March 5, 2010

     
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Chief Concerns
Assistant Chief of Police Addresses Issues Facing the Miami Beach Police Department

Nights at The Round Table
Miami Beach Has a New Forum for Residents to Speak Their Mind

Pulling Back the Curtain
Behind the Scenes as "Wicked" Takes Over the Arsht Center

MORE STORIES

Knock Down Drag Out Fight

Sunday Drag Shows Back In After The Tides Loses a Battle Over Noise

Raising the Steaks
FIU Students Join Celebrity Chefs in preparing Feasts Fit for South Beach

The Dilapidation of Deco Drive

Do Some South of Fifth Residents Live in a Slum Neighborhood?

What a Drag
The Tides Hotel Complains Local Drag Performance is Too Loud, but are They Motivated by Something Other Than Noise?

Big Brother Is Watching You

The City of Miami Beach Installs Red Light Cameras at Intersections

In Pursuit of Efficiency

Black and Whites in Miami Beach Could Soon be Green

POLITICS

Artist Franklin Sinanin stands by his paintings. Photo by Terence Cantarella

City Censorship?
Local Artist Ruffles Feathers at Miami Beach City Hall


By Terence Cantarella


Artist Franklin Sinanan delivered six paintings and one sculpture to Miami Beach City Hall early last month. His work was put on display there as part of a Black History Month art exhibit.

Since dropping off his artwork, however, Sinanan has revisited City Hall twice to remove pieces the city later decided were inappropriate.

Born in Trinidad and raised in Canada, Sinanan’s work has taken on a distinct Afro-Caribbean flair since moving to Miami two years ago. “In Canada,” he says, “my work never looked like this. It was just a lot of white faces.”

Now, some people are afraid to step into his Lincoln Road studio because of the voodoo-like elements in his work. He’s been called a witch doctor. Some visitors ask to be healed. One woman wanted his blessing to help her land a large sum of money.

City officials, who initially approved the exhibition of Sinanan’s work in their fourth-floor public gallery at 1700 Convention Center Drive, later asked him to remove a sculpture entitled “Rituals” after receiving complaints from city staff.

With votive candles, feathers, rope, baby dolls and skull-like heads atop crucifixes, Sinanan admits the sculpture looks “voodoo-ish.” Yet, he puzzles over why it needed to be removed. “This is Miami. It’s part of the local culture, right? Why should anyone take offense?”

Three days after installing it, however, he complied with the city’s request, and replaced it with a less controversial piece: an abstract painting entitled “Rwanda.”

A few days later, however, he got another call from the city. His painting of a rooster, they decided, also needed to go. The crucifix dangling from one corner of the canvas and the votive candles that lined a bottom shelf, Sinanan suspects, were to blame. “Still,” the artist says, perplexed by the back and forth, “it’s just a chicken.”

City of Miami Beach officials, who refused to comment for this story, clearly disagree.READ MORE

ART
The Art Strip

Espanola Way Artists Opens Their Studios to the Public, and the Future

By Angie Hargot


MARK RUTKOWSKI: "1 WISH"

On the Cover

Image by Alfonso Corona

MAKE UP: JOEL MOLINA, AMALOA BONVECCIO / CROW: ALEX DIAZ / WOODPECKER: MILCHO


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Media Kit

 



THEATER


It Ain't Easy Being Green
The Wicked Good Show Opens at The Arsht Center

By Dan Hudak

If you only know “The Wizard of Oz,” you don’t know the whole story. Until now. “Wicked,” which takes place before and during the story of “Oz,” won three Tony Awards when it debuted on Broadway in 2004, and it has sold out theaters around the world ever since. READ MORE

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