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Superfine! Bold New Satellite Show Adds To Little Haiti's Art Basel Attraction

Tim Padgett
/
WLRN.org
Miami-bred New York artist and designer Diego Montoya with his Superfine! installation "Ascend With You" in Little Haiti.

The renaissance of Miami's Little Haiti has made it a popular destination for Art Basel lovers. A major new Basel satellite show debuted there Wednesday night called “Superfine! House of Art and Design" - and it's also a major homecoming for an artist raised in Little Haiti itself. 

Indie rock music stars like Baio performed at the Citadel building in Little Haiti for the Superfine! launch. The interactive event was created by the New York art collective FAME, and it showcases the buregeoning intersection of art and design.

It also spotlights the work of former Miami resident Diego Montoya. He’s a noted Peruvian-American installation artist and costume designer who grew up in Little Haiti and is now based in Brooklyn.

Montoya calls Superfine! the ideal stage for pieces like his flamboyant, 3,000-square-foot hanging sculpture piece, "Ascend With You."

“It’s like a chandelier of these jeweled figures almost acting like human disco balls for the space," Montoya says. "Miami specifically is super-kitsch, you know. It’s all pastel colors and neon, and that kind of playfulness is definitely in my work.”

Montoya also calls it a “happy coincidence” that he can take part in his old neighborhood’s cultural revival.

“Coming back, coming here to show at this festival particularly means a lot," he says. "You know, what’s happening in Brooklyn and what’s happening in Little Haiti I think is very similar.”

Superfine! will run for five evenings through Sunday. The Citadel is  at 8325 NE Second Avenue in Miami.

Tim Padgett is the Americas Editor for WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida. Contact Tim at tpadgett@wlrnnews.org
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