Can the city’s galleries become anchors to an art scene that draws attention throughout the year? The city has truly developed into one of the great cosmopolitan cities, but the international, art-buying, jet-setters know when to be there.  I guess I am wondering if the gallery scene will rise to the level of the fairs it hosts – can it? How do galleries even produce shows for the rest of the year.

A couple of months ago my partner & I headed down to Miami and I took a couple days to check out some of the art scene. I love to feel the energy that drives a growing art scene – but this time I left feeling a little empty. Maybe it was just me… I mean there are more galleries, right? The scene must be growing, but it kind of seems like a lot of what I found was specifically designed to attract the international art-fair developers.

Kawaii Universe? An entire warehouse of rainbow-colored stickers of cupcakes and sushi?

Walls on Wynwood? A couple years ago I took so many photos of the walls painted throughout the city – I was all over it . This time, I was just over it – it seemed so calculated and event-driven, lacking heart and spontanaeity.

A lot of the work I saw seemed to be screaming “Pick Me! Pick Me!” It is kind of like a pageant – if the work can be loud enough and colorful enough, maybe it will get noticed when the fairs come to town.  I guess it’s not a bad marketing strategy and if I lived there, I would probably do the same thing. It’s just that the thoughtfully curated, well-developed shows were few and far between. Even some of my favorite spaces seemed to fall short with exhibits lacking programmatic coherence.

With all of that said, there is still a lot to look at and I know I only got to see a little bit – my top 10:

1. Robert Fischer’s “Quarry” at Charest-Weinberg
2. Romulo Aguerre “The Forms of Light” at Sammer Gallery
3. Richard Höglund, “Hysterical.Sublime..” at Gallery Diet
4. Karina PeisaJovich, “The eyes, sometimes” at Alejandra von Hartz Gallery
5. Nick Gentry & Josafat Miranda at Robert Fontaine Gallery
6. Roman Vitali, “It Also Snows Inside” at now contemporary art
7. JeanPaul Mollozzi at Bakehouse Art Complex
8. Victor Sydorenko, ” The Levitation Series” at Black Square Gallery
9. Mira Lehr “209 Ignition” at Kelley Roy Gallery
10. Consuelo Castañeda, “Homage to Gego” at Hardcore Art Contemporary Space