The Bakery / Eminent Domain
I purchased 75 N.W. 12 Street in 2001 assuming traffic from South Beach would eventually move west into Overtown, Edgewater, Park-West, Wynwood and the Design District. Prior to my purchase, the building was being used as a shooting gallery and crack den and had been abandoned by the owners. The building was remodeled and I ended up back in school working towards my Masters in Architecture degree while also developing plans to build onto the building and add an advertising billboard onto the property for income. Within two years my home & studio had two “Wall Sign Permits” assigned to it due to its proximity to the highway and influence of my business partners. By 2008 I was moving forward with permitting to build upwards.
In 2010, I was approached by the Florida Department of Transportation (F.D.O.T) and told my property would be acquired by the state using Eminent Domain for a wider and taller I-395. In 2014, I succumbed to the pressure and agreed to leave my home and studio, I was the last person to be acquired by F.D.O.T. for the new construction of the highway and never built on the property due to legal complications with FDOT and the sign ordinance legislation.
THE WHORE OF BABYLON
I painted an image of the Whore of Babylon from the Book of Revelations onto the front of my property while I was undergoing Eminent Domain. The first time the book of the Apocalypse was illustrated occurred in Spain in the Monastery of St. Toribio in Potes de Leibana, Cantabria and it is attributed to Monk Beatus.
MIAMI tO SPAIN
When I left Miami and shipped a forty-foot container to Spain with the contents of my art studio. In 2015, I occupied an art studio in Ribadesella, Asturias where I re-created a model of my art studio and neighborhood in Miami. Inevitably, I returned to Miami during the pandemic and am now working on building a new studio and residence in Overtown two blocks away from where I was located.
IMAGES BELOW
Below are images of the forced perspective created by the dramatic angle of the I-395 highway as seen from my studio and home facing East. 2006-2024.
