Art Walk

Esperando el Enemigo, by Glexis Novoa

Graphite on marble. I saw this artist's exhibit at the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery. I don't know anything about art markets, trends, or who's who. I walked into that place like a child. Bernice was pure New York, vibrant and energetic, she has been doing this for years so she is rather well established in Miami. Bernice looked me in the eye and said "my gosh aren't you pretty!" Seems to be the kind of person who says exactly what pops into her head, and given the above comment, she is of course now my favourite person in the world.

At other galleries, the usual suspects in contemporary art adorned the gallery walls, even a bent 1 x 8 plank of wood.

Who am I to argue? I've learned that contemporary art does not take itself too seriously, so I don't bother to pretend I understand, or disdain it. I just watch, letting the visual experience watch over me. I'm a detached art Buddhist, it seems.

Contemporary art is difficult, because it is unnerving. I lack the vocabulary to speak of it, to explain why I like or dislike what I'm looking at. This is a new language, one that I have not mastered. I'm like a three year old: I like/I don't like. That's about it. Which is probably good.

It is unnerving for a control freak, not to know why I think what I do, what attracts me to some colors, shapes, textures while I find others repellent? What is the history, background, social and political context of this assemblage in front of me?

Nope, none of that, just open eyes.

This was an experience in releasing the need to fully understand, to be aware of what I'm thinking, narrating thoughts as I think them. Narration and living are inversely proportional to each other, so the unfamiliar predicament of lacking words might not be all that bad for me, less thinking about living, more living.

This was my first time out in downtown Miami at night. So I saw the city with wide open eyes. New acquaintances, a new skyline. In Brussels I would stop at Avenue Louise to watch the Atomium on the skyline, to the northeast.

It was good to be a pedestrian again, on a comfortably warm night. People in conversation on city blocks of open gallery doors, some of which beckoned, and some forbiddingly minimalist - I like. Suburban sprawl, where life is impossible without a car - I don't like.

Little Haiti used to be a battlezone, and it does give reason for pause, to think about how expensive this neighborhood is becoming, as it gentrifies.

I thought about that as I walked past empty lots, I thought about that in the galleries and back toward downtown on the streets where the artists haven't moved in yet.

This is a city full of sharp contrasts, where the edges still show.