14 June 27- July 3, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times b e s T o f m i a m i ® 2 0 2 4 discussions, and special events that spotlight some of the world’s most fascinating films. Third Horizon uses and enhances Miami’s position as a global gateway to reach its audiences, sparking conversations around cinema, community, and culture as it celebrates and empowers filmmak- ers — and Miami’s creatives. BEST PUBLIC ART Ukhamba Germane Barnes moadmdc.org/exhibitions/germane- barnes-ukhamba Public art brings culture to everyone, and it brings people together. Germane Barnes’ Ukhamba, an installation outside of the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, accomplishes both things. Ukhamba asks Miami not just to look but to sit and stay with each other. The ar- chitect and designer worked on the piece as part of a commission by the Museum of Art and De- sign’s (MOAD) second-annual MOAD Pavilions series and was first unveiled ahead of last year’s Miami Book Fair International. The 32-foot- wide, ten-foot-tall structure resembles a large woven basket and was inspired by Barnes’ time living in Cape Town, South Africa. In a recent Miami New Times interview, Barnes said, “All the work that I do is always about inviting peo- ple and always about communal spaces.” BEST PUBLIC ART (UNINTENTIONAL DIVISION) One Bayfront Plaza Just as street artists have been graffiti-bombing abandoned skyscrapers in Los Angeles, Miami had its own derelict real estate turned into a can- vas during Miami Art Week last year. Reportedly led by Atomik, famous for his smiling orange character, dozens of artists drew tags on the soon-to-be-demolished Vitas Healthcare build- ing at One Bayfront Plaza. Unlike in L.A., where police have used helicopters to deter the taggers, stakeholders in Miami have celebrated the art- ists for turning an eyesore into a monument to the city’s street art culture. WLRN’s Colette Gai- ter called them “major milestones” and the building’s owner even offered to sell the tagged artwork to the Museum of Graffiti. Say what you will about this city, but it certainly loves its in- tentional or unintentional public art. BEST MURAL Trail Skate Park 25.75926°N, 80.79455°W Off U.S. 41 about a mile west of the Miccosukee Indian Village behind the Miccosukee Indian School Miami, 33144 How would you decorate a skate park in the middle of the Everglades? Probably with a mural featuring incredibly precious, humorous depic- tions of local animals like Florida panthers and gators on skateboards and roller skates in tropi- cal shades of green, right? Well, that’s exactly what poet, artist, and activist Houston R. Cy- press, prolific Miami artist Brian Butler, and a group of Miccosukee youths conceived of and created at Trail Skate Park. While the mural is new, the park was launched in 2020 at the Mic- cosukee government headquarters community center. Cypress, who is from the Otter Clan of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, spearheaded the project with support from artist-run pre- senting organization Bas Fisher Invitational and nonprofit Love the Everglades Movement. What resulted is a whimsical place for locals to shred and marvel at how creativity is so key to building community. Feel it for yourself. Trail Skate Park is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, sunup to sundown. BEST VISUAL ARTIST Alejandro Piñeiro Bello Instagram.com/alejandropineirobello Lush with iridescent, Fauvist color schemes and fluidic technique, Alejandro Piñeiro Bello’s paintings practically drip off the canvas. You can almost feel the humidity and pressure as you pick out the surreal, mythical motifs hidden within. The Cuban-born artist had an excep- tional 2023, debuting work at NSU Art Museum, KDR Gallery, and the Rubell Museum, where two of his monumental canvases currently hang. BEST ILLUSTRATOR Melissa Gutierrez westofchester.com Instagram.com/Westofchester Developers might be dead set on bulldozing Mi- ami’s past, but local illustrator Melissa Gutierrez is here to make sure our collective living memo- ries of it remain intact. Her charming “Westof- chester” illustration series offers authentic pangs of nostalgia for anyone who grew up with classic Miami spots like El Palacio de Los Jugos, Ñooo Que Barato, and Navarro Discount Phar- macy as psychogeographical landmarks. Gutier- rez recently illustrated the cover of one of our issues featuring a joint-toking rooster bro mak- ing the scene on Calle Ocho — a perfect example of her finely tuned aesthetic sense of what is uniquely Miamian. BEST GRAPHIC DESIGNER Juan Mejía Instagram.com/movinginaliquid Graphic designer Juan Mejía is one-third of the Jezebel collective, which aims to promote a sus- tainable, inclusive, hyper-local dance scene here in Miami. But we’re obsessed with his eye- catching, rave-influenced style. His efforts de-
