Why “Art Miami” Now?

What visual images in your life best promote solitude?

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” (Pablo Picasso)

You might imagine what it’s like for me to live in South Florida during December when mass throngs of casual vacationers arrive to begin our winter tourist season. Know then it’s damn crowded even before they arrive with over six million people living on this narrow expanse of former swampland about one hundred miles long from north to south and between five to twenty miles going horizontally across. In particular, this holiday period considerably worsens our traffic “gridlock” conditions on I-95, the Palmetto Expressway, and the Florida Turnpike.  Average vehicle commute times during “the season”, traveling  one way, between South Florida’s three counties accordingly stretches often up to an hour or more as well.

Nonetheless, I considered it a privilege this year when I received “VIP” tickets to attend the prestigious “Art Miami” opening event, twenty miles south of our Fort Lauderdale home in the big city downtown.Thus, I would strive this year to obtain an inner sensation of peace and quiet from such maddening crowds by  indulging for a couple hours in such showcases of expensive, contemporary art. So I present for your interest below, several art-pieces from that iconic holiday happening that most appealed to me from such a solitude perspective. In similar fashion, as the time tested phrase goes, let’s hope for more “peace on earth” this holiday season.