Art in South Florida

I think about Florida more consciously now that I am leaving and in particular, I think of the arts in South Florida.

First, there is the Florida landscape, the water that is everywhere and the changing sky: these are good points of reference for artists. The housing developments and malls notwithstanding, there is also an end-of-the-world-everything-could-happen-here sense to Florida that is freeing for artists trying to find themselves (which ought to mean all artists).

Miami is an international city in ways New York and Los Angeles are not. Surely, NY and LA have people from many nationalities but these groups are frequently relegated to ghettoes and parades, and their appearance on TV and newspapers is usually as victims or perpetrators of crimes. In South Florida minorities and people from other countries are a visible force, not just token exceptions, and since they represent a wide variety of nationalities and economic backgrounds, their causes, unlike in other places, tend to be more than just self-serving.

Another interesting and useful quality of the arts South Florida is that here—with exceptions—people in the arts are a little insecure about their worth. Insecurity is good in the arts. It promotes self-discovery and expansion. This searching impetus can be of significance now that the Basel Fair and the proposed new Miami Art Museum are giving the arts in this region a boost. I think MAM has better leadership, scholarship and honesty than many museums—if this is not more obvious is because they are relatively understated; hopefully the new building will bring the necessary attention to the museum.

But in order to develop a world-class art community, South Florida needs to overcome some challenges. For instance, Basel has been good for the city but furthering the art’s community dependency on the Basel Fair is a precarious formula for success. Another danger is that the city can give in to the temptation of being a satellite of New York or a playground for the city’s well-known collectors—there are already signs of some of this going on. An approach the city could take to develop itself independently of Basel, New York and powerful figures, is to encourage education and exhibition spaces. By education I mean rigorous art programs whose intellectual preoccupations go beyond reading art magazines and theory blurbs. By exhibition spaces I mean venues that range from the true alternative spaces to a lively gallery scene, which should include a few dealers concerned with art.

I am cautiously hopeful.