The Center for Visual Communication in Wynwood kicks off Art Basel Season with the world premiere of the new exhibition The Miami Creative Movement (Nov. 19‒March 15) curated by Barry Fellman, alongside the launch of his new photography book Miami Creative: A Decade of Transformation.
Published by Letter16 Press, the landmark book chronicles a pivotal decade in Miami’s art scene with 200+ photographs by Barry Fellman, essays by Alberto Ibargüen (the President and CEO of the Knight Foundation) and Jordan Levin (arts writer), and contributions by Dr. Carol Damian, (art historian).
The group exhibition is a testimony to the spirit of the new book, with paintings by sixteen of Miami’s leading artists who embody the creative movement propelling this city.
This blockbuster exhibition promises to take Miami Art Week by storm, featuring a stellar line-up of artists: Carlos Betancourt, Edouard Duval-Carrie, Mira Lehr, Robert Thiele, John Bailly, Jacqueline Gopie, Karen Rifas, David Marsh, Paola Gracey, Asser Saint-Val, Robert McKnight, Gustavo Oviedo, Regina Jestrow, Pablo Contriciani, Walter Darby Bannard, and Lynne Gelfman.
The more than 200 photographs by Barry Fellman in this new book capture a decade of artistic growth in Miami during a time of transformational public funding for the arts and major private donations, the financial likes of which most cities never experience in their entire history.
But an unexpected turn of events during the publishing timeline changed the book’s direction.
While the book was conceived well before the Covid-19 pandemic (as Fellman compiled and catalogued ten years’ worth of photographs chronicling this surge in the arts scene), when it became time to finalize the publication it was the Spring of 2020, and the pandemic lockdown shut down all cultural events and travel to Miami. Looking back at these photographs suddenly also meant looking forward for a glimmer of hope and creative solutions.
All of a sudden, the photographer Barry Fellman and the thought-leaders he gathered together for this book were left wondering how the city might reinvent itself with the help of artists.
“Miami’s urban rhythms, like its economic cycles, have always been boom and bust. The photographs in this book celebrate how our artistic scene grew during the past decade, and now these images can inspire us as we reinvent it going forward,” writes Jordan Levin in her essay.
These unforeseen flashes of insight, due to the book’s precarious timing, transcend the usual coffee table mindset in ways the authors could not have imagined.
But nevertheless, they seized the moment and added new and important questions before going to press ― “There’s a seed of possibility . . . to use this profound disruption as an inspiration to change the city for the better . . . this could be the moment to give a more central role to the artists who have done so much to make Miami so vital,” wrote Levin.
“Who better to reimagine the city than prescient, instinct-driven creatives? Now is not the time for cultural amnesia.” Then the book went to press, and these questions might appear to remain frozen in time. Or are they?
Miami Art Week Events and Book Launch
“The combination of this spectacular grouping of artists in the Miami Creative Movement exhibition, alongside the launch of the new book Miami Creative: A Decade of Transformation, is the coveted ‘insider’ experience that visitors who flock to Art Basel Miami Beach 
love,” said Alberto Ibargüen.
During Miami Art Week this year, the public is invited to open-house events to meet the artists on-site at the Center for Visual Communication, located in the heart of Miami’s Wynwood arts district (from 3:00-6:00 p.m. each day on Wednesday, Nov. 30, Thursday, Dec. 1 and Friday, Dec. 2). Free and open to the public. Space is limited ‒ RSVP required in advance to: eventbrite.com/e/miami-creative-movement-meet-the-artists-open-house-tickets-444590601457
“Through his camera lens and the pages of his book, Fellman takes us on a photo-safari across Miami’s cultural terrain, during one of the most pivotal decades in Miami’s storied history – when a civic belief that culture is vital to our city meant transformational financial investment in the arts,” adds Alberto Ibargüen.
“Now, especially because the publication of this book coincides with the 20th anniversary of Art Basel Miami Beach, it makes sense to launch this book alongside a group exhibition of artists who have impacted Miami’s cultural trajectory,” adds Ibargüen.
“At our most delirious Miami moments, we know what’s true,” adds Jordan Levin. “For decades Barry Fellman has been the omnipresent, tirelessly enthusiastic witness of the art scene; always there, smiling, marveling, shooting, avid to capture the experiences he loves. “His pictures reflect his own delight and the joy he discovers in others. His way of saying we should remember these moments, because they matter. This is who we are, at our best.”
