Out in Miami Beach—Sand, Sea, Art and Architecture

 Tavares Strachan, We Belong Here, 2018, at the entrance to Faena Forum, designed by OMA Rem Koolhaas, in Miami Beach
 

By PAUL LASTER, October 2021

Traveling to Florida to experience Miami Beach Open House, an innovative artist residency program filling vacant Miami Beach storefronts with workspaces, studios, exhibition spaces and multi-disciplinary performances, independent curator Renée Riccardo and I secured the Penthouse suite at the historical Hotel Croydon before delving into an enjoyable mix of sand, sea, art and architecture during our three-day stay. 

After perusing the view from our room’s extended terrace, we hit the beach, took a dip in the ocean and soaked up the sun. The next day we walked down Collins Avenue to the Bass Museum of Art, where we saw Rafael Domenech and Ernesto Oroza’s art and design-oriented Hialeah Eléctrica – Metavector exhibition, the colorful Open Storage: Selections from the Collection & Works on Loan show, The Willfulness of Objects playful collection presentation, Pascale Marthine Tayou’s digital Welcome Wall, and works by Sarah Morris and Sterling Ruby in the museum’s inner court and Ugo Rondinone, Lawrence Weiner and Najja Moon in the surrounding realm of Collins Park.

 Installation view of Pascale Marthine Tayou, Welcome Wall, 2015 at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach

Going deeper into South Beach, we visited one of the Miami Beach Open House sites at 644 Collins Avenue, where the Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative were presenting Orlando Estrada’s trippy installation The Infinite Vision in the Ethereal Rainbows Swarming Behind My Eyeballs Reveals a Beacon. Created during a month-long residency with Waterproof Miami, the centerpiece of the show was a rotating panorama addressing Miami’s future slippage into the sea. Referencing the artist’s Puerto Rican roots through the construction of miniature homes made from recycled materials, alongside 3D printed elements and such organic materials as coconut fiber and seashells, the installation offered a surreal vision of the future.

Nearby, artist Chris Friday organized a pop-up retail shop presentation titled Yard Sale X Lucy St in The Wolfsonian’s museum store. Displaying works made exclusively by artists of color on both sides of an oversized white picket fence and painted upcycled tables and a dresser, the imaginative project expressly referenced sounds, textures and visual incarnations of Blackness.

  Damien Hirst, Golden Myth, 2015 at Faena Hotel in Miami Beach 

On our final day we checked out the art and architecture of the Faena District and then walked further on Collins Avenue to meet with Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Manager Brandi Reddick to tour the Miami Beach Convention Center, home to Art Basel in Miami Beach. We viewed the latest additions to the building and the city’s Public Art Collection, including Franz Ackermann dynamic abstraction interpreting daily life in a beach community, Ebony G. Patterson’s colorful collage referencing youth culture within disenfranchised communities, Sanford Biggers’ altered quilt addressing issues of the past that are historically missing yet obviously there and Ellen Harvey’s mural-sized view of modern day Miami and Miami Beach in relation to the mythical lost City of Atlantis.

After one more stroll on beach, we said “Goodbye” to The Magic City and headed back to New York, where we may not have the same immediate access to sand and sea, but joyfully do have our fair share of art. WM 

 Miami Beach Lifeguard Tower, design by William Lane
 

Miami Beach Lifeguard Tower, design by William Lane

Miami Beach
 

Hotel Croydon in Miami Beach
 

Penthouse Suite at the Hotel Croydon in Miami Beach
 

Penthouse Terrace at the Hotel Croydon in Miami Beach
 

Penthouse Terrace at the Hotel Croydon in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Art Outside (Ugo Rondinone) at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Rafael Domenech and Ernesto Oroza, Hialeah Eléctrica – Metavector, 2020 at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Rafael Domenech and Ernesto Oroza, Hialeah Eléctrica – Metavector, 2020 at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Rafael Domenech and Ernesto Oroza, Hialeah Eléctrica – Metavector, 2020 at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

 Installation view of Open Storage: Selections from the Collection & Works on Loan at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Open Storage: Selections from the Collection & Works on Loan at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Open Storage: Selections from the Collection & Works on Loan at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Open Storage: Selections from the Collection & Works on Loan at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

 Installation view of The Willfulness of Objects (Cerith Wyn Evans and Haegue Yang) at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of The Willfulness of Objects (Allora & Calzadilla and Mika Rottenberg) at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

 Installation view of The Willfulness of Objects (Lara Favaretto) at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach

 Installation view of The Willfulness of Objects (Tavares Strachan and Pedro Reyes) at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of The Willfulness of Objects (Xaviera Simmons and Paola Pivi) at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach

Installation view of The Willfulness of Objects (Abraham Cruzvillegas) at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Art Outside (Lawrence Weiner) at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

 Installation view of Sarah Morris and Sterling Ruby at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Najja Moon, Your Mommas Voice in the Back of Your Head, 2021 at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach
 

View from the Penthouse Terrace at the Hotel Croydon in Miami Beach
 

View from the Penthouse Terrace at the Hotel Croydon in Miami Beach
 

Orlando Estrada, Fire Painting #1, 2021 presented by Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative at 644 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach
 

 Installation view of Orlando Estrada, The Infinite Vision in the Ethereal Rainbows Swarming Behind My Eyeballs Reveals a Beacon, 2021 presented by Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative at 644 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach
 

Detail of Orlando Estrada, The Infinite Vision in the Ethereal Rainbows Swarming Behind My Eyeballs Reveals a Beacon, 2021 presented by Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative at 644 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Orlando Estrada, Mermaid Ivory, 2021 presented by Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative at 644 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach
 

 Detail of Orlando Estrada, The Infinite Vision in the Ethereal Rainbows Swarming Behind My Eyeballs Reveals a Beacon, 2021 presented by Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative at 644 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach
 

Founder Micky Wolfson and Donors of The Wolfsonian in Miami Beach
 

 Tiles of the façade of the Norris Theater, Norristown, Pennsylvania, built in 1929-30 in the entrance of The Wolfsonian in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Yard Sale X Lucy St, curated by Chris Friday, at The Wolfsonian in Miami Beach
 

Installation view of Yard Sale X Lucy St, curated by Chris Friday, at The Wolfsonian in Miami Beach
 

Miami Beach
 

 Faena House, designed by Foster + Partners, in Miami Beach
 

Studio Job, Tree of Life, 2016 at Faena Forum in Miami Beach
 

 Juan Gatti, Ciencias Naturales, 2015 at Faena Hotel in Miami Beach
 

Juan Gatti, Ciencias Naturales, 2015 at Faena Hotel in Miami Beach
 

The historic Versailles Hotel undergoing a renovation designed by architect Kengo Kuma to become the Aman Hotel and Residences in Miami Beach

 Franz Ackermann, About Sand, 2018 at the Miami Beach Convention Center
 

Ebony G. Patterson, …as the garden secrets a swarm of monarchs feast. ..a john crow awaits a carcass’ fall while scavengers gather to feast below, as we dig between the cuts…below the leaves…beneath the soil, 2019 at the Miami Beach Convention Center
 

Sanford Biggers, Somethin’ Close to Nothin’, 2019 at the Miami Beach Convention Center
 

  Ellen Harvey, Atlantis, 2019 at the Miami Beach Convention
 

Ellen Harvey, Atlantis, 2019 at the Miami Beach Convention
 

Renée Riccardo and Paul Laster saying Goodbye to Miami Beach