Ardent About Art: Thoughts from Florida

The best classroom, if you ask me, is life. A particular portion of life. Not what you'll find in massive malls or on huge highways -- although there are things to learn there, the lessons are ones you probably already know (for instance, that people are way too obsessed with acquiring shiny new shit).

The life I’m referring to is that which exists in the cracks – where we don’t usually venture. By considering what lies beyond our self-imposed bubbles, these places (and the people, objects and sentiments that exist there) can truly inspire. 

I’m writing this from South Florida. It’s no Rome and it’s no London. It doesn’t feature Sistine Chapel ceilings or Westminster Abbeys. It does, however, house rough-around-the-edges – albeit golden – nuggets of the type of teeming, brilliant life I’m referring to.

I was lucky enough to be struck by this variety of living, breathing art yesterday. On my walk from little Havana (rusted barbed wire fences, the all-encompassing aroma of barbequed meat, aging couples passing the time on front porches) to the vastly dissimilar hoity-toity Bal Harbour (pristinely manicured lawns, gold-painted fire hydrants, svelte ladies touting designer handbags housing designer dogs).

This solo stroll supplied me with something like mini mind vitamins. It prompted to me to ask questions … reach conclusions … and most importantly, consider my place in this world and how I feel about it.

Michelangelo said people paint with their brains and not their hands. And that's exactly what I was reminded of on my little walk.


Art is everywhere. Your mind is the only blinder that'll stand in the way of you seeing it.