Miami Mountain, 2016
Miami Mountain, 2016Artist: Ugo Rondinone (b. 1964, Switzerland)Medium: Stone, paint, steelDimensions: 42 x 12 x 12 ft.Date installed: 2017Ugo Rondinone’s multidimensional practice balances on the edge of euphoria and detachment. His works convey a profound interest in the contemplation of everyday life and the notion of time. Rondinone’s works often blur the distinction between the real and artificial by combining artificial elements, such as bright neon colors, with natural elements forming a continuum between humans, nature and time, giving structures an artificial permanence that both accentuates and denies their ephemerality. Mediating between geological formations and abstract compositions, Rondinone’s Miami Mountain finds its geological inspiration in the “hoodoo” rock formations of the North American Badlands. The tradition of stacking stones atop one another has existed across cultures for thousands of years. Cairns, or stone piles, carry diverse and dynamic cultural significance. A common thread amongst ancient and modern cairn builders alike is the designation of time and place. Miami Mountain follows in this tradition as a lone demarcation, a moment in time frozen forever.
sacred geometries (rituél, םיסקט , rituales), 2021
sacred geometries (rituél, םיסקט , rituales), 2021Artist: william cordova (b. 1971, Peru)Medium: Cast concrete and rebarDimensions: variableDate installed: 2021sacred geometries (rituél, םיסקט, rituales) utilizes geometric principles that consistently reappeared between 1970 and 1999 by casting everyday objects like milk crates, stools, wooden box transistor radios, boom boxes and “brick” cellphones in concrete. Each represents familiar communicative tools that would have been visible on Collins Avenue and surrounding throughways Alton Road, Jefferson Avenue and Washington Avenue. Together, these objects materialize the spaces, places and people, as well as the temporal and spatial rituals of this period. In May 2022, sacred geometries (rituél, טקסים, rituales) was extensively graffitied. Rather than remove it, cordova embraced the tagging as an addition to the visual repository that the work represents. In his view, the unprovoked intervention “reflects the tenor of the times.”
Eternity Now, 2015
Eternity Now, 2015Artist: Sylvie Fleury (b. 1961, Switzerland)Medium: Neon and metal frameDimensions: 16 ft. 8 in. x 8 ft. 3 in. x 5 ft. (Eternity) & 13 ft. 6 in. x 8 ft. 3 in. x 5 ft. (Now)Date installed: 2015Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury is known for her seductive works that re-contextualize capitalist status symbols, luxury goods and brand slogans. Fleury draws on elements from consumer society and the work of twentieth century artists like Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol to investigate cultural desire and the construction of identity. Commissioned for The Bass’ façade, Fleury’s Eternity Now appropriates its title from Calvin Klein’s perfume of the same name. The scent’s name manifests “the thrill and raw emotion of new love, when two people realize that it is the beginning of forever.” Inspired by the museum’s location facing east towards the shores of Miami Beach, Fleury’s neon brings new meaning to the title, evoking not only feelings of new love, but also the quest for self-perfection and pressing realities of the changing environment.
Chess Tables, 2014
Chess Tables, 2014Artist: Jim Drain (b. 1975, United States)Medium: Metal and terrazzo tilesDimensions: 36 x 72 x 20 in.Date installed: 2014Jim Drain integrates found materials that are at once ultramodern and tribal, yet playful and mystical, creating new forms that push the boundaries of structure. As a former member of Forcefield, a collective formed in Providence, RI in the 1990s that combined music, performance, film and installation into one practice, Drain continues to work collaboratively in an extensive mix of mediums, incorporating psychedelic hues and patterns in a combination of formal exploration, art history and popular culture. Commissioned for The Bass’ TC: Temporary Contemporary public art program in 2014, Drain produced Chess Tables, which consists of two chess tables and four chairs. The work explores the use of pattern through a complex geometric design comprised of steel tubing and terrazzo tiles. Inspired by public chess tables in other urban parks, the project was designed to provide a social gathering point for chess enthusiasts in Collins Park.
Together, 2020
Together, 2020Artist: Arturo Herrera (b. 1959, Venezuela)Medium: Latex on wallDimensions: 180 x 852 in.Date installed: 2020Open-ended and provocative by nature, Arturo Herrera’s artistic practice often intertwines fragments of cartoon characters with abstract shapes and partially obscured images in an attempt to tap into the viewer’s unconscious by evoking memory and recollection. As an exploration evolved out of his multicultural identity, the resulting works lie on the shifting border between legibility and abstract as Herrera effortlessly communicates the familiar in a way that can be pushed into abstraction through fragmentation and dislocation.
Too Much I Once Lamented, 2019
Too Much I Once Lamented, 2019Artist: Susan Philipsz (b. 1965, Scotland)Medium: 5-channel sound installation; Duration: 3:14 minutes; Edition 1 of 3, 2APsDimensions: variableDate installed: 2020Susan Philipsz explores the psychological and sculptural potential of sound using recordings of her own untrained voice, leaving in breaths and imperfections, to investigate how sound can trigger memory and emotions. Philipsz creates site-specific works in response to the architecture and history of the space, prompting introspection and an exploration of themes based on personal and collective loss, longing, hope and return. With Too Much I Once Lamented, Philipsz sings her own rendition of the 1622 madrigal song by Welsh composer Thomas Tomkins, a five-part ballad describing a heartbroken lover in a state of solitary reflection, separately recording each of the five parts herself. Although madrigal compositions traditionally aim to achieve the illusion of breathlessness in creating a seamless whole by layering multiple voices over one another, in her rendition Philipsz purposely makes her inhalations and pauses clearly audible, emphasizing separation over unity, and feelings of solitude and isolation.
Invasive specie, 2020
Invasive specie, 2020Artist: Glexis Novoa (b. 1964, Cuba)Medium: Vinyl paint on cementDimensions: variableDate installed: 2020Havana and Miami based artist Glexis Novoa, recognized for his work with graphite on marble, uses his practice to critique and transfigure social and political themes. With Invasive specie, a site-specific commission, Novoa redefines the look and layout of metropolitan and rural landscapes. Mimicking the species of invasive vines endemic to Florida, the white trail painted on the sidewalk extends in a path, inducing the passerby to examine and identify specific processes and perspectives in that urban environment. The geometric guide imitates the language of traffic signs and includes traces of use and the influence of nature. The graphic vine leads to an informal trail, inviting the viewer to step off the sidewalk and explore the bank of the waterway that flows between Lake Pancoast and Biscayne Bay. The piece works as an invitation to discover a hidden paradise and perhaps interact with those who roam the city seeking shelter in search of rest and peaceful reflection.
Don’t be afraid, 2004
Don’t be afraid, 2004Artist: Jim Hodges (b. 1957, United States)Medium: Inkjet on vinylDimensions: 20 x 30 ft.Date installed: 2022The words "don't be afraid" have appeared in Jim Hodges' art since 2000—first in a small, 3D drawing and then in the more public format of a bumper sticker. At the invitation of the artist, over 90 delegates to the United Nations translated the phrase into their native language which Hodges then combined and enlarged into billboard. At their present incarnation, described as a "global chorus," the words are both reassuring and open-ending, allowing viewers to develop their own interpretations.
SHELLS USED TO BUILD ROADS POURED UPON SHELLS USED TO PAY THE WAY, AT THE LEVEL OF THE SEA, 2008
SHELLS USED TO BUILD ROADS POURED UPON SHELLS USED TO PAY THE WAY, AT THE LEVEL OF THE SEA, 2008Artist: Lawrence Weiner (b. 1942 - 2021, United States)Medium: Language + the materials referred toDimensions: variableDate installed: 2020As one of the central figures in the formation of conceptual art in the 1960s, Lawrence Weiner’s practice operates beyond the specificity and constraints of traditional presentation by taking form of typographic texts. Weiner considers language to be a sculptural material, believing a construction of language can function as a sculpture just as adequately as a fabricated object, creating a radical redefinition of the relationship between artist and viewer.While his works exist only as language and can be displayed in any form, he is closely involved in manifestations, detailing the size of the font, the surface texture and placement of the paint or vinyl letters and indeed often inventing new fonts. Texts appear on walls and windows of galleries and public spaces, as spoken word in audio recordings and video, printed books and posters, cast or carved objects, tattoos, graffiti, lyrics, online, ad infinitum.
Phaphama at Cassilhaus, NC, 2016
Phaphama at Cassilhaus, NC, 2016Artist: Zanele Muholi (b. 1972, South Africa)Medium: Decal mounted on wallDimensions: 13 x 19 ft.Date installed: 2020Zanele Muholi is a visual activist whose photography, video and installation works are embedded with self-portraiture and visceral advocacy for the queer community in South Africa. Muholi’s mission in their work is “to rewrite a black queer and trans visual history of South Africa for the world to know of our resistance and existence at the height of hate crimes in South Africa and beyond.” Muholi often turns the camera on themself, becoming both participant and the image-maker, experimenting with different characters in reference to specific events in South Africa’s political history. Utilizing strikingly symbolic poses and props, Muholi reflects upon themes of labor, racism and sexual politics, while the exaggeration of skin tone is used to reclaim their blackness, challenging the oppressive standards people of color face in today’s popular culture. Meaning “awake” in Zulu, Phaphama, a persona created by Muholi during a residency in North Carolina, wears a leopard print vest, a velvet jacket and a bow tie.
