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In December, as crowds pour into town for
Art
Basel/Miami Beach, Miami will once again become the darling of the international art set. Art Basel puts Miami in a
brilliant spotlight, but there are other major players contributing to the city’s reputation...all of which hold stunning
examples of contemporary sculpture. And then there are the pioneering galleries that put the Wynwood District on the map...
a handful of impresarios and a loose-knit group of rising sculptors are generating a subterranean dynamism. Among gallery
directors, David Castillo of David Castillo Gallery stands out... Lin Lougheed has founded one of Wynwood's most inovative
venues for sculpture, The Yard@CasaLin...Another patron Saint of Wynwood's emerging talent, sculptor
Alette Simmons-Jimenez, directs the cooperative Artformz. Openings at
Artformz resemble events at an underground club, with flowing drinks and live music, and an edgy crowd
excited by the sometimes raw exhibitions.
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Where Miami seems to lag behind is in public art. Art in Public Places has good ideas, but government has
other priorities. To remedy the situation sculptor Alejandro Mendoza has teamed up with
Simmons-Jimenez to install temporary public art in Bayfront Park. During Art Basel 2008,
10 Giants in the City, 30 foot-tall infltable sculptures wil stand along the downtown waterfront, creating, in Mendoza's
words "a colossal paradigm of an urban nomad." Featured works include Jose Bedia's
enormous white whale devouring a ship and Gustavo Acosta's noduled lighthouse. Each work
is constructed of vinyl, nylon, or plastic that can be inflated and deflated in minutes - appropriately fast, transitory
pieces for a placed blesseed, or cursed, with frenetic impatience and few markers of the past.
As an art capital,
Miami is still deciding what it wants to be when it grows up...But it may turn out to be the moment for Miami's anarchic
new wave of sculpture.
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