Miami Artists on the Rise

This 36-year-old prankster says no matter where he goes, he will always thrive in his hometown: “It’s the place I’ve always been able to do whatever I want without any pressure (subconscious or otherwise) to compromise on anything I’ve wanted to pursue with my work,” he explains. “The most contributing factor to my success being here was probably that it wasn’t New York or LA, or any other already culturally- defined city at the time that I began showing publicly. I stuck out like a sore thumb.” In attracting the attention of respected critics and curators along the way, Rodriguez has shown at Miami Art Museum, Bass Museum of Art, MOCA and the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the New World School of the Arts in 1998, and has worked with Fredric Snitzer Gallery since 2001. He turned heads with a 2006 Art Basel Miami Beach performance, “A Bedtime Story Read by Bert Rodriguez,” a simple outdoor reading set against the lofty art fair.

“George is an amazing artist with a mind that seems to go on infinitely,” says Typoe, the local street artist who curated the highly anticipated homegrown Primary Projects show “Here Lies Georges Wildenstein” during the 2011 Art Basel, which featured Calderon’s “After Durer.” Conceptualized from the 1525 design by Albrecht Durer and cast from a homeless man in Calderon’s neighborhood, “It’s one of the only homages I’ve done,” the artist remarks. He explains: “Because humanity doesn’t change. We still treat people in certain ways.” Up next, his narrative of globalization and life in the form of an old split-flap display railroad sign, which received much buzz when shown at Miami’s de la Cruz Collection and will continue making noise. “He is extremely important to Miami and the movement that has been here over the last couple of decades,” Typoe says. “Artists, curators and dealers all alike had nothing but great feedback on his pieces.”

Get a museum-grade dose of contemporary art on your shopping experience. With South Florida now a top winter destination for the international art population, thanks in part to the tropical climate and elite offerings, the area is appealing to a global audience more than ever before. Bal Harbor ups the ante in 2012, with highly curated, exclusive evening talks and art shows. Visitors and locals alike are thirsty for it, says Carolyn Travis, executive director for tourism in Bal Harbour. “Since Art Basel came 10 years ago, the art world has changed here,” she says. “We want to shine a light on what’s going on around us—the evolution of the arts.” This includes Art Chats with luminaries, Art Nights (which began last year) and installations that will feature Miami-based artists’ work as selected by global guest curators. “I always enjoy the opportunity to create something specific, especially for a context where art or my kind of creative output isn’t often seen or experienced there,” says artist Bert Rodriguez, whose Krystallos candy and sugar jewelry display at Saks Fifth Avenue was shown at one of the premiere Bal Harbour Art Nights in 2011. “My original idea was to invite a bunch of kids and have a bake sale in the middle of the store. The idea then evolved to making couture-looking jewelry out of candy and displaying it using all the elements already in use in the store.” Sound fun? That’s the idea. “I’d like to create an environment in which the artists can create the best possible work,” Travis says. “I want them to live in an environment where they can push themselves.” Art Night on March 29, 2012, features a talk by photographer-filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and work by Colombian- born artist Sara Modiano. Launching in October 2012, a public art program features a six-month installation determined by a group of established local collectors and artists working with a guest curator, aimed to introduce even more Miami artists to the public sphere.