One of the benefits of the madness imposed on local residents during annual Art Week is the ability to see several private collections of superlative contemporary art. In the past, Constant Companion and I have been fortunate enough to tour these two collections (see Dec. 6, 2020 post). A new look brought refreshed perspectives.

If you’ve read any of these blogs, you might have seen some of my commentary on our local architecture. Tropical and Streamline Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival styles overlap in the hotels, commercial, and residential buildings.

Tastes are changing as quickly as building codes and sequentially, older homes are being replaced with blocky concrete structures with no consideration for lot lines. I call this new style 21^st Century Tropical Bauhaus.

The home that was built to house the private collection contains a bit of all three! The street-facing façade has the undecorated concrete vertical lines associated with Tropical Bauhaus.

Curvilinear lines viewed from the backyard remind me of our Art Deco, though in larger brushstrokes.

Finally, the red tile roofs are reminiscent of the tiles roofs characteristic of Mediterranean Revival architecture.

Of course, inside, the residence was built to house an impressive collection of contemporary art. Here’s a selection of what we saw. Commentary is lacking, well, because I did not take notes. I hope you will enjoy the artwork as I did, simply strolling though …

One collector lives at close quarters with their art collection.

Another, guided by an able curator, submerges employees in his corporate offices with art, in the hallways, in the offices, around every corner. Visitors and residents on a few, select days during Art Week have the opportunity to tour the remarkable workplace.*

*Next year, I’ll have to take some photos to show the offices where the artwork is hung.

This year’s tour focused on work by American artist John Baldessari. Again, this is a stroll though the hallways of the workspace, some limited commentary is added.

On the day Constant Companion and I drove back from the collector’s home, we passed (from afar) one of my favorite buildings, Villa Regina. This 36-floor, brightly colored building was one of the Miami Vice/Cocaine Cowboys-era condo buildings built here in  the 1980s. The rainbow façade was created by Israeli artist Yaacov Agam who is best know for optical and kinetic art.