Long-time Critic Elisa Turner And The Untold Story of ‘Miami’s Art Boom ‘

Robert Huff’s “East West” (2003) at the Palmetto Metrorail Station, part of the collection of the Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places program, is featured in Elisa Turner’s book “Miami’s Art Boom: From Local Vision to International Presence” published by University Press of Florida. (Photo by Robin Hill, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Art in Public Places Trust) 

When Miami visual arts critic and journalist Elisa Turner began seeing national coverage as Art Basel Miami Beach was getting ready to mark its two decades in 2022, the narrative caught her attention.

“The national press was saying, ‘Who ever thought Miami could have something like this?’ referencing the beginnings of Art Basel Miami Beach in 2002. ‘There had been nothing in Miami before,’ Turner recalls outsiders concluding.

“I thought, ‘this is not right,’ ” she says. For someone who covered Miami’s art scene as a freelance critic for the Miami Herald from 1986 to 2007, she felt that she knew the real art history of Miami.

Elisa Turner’s “Miami’s Art Boom” was selected as a Gold medal winner in the 2025 Florida Book Awards Visual Arts category. (Book cover artwork by Carlos Betancourt, courtesy of University Press of Florida)

Turner began going back through archives of her writing. “I found stories that indicated how the art community was active, and how the community was doing things to put itself on the map, and it had been recognized internationally,” she says, and years before Art Basel Miami Beach put down stakes in South Florida.

The result of wanting to set the record straight and of digging through profiles and reviews resulted in “Miami’s Art Boom: From Local Vision to International Presence,” published Oct. 28, 2025, by University Press of Florida.

This month, Turner was notified that the book was selected as a Gold medal winner in the 2025 Florida Book Awards Visual Arts category. Established in 2006, The Florida Book Awards (FBA) celebrates the best works published each year by Florida authors or about the state.

Along with the award and other recognition, “Miami’s Art Boom” will be placed in Florida State University’s permanent collection.

“You spend so much time on something, and you don’t really know how it is going to be received, but I have had so much of a positive reaction.”

The writer says it was a three-year, more-than-full-time endeavor. For one thing, the Miami Herald owned the rights to the work, since publications retain ownership of what is written for them. Getting access to the articles she wanted to include required persistence and legal help.

“I had a lawyer, a really dear friend, and he helped me,” Turner says. “He wrote several letters to the publisher at the time and the executive editor… And so finally, I was given permission to go down to the old Herald building and download everything on my flash drive. It was kind of a surreal experience, because I found things that I had forgotten.”

Elisa Turner is the author of “Miami’s Art Boom: From Local Vision to International Presence” published by the University Press of Florida. (Photo courtesy of Elisa Turner)

The book gathers more than 100 of Turner’s writings spanning the years before and after the first Art Basel Miami Beach. Her introduction begins with what she refers to as “an astounding sensation” that was brought to Miami. In 1983, New York City-based artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, known for creating massive, temporary environmental installations around the world,  wrapped 11 islands in Biscayne Bay in bright pink fabric and called it “Surrounded Islands.”

Today, the project’s archive—drawings, photographs, and materials—is housed at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.

In the introduction, Turner writes that three years later, she began writing for the Miami Herald in what would be “pivotal years in Miami’s evolution . . . foreshadowed by the daring vision of Christo and Jeanne-Claude.”

The book’s structure, she explains, was carefully considered. Turner didn’t want just a greatest-hits compilation. “I wanted there to be a narrative, progressing, moving forward and sometimes faltering, as I have said, you know, it wasn’t like a constant rise forward,” she says. “I wanted to pick articles that really showed that there was this special thing happening here, outside of the fun and fun image that Miami had.”

The process was emotionally demanding. Turner, who is a contributor to ArtburstMiami, notes that creating the book “took a lot” out of her, particularly as she confronted the passage of time. One of the most poignant elements is a recurring feature she added at the end of each section. “It’s an in-memoriam, which I have the dates of people who have passed,” she says. “I wanted to recognize them so that even though they’re not here anymore, their contributions are visible. “

The book also covers communities whose contributions, Turner believes, have too often been overlooked. She points to the conclusion of “Miami’s Art Boom.” “I wanted this to move forward. I didn’t want it to be stuck in the past.”

Elisa Turner’s enchantment with Haitian art and culture long predates the book. She mentions Haitin-born artist Asser Saint-Val whose 2019 work MSLITHP NGODA, is featured. (Photo courtesy of the artist, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Art in Public Places Trust)

A key part of that, she explains, is tracing the influence of Miami’s immigrant communities. “Miami has the country’s largest Haitian immigrant population. Our arts community has been really enhanced by the immigrant population from all over, but especially from the Caribbean and Latin America. And I’m really proud of the fact that my book could show how the Afro Caribbean and Black Heritage artists — Black artists have shaped our community.”

Her enchantment with Haitian art and culture long predates the book. “I was always fascinated by Haitian art and culture,” Turner says.

Looking back, she recognizes that the daily pressure of newspaper deadlines once kept her from seeing the bigger picture her work was creating. “I was just trying to keep up with covering as much as I could,” she says.

Only later, as she revisited decades of coverage, did the pattern emerge: “When you step back, people were working hard to make this art community more proactive,” Turner says. “And that’s when I realized the pattern. When I started looking at these articles, they were saying, ‘Well, why don’t the museums pay more attention to us?’ And then finally, that started to happen.”

Gene Tinnie’s “A Gathering of Spirits,” (1996) at the West Little River Fire Station. (Image, Yusimy Lara, courtesy of Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Art in Public Places Trust)

The book reads like a Who’s Who of Miami’s visual arts culture. Turner points out that the years that are covered in the book – “(those) recounted here, national and international recognition – came to art bearing a Miami postmark.” In 1987, the painting Exiliados by Arturo Rodriguez was presented to Pope John Paull II on the occasion of his visit to Florida International University. Art by Maria Brito traveled to Seoul, South Korea. In the 1990s, the National Conference of Artists, a national organization of visual artists of African descent, included art by Charles Humes Jr. and Dinizulu Gene Tinnie . . . ” She mentions a 1987 review included in the book about Miami painter Robert Huff, “who played a widely respected role in Miami’s art community” and a mentor to many.

Looking back at decades of coverage, Turner sees the threads connecting it all—the artists, the neighborhoods, gallerists, curators, collectors, and projects pushing Miami’s art scene forward.

“I feel that all of this is important art history and it shouldn’t be swept under the rug. It should not be forgotten,” Turner says. “And while it wasn’t a constant rise forward, what the articles I selected for ‘Miami’s Art Boom’ were substantial and stand the test of time.”

Find out more information about “Miami’s Art Boom” from University Press of Florida.

ArtburstMiami.com , a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com

Gustavo Matamoros Transforms a Miami Transit Walkway Into a Sound Experience

Sound artist Gustavo Matamoros conceived “Quail Roost Sanctuary” now a permanent installation of Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places at a transit station in Cutler Bay. (Photo courtesy of Gustavo Matamoros and Claudia Ariano)

A monumental public art installation in south Miami-Dade County, conceived by Caracas-born, Miami-based artist Gustavo Matamoros, invites passersby to slow their pace and tune in to the subtle, often overlooked sounds of their surroundings — transforming an ordinary walk to the bus stop into a calming meditation on the physical and natural world, a world so often ignored.

Matamoros has been at the pioneering forefront of sound art since the 1980s. His latest project may be his most ambitious yet — a unique walkway sound experience for a new housing development, Quail Roost Station in Cutler Bay.

The 320-foot covered connector between the housing complex and Miami-Dade County’s South Dade TransitWay Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor weaves together amplified resonances from the structure itself, with field recordings from nearby ecosystems, including the Everglades, Deering Estate and Biscayne Bay National Park. The result is a site-specific soundscape, the “Quail Roost Sanctuary,” an immersive acoustic public-art experience that invites residents to connect to their environment and their sense of well-being, as well as with the destination.

Gustavo Matamoros inspects his work, a unique walkway sound experience for a new housing development, Quail Roost Station in Cutler Bay. (Photo by Anne Tschida)

Unlike a typical outdoor public art piece — think sculptures or murals — this project is entirely audio. Through his decades-long exploration of sound, Matamoros has worked with how sound can inspire, elicit emotion, and pique curiosity. “Everything has a sound to it,” says Matamoros, “and it is unique to that thing.”

The unveiling of “Quail Roost Sanctuary” was a featured event of Subtropics 2025 in September of 2025, a festival of experimental music and sound art founded in the 1980s by Matamoros. The work is now part of the permanent collection of Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places.

This incredibly intricate soundtrack will become part of everyday life for some Miamians, “underscoring the capacity of sound to transform and animate architectural spaces,” says Matamoros.

Under Gustavo Matamoros’ sound canopy, “harmonic clouds” emerge and shift with the pace of foot traffic, fading in and out along the corridor. (Photo courtesy of Gustavo Matamoros and Claudia Ariano)

But how can sound, which is invisible, be accessed? That’s where his detailed, dedicated exploration of the sound of architecture comes into play.

At Quail Roost, Matamoros first got to work activating — or “exciting” — the sounds of the architecture itself, recording its resonances and amplifying them. This is something he has been experimenting with for most of his life, and goes to the heart of his work: because every structure is alive with sound, it can be heard in some way.

As Matamoros helped explain, imagine the sounds of walking in a cathedral, the sound of steps echoing off the towering walls and ceilings, which can create a sense of awe, a mystical connection to the enormity of the space. He says sound art can stimulate the senses in a way that is “a little magical” – we can’t see it, but we feel it.

(LISTEN: Excerpt of Quail Roost Sanctuary)

Matamoros recorded the sounds of the lengthy Quail Roost walkway canopy and found an astounding 800 distinct tones — far too many “notes” for his musical score. So, he picked out 80 tones that he liked and created a site-specific tone row, musical notes pulled from the building itself. And he designed his composition to excite the architecture at specific points, using 32 custom-designed, multi-channel speakers in an array divided into four distinct acoustic zones.

Finding and selecting these particular sounds involves a bit of chance, but “my motivation is the experimental process.” The sound artist has to curate his new compositions from the tones he selects for each project. He sums it up this way: the building or structure is the instrument, “an instrument you don’t play but that plays around you.”

Because the project is called a “Quail Roost Sanctuary,” the architecture’s underlying abstract “music” is overlaid with recordings Matamoros meticulously gathered from South Florida’s lush parks and landscapes—bird calls from quails and cranes, the sounds of native fauna and insects, and even faint traces of human activity.

Under Matamoros’ sound canopy, “harmonic clouds” emerge and shift with the pace of foot traffic, fading in and out along the corridor.

The 320-foot covered connector between the housing complex and Miami-Dade County’s South Dade TransitWay Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor weaves together amplified resonances from the structure itself, with field recordings from nearby ecosystems, (Photo courtesy of Gustavo Matamoros and Claudia Ariano)

The artist hopes the unexpected aural immersion, this amble through an audio garden, will be calming and reflective, revealing hidden details of the neighborhood as well as a sense of wonderment — an intriguing rather than stressful walk to the station. “I’d like to create an evolving experience,” he says, “an environment that is something special, a sanctuary.”

Though created for residents, the installation is accessible to transit riders and visitors stepping off the electric bus line. By weaving together art, infrastructure and South Florida’s natural soundscape, “Quail Roost Sanctuary” transforms a routine commute into an encounter with the region’s landscape. It’s a reminder that public art isn’t always seen, but heard and felt.

WHAT: Quail Roost Sanctuary

WHERE: In the breezeway between the Quail Roost Drive parking lot and adjacent Miami-Dade Transit station. Quail Roost Station, 18505 Homestead Ave, Cutler Bay. On-site parking or use the South Dade TransitWay System to BRT station SW 184 St from Dadeland South Station or Florida City SW 344 St.

COST: Free.

INFORMATION: gustavomatamoros.subtropics.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Local Artists Given the Spotlight in Latest Museum of Sex Exhibit

More than 30 local artists are exhibiting erotic art now open at the Miami Museum of Sex in Allapattah. (Photo by Mateo SeZa/SeZa Studios)

It’s been known for decades that Miami is a city with sex on the brain. Now a new exhibition is showing how a few talented locals have turned that obsession into art.

More than 30 local artists are exhibiting erotic art in “F*ck Art: Nature & Artifice,” now open at the Museum of Sex in Allapattah. The show is the third in a series of shows staged by the museum sourcing work from nearby communities; the first two were staged at the museum’s original branch in New York, making this the format’s debut at the Miami location which opened in 2024.

Tam Gryn, managing director at Miami’s Museum of Sex, says the show attempts to transmit the highly sexualized nature of life in the city.

A diversity in mediums may be a defining aspect of the show, ranging across the spectrum from physical to digital and interactive art. (Photo by Mateo SeZa)

“Everything in Miami is sexualized,” she says. “So I really wanted to show this wild side of Miami, which is not just a beautiful touristy beach (city), but this wild swamp that is uncontainable and uncontrollable, no matter what is happening in this country or in the world.”

A longtime presence in the local art scene, Gryn previously curated the Erotica Biennale in Miami Beach, a citywide festival dedicated to erotic and sexual art last held in 2024. She says that when she heard about the Museum of Sex opening in Miami she quickly sprang into action.

“I literally pursued them,” she says. “I was like, ‘I want to work here, I want to do shows here, I have 700 ideas. Listen to me, listen to me.” Until they did.”

That same energy went into recruiting artists for the exhibition. Though plenty responded enthusiastically to an open call put out by the museum, others required some convincing.

A sculpture by Moises Sanabria, “Taste the Algorithm,” shown in the Museum of Sex’s exhibition “F*ck Art.” (Photo by Mateo SeZa/SeZa Studios)

“I definitely pushed some artists that I knew that were leaning towards speaking about these subjects, or that had work that could be interpreted in this or that way or that,” says Gryn.

“I know they had the potential to speak on these subjects through their work, and I like in any show that I curate to push the artist one way or another, whether it’s to create work that is more immersive, more participatory, not just visual, or to talk about subjects that are more sensitive, or just to give them an opportunity to work in a different medium, maybe that they haven’t worked before. And there’s a lot of that in this show.”

A diversity in mediums may be a defining aspect of the show, ranging across the spectrum from physical to digital and interactive art (Gryn did not directly conform or deny whether any artworks were AI generated but said some of the included artists “use AI in their process”). Painting, fabric, ceramic works, photography and video are just a few of the options. One artist even crafted a sculpture out of chocolate depicting a woman’s bottom half.

An installation focusing on strip club culture in the exhibition “F*ck Art” at the Museum of Sex. (Photo by Mateo SeZa/SeZa Studios)

A few artists found inspiration in Miami’s sex industries, such as its famous strip clubs. Fabric artist Cheryl Pope crafted a diptych of wool and cashmere tapestries depicting a group of pole dancers against a vibrant checkerboard-patterned backdrop. Pope, who applied for the open call, says the artworks came out of thinking about strip clubs as places that celebrate the human body in all shapes and forms.

“I feel like these strip clubs become kind of temples for the body,” she says. “We’re celebrating the body. We’re celebrating beauty. All different kinds of bodies, all different kinds of women, all different shapes, all different sizes.”

The Chicago-born artist, who divides her time between Chicago and Miami, also noted that these types of establishments are far more commonplace in Miami than in cities across the northern United States.

Fabric artworks by Cheryl Pope depict Miami’s strippers. (Mateo SeZa/SeZa Studios)

“I think one of the liberating things about being in Miami is that there wasn’t shame around it as an industry. I met friends who are like, ‘Oh I’m friends with this stripper, let’s go down to this club tonight and hang out.’”

Sarah Ferrer, meanwhile, commented on another facet of the sex industry that has found a haven in Miami, pornography. Recent years have seen the city become a headquarters for newer forms of porn content – Miami boasts the highest number of OnlyFans content creators per capita – as well as old, with Playboy announcing in 2025 it would move its headquarters to Miami Beach.

Ferrer’s piece “The Bang Bus,” meanwhile, focuses on a more idiosyncratic porn typology associated with the city, the eponymous web series published by Miami-based studio Bang Bros which features sex scenes shot in a moving vehicle. The piece is a ceramic replica of the “Bang Bus” complete with moveable parts and accessories such as a camera and a pair of chickens.

“I first heard about the Bang Bus in middle school, and I feel like that’s probably most people’s experience,” says Ferrer. “And I think about how present and prevalent sex culture is in Miami, and how it’s almost inevitable to be aware of it, even, and to grow up around it. So I wanted to make a piece that kind of talked about that.”

An interactive installation in the Museum of Sex’s “F*ck Art.” (Photo by Mateo SeZa/SeZa Studios)

Ferrer also responded to the open call, hoping to use the show as a chance to represent the city. She had visited the museum’s previous exhibition on the history of sexuality and was inspired to make a Miami-specific object that could be included.

“I was thinking of what I can make that can represent an artifact of Miami,” says Ferrer. “And as an artist, I grew up here, and I want to be able to talk about it.”

WHAT: “F*ck Art: Nature & Artifice”

 WHERE: Museum of Sex, 2200 NW 24th Ave., Miami

 WHEN: 1 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday and Monday; 1 to midnight Friday and Saturday; closed Tuesday. Through May 2026.

 COST: $29 

 INFORMATION: 786-206-9210 and museumofsex.com

 ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

‘No Seasoning’ Brings Afro-Cuban Outsider Art Into Focus in North Miami

Gloria de la Caridad García reworks discarded ICAIC film posters, layering pen drawings and cut fragments over damaged prints. The work is featured in “No Seasoning” at the Copperbridge Foundation in North Miami. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Work by seven Afro-descendant Cuban artists whose practices developed far from academic training, commercial markets and the frameworks that typically shape how Cuban art circulates abroad are at the center of “No Seasoning” at the Copperbridge Foundation in North Miami.

Curated by Elvia Rosa Castro, the exhibition, which opens on Friday, Feb. 27, draws entirely from the NAEMI Collection (National Art Exhibitions of the Mentally Ill), a Miami-based body of work by artists living with psychiatric, neurological or cognitive disabilities.

An early sculptural work by Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, created before his international visibility as a dissident. Otero Alcántara is currently imprisoned in Cuba. (Photo courtesy of the NAEMI Collection)

Outsider art generally refers to work created beyond formal art institutions and market systems, often by self-taught artists operating outside academic training or commercial expectations.

Castro, a Cuban art historian and curator with more than 30 years of experience organizing exhibitions in Cuba, Europe and the United States, has long engaged artists working at the margins of visibility. For her, “No Seasoning” is less about classification than about presence — and about questioning how value is assigned in art.

Rather than foregrounding diagnosis, she frames the exhibition through what she describes as an excess of honesty.

“There are no rituals. No poses. No gloss,” says Castro. “The work emerges without mediation.”

That directness takes a distinct form in each artist’s practice.

That’s the case of Misleidys Castillo, 40, an artist who was born with neurological and hearing disabilities, and on the autism spectrum. According to her mother, María Teresa Pedroso, 60, she has also been diagnosed with psychiatric and cerebral conditions. Castillo is deaf and does not speak. Communication is facilitated largely through her mother and brother.

For much of her life, her world has been contained within domestic space. Yet within that space, her work expands to monumental scale.

Her drawings — often reaching two or three meters (about 6.5 to 10 feet) — depict exaggerated, muscular bodies rendered in pencil and watercolor, then cut, colored and reassembled on the wall. Some figures raise their arms in poses that suggest bodybuilders or mythic heroes. Others wear tiny undergarments marked with a letter inside a heart. The repetition is deliberate. The scale is insistent.

Work on paper and tape by Cuban artist Misleidys Castillo, featured in “No Seasoning.”.(Photo courtesy of the NAEMI Collection)

Pedroso said her daughter has drawn such figures since she was 6 or 7 years old.

“She decides when to start and when to finish,” says Pedroso. “We can’t intervene. If you tell her something is wrong, she gets frustrated. So we let her do what she wants.”

When a drawing is complete, Castillo signals it in her own way. She steps back. She looks. She smiles. She touches the surface. Sometimes she kisses it.

Then the work must be mounted. If it is removed, Pedroso says, her daughter will return to the wall and restore it.

The intensity of that relationship was visible during a Havana exhibition several years ago. According to her mother, when Castillo entered the gallery and saw one of her large figures installed, she ran toward it and grabbed the painted hand.

“She recognized it immediately,” according to Pedroso. “She knew it was hers.”

In 2021, Pedroso and her daughter left Havana and relocated to Spain. The transition has been difficult. Castillo had lived for decades in the same home, facing the sea. The change in environment disrupted routines that are essential to her.

“She hasn’t adapted,” says Pedroso. “For someone with autism, change is very hard.”

While Castillo’s work expands from within the constraints of domestic space, another artist in the exhibition relies on fragments of public imagery.

Gloria de la Caridad García, “Untitled” (from the ICAIC poster series). Working with discarded Cuban film posters, García constructs intricate, image-saturated compositions. (Photo courtesy of the NAEMI Collection)

Gloria de la Caridad García intervenes discarded posters produced by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC). She scavenges what she can find — often damaged, sometimes stained — and draws over them in ballpoint pen and colored ink. Stars, faces and small figures accumulate across the printed surface. Later, she adds cut fragments that echo or disrupt the original composition.

“When I have the posters, I look at everything — the images, the color, the memory they carry,” García says via telephone from Cuba. “Then I work over them. I add my drawings, little things that fit. The colors make people feel something.”

Materials are not always easy to obtain in Cuba. García says she cannot afford to buy posters regularly. Sometimes friends help. Sometimes she works with whatever paper is available.

She also structures her work around the more immediate demands of daily life.

In another message, García described caring for a 90-year-old adult at home while navigating electricity outages and financial strain.

“I have to ‘invent’ money for food,” she says. “I have to cook. I have to give medicine. There are days when there is no electricity.”

She also spoke openly about living through a period of depression in which she even attempted to end her own life.

“This work came to me later in life,” says García. “It has helped me understand life differently. When I feel overwhelmed, I go back to the drawings. I keep going.”

The emotional weight of that testimony resonates with the curator’s framing of the exhibition.

“For these artists, creation is not primarily aesthetic,” explains Castro. “It’s vital. It’s how they manage their relationship with the world.”

Curator Elvia Rosa Castro, left, and NAEMI founder Juan Martin review works for “No Seasoning”, drawn from the NAEMI Collection (National Art Exhibitions of the Mentally Ill), which opens Saturday Feb. 27 and continues through May 23 at North Miami’s Copperbridge Foundation. (Photo courtesy of Elvia Rosa Castro)

The show also includes early sculptural works by Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, the Cuban artist and activist currently imprisoned in Cuba. Unlike several of the other artists on view, his confinement is the result of political repression rather than mental illness. Arrested in July 2021, he is serving a five-year sentence in a maximum-security prison on charges including “contempt,” “public disorder” and “insult to national symbols” — accusations that international human rights organizations have criticized as arbitrary. The pieces presented here predate his international visibility as a dissident.

“This is earlier work,” says Castro. “Before everything became politicized. It reminds us that he is, first and always, an artist.”

The remaining artists — Pedro Pablo Bacallao, Isaac Crespo, Daldo Marte and Martha Iris Pérez — work across drawing, collage, sculpture and installation. Some repeat motifs obsessively. Others build dense visual fields from everyday materials. The common thread is not style but circumstance.

All of the works in “No Seasoning” come from NAEMI, founded in 1988 by Juan Martin while he was working in community mental health in Miami. The archive began after Martin encouraged one of the people in his care to paint.

“I realized there were probably many people in psychiatric institutions doing extraordinary work,” says Martin. “And no one was paying attention.”

Misleidys Castillo has drawn monumental, muscular figures since she was 6 or 7 years old. “She decides when to start and when to finish,” her mother says. (Photo courtesy of the artist.)

Over time, the archive expanded to include artists from Cuba, Latin America, Europe and the United States. Some works are purchased directly from artists or their families. Others are donated. What remains consistent, Martin said, is the refusal to impose outside expectations.

“The moment you start telling someone how to be an artist — what material to use, what will sell — you risk losing what made the work necessary,” he says.

Over its three-month run, “No Seasoning” will be accompanied by public programs and performances. But at its core, the exhibition is quieter than its title suggests.

It asks viewers to stand before work that was not made for an art market, not shaped by trend and not softened for easy consumption.

“This art doesn’t ask to be explained. It asks to be seen,” says Castro.

WHAT: “No Seasoning”
WHERE: Copperbridge Foundation, 12500 NE 4th Ave., North Miami.
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Monday through Friday. Through Saturday, May 23.
COST: Free. Groups by appointment.
INFORMATION: (305) 891-8293 or Copperbridge.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Belkis Ayón and Carlos Alfonzo Unite in ‘Odyssey’ at Freedom Tower

The Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) at Miami Dade College brings together Cuban artists Carlos Alfonzo and Belkis Ayón for the first time in “Odyssey” now on exhibit at Miami’s Freedom Tower. (Photo by Oriol Tarridas, courtesy of MOAD)

 Two of the most significant artists of 20^th-century Cuba are being brought together for the first time at Freedom Tower.

Carlos Alfonzo and Belkis Ayón, who each gained art world acclaim outside of Cuba before dying young, are the dual subject of the latest exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) at Miami Dade College, which is headquartered in the downtown landmark.

The exhibition, titled “Belkis Ayón and Carlos Alfonzo: Odyssey,” pairs expressive abstract paintings on canvas and paper by Alfonzo with Ayón’s signature collagraph prints featuring imagery and iconography sourced from the Afro-Cuban Abakuá fraternal religious order.

A painting by Alfonzo,”Thirst,” next to a print by Ayón depicting a woman removing a mask. Alfonzo’s painting exemplifies his darker later work from the time before he died of complications from AIDS. (Photo by Oriol Tarridas, courtesy of MOAD)

Both Alfonzo and Ayón have seen reappraisal in recent years: Alfonzo received retrospectives at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in 2016 and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami in 2022, while Ayón’s art world reputation has soared ever since a traveling exhibition in 2016. LnS Gallery and David Castillo, two local galleries that represent the estates of Alfonzo and Ayón, respectively, have also mounted solo shows for the two artists.

Those familiar with both artists and their sharp stylistic differences may find themselves confused by such a pairing. At first glance, Ayón’s moody figurations and dark, muted colors feel a world away from Alfonzo’s energetic and bold abstract scenes.

“Odyssey” is MOAD’s second presentation at Freedom Tower since the building debuted a sleek renovation. (Photo by Oriol Tarridas, courtesy of MOAD)

But Amy Galpin, the museum’s executive director and chief curator, explains that the two have more in common than one might expect. The curator points to a mutual interest in mythology, both of the Western Greco-Roman tradition and of Afro-Cuban origins, as well as influences from European and Cuban art shared among the two artists.

“I thought it would be interesting to pair them together and maybe surprise people a bit,” says Galpin. “I hope that when people come to the show, if they’re skeptical, they might be surprised by the connections that they see in their work.”

The show is the museum’s second presentation at Freedom Tower since the building debuted a sleek renovation. The historic landmark now hosts new interactive galleries highlighting its onetime role as the Cuban Refugee Center, as well as a soccer-themed exhibition presented by the FIFA Museum ahead of the 2026 World Cup. While those exhibitions are fixed, the MOAD gallery features changing exhibitions.

Three collography works by Belkis Ayón. The artist lived in Havana until her death in 1999. (Photo by Oriol Tarridas, courtesy of MOAD)

MOAD’s programming thus far has tied into the historical overtones of its home, with an initial group show focusing on migration. “Odyssey” likewise ties into the national origin of its subjects and their journeys outside of Cuba. Alfonzo exiled himself to the U.S. during the Mariel Boatlift in 1980, while Ayón traveled out of the country for residencies and exhibitions while maintaining residency on the island.

“The title of the show is Odyssey, and (it) was chosen because both artists were aware of Greek myth, and very complex storytelling is at the core of both of their works,” says Galpin. “But this notion of journeys too, I think is really a big part of our exhibits…(and) that is a bit of a connection here, this notion of movement, of journeys. I think also resiliency, both artists experienced challenges in their lives and in their work and being committed to what they wanted to make and getting recognition for that.”

Two works on paper by Carlos Alfonzo, each titled “Self Portrait.” The artist migrated to Miami during the Mariel boatlift in 1980. (Photo by Oriol Tarridas, courtesy of MOAD)

Alfonzo’s work in particular reflects those struggles. After leaving Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift, Alfonzo settled in Miami and began developing his career and practice. He earned public art commissions, including murals at the Santa Clara Metrorail Station and at Florida International University that are still on view. His work became darker as he struggled with AIDS, eventually passing away in 1991 shortly before appearing in the Whitney Biennial.

Two works in the show from this era speak to the artist’s state of mind at the time. “Circolo #1” (1990) features geometric shapes and circular lines in white and grey against a black backdrop, with a composition recalling a hurricane spiral and, alternately, a human skull. “Thirst” (1986), a more chaotic earlier canvas in which a swirl of abstracted bodies attack each other with knives and arrows, meditates on the human propensity towards violence.

Carlos Alfonzo (1950–1991), “Circolo #1.” Oil on canvas, 1990, 60 x 60 inches. Collection of Craig Robins. (Photo by Oriol Tarridas, courtesy of MOAD)

Both works come from the collection of Craig Robins, the property developer and arts patron most famous for revitalizing the Miami Design District. The two were friends during the artist’s lifetime, and Robins speaks fondly of their relationship.

“I was thrilled to be able to help him have a studio space during his first years in Miami,” Robins says. “That was a special time in Miami Beach, and my friendship with Carlos was an exciting component of it all. I would visit him in his studio almost daily, and we spent hours there talking about art and life. He helped forge my sensibility towards art and artists – I am forever indebted to him.”

WHAT: “Belkis Ayón and Carlos Alfonzo: Odyssey”

 WHERE: Museum of Art and Design at Miami Dade College, Freedom Tower, 600 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.

 WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Through May 10, 2026.

COST: $18 for general admission; $14 for seniors; $12 for students with ID and children ages 7-18; free for MDC students and employees with ID, children 6 and under, active U.S. military and veterans, and disabled visitors and caregivers.

 INFORMATION: 305-237-7700 and moadmdc.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com

Dolce&Gabbana Exhibition at ICA Miami: Go Inside ‘From the Heart to the Hands’

“From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce&Gabbana” at the Institute of Contemporary Art-Miami features hundreds of creations and celebrates the Italian fashion house’s artistry. The availability of ICA’s wing recently acquired from the now-closed de la Cruz Collection provided a generous, adaptable space. (Photo by Greg Kessler, courtesy of “Dolce&Gabbana”)

It’s been called a love letter to Italy and a grand tour through the nation’s history and culture. The Dolce&Gabbana fashion exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Miami’s Design District is all that – and more.

“From the Heart to the Hands” is an exuberant paean to beauty, excess, detail, ritual and creativity that is deeply intentional. Taken together, says curator Florence Muller, the 300 handmade garments are an expression of passion by designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, and the artisans that transform their designs into artworks for human bodies.

A mosaic-like embroidered jacket required the constant work of five artisans over seven months and is in the exhibition “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce&Gabbana” now at ICA Miami through June. (Photo by Jane Wooldridge)

The intricacy is overwhelming, and it’s no wonder that some people returned again and again to a trio of previous showings in Milan, Paris and Rome. “You need hours to look at all the detail,” explains Muller. The fashion house decided on Miami for its U.S. tour launch because of its multiculturalism and rich Latin roots, explains Muller; when the Miami show closes in June it will go on to a handful of other U.S. cities not yet announced.

“For the team – and Dominico in particular – the idea of launching in Miami really resonated,” says Alex Gartenfeld, the ICA’s artistic director. The availability of ICA’s wing recently acquired from the now-closed de la Cruz Collection provided a generous, adaptable space.

“We’re very enthusiastic about the exhibition and the level of detail. The connections between art and history are very clear.” Audience response since the Feb. 5 opening has been very positive, according to Gartenfeld. The show runs through Sunday, June 14.

Inside the Alta Moda Collections: Handmade Couture at Its Finest

Each garment was crafted by hand as part of Dolce&Gabbana’s Alta Moda (haute couture) collections for women, men and jewelry: a floor-length jacket embossed with elaborate silk appliqués of cherubs, petals and twining leaves; a dress trimmed in folkloric patterns dotted with sequins over a petticoat inspired by tablecloths crafted in Puglia; a gentleman’s cape painstakingly embroidered with an elaborate scene of Venice’s Grand Canal; religious vestments glittering with sequins; lacy wedding dresses conveying the ethereal nature of union; and eight-inch-high platform sandals encrusted with jewels.

“Anatomy of Tailoring” goes deep inside the craft of Dolce&Gabbana. (Photo by Greg Kessler, courtesy of Dolce&Gabbana)

For Miami fashionistas and aficionados, the show is a coup. Close inspection of Dolce&Gabbana’s one-of-a-kind pieces is normally reserved for a few hundred wealthy “collectors’’ invited to private presentations. In the exhibition foyer, videos offer a peek at dramatically staged showings at the Roman Forum, in Venice’s Doge’s Palace and Milan’s La Scala. They provide context, explaining how each annual show is held in a different distinctive corner of the country, showcasing its traditions and craftsmen. The videos also testify to Italy’s reverence for the design house, giving it access to palaces and monuments normally closed to commercial activity.

Every detail is carefully curated in “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana,” including a gentleman’s silk shoes. (Photo by Jane Wooldridge)

That reverence derives from Dolce&Gabbana’s investment in promoting and preserving Italy’s culture and artisanal traditions. Unlike some legendary designer brands – think Valentino, Dior, St. Laurent – that began as couture workshops for the discerning and wealthy, Dolce & Gabbana launched in 1985 as a ready-to-wear brand focused on distinctly feminine styling before expanding into menswear, beachwear, perfumes, makeup.

Celebrity Influence and the Rise of a Global Fashion Powerhouse

Madonna picked up the mantle – or in this case, a gemstone-studded bustier – collaborating with the firm for her Girlie Show world tour. Beyonce, Mary J. Blige and the late Whitney Houston soon followed.

In 2011 the firm closed its D&G brand aimed at younger consumers to add Alta Moda collections of hand-made garments that support in-house studios and a school for training future generations. The first Alta Moda collection was shown in 2012 in Taormina, Sicily.

An installation showcasing D&G Alta Moda designs surrounded by paintings by Anh Duong marries historical tradition with contemporary culture in “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce&Gabbana,” an exhibition at ICA Miami. (Photo by Jane Wooldridge)

Like the video wall, the exhibition’s first full installation is a preview of splendor to come. Mannequins dressed in appliqued gowns, brocade jackets, tunics of crocheted gold and an elaborately sequined floral dress are staggered on a mirrored stage beneath a mirrored ceiling.

The 20-foot walls are hung salon-style with gilt frames surrounding oil paintings flirting at once with modernism and Renaissance styles. Most are self-portraits of the artist, Anh Duong, a model who was once synonymous with designer Christian Lacroix.

There are other familiar faces here, most notably Naomi Campbell in a bold feathered gown that would wow even Cinderella. And just around the next corner appears the dress itself, with its giant organza skirt covered in feathers that, we’re assured, are common and not endangered.

The following dozen rooms and hallways are Dolce&Gabbana’s homage to Italy’s artisanal excellence. In one, cross-stitched gowns and sable-collared coats bear familiar depictions of madonnas by Botticelli and Raphael Titian’s Bacchus, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Unknown Woman.”

Many garments honor Italy’s Renaissance painters, including this gown bearing a scene from Raphael’s “Madonna in the Meadow.” (Photo by Jane Wooldridge)

Gold lace demurely veils a woman’s face beneath a crown-like headpiece. Pearls and portraiture and pearls are combined in headdresses; a gentleman’s glove is adorned with filigree and tourmalines. Around them all, cherubs and gods dance among the clouds in a wall projection of Carracci’s “Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne.”

Each piece is one of a kind,” says Muller, an art and fashion historian who spent three years working with the designers to create the exhibition. “You can feel the hours that go into it.”

Immersive Set Design: Murano Glass, Baroque Stucco and Ancient Columns

So are the sets that showcase the clothes. Decorative floors, delicate chandeliers – Murano of course – and ancient columns from the designers’ personal collection travel with the show. The result is a museum-quality immersion. Mannequins wearing garments inspired by Greek mythology appear amid a columned temple.

The adjacent chamber is in glittering gold tiles and features designs that are themselves mosaics of jewels, silks, sequins and even mink. “ (One single coat depicting Biblical scenes of encrusted beads took five artisans a full seven months to complete.) The firm does not reveal the price of its couture.

In the display dedicated to Sicily, the heels on a pair of shoes incorporate folkloric dolls in “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana.” (Photo by Jane Wooldridge)

Other rooms honor the Italian art of glass, with glass and Lucite-beaded garments in a maze of mirrors and delicate chandeliers, and baroque stucco, with jackets and dresses ingenuously appliqued with giant silk cherubs. There are nods to ancient Rome and a compelling enclave devoted to Sardian inspiration.

Another exhibit honors Italian film, with the lens centered on the 1963 film “The Leopard” featuring Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale. Film clips play silently in windows throughout the room, and even without words guests can sense the tension between old aristocracy and the rising influence of the merchant class. In Italy, and in D&G’s world, tradition and future are forever entwined in a delicate dance.

The Sicilian room exudes joy, with bright tile floors, painted walls and even refrigerators adorned with folkloric scenes; all were made by Sicilian craftspeople, as was a wooden transport wagon that was used to bring guests to its 2017 fashion presentation in Palmero.

In the display dedicated to Sicily, a whimsical purse is decorated with jeweled cannoli and other regional sweets in “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce&Gabbana.” (Photo by Jane Wooldridge)

A purse is decorated with cannoli and other sweets executed in ceramic sits beneath a glass vitrine; a second holds impossibly high shoes with heels made from ceramic folkloric dolls. Voluminous dresses decorated with heraldic symbols and folk scenes overflow their couches. “You can’t help but smile,” says a guard-host in the room. “I’m lucky to be in here.”

Devotion and Catholic Symbolism in Dolce&Gabbana’s Designs

Muller’s favorite room, “Devotion,” is set behind a golden grill, gates open to a chapel centered by a gold sacred heart above an altar. Within, a woman with bowed head is draped in a long lace mantle elaborately appliqued with gold flowers and feathers; her attendees are clad in black and gold, their faces veiled in black. The explanation reads, “A symbol of life and love, in this exhibition the heart reminds us that creativity cannot happen without a sense of giving oneself, fully, to artistic enterprise…The sensation of overwhelming splendor … produces a form of mystic fervor.”

Ecclesiastical themes throughout the show culminate in a series of men’s tunics – a new addition to the show following Dolce&Gabbana’s 2025 presentation processional on Rome’s Aelian Bridge. A canonical-style coat is encrusted with beads, a cardinal’s cape shot with silver threads. A mitred-bishop figure glows with jewels, gold and pearls.

A gilt chapel setting and the clothing within nods to Italy’s Catholic traditions in “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce&Gabbana,” an exhibition at ICA Miami. (Photo by Jane Wooldridge)

The question is inevitable: How does the Catholic Church view these overt references? In a conversation hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute in Miami in conjunction with the Miami opening, Monsignor Alberto Rocca of Milan’s Pinocoteca Ambrosiano, applauded D&G’s use of the Catholic symbols so integral to Italian culture. “They are meant to inspire admiration and devotion. There is no sign of mockery but a sense of belief. (D&G’s presentations) are never vulgar or blasphemous. When you are astonished by the beauty, you have a spiritual experience.”

As the exhibition winds to a close, you finally get a glimpse behind the glory. Unadorned corsets, half-tailored jackets and sketches of gowns to come are set in a recreation of D&G’s atelier, complete with antique furniture from one of its actual workshops. There are cabinets filled with buttons, trays of trimmings, bolts of old fabric rescued from defunct fashion houses. Tailor’s dummies are shaped with extra padding in just the same places as a well-fed patron. Such one-of-a-kind works take dedication not just by the designers but by an entire team, putting to rest the question of whether fashion is art.

The finale of the exhibition is Dolce&Gabbana’s tribute to the grand pageant that is Italian opera.  (Photo by Greg Kessler, courtesy of Dolce&Gabbana)

The finale is, fittingly, D&G’s tribute to Puccini and Verdi and the grand pageant that is Italian opera. Arias sweep silk and jeweled capes dedicated to “Turandot,” “Aida,” “Madama Butterfly” and gowns inspired by heroines, kings and princesses stolen into captivity.

Regardless of the opera, the ending is inevitably heartbreak and death.  But in Dolce&Gabbana’s hands, the tale is transformed from tragedy to triumph. So may all stories end.

WHAT: “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce&Gabbana”

WHERE: Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA)-Miami, 61 NE 41st St., Miami

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Sunday to Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

COST: $26-$28

INFORMATION: 305-901-5272 and  miami.dolcegabbanaexhibition.com/

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Art Happenings: Miami Exhibitions, Openings, and Artist Talks

Visual poet and conceptual artist Rubem Robierb, whose design was recently selected as Miami’s Official Host City Poster for the FIFA World Cup 2026, is exhibiting at VISU Contemporary with “Roots to Fly.” (Photo courtesy of VISU Contemporary)

Artburst Miami’s editor picks a selection of what’s happening now in Miami’s galleries, exhibitions, and artist-run spaces.

“Roots to Fly,” Rubem Robierb

 On view through Sunday, March 15.

VISU Contemporary, 2160 Park Ave., Miami Beach

From winged installations on Lincoln Road to the city’s Official Host Poster for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Rubem Robierb’s work has become part of Miami’s visual fabric.

Now at VISU Contemporary, Robierb’s “Roots to Fly” brings together nearly 30 works in sculpture, painting, and mixed media. The exhibition traces Robierb’s path from Maranhão, Brazil, to Miami.

The title frames the exhibition’s core tension. Roots speak to origin and inheritance. Wings suggest movement, resilience, and self-definition. Robierb’s practice operates between the two, balancing personal history with an expanding public presence.

“Roots to Fly” also reflects VISU Contemporary’s continued growth as a platform for ambitious contemporary artists, following the gallery’s recent high-profile David LaChapelle exhibition

More information at visugallery.com

Chilean-born artist Constanza Alarcón Tennen presents ?Tu, yo, y todo el viento entremedio,” a solo exhibition at Nina Johnson. (Photography by Cristóbal Cea/courtesy of Nina Johnson and the artist)

 “Tu, yo, y todo el viento entremedio,” Constanza Alarcón Tennen

Opening with reception 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 16. On view through Saturday, April 18.

Nina Johnson, 6315 NW 2nd Ave, Miami

Working across sculpture, sound, performance, and video, Constanza Alarcón Tennen treats sound as material—physical, relational, and activated through the body.

Tennen’s solo exhibition, “Tu, yo, y todo el viento entremedio” at Nina Johnson, centers on a suspended stoneware whistle sculpture designed for collective use, surrounded by ceramic sound works that function as both objects and instruments. Drawing from pre-Columbian sound artifacts, Alarcón Tennen reimagines sculpture as exchange rather than form, collapsing distinctions between viewer and performer, touch and sound.

Installed within the gallery’s bookshelves, drawings, videos, and ancillary objects operate as an open notebook or cabinet of curiosities—satellites to the primary sculptures that reveal the conceptual and material thinking behind the work. Together, these elements underscore the exhibition’s multivalent nature, blurring  distinctions between sculpture and performance, object and instrument, stillness and activation.

Born and raised in Chile, Alarcón Tennen is based between Boston and Santiago.  

More information at  Nina Johnson

“Now, Voyager,” Anastasia Samoylova

Through Friday, Feb.20 

Dot Fiftyone Gallery, 7275 NE 4th Ave., Miami

In “Now, Voyager,” Anastasia Samoylova extends her photographic language into the territory of painting—and of reckoning. These hybrid works, formed by overlaying photographs with poured and dripped paint, inhabit a charged space between document and abstraction, between the seen and the felt. Taking its title from Walt Whitman’s exhortation, “Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find,” the series follows the artist’s ongoing search for meaning within the shifting image of America.

The exhibition opened in November at DotFiftyOne Gallery; it has been extended through Friday, Feb. 20.

More information at DotFiftyOne

 ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com

Mark Thomas Gibson’s ‘The Voyage’ Brings a Shipwrecked America Home to Miami

Mark Thomas Gibson, “Returns on a Homeward Tide,” 2025, is part of the painter’s show at KDR Gallery in Miami through Monday, Feb. 23. (Image courtesy of the artist and KDR Gallery)

It’s hard to think of a more potent metaphor for the chaotic state of America in 2026 than a sinking ship. That’s the idea behind a new show from painter Mark Thomas Gibson at KDR Gallery in Miami.

Functioning as a homecoming show for the Miami-born artist, “The Voyage” brings together 10 new canvases from Gibson, all featuring nautical scenes that offer macabre commentary on the condition of our culture and where it’s going.

“The idea of ‘The Voyage,’ for me, has been a lot about, well, who’s leading? Who’s steering the ship, and what’s our idea around the future?” says Gibson. “Who speaks in a way about the future that brings us all together so we can all get on this vessel together and move forward? And I don’t think I hear that. So I have to put that out there too.”

A few sets sets of work make up the exhibition.

One is a diptych of a ship before and after its wreckage. Gibson took inspiration from the “Ship of Theseus,” the philosophical parable that could easily apply to a changing America: Is a ship (or any object or entity) that has had all its parts replaced still the same as the original, or is it a different thing altogether?

Mark Thomas Gibson, “Swept Away,” 2025, (Image courtesy of the artist and KDR Gallery)

The other depicts a series of scenes featuring various people and objects treading water amidst flaming wreckage. The human figures – no faces, just limbs flailing about – are all in the midst of some unseemly activity. In “Crew of Saboteurs,” one suited, pale-skinned hand punctures a lifeboat while another in a pinstriped sleeve cuts a vital rope lifeline. In another work, “Swept Away,” two sets of feet stick out of a raft, one in men’s dress shoes and the other wearing red stiletto heels. A blue bikini top has been conspicuously cast aside.

Florida iconography also makes its way into the paintings, sometimes in unflattering ways. “Bound to Roost” features a flock of chickens and roosters, referencing the birds’ ubiquity in Miami “Everybody who’s from Miami has a relationship culturally to the rooster and chickens, from African-Americans to Haitians and Cubans and Latin Americans,” he says. “Conspirators at Sea” features the state flag amid a tangle of white-robed arms, one holding a match near a pair of wooden beams conspicuously placed in the shape of a cross.

Mark Thomas Gibson, “Conspirators at Sea,” 2025. The painting pairs the Florida state flag with Ku Klux Klan imagery. (Image courtesy of the artist and KDR Gallery)

“Being from here, you know you’re in the south. And if you’ve ever shared space with people, with their flags and their beliefs, if you’ve ever had dinner with people, you will find that often people don’t want to talk about their politics. They don’t want to broach that line, because a lot of those lines have very specific cultural histories that are also attached to them. But at the same time, with humor, everyone has to deal with the power dynamics that kind of give humor its fuel.”

Though he now lives in Philadelphia, Gibson knows the territory of Miami well, having spent much of his early life here. He attended the New World School of the Arts before moving on to Cooper Union and Yale, and his father served as postmaster of Homestead after Hurricane Andrew. The flat, yet vibrant colors in the paintings are as much a reflection of the culture in South Florida as they are a tribute to his father, who became an artist himself and an aficionado of Caribbean art before he passed away in 2023. In particular, the artist praises his “strong, steady hand and a great sense of space,” as well as a knack for color.

“He started painting after he retired, and it turns out he was actually kind of good,” he says. “I was like ‘damn it, he can actually do this.”

Mark Thomas Gibson, “Bound to Roost,” 2025. The artist painted the chickens in the work as a tribute to the Miami neighborhoods where the birds roam freely. (Image courtesy of the artist and KDR Gallery)

Gibson learned of his father’s artistic skills one day when he asked his son to take him to an art supply store. He later found out he had always had artistic talent, but sacrificed a potential creative career, including a scholarship to study architecture at Northwestern University, in order to support his family. It wasn’t until he finally retired that he decided to explore this side of himself in earnest.

“He really started becoming interested in Caribbean art, and looking at stuff from Haiti and looking at things that had a very particular kind of stacked, flat sense of space,” he says. “I want to push-pull on that. I want to figure out ways to like, deal with bright color, deal with radiant things, deal with things that don’t exactly quite fit, and with some of the style and some of the ways I’ve been painting over the years.”

Despite Gibson’s history in Miami, the artist has rarely exhibited in his hometown, making the homecoming show something of a special occasion for KDR Gallery and its owner Katia David Rosenthal.

Born and raised in Miami and now working and living in Philadelphia, Mark Thomas Gibson’s homecoming show is at KDR Gallery, Miami. (Photo by Ryan Collerd, courtesy of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage)

“Mark has shown us some of the best museums and galleries, and as a Miami based gallery, as a regional gallery, it’s sometimes hard to call on artists that have had such an extensive resume,” she says. “So it’s very special to have an artist like this come show in Miami, especially in my space.”

Rosenthal first became interested in working with Gibson after seeing a painting of his at the NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) art fair in Miami. They kept in touch for several years before the artist came for a visit in person.

“We spoke about works that I really loved that he was making, and he kind of riffed on that,” she says. “I think it’s like a very interesting time to have the show open, especially a few weeks past what’s happening here in the U.S.”

Likewise, Gibson hopes the work will provoke some kind of response in viewers, although he doesn’t see himself as putting out any specific call to action.

“Maybe they can find in the show that they can convene and have those conversations and maybe do some actual action,” he says. “But I’m not the leader. I’m the drummer. It’s more about the backbeat. It’s more about witnessing. I’m witnessing a train wreck. I’m witnessing a shipwreck. I’m witnessing something falling apart. And we can do that wearing very nice clothes and driving very nice cars, but it’s all going to end up in the same place. That’s how I feel.”

WHAT: “Mark Thomas Gibson: The Voyage”

 WHERE: KDR Gallery, 790 NW 22nd St., Miami

 WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Open Saturday, Jan. 17 through Monday, Feb. 23

 COST: Free

 INFORMATION: 305-392-0416 and kdr305.com

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Art Notes: Miami Exhibitions, Openings, and Artist Talks

Sepideh Kalani, Nakh (نخ), 2025, porcelain cone 10, 20 x 20 x 13 in.

Artburst Miami’s editor picks a selection of what’s happening now in Miami’s galleries, exhibitions, and artist-run spaces.

“Transit Memory”— Baker—Hall

Opening with reception from 5 to 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 10. On view through Sunday, Feb. 22.

Baker—Hall, 1294 NW 29th St., Miami

Baker—Hall partners with Oolite Arts for an exhibition entitled, “Transit Memory,” featuring a selection of artists from Oolite Arts’ 2025 Studio and Live.In.Arts Residencies. Co-curated by Baker—Hall and Gabi Di Giammarco “Transit Memory” brings together four artists—Sepideh Kalani, Diana Larrea, Ana Mosquera, and Zonia Zena,

“Transit Memory” considers how identity is constructed, negotiated, and reassembled across shifting cultural, political, and geographic terrains. Through photography, video, technical drawing, embroidery, ceramics, and porcelain sculpture, the exhibition approaches memory as an active process and transit as both condition and material. Each artist examines systems that shape selfhood—bureaucracy, migration, censorship, and inherited traditions—revealing how belonging and autonomy persist under conditions of displacement and uncertainty.

Info at bakerhall.art/exhibition/transit-memory/

“Energy Vortex” — Pablo Contrisciani

Opening with reception 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 15. On view through Thursday, Jan. 29.

Miami International Fine Arts (MIFA), 5900 NW 74th Ave., Miami

“Energy Vortex,”  a solo exhibition by Pablo Contrisciani, curated by Ross Karlan and Sophia Ballesteros, draws from ideas in quantum physics and the physicality of gestural abstraction, where bold colors and expressive brushwork pulse with energy. References to South Florida’s coastline, the void, and the act of taking a leap internally reflect Contrisciani’s engagement with painting as a tool for navigating perception and emotion. Contrisciani has lived and worked in Miami since 1998 and holds an MFA from the National University of Fine Arts of La Plata, Argentina. He is currently a resident artist at Laundromat Art Space.

More information at mifamiami.com

Olivia Reavey’s photographic works are featured at City State. (Photo by Olivia Reavey, photo courtesy of City State)

“Drive My Car” — Olivia Reavey

City State in conjunction with Open Artist Studios

City State, 6381 NW 2nd Ave., Miami.

Through Saturday, March 7

This photographic exhibition captures the tension between industrial objects and human bodies. Curated by MATTE, Olivia Reavey’s work features springs, wires, and mirrors interacting with human forms, creating tension between the mechanical and the organic. Reavey’s darkroom prints are jaggedly cut and textured, emphasizing the physicality of her process. Her photographs explore themes of intimacy, identity, and the negotiation between vulnerability and control, often incorporating spontaneous performances with friends or models. She is currently an MFA candidate at Yale University. Curator Matthew Leifhelt is an American photographer, magazine editor, and professor based in Brooklyn. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and the Yale School of Art, Leifheit is Editor-in-Chief of MATTE Magazine. He is currently on the faculty at the Yale School of Art and a resident at  City State.

More information at citystateenterprises.com

“Vision/Version” at The Camp Gallery

The CAMP Gallery, 791-793 NE 125th St., North Miami

Opening Saturday, Jan. 17 through Saturday, Feb. 21.

“Vision/Version” featuring the work of New York based artist Pablo Power.

“Vision/Version” is Power’s first solo show in Miami, and his second solo exhibition with our gallery. This comeback to the city for the first time in nearly a decade stems from Power’s curiosity to revisit the genesis of his creative inspiration. This exhibition features a collection of both new and old mixed media works, wall hanging sculpture, video works, and unique prints produced in collaboration with Keigo Prints, which all together create a visual roadmap for the development of Power’s unique artistic language.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. Private tours can be scheduled by emailing hello@thecampgallery.com or calling 786-953-8807.

“Artist Panel and Curator Conversation — An Evening With Contemporary Photographers Tyler Shields, Jeffrey Czum, and Nick Mele”

The Arlo Wynwood Living Room Gallery, 2217 NW Miami Court, Miami

6 to 8 p.m., discussion begins at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 22

A  curator led conversation with Tyler Shields, Jeffrey Czum, and Nick Mele. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the artists’ creative processes, inspirations, and the themes behind their work. The discussion provides insight into contemporary art practice in Miami and offers a chance to engage directly with the artists.

Shields is an American fine art photographer whose work moves seamlessly between photography, fashion, and cinema. Through his signature “clean collages,” he reimagines familiar urban and roadside scenes, giving ordinary environments new context and meaning.

Mele is a lifestyle, fashion, and fine art photographer known for his whimsical take on American luxury and elegance. Drawn to richly layered interiors and the people who inhabit them, his images evoke a blend of old-world glamour and modern irreverence.

RSVP: info@1950contemporary.com

 ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com

‘Suns + Shadows’ Brings Out the Best of Miami’s Black Artists

Installation view of “Suns + Shadows” at the Marshall L. Davis, Sr. African Heritage Cultural Arts Center. (Photo by Nazir Forbes)

As a revered cultural institution in Liberty City celebrates its 50th anniversary, one Miami artist is taking the opportunity to reflect on its impact.

“Suns + Shadows,” an art exhibition at the Marshall L. Davis, Sr. African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, convenes some of Miami’s most celebrated artists of Black diasporic lineage. It also marks the curatorial debut of a beloved figure in the Miami arts community, lens-based artist Roscoè B. Thické III.

The exhibition was originally proposed as a solo presentation by Thické, who was approached to do a solo show at the gallery by its manager Bayunga Kialeuka. But the artist had just wrapped the group show “Summer School” at Homework Gallery and was reticent about doing another so soon. He offered to curate a show instead, something he hadn’t done before. Then, during a residency in Suriname, supported by the Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, his research into the center’s 50th anniversary gave him the exhibition’s theme: Legacy.

From left, Roscoè B. Thické III, Mark Delmont, and Lance Minto-Strouse survey the exhibition. (Photo by Gregory Reed)

“I was over there writing a lot about legacy, what it would have meant to me, what it means, period, how does it even reflect in my work and other artists’ work,” he says. “I just started talking to artists, talking about how they practice, how they think about it in passing, and what they think about legacy and how that shows in their practice.”

Thické decided on the final list after sending out a prompt, eventually settling on five artists that seemed “the most enthused.” Some of the participants are already well-established in Miami’s art scene; Reginald O’Neal, for instance, showed at the Rubell Museum in 2021 and at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2023, while T. Elliot Mansa staged one of the final shows at the former Locust Projects space in the Design District in 2022.

T. Elliot Mansa, Ubuntu (For Marcus), 2025. (Photo by Jarem Hodges)

Each employed a range of different materials and angles. Mansa’s florally inspired collages incorporate found materials such as seashells, sand, stuffed animals, and nails in a series titled “Ubuntu,” after the pan-African philosophy of universal human connection. Mark Fleuridor’s textile works incorporate quilting and digital collaging, while Mark Delmont, who previously exhibited in 2024 at the Center in a solo show titled “Papers,” presents figurative paintings reflecting on the impact of unseen Black laborers in Miami.

Some artists treat the idea of legacy from a personal angle.  O’Neal is known for both his neo-impressionist paintings and for large-scale installations of souvenir caricature figurines reflecting on the historic commodification of Black creativity. His work for “Suns + Shadows” takes on a sculptural element with the use of poured concrete slabs. One piece, “The opposite side of headcracks is losers,” embeds dice in the concrete, its name a reference to the highest scoring move in the dice game cee-lo.

Reginald O’Neal explored concrete as a material for the first time for his work in “Suns + Shadows.” Mark Fleuridor’s work can be seen on the wall. (Photo by Nazir Forbes)

In “I wrote my name in the concrete,” he places a painting of his recently deceased brother, also named Reginald, and etches his initials in the concrete as if it were an actual sidewalk panel. Thické says O’Neal came up with the idea for the two artworks after discussions between the curator and artist.

“Reggie…wanted to memorialize him and let his legacy live on,” says the curator, who like O’Neal also grew up in Miami’s Black community. “And we started thinking about how we did that when we were young. We would see wet concrete and write ‘Long live so-and-so,’ that’s how we would memorialize people in the neighborhood. So, I think that got him on a path of what he wanted to do.”

Reginald O’Neal is known for both his neo-impressionist paintings and for large-scale installations of souvenir caricature figurines reflecting on the historic commodification of Black creativity. (Photo by Jarem Hodges)

The art exhibition itself is only one half of the project. Thické has also produced a sumptuous catalog that both expands and accompanies “Suns + Shadows” , featuring poetry, essays, photos, and other documentation. Part of the impetus for the book is to counterbalance a deficiency in the show, the fact that all five of the exhibiting artists are men, according to Thické

“I know I wanted a woman’s perspective, but the budget didn’t allow for more than five artists,” Thické remarks. “With the book, I wanted to lead with the women. The women are major and the guys are minor in the book, since the guys are major in the show itself.”

Indeed the catalog provides much more expansive reflection on the five female creatives selected to participate, particularly in terms of mediums covered. There are pages and stills from film director Monica Sorelle’s feature “Mountains” about a demolition worker in Little Haiti and his emotional tug of war over working in a job that is leading to the neighborhood’s gentrification, as well as an interview between Sorelle and fellow filmmaker Faren Humes. The book also features stills from Humes’ film “Liberty,” documenting the community around the Liberty Square housing project. Thické even included poetry from his daughter, Jada Forbes, a high schooler and budding artist herself.

Mark Delmont’s paintings reflect on the legacy of Black laborers in Miami. (Photo by Gregory Reed)

Reflections on feminine influence can also be found in the show itself, however. Jamaican-American artist Lance Minto-Strouse, who claims a mix of Afro-Chinese, Anglo, and Native American heritage, discusses family in his work “Guidance from the Matriarchs.” The collage of text and photos, with faces blurred as a way of “protecting” the family according to the artist, came about after he revisited archives from his mother’s upbringing in Jamaica. It’s also meant to be a meditation on the matriarchal nature of Caribbean culture.

“In Caribbean culture, women tend to lead the children into ideas (and help them to) understand the world around them,” says Minto-Strouse. “My mother was a photographer and pushed me into the art and art ideologies. So (I was) revisiting that after her death and making it, in a way ,of honoring all the things that came before me.”

WHAT: “Suns + Shadows” 

WHERE: Marshall L. Davis, Sr. African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, 6161 NW 22nd Ave., Miami

WHEN: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Closed Saturdays and Sundays. Through Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. 

COST: Free

INFORMATION: 305-638-6771 and ahcacmiami.org 

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Downtown’s Queue Gallery is Rebelling Against Miami’s Art World Conventions

Queue Gallery’s muted aesthetic and interest in conceptual art sets it apart from the Miami art scene. (Photo courtesy of Queue Gallery)

Queue Gallery is a bit off the beaten path in more ways than one. It’s in downtown Miami, close to the New World School of the Arts but far from art scene hotspots like Allapattah and the Design District. It’s housed in a well-worn downtown Miami loft space, across the hall from the dance music vinyl emporium T-Bag Records. The floors are well-worn, with dark-painted wood contrasting with whitewashed walls, and a moldy smell hanging in the air outside thankfully dissipates once inside the building. 

It’s not the typical place for a fine art gallery, and slightly inconvenient given the second-floor space’s lack of direct street access. But for Catherine Camargo, Queue Gallery’s owner and curator and a self-described “river rat” who grew up nearby along the Miami River, the powerful feeling of nostalgia pulled her in. 

Catherine Camargo is the owner and curator of Queue Gallery. (Photo by Clarence Josey II)

“I kind of fell in love with the building, because it’s one of the last remaining old school buildings around here,” she says. “There used to be a pizza shop downstairs called Nino’s that I would go to every day during high school. So it’s very full circle being here, it feels good.” 

The gallery’s ideas are even more unconventional. Camargo issued a bold rebuke to the city’s art scene when she launched the gallery with a debut group show, “Memory Stick,” in August, with a press statement declaring that Miami’s galleries and institutions were playing it too safe. 

“The notion that we must safely exhibit only what can be simply understood reads as an insult to many art enthusiasts in our city—those who attend show after show seeking an experience that challenges perception, that disrupts the surface and digs deeper,” the statement read. “‘Memory Stick’ rejects the notion that audiences are incapable of engaging with complexity. Instead, it embraces work that confronts the subconscious and seeks value beyond the purely aesthetic—a thirst born not of pessimism, but of a contemporary hope, with language evolving alongside us.” 

Indeed, the works in Queue’s presentations don’t feel like anything one would associate with Miami, an intentional choice from Camargo. The gallerist is a veteran of the Miami scene, having spent much of her career at the Margulies Collection and briefly at the Pérez Art Museum Miami. She took Queue around town as a nomadic gallery and magazine, curating presentations at spaces across the city in recent years, before opening up shop downtown. In that time she established an almost anti-Miami aesthetic of muted colors and utilitarian materials – Concrete, metal, fabric, found objects – as well as experimental takes on two-dimensional image-making. 

Karryl Eugene’s work uses photo collage and calligraphic elements to address the ways in which black culture is transformed into status symbols for the wealthy. (Photo courtesy of Queue Gallery)

“I really wanted to make sure that for the first show the text was kind of a critique of our overall perception of ourselves,” Camargo says. “There’s an idea down here that people aren’t complex enough, or that we don’t have the capacity to indulge in conceptual art, and talk about it and enjoy it. And I have an issue with that, because I’m from here.” 

In other words, it’s a rebellion in favor of art focused on ideas and against the typically decorative brightness and Caribbean joie de vivre that Miami sells to the world. An upcoming show from Phoenix, Arizona-based artist Morgan Leigh is a good example of their aesthetic: Her works made from foam wrapped in cloth, leather, and snakeskin, occasionally saturated with desert sand, feature flesh tones of brown, beige, and black but nevertheless transmit a sensual charge. 

Beyond looks, conceptual ideas certainly animate Queue’s most recent show. “BLACK MANS SHADOW WORK” pairs photo-based work from Torrance Hall and Karryl Eugene, two New York-based artists interrogating themes of selfhood and identity beyond stereotypical conceptions of black manhood. Each also presents a perspective that feels rooted in the 2000s, both belonging to Gen Z, such as Hall’s digitally-manipulated self-portraits that take on a smooth, metallic aesthetic reminiscent of the Y2K era. Eugene’s photo collages, meanwhile, splice together hip-hop calligraphy with images of video game characters, celebrities, and photos taken at businessman Michael Rubin’s 2023 “All-White Party” to interrogate how black cultural signifiers are appropriated as status symbols for the wealthy.

Although Camargo has worked mainly with artists from outside of the city since Queue Gallery opened, she mentions a few key collaborators and artists working in Miami that have influenced the project, including Luna Palazzolo-Daboul, Alberto Checa, David Correa, and Fared Manzur. She too is a product of the city, and of an artistic family: Her mother Kareen Pauld Camargo, who was born in Haiti, was one of the first black dancers for the Miami City Ballet.

After graduating from the New World School of the Arts, Catherine moved on to the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where she began to develop her curatorial sensibilities. Initially intending to become an artist herself, she found herself painting “very Caribbean, figurative, colorful paintings” that she eventually got sick of. 

Catherine Camargo, Queue Gallery’s owner and curator grew up near her gallery along the Miami River and the powerful feeling of nostalgia pulled her in.  (Photo courtesy of Queue Gallery)

“I felt like I was falling into a cliche and I was not making for myself, I was making for everyone else. And that translated over into my taste as a curator, because I think I got so sick of making work like that that I just started becoming obsessed with looking at other artists who were making work that looked nothing like my own.” 

That mindset has carried through into her stewardship of Queue and its mission to change what art from Miami can look like and the things it can say. 

“Obviously, as a half-Haitian woman, I think the Caribbean diasporic, colorful, beautiful art is still really important,” she continues, “but I think we have enough of it in Miami.” 

WHAT: Queue Gallery

WHEN: Gallery hours: 1 to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday

WHERE: 212 N. Miami Ave., Miami

COST: Free

INFORMATION: queuegallery.net 

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.