Most Popular Stories

• Miami Dolphins coach shows tough love to QB Henne
• University of Miami football starting fresh after 5-7 season
• Cuba to try anti-Castro punk rocker Gorki Aguila
• Miami Dolphins cut safety Keith Davis
• Better days are coming for UM football, eventually
• New tropical depression forms in Atlantic
• Miami Dolphins scour waiver wire
• Corps to start draining swollen Lake Okeechobee
• Tropical Storm Hanna forms as Gustav strengthens
• Tom Cruise sued for millions

News On The Go

• News by Mobile
• News by Email
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts

Miami's close ties to the Caribbean felt throughout fair

BY ELISA TURNER

Special to The Miami Herald

Miami is fast becoming a hub for contemporary Caribbean art. And this year during Art Basel, with Miami contemporary artists more visible ever before, expect to see increasingly lively Caribbean art.

Two exhibits opening during the fair at the ArtCenter/South Florida and the Freedom Tower are based on the book Miami Contemporary Artists ($49.95, Schiffer Books) by Paul Clemence and Julie Davidow. (Disclosure: The book contains a foreword I wrote about the recent history of the Miami art scene.) The book features more than 100 artists connected to the city's diverse art scene, many of whom hail from Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

And exhibits of contemporary Caribbean artists at Chelsea Galleria, David Castillo Gallery, Diaspora Vibe Gallery, Edge Zones and Moore Space will offer fascinating snapshots of contemporary Caribbean art.

Miami plays such an increasingly important role as a cultural hub for the region that it's difficult for contemporary Caribbean culture to flourish and grow in a central place. Sometimes defining moments in this evolving culture happen in Miami.

Frank and Bebita Mestre, who live in the Kendall area, have been collecting Caribbean art for 30 years.

A visit to the Mestre home is almost like traveling to the hard-to-define Caribbean. A first-time visitor may be stunned by the nearly 500 paintings from Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Barbados and Dominican Republic. Many hang floor to ceiling.

''We've always loved art,'' says Mestre, who took a class on art while at the University of Miami studying civil engineering. ''We have it in our blood,'' he adds. His six adult children collect as well, and their children are territorial about art in their rooms. ''I know that when one of the kids tries to take a painting from one room and move it to someone else's room, it doesn't fly,'' he laughs.

The couple's study has an extensive library of books and catalogs. ''That library has been read, every word,'' says Tina Spiro of Chelsea Galleria, who teaches a course in Caribbean art at Florida International University.

Their art is often lushly colored, by turns disturbing and beguiling. Mestre pauses to look at a tender painting Louverture in the Garden by David Gall of Barbados. It shows a couple recalling Adam and Eve exchanging mangoes and oranges. Behind them, a silvery waterfall cascades down a steep mountain. Mestre smiles and says, ``It has all the forces of the Caribbean, the beauty of the land. It really does.''

Diaspora Vibe Gallery, led by curator-director Rosie Gordon-Wallace, started out in the late 1990s in a modest space in the Bakehouse Art Complex in Wynwood. Now it is an ambitious venue in the Design District with engaging monthly programs highlighting Caribbean music, poetry, and cuisine. Many of the artists it shows live and work in Miami. Artists exhibited at Diaspora Vibe include Jean Chiang, Deborah Jack and Erman.

A museum show highlighting strong contemporary Caribbean art and organized in Miami seems likely in the not-so-distant future. For now, there's the Brooklyn Museum of Art, where Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art is up through Jan. 27. Focused on art from the past six years, it has some 80 works by 45 emerging and established artists, a number of whom have exhibited in Miami. It encompasses painting and drawing, sculpture and photography, as well as video and installation art.

Taken altogether, art in Infinite Island is a provocative stew of ideas about identity and politics, travel and tourism. ''A lot of Caribbean artists are involved in the search for identity,'' explains Spiro. They ask these questions: ``Where do I fit in? Who am I? Am I black, am I white, am I Chinese? Am I a product of my past or a creature of God?''