Last week Constant Companion and I were joined by an artist friend on our final round and closure of the 2025 Art Week, the northern route through the annual No Vacancy.* Our discussions were enriched by his point of view. About halfway through, we crossed paths with another local artist/friend who was also squeezing in the final day of viewing. Her voice was added to our observations about the art and speculations of who would win the public prize. (See Prelude to Art Week I, November 30, 2025 for more No Vacancy artworks.)

*Actually, early this week, I convinced Constant Companion to join me to walk Lincoln Road, our iconic pedestrian mall, to take in their public art contributions to the local public art. See below.

First stop was the The Miami Beach EDITION to see Amanda Linares‘ contribution to the competition, Tierra Húmeda.

I love reading the descriptions of these pieces. Like the museum exhibit labels that I criticize, I don’t know where they come from. This work was described as “a poetic arrangement of clay tiles and graphite drawings exploring the relationship between land and memory.” I see the beautiful clay tiles; our artist friend explained the drawings. I don’t see the poetry nor land and memory. Don’t get me wrong I really like this work, and not because we know the artist. It fits the space perfectly and how wonderful it would be if the hotel makes it part of their permanent collection.

Next stop on our northward trek along our barrier island was the Cadillac Hotel & Beach Club to see Denise Treizman’s Wish You Were Here. This large piece took weaving to a new level. Appropriately placed alongside the hotel’s pool, the piece was constructed of colorful swim noodles.

Pepe Mar created a truly immersive space in Casa Faena. His Tropical stomping grounds includes two framed pieces created in his unique style of assembling found objects and ephemera. They are placed in a room that is papered in fabric full of images like those found in the frames. The furniture is covered with the same fabric.

*Note to self: Casa Faena is difficult to find; it remains incognito with the original signage for the historic El Paraiso Apartments.

While in the so-called Faena Arts District, we went into the grand Faena Hotel. The Faena annually installs a work on the beach only for the days of Art Week. Constant Companion and I rarely get to see it because of the parking situation. This year it was a giant rotating library by English artist Es Devlin. Complementing the beachside installation is the Devlin’s Reading Room, a 46’ long bench incorporating a bookshelf and strip of LED screen. Projected on the screen are phrases from books and song lyrics contributed by all the teams working at the hotel. 

After checking the Faena shows off our list, we made for the Sherry Frontenac Hotel. Suspended above the hotel lobby was Take Me Home, a large scale photograph of a Caribbean carnival by multimedia artist James Allister Sprang.

The final stop was the International Inn on the Bay. Here, Nathalie Alfonso transformed the building’s second-floor windows into a shifting reflection of the bay with BayScape, a light drawing.

One evening during Art Week on the way to an event, Constant Companion and I took in Liz’N Bow’s No Vacancy contribution, Portal to Niña, projected on the iconic Betsy Egg at the Betsy Hotel. Liz Ferrer and Bow Ty, known collaboratively as LIZN’BOW, bring together digital art, tech, sculpture, public art, music, video and performance

All of the artists who enter the annual No Vacancy competition bring records of training and exhibitions in galleries and museums, both locally and often further afield. Many have earned a number of awards and fellowships and participated in artist residencies. Read more here https://www.miamibeachfl.gov/city-hall/tourism-culture/culture-art-in-public-places/no-vacancy/

And on our Sunday afternoon Lincoln Road walk I did my best not to be distracted by the weekly antique market! I had already seen a few of French artist Philippe Katerine’s monumental “Mr. Pink Takes Flight” inflatables.

These six cartoon-like bubblegum-pink pieces (five inflatables perched on buildings, one sculpture at street level) truly express Katerine’s philosophy of Mignonisme (“Cuteism”), a movement celebrating the aesthetics of cuteness. They are eye catching and cute!

 “La Herencia Viva” (“The Living Heritage”) is the work of Miami-based Colombian artist Oscar Esteban Martinez, the winner of the Lincoln Road Business Improvement District’s (LRBID) first Call to Artists. The installation features a fragmented human face crafted from puzzle-like segments and mirrored panels, exploring themes of identity, coexistence and belonging.

Another sculpture, at the Alton Road entrance to Lincoln, is the work by Chilean artist, Ignacio Gana. I think this is “Chocolate Girl.

Still on display and attracting the selfie-instagram crowd are the works by Gillie and Marc.

Tucked away on the side of the building housing Anthropologie I spied this colorful display. It looks like pieces from Jen Stark’s contribution to the 2024 Elevate Espanola (see December 1, 2024 post). This city art competition was sadly missing this year.

On the way to the evening at the Betsy, we passed a graffiti writer plying his craft on the side of a building facing an alley.

This is only a portion of a sprawling work, the portion that I thought was most visually appealing. During out Lincoln Road walk, we popped into the courtyard of the Sterling Building, one of the remaining historic spots. We found more of this artist’s work, along with one of Flying Knight’s Diving Ladies (see August 1, 2023 for the Diving Ladies).

There is one more stroll remains from Art Week. That is the Design District. I’ll let you know if I make it there and what I find! In the meantime, all the best for this year’s holiday season and the New Year.