Bringing the best of Miami’s art fairs to the urban lifestyle neighborhood of the Midtown Miami Arts District this December, Midtown Miami will take center stage for the second year as the host of Art Midtown 2009, where art fairs, exhibitions and installations will adorn the city blocks.
Centrally located near the famed Design and Wynwood Arts districts, and just over the bridge from Miami Beach, the $2.3 billion urban neighborhood of Midtown Miami is emerging as the city’s premier destination to experience the ultimate lifestyle, where you can live, shop and play all within walking distance.
Having hosted its inaugural celebration of Art Midtown in 2008, the Midtown Miami Arts District’s will once again make a big splash during the first week of December 2009 with programming that includes:
ART FAIRS TO SHOWCASE AT ART MIDTOWN
- Art Miami (www.art-miami.com)
- Red Dot Fair (www.reddotfair.com)
- Photo Miami (www.photomiami-2009.com)
SPECIAL INSTALLATIONS & EXHIBITIONS
“WORLD GARDENS”
The first international fine “World Gardens” installation in the U.S., a prototype for non-profit public gardens (Gardens for the People) throughout the country, will make its official debut during Art Midtown 2009. The installation, designed by Harry Nelson of Harry Nelson Fine Gardens, will feature nine intertwined gardens on more than 2.5 acres, located on the 36th Street entry of Midtown Miami’s Art Park. Through a philanthropic effort, funds to support the Gardens were donated by generous patrons interested in the design, garden and art worlds to provide a public garden for all people.
The Gardens, inspired by authenticity and global culture, will integrate the most exquisite world-renowned garden styles from Chateau de Versailles in France, Gardens of The Alhambra in Spain, formal fashions of England, harmonious influences of Japan, Balinese and South African touches, and a hint of tropical, Brazilian flair. All elements will be blended with contemporary sculptures and traditional ponds surrounding the foliage.
Open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free.
World Gardens Rendering
VIRTUALISM SCULPTURES – Inside “World Gardens” Installation
The “World Gardens” installation will feature two unique sculptures designed by Rafael Barrios, a renowned revolutionary contemporary Latin American artist best known as the creator of Virtualism, a movement described as the creation of visually participative pieces from dislocating events in our perception. Barrios creates a territory where the laws of gravity do not exist, one in which objects rise freely over themselves and where volume moves into space, destroying our false beliefs about what is possible and questioning what is terrestrial.
Barrios’ sculpture, “Tapis”, is a tapestry conformed of nine virtually cubic elements, made of perforated steel sewn together with steel rings and will hang 15 feet off of the ground from one of the World Gardens’ trees. The second sculpture, “Levitating Trifasique”, representing a more traditional form, is comprised of five triangular elements and will be positioned on the ground standing 18 feet tall.
Artist with Tapestry
GRAFFITI GONE GLOBAL
Graffiti Gone Global, presented by SUSHISAMBA, will be curated by James and Karla Murray, authors of best-selling titles Store Front-The Disappearing Face of New York, Miami Graffiti, Broken Windows and Burning New York. The exhibition will feature a selection of work from today’s top street artists. This groundbreaking exhibition, set to take place in a 4,000 square foot venue, will be the largest of its kind in Miami.
Exhibiting artists include: 131 Projects (Argentina), Aiko Nakagawa (Japan), Armogedon 2057 (Armenia), Billi Kid (Colombia), Crome (Miami), Cycle (NYC), David Cooper (NYC), Doze Green (NYC), Ewok One 5MH (NYC), Flip (Brazil), Ghost aka Cousin Frank (NYC), Jana Joana (Brazil), Lady Pink (Ecuador), Nina (Brazil), Shiro (Japan), Sofia Maldonado (Puerto Rico), Suiko (Japan) and Vitché (Brazil).
Graffiti Gone Global will be located at 3252 NE First Ave., Suite 101, Miami. Admission is free. The hours of the exhibition are as follows:
Thursday, December 3, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. / Media & Collectors Preview (By Invitation Only)
Friday, December 4, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday, December 5, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday, December 6, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Work by Shiro Work by Billi Kid
Armogedon 2057
BLUEPRINT OF ETHER
Artist Jona Cerwinske presents an exhibition entitled “Blueprint of Ether” in which he will unveil a collection new works and sculptures in the second and third dimension.
Open daily at 3252 NE First Avenue (Midtown Boulevard).
December 2 – January 1, 2010
“LIKE THE BOYS”
The American Standard Gallery is pleased to present “Like The Boys”, a group exhibition of artists from downtown New York City, including artist Nick Poe among others. The show reflects a crew of artists united as a chosen family, whose collective style is shaping tastes and setting a new tone in the contemporary art world.
Artists to be featured: Sebastian Bear-McClard; Sebastian Black; Jake Cohen; Francesco Galetto; Lance de los Reyes; Alex Kalman; Barney Kulok; Troy K. Lumpkin; Thomas McDonell; Harry McNally; Nick Tiger Poe; Nico Ponce de Leon Dios; Benny Safdie; Josh Safdie; Gordon Stevenson; Robert S.L. Waltzer.
The exhibition is open to the public at 3301 NE First Ave, Suite 106. Admission is free.
Wednesday, December 2 – 6, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Work by Thomas McDonell Work by Lance de los Reyes Work by Nick Poe
ERNI VALES – for Mercadito Midtown Miami
Contemporary urban artist Erni Vales’ recent collaboration with Mercadito Restaurants brings a new artistic flavor to Art Midtown. In the process of creating large scale murals covering the walls of the upcoming, upscale Mexican lounge and restaurant, Mercadito Midtown Miami, which is scheduled to open in early 2010 inside the neighborhood, Vales is best known for his 3-D graffiti style of art. Vales has recreated stunning Aztec pyramids of Mexico with a dramatic stone-like sun and horses on walls; a striking woman in his signature graffiti style and an eye-catching mural of painstakingly-designed individual murals that come together to form an eagle devouring a snake, a traditional Mexican symbol.
Vales unveils his much anticipated murals for Mercadito Midtown Miami inside Art Midtown 2009 at 3252 NE First Avenue (Midtown Boulevard). Admission is free.
A selection of Mercadito Midtown’s unique menu items will accompany the exhibition, offering guests an experience of the future restaurant’s upscale Mexican cuisine.
Friday, December 4, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, December 5, 11 a.m.to 7 p.m.
Sunday, December 6, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
MICHAEL WOLK
Designer Michael Wolk will showcase during Art Midtown 2009 an exhibition of his one-off art furniture and will unveil his latest piece, “Construction 202”, part of his continuing series entitled Furniture is more than what you back into when you’re looking at art, an exploration of functional art.
The exhibition will be located in the lobby of Midtown 4 residential tower, 3301 NE First Avenue (Midtown Boulevard).
Open daily. Monday, November 30 through Sunday, December 6
Adjustable Plank back Chair Construction #2
DANIEL AZOULAY GALLERY
The Daniel Azoulay Gallery will showcase its fine incisive photographic works in a collection paying tribute to the American West. Azoulay’s first photography exhibit entitled “Americana” interprets and captures its traces and vestiges through a punctual framing and a poetic in-focus lens that renders evocative sites many of which no longer exist. A second exhibit, “10,000 Miles to Nowhere,” exposes a parcel of the American identity and its paradoxical realities through a variety of photographic styles, defining the present tense of the American culture, its history and geography.
Open daily on the ground level of Midtown 4 at 3301 NE First Avenue (Midtown Boulevard).
VIP Opening Reception: December 1, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Tuesday, December 1 through Saturday, January 30, 2010
“10,000 Miles to Nowhere” by Daniel Azoulay
THISISNOTAGALLERY
The world’s first street module for art powered by solar energy, “ThisIsNotAGallery”, will be featured during Art Midtown, dispersed on Midtown Miami’s pedestrian-friendly sidewalks. The Urban Solar Art Booth not only provides street art, but additionally promotes a responsible approach to the future and the use of clean energy, being created from recyclable materials and powered by solar energy. Created in Buenos Aires earlier this year, “ThisIsNotAGallery” is an innovative project that aims to place art modules in public places around the world to provide an alternative to traditional art galleries, and offer the experience of free art to all individuals in their everyday lives. The street modules will exhibit artists’ work in video form through the use of portable DVD players.
“BRICKHEAD PLEASE STOP”
Located at the entrance of residential tower Midtown 4, Midtown Miami displays a large sculpture of a head by artist James Tyler entitled “Brickhead Please Stop,” a ceramic brick sculpture made with architectural stoneware. The sculpture is one in a series and can be found in private and public collections around the world.
CARBONELL
Midtown Miami will feature a selection of sculptures from the Modern Master Sculptor, Manuel Carbonell, courtesy of the Miami-based Beaux Arts Gallery. Carbonell’s bronze monumental sculptures will offer an additional element of artistic beauty to Art Midtown 2009.
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ABOUT MIDTOWN MIAMI
Midtown Miami is more than just a place to work and live, it is a place to relax, eat, stroll through boutiques and art galleries, and experience the lifestyle of Miami’s new urban core. City sidewalks weave through the neighborhood’s 56-acres of shops, restaurants, an Art Park, galleries, three residential buildings, art installations and sculptures. Midtown Miami is nothing short of an exciting and emerging retail and lifestyle destination, with restaurants and lounges such as Sugarcane Lounge by SushiSamba, Mercadito Midtown, The Cheese Course and Primo Pizza, among many others. The art and culture-infused neighborhood hosts exciting events throughout the year, including the Midtown Miami Arts District’s second debut of satellite art fairs and installations in December 2009 during Art Midtown 2009 and Art Basel Miami Beach.
Midtown Miami’s Sales Center is located at 3301 NE First Avenue, Miami, Florida, 33131. For more information about Midtown, call (305) 757-0001 or visit www.midtownmiami.com.