The Blessing
The Blessing questioned the ambitions of modernism by placing an eighty-percent-scale reproduction of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye within the neglected landscape beneath Miami's Interstate I‑395. This stark juxtaposition exposed the gap between modernist ideals and the lived realities of urban abandonment. Exhibited from 2001 to 2003, The Blessing underwent several phases of repair yet remained free and open to the public for its duration. Sponsored by the City of Miami and the Community Redevelopment Agency, the project debuted at the inaugural Art Basel Miami Beach, which had been postponed in the wake of September 11, 2001. The installation was later reconstructed and continued through Art Basel Miami Beach 2003.
The site has since undergone dramatic transformation. Beginning in 2017, I‑395 underwent major reconstruction, elevated to bring more natural light to the ground level and enable the creation of a new park linking Overtown to Museum Park. By 2020, twenty new high-rises had risen around the area - an extraordinary contrast to the conditions of decay that shaped the original installation.
Reflections on a Blessing
2020-2023 / Carlos & Rosa de la Cruz Collection, Miami, FL
A sixteen-foot lightbox was created and exhibited at the Carlos & Rosa de la Cruz collection in 2020 the year Art Basel Miami Beach was cancelled due to the pandemic. The objects exhibited on the lightbox were: slides, transparencies, sketches and photographs that all pertained to documentation, construction and creation of “The Blessing” 2001-2003.
Rosa de la Cruz was a dear friend of mine and I am honored to have exhibited at her collection in the Miami Design District. The analog objects exhibited were neither altered or manipulated by modern technological means thereby illustrating a certain truth regarding the efforts involved in realizing the above-mentioned project.
