Four-year-old Design Miami has come of age -- and so has the Design District in which it sits.

The design fair has moved from the historic Moore Building into a 43,000-square-foot mega-tent designed by New York architects Chris Lasch and Ben Ananda. Miami is familiar with massive party tents, but this one has a high, transparent face so that it feels open.

The airy space -- ''a big transition for us,'' says Craig Robins, a fair founder -- allows visitors to see more easily the booths and their objects: chairs made from plush toys designed by the Campana Brothers; a cascading crystal chandelier from Swarovski; a Lucite purse with a real gun imbedded in it at Ornamentum; and bomb-proof table and chairs by designer Max Lamb that sold for $28,000 today at Johnson Trading Co.

Design Miami's satellite fairs spill into the district, a different neighborhood from the business ghetto of a year ago.Today it is dotted with restaurants and boutiques, including the chic Marni shop that opened Tuesday night. It's all worth a visit, especially Luminaire, where 50 artists have created ''Paperlove'' -- paper dresses, sculptures and wall hangings as a benefit auction for Sylvester Cancer Center.

''We've already had good bids,'' says Nargis Kassamali, store owner, with her husband Nasir, and a five-time cancer survivor.

-- JANE WOOLDRIDGE

Shock artist mixes with the crowd

Dozens of black sweater-clad aficionados braved frigid temps (OK, in the 50s) to check out shock artist David LaChapelle's exhibit Jesus Is My Home Boy at Wolfgang Roth.

Last Supper shows him hanging with his boys from the 'hood in a dingy apartment. In Anointed, he gets a foot bath from a hot, bikini-clad blond. LaChappelle, 45, mingled with the crowd, giving out invites to his after-party at the new Mondrian. Karri Andrews approached with the new issue of Haute Living, with LaChapelle on its cover. ''Thanks,'' he said, looking pleased. ``I didn't see it yet.''

-- MADELEINE MARR

Exhibit features Salvador Dali engravings

Caixanova, the Spanish banking firm that brought to Miami its collection of Goya engravings, is back at the Freedom Tower with The Divine Comedy, an exhibit of engravings by the rambunctious surrealist Salvador Dalí.

Dalí made a series of watercolors in the 1950s under a commission from the Italian government to commemorate the poet Dante's 700th anniversary. It ''caused outrage among the Italian people because he was a Spanish artist, and this upset Dalí,'' Jorge Gutiérrez, director of MDC's Galleries, said at Tuesday's opening. Later the watercolors were reproduced as wood engravings. The exhibit runs through Jan. 31.

-- FABIOLA SANTIAGO

Racy horses turning heads in Wynwood

What's an art fair without provocateurs? New Yorker Gregory de la Haba unabashedly tries to shock with Between Nothingness and Paradise, three amorous horses at the Bridge Art Fair in the Wynwood Art District. Clad in Vegas-style headpieces and sequined garter belts, two mares and a stallion are frozen in sex.

Not satisfied with the stupefied expressions of visitors on Tuesday, De la Haba plans to prop a giant image of the installation on a truck and drive around. ''Can't wait to see what Miami police are going to do.'' He didn't have to wait long. At 2:45 p.m., Miami police stopped the truck and asked De la Haba to cover the animals' genitals ``or risk arrest.''

-- FABIOLA SANTIAGO

Supermodel sparks cellphone flashes

The municipal parking lot on Miami's Northwest 38th Street never looked so good. Amid newly laid sod and pools of floating orchids, guests at In Fashion Photo 08/09 swigged cocktails and snapped cellphone photos of supermodel Naomi Campbell's derriere as captured by fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier. The crowd was thick, but red-carpet notables were few.

The diva was late. By 8:40 shivering papparazzi wondered if she'd show. Moreover, would she have a cellphone, and, if so, would there be time to take cover.

At 8:34, someone shouted ''There she is!'' False alarm.

-- KATHRYN WEXLER

Albania artist takes mixed media seriously

The junctures where images and sounds have the potential to be something other than what we first perceive, are where Albanian artist Anri Sala explores his art.

Hundreds attending Tuesday night's Vanity Fair party experienced a performance of a Sala piece involving a trio from the Cleveland Orchestra, a country-western quartet and a radio announcer. Inspired by a radio transmission he heard in Texas, Sala said his art tries to capture ``this moment when something could be something else.''

-- DANIEL CHANG

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@