimensional environment" designed by multimedia artist Pae White. The so-called social space will feature discussions, concerts, and performances.

Art Positions, especially on opening night, has more of a party atmosphere than the often deathly serious mood at the convention center. Combined with the unique aspects of showing inside a container, it often led to a bit more levity that might be overshadowed inside the convention center.

The fair's main layout in the Miami Beach Convention Center will also be reworked, and galleries will now have larger booths. You might take that to mean there will be fewer galleries in attendance, and in fact about 60 of last year's exhibitors won't make the return trip. But Art Basel officials tell ARTINFO the number of exhibitors will actually increase due to new galleries participating.

Last year, brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana had more funky wicker pieces than a Boca yard sale and slaughtered more stuffed animal designs than Lady Gaga's wardrobe at Design Miami for their stint as Designer of the Year. Following in their footsteps is 31-year-old Dutch designer Maarten Baas. Let's take a look at some of his work, shall we?

​As part of the award, Baas will design a site-specific installation for the tent. Dezeen has some pictures of Baas working on the project. You'll be able to see the final result December 1, when Design Miami opens.



In April, Baas was busy keeping time with a "Real Time" exhibit in Milan. This video from Dezeen showcases his Analog Digital Clock. The setup is like a digital clock, but instead of electronics changing the time, Baas himself does it from behind the display by painting over and wiping clean the glass. He also showcased Sweeper Clock, in which time is told by a horde of broom carriers sweeping away rubbish.

F**k yeah!

​​The American designer is dead. We didn't read the obituary, but apparently there aren't many designers of note to be found not only in the Unites States but also across the Caribean, Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America.