Remember Umbrella Sky? Now Miami Beach has its own artworks hanging over Española Way
The next time you’re walking down Española Way in Miami Beach, look up.
You’ll see a few miracles — and some cheerful puffy clouds.
In the spirit of the late, lamented Umbrella Sky and the thirst-provoking Cafetera Sky, which hovers over the entrance to Brickell’s Latin Cafe 2000 and is the literal best work of art ever, two new public art commissions have been unveiled as part of the city’s Onstage! program.
Carlos Betancourt’s “Milagros!” is made up of hundreds of tin charms made by Mexican artisans — symbols of hope, healing and devotion — suspended from wires over the Spanish-and-Mediterranean-style street. An old Spanish folk custom, which you can see across parts of Latin America in altars and shrines, inspired the work.
Betancourt, born in Puerto Rico to Cuban parents, created the piece in collaboration with his work and life partner, architect Alberto Latorre. He told the Miami Herald that Miami Beach is now a place where artists can thrive.
“The sense of freedom you feel in Miami, you don’t feel anywhere else. It’s very authentic,” he said.. “People come to express themselves freely. People are able to keep their culture, keep their language and a strong sense of self. That allows for extreme freedom to be creative.”
Closer to Washington Avenue is the second installation, the whimsical “Little Cloud Sky” by art duo FriendsWithYou (Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III). And because this is 2021, the Los Angeles-based collaborative, which was launched in Miami, is releasing a 10-part animation collaboration with DJ Diplo as NFTs.
David Berg, partner and developer in the ownership group Infinity Collective, which has transformed the historic Esme Hotel on Española Way and is working to bring new tenants to the pedestrian street, said the installations are the perfect fit.
“The original vision for Española Way in 1925 was to create an artist colony for the Bohemian creatives. It was meant to be the Greenwich village of Miami Beach,” he said. “As Miami Beach continues to progress towards more of an arts and cultural destination, it only makes sense that Española Way be at the forefront of this initiative.”
The installations will be up through the first week of January 2022, with an extension possible.
