Greetings from Miami!
One day after learning that President Nobel Peace Laureate will send 30,000 troops to shoot up Afghanistan, we see that the Art Gods sent 30,000 young and good-looking artists and devotees to glam up Miami. Many of them were in downtown Miami at OHWOW, the gallery/venue run by impresarios Al Moran and Aaron Bondaroff, aka A-Ron the Downtown Don.
Art enlistees migrated from South Beach for the opening of OHWOW’s second annual “It Ain’t Fair.” The space looks professional and bright, and Rafael de Cárdena’s zig-zag/ cracked glass design is pretty hot. I can’t tell you much about the art on the walls, because the gallery was packed to the gills. So was the parking lot outside.
Cyprien Gaillard’s video probably looks great in other conditions, but it was illegible projected on the wall outside, maybe because of the bright full moon. That’s okay, because all eyes were on French composer Koudlam, who performed electro-drone tunes, surrounded by shaggy roughnecks waving flares, the entire group hoisted to the roof by a greasy forklift. The crowd ooohed, aahhed, and ohwowed over the flares, but cooled when the performers began spraying fire extinguishers over the crowd. The mist was overwhelming, and when the flares – and beer bottles – began to tumble down the roof and crash next to oblivious scenesters, I split. Having no insurance, I can’t afford Culture Casualties.
Back in South Beach, we met friends at the Raleigh Hotel, just in time to catch Santigold performing at the Deitch Projects party.
Any artist who can blend reggaeton and Siouxsie & the Banshees must be brilliant, and the ensuing dance party proved it.
