Pack of outsized metal dogs and cats to inhabit Miami park, raising critics’ hackles
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder then so is schlock.
While some may question whether an outdoor menagerie of 50 large aluminum dog and cat figures costing nearly $1 million in taxpayer funds is really art, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo is convinced that his and his wife’s brainchild will become a world-renowned sculpture garden.
He’s calling the collection of 6-foot-tall Great Danes, German shepherds, English bulldogs, Siamese cats and 3-foot-tall Chihuahuas, Yorkies, poodles and adorable albeit metal kittens “El Paseo de los Perros y Gatos.” He’s placing it in Maurice A. Ferré Park right next to the Pérez Art Museum Miami, where he believes the pet statues can complement the works of the city’s principal fine art showcase.
“Mark my words, these sculptures will bring busloads of tourists to the park,” Carollo said. “I envision people flocking to see this art. Miami will be known for its ‘Walkway of Dogs and Cats.’ ”
But art is a subjective thing, and not everyone is as enthused as Carollo about the rapid approval of the project despite little discussion and no competitive bidding. Cristina Palomo resigned in protest after her fellow members of the board of the Bayfront Park Management Trust voted to award an $896,000 contract to local foundry Art and Sculpture Unlimited, Inc. to design, cast and install the statues.
Carollo chairs the trust which oversees Bayfront and Ferre parks in downtown Miami and allocates the $2 million in funds it receives each year from the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency.
Palomo, who lives in a condo across the street from the park, said she is a proponent of public art but objected to Carollo’s request for a yes vote after no debate, no input from curators at the Pérez museum, no consideration of other ideas and no negotiation on price. A printout of the contract given to board members showed that it had originally been sent to the personal emails of Carollo and his wife, Marjorie. It contained no details on how the statues would be anchored to the ground nor an accurate description of the sloping, newly planted area they would inhabit.
Carollo wants to commission local artists to paint the statues — similar to how rooster statues were painted and displayed along Southwest Eighth Street in Little Havana years ago — but didn’t elaborate on that part of his plan. The same foundry that cast the roosters will cast the dogs, cats, puppies and kittens, including a giant 12-foot retriever that will sit at the entrance to the park.
“We had a $1 million proposal sprung on us as, ‘Yeah, those dogs and cats look cute, let’s put them in our premier park right now,’ ” said Palomo, a real estate agent who has lived downtown for eight years. “So many promises for that park have been unfulfilled, so many needs have been put on hold. Why is this suddenly priority No. 1? Doesn’t such a significant piece of city land deserve more thought?
“I could no longer justify volunteering my time to an organization that is run in such a dysfunctional, nontransparent fashion.”
Two other longtime downtown residents who attended the March 9 meeting were irked by the lack of information from Carollo.
“If you look at the rendering, it’s not even an accurate depiction of the topography and vegetation in the park, and the contract was obviously thrown together,” said Claudia Roussel, a board member at the 10 Museum Park building. “That park needs the shade trees and landscaping that we the citizens paid for when it was designed by a world-class architecture firm, not tacky painted animal statues. How is it that Joe Carollo is self-appointed art curator? Aren’t trust members embarrassed by their rubber-stamp vote?
“The whole half-baked concept is very Miami and very Carollo.”
Allan Schwartz, an attorney and art collector who walked his dogs daily in the park when he lived in the Marquis tower, questioned how the project could be called an art installation when there is no artist.
“The contract is with a fabricator to manufacture multiple aluminum dogs out of molds. These are not dogs created by Botero,” said Schwartz, referring to Colombian sculptor and painter Fernando Botero. “I’m not against dogs and cats, and maybe you prefer chickens and pigs, but I don’t see it as art worth $1 million.
“PAMM could reasonably have a negative opinion of these decorations next to their building and their magnificent sculptures. Yet we didn’t consult with PAMM. This was a done deal.”
To Carollo, the pre-fab pets are “real neat,” and any cerebral interpretation of their artistic merit is irrelevant. He’d probably agree with Pablo Picasso: “We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.”
Carollo said the idea was born when a friend sent his wife, Marjorie — who nicknamed herself Cat Mom on her Facebook page — a video of El Parque del Gato de Tejada in Cali, Colombia. The park, adorned with 16 cat sculptures, has become a tourist attraction.
“I think it’s fabulous,” said Carollo who asked Marjorie and trust Executive Director Jose Solano to search for local firms equipped to do the casting - but not in bronze, which is too expensive, he said. They found Art and Sculpture Unlimited, located near Miami International Airport, which has done jobs around Miami, like the Calle Ocho roosters, and around the world, Carollo said.
“I had never met the people running that company until we visited Ferre park two weeks ago and I visited their plant last night,” Carollo said Thursday. “We have no connection to them. Anything my wife does for the city she does as a volunteer and is not paid a penny. Those who insinuate anything unethical is going on are the same scumbags who are always trying to defame me.”
Carollo wants the installation completed in time for Art Basel and winter tourist season. He was asked how it vaulted bid-free above other approved park projects that residents have been clamoring for — a fenced dog run area for live dogs and a children’s playground.
“Request-for-proposals bidding is best practice but can kill projects as you spend years going around in circles,” he said. “We found only two companies that could do this work and just one that had the experience to set it apart and deliver.
“And the guy with the ideas for the dog park and the playground was me. People snipe at me because I’m the only one fighting to get things done.”
Carollo said the dog park is awaiting final permits and playground plans have been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. A previous no-bid contract for a $2 million playground that was orchestrated by Carollo’s brother and former commissioner Frank Carollo was canceled because of complications with the German manufacturer.
Carollo is also working to replace the Isamu Noguchi-designed Mildred and Claude Pepper Fountain that has not functioned for a decade. Other ideas: barbecue grills and a miniature golf course. Previous Carollo proposals to fill in the FEC deep-water slip or build a marina, boatyard and restaurant at the slip were shelved.
“I assure you that Ferré Park and Bayfront Park will be beautiful once improvements are made and we build a big, wonderful playground for children,” said Carollo, who as chair of the trust is responsible for ensuring “maximum community utilization and enjoyment” of the parks, according to its mission statement. “The sculptures will bring thousands of people to the park and our museums who aren’t visiting them now.”
The “Walkway of Dogs and Cats” will be one of his legacies, Carollo said, and a reflection of Miamians’ affection for their pets. His favorite dog was the burly Fila Brasileiro, or Brazilian mastiff, he had as a youngster. Now he and Marjorie own a rat terrier named Luigi, a pointer mix named Daisy and a revolving collection of cats as Marjorie adopts them.
“I’m allergic,” Carollo said. “When we had six cats, my wife almost killed me.”
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
