For Miami artist Franky Cruz, art is more than something you stroll past in a gallery or gawk at in a museum. It’s a vital part of life as we know it. Without it, nothing would work properly.
With his curly mass of hair and a laid-back attitude, Sammy Gonzalez entrances audiences through the sounds of his guitar strings, flying faster than heart palpitations. The emotion, the harmonic minors, and the undulating pace — it’s all part of Gonzalez’s style.
Asif Farooq, a contemporary artist and expert craftsman from Miami, is creating a life-size Soviet-era jet made entirely from paper and glue. So, yeah, you could say he doesn’t exactly shy away from a meticulous art project.
Watching Antonia Wright’s Are You OK? is uncomfortable. As she weeps on the street behind what used to be the Miami Art Museum, people walk by indifferently, maybe stealing a brief glance. A man hovers on the left side of the frame but does nothing.
The MasterMind Awards submissions have been judged. The finalists have been chosen. Now it’s time to reveal who will take home New Times’ artist grants — and to party in the process. New Times’ Artopia, presented by Miracle Mile Downtown Coral Gables, is your chance to mix, mingle, munch, move, and more. The event will feature a lineup filled with fun and interactive culture, from live music to art, performance, and beyond.
Calling all artists, filmmakers, choreographers, musicians, and other creatives: New Times wants to give you some sweet cash just for making work you love. The annual MasterMind Awards are returning next year, rewarding the best talent in the city with cash grants and citywide recognition.
In Miami, you hear a lot about art, but not so much about craft. James Herring’s work in ceramics fuses the two. Herring eschews the title of “artist” and sees the resurgence of crafts and craftsmanship as a necessity for human growth in modern times. An outspoken supporter and practitioner of the maker movement, Herring has maintained a presence locally by doing demonstrations and leading classes and workshops on the ancient craft.
How easily we forget Miami’s literary scene. Given the homegrown talent, area colleges/universities boasting some of the best writing faculties in the nation, and the Miami Book Fair bringing the best of the best to the 305, it truly is amazing how the Magic City’s writers gets overshadowed by other creatives.
In a city where artists struggle to find authenticity, Solange Sarria is a beacon of light. A singer, hairstylist, and visual artist who’s as adept at sculpting an image as she is at solving your latest existential dilemma, Sarria uncovers the artificiality inherent in the modern beauty industry and turns it on its head.
If you’re queer or in the know, you’ve likely spent the third Sunday of any month in the past two years at the Corner in downtown Miami, having a kiki with every king and queen during Counter Corner. Behind the bar, you’ve found Sleeper, pouring drinks and chatting with everyone who passes by at the event that he and Juleisy y Karla founded. What you might not know is just how interesting he is.
Kareem Tabsch, alongside Vivian Marthell, launched O Cinema in 2011 and changed the film scene in Miami. Since then, O Cinema has expanded to three locations: Wynwood, Miami Shores, and Miami Beach. But Tabsch is also a filmmaker, one who’s killing it with his award-winning short documentaries such as Cherry Pop: The Story of the World’s Fanciest Cat and Dolphin Lover, both of which are proof that he’s just as interesting and unique a director as he is a curator and person.
It’s not easy having eyes all over the scene, being around to take in all the wild visuals at all the worthwhile places in the city. There are, however, those parties and gallery openings where a fortunate photographer can point and shoot. Every week, in collaboration with WorldRedEye, New Times…
Goddessphere, the strip club-themed art installation that was shut down by the city of Miami Beach, only to reopen in a different venue, was peak Art Basel madness. Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio are now and have always been peak Miami. So just imagine the scene when Gloria and…
It all happened the day she decided she was going to delete her Instagram account. But then she received a notification. “I was in school all day and got back home,” Rune Lazuli recalls. “I had posted something on Facebook, and someone commented, ‘I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Lady Gaga reposted your work.’” As she eagerly searched through the superstar’s Instagram page, there it was — Lazuli’s words posted for millions to see across the globe: “Crawl inside this body — find me where I am most ruined, love me there.”
When Jenan Matari, the cofounder of MissMuslim.com, asked me to wear contemporary Muslim clothing including a headscarf as part of A Day in Her Hijab — a virtual event she is organizing for December 10 — I hesitated. In general, I’m the kind of friend who will show up if something is critical — but if it’s just for social purposes, probably nah.
In his Variety review of Monica Peña’s feature debut, Ectotherms, Guy Lodge referred to the zero-budget film as one of “the most striking world premieres at the Miami Film Festival.” To meet Peña and chat with her is such a casual, though always engaging, experience that one would never expect her to be a filmmaker who presents such intensity in her work.
Jason Fitzroy Jeffers is first and foremost a storyteller. Though the mediums through which his stories are told can vary, the direction of his artistic gaze stays laser-focused on the Caribbean. The 35-year-old musician, writer, and filmmaker left his home of Barbados more than ten years ago, but it has not left him and continues to shape his creative expression.
Art Basel’s celebrity scene gets more crowded each year, with club events, block parties, rooftop soirees, and everything in-between, all competing for the attention of the famous faces who flock to Miami’s biggest art week. From actors to musicians, models and more, here’s how the other half partied during Miami…
Osama Bin Laden’s erect genitalia covers the nose of a cut-out of President-elect Donald Trump’s head. Trump’s mouth spews glittery brown droplets of waste. A neon-green speech bubble sprouts from Bin Laden’s mouth, declaring in all caps, “THE SPECTACLE LIKE MODERN SOCIETY ITSELF IS AT ONCE UNITED AND DIVIDED.” Surrounding…
The year 2016 has been fraught with political unrest, discord, and so much tension you can feel it like the crackling of electricity in the air. With a Trump presidency looming and many Americans expressing fear of what that regime change will look like, the art world is responding in…
Looks like we made it. Another Art Basel week in the books. But the party’s not officially over yet. The fairs are still open, and plenty of events around town are hoping to lure stragglers in with promises of restoration and mimosas. If you can muster the strength to get…
Spirits were high as three adventurous souls stripped down to their skivvies, grabbed a Pussy Riot surfboard, and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, as part of DO WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY, an installation by Tomas Vu and Rirkrit Tiravanija at Untitled, Art, Miami Beach. Artist Tomas Vu happily…
