Although part of me agrees with what Ross Lovegrove wrote on his ‘plastic puppy,’ “When the world faces massive environmental issues, why are we making plastic dogs” (top right), I still thought the entire Puppy Love: Puppies Fight Cancer exhibit was absolutely fantastic. If you missed our earlier post on it, the quick background is pretty simple: Luminaire teamed up with Christies, they gave out plastic puppies to 35 world renowned artists, architects and designers, urging them to create unique (and auction-able creations). Puppies start at $5000 and all the proceed go directly towards cancer research. It was hard to pick favorites, and even harder to pull the tricker on a bid at that price, but Jose Parla’s puppy (bottom right) was easily one of the ‘best in show’– we look forward to seeing his exhibit, Cityscapes, later tonight. More pictures of the pups after the jump!
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Perhaps the most odd and intriguing piece of design we saw all day was this ’structure’ by Enrico Tommaso de Paris. Playing a key role in the an impressive exhibit sponsored by hot-shot Italian design house Byblos, the structure was made of steel, computer monitors, lights, reattori pyrex, pvc, and silicon. It reminded Josh and I of some sort of space-age mobile (you know, the things you hang above babies’ cribs to entertain them)– the neon lights, monitors, and flux-capacitor looking units were definitely eye-catching. I urge you to go check this exhibit out at the Chatham Building, 155 NE 40th Street, in Miami.

Early this afternoon, we were lucky enough to wrangle some impromptu press passes into Design Miami in the Design District. We were greeted right off the bat by our old friend, the Audi R8 (Audi sponsored the event– more on that later). We then ventured into the four story, open-aired atrium, and saw some furniture from classic Nakashimas to wild conceptual pieces, lighting applications, and art. Among our (very) favorites were the Wendell Castle ‘Wishbone Chair’ (sold for a cool $65,000, picture after the jump), made out of one piece of solid oak, the lighting applications of Panton Lighting, and the Weiki Somers ‘Bathboat Tub.’ Mark Newson was named Designer of the Year– no surprise there; we were, however, dissappointed that we didn’t get to see him speak along side people like Zaha Hadid (who just designed the new BMW factory in Leipzig Germany). Overall, Design Miami was a perfect one stop place to shop for some of the best design we’ve seen in a while. Check out some pictures of the event after the jump.

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Despite the weather turning sour on us a today, we had a chance to pop around some shops in Downtown Miami (we usually get sucked over to Miami Beach, so this was, in a weird way quite refreshing). One shop we stopped by we enjoyed was Culture Kings– which was primarily a sneaker boutique in the Design District–and not only carried a nice line up of some fairly rare shoes, retro Jordans and the like– but there was also a back room with more limited edition one-of-a-kind pieces customized by what appeared to be local Miami artists. This was clearly one of the most stop spots for sneaker junkies in town this weekend. They don’t have a website up, but you can check some pictures out and get more information on their MySpace page.

In order to help spread warm holiday cheer this season, JoshSpear.com is hosting the first Momi TEeA PARTY Naughty Limerick Competition. Entrants are required to submit no more than one naughty limerick, the content of which loosely fits under the broad theme of “the holidays”. While it’s not requisite that limericks be “dirty”, the judging staff does wish to express their belief that when it comes to a really good limerick, naughty is always better than nice…

By way of a brief refresher course in the art of the limerick, the follow example is provided.

‘there once was a boy named danny
who had a secret crush on his nanny
under the mistletoe he stood
holding his wood
waiting for some yule tide fanny’

Rules, Prizes, Deadlines:

• Only ONE limerick may be submitted per entrant.

• ONE winner will be chosen each week (12/15, 12/22. & 12/29) – submissions must be in by 9pm est on the dates listed.

• The winning limerick’s author will receive a 3-month subscription to the Momi TEeA PARTY.

• ONE honorable mention will also be chosen each week and receive a momimomi tee of their choice (availability permitting).

• Email your entries to momi[at]joshspear.com

We’re looking forward checking out Couture Assassins tomorrow evening at Prive. The legendary Futura, Dave White and Methamphibian will be hosting live installations: Transforming graffiti, sneaker and pop art into fine art. We’re fans of Dave White, so it’s always good to see an event happening with him involved. Anyone from Prive reading this and want to help us get a table? Full flyer after the jump.

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Last night, after checking out Meg Pukel’s wonderful photography, we stumbled upon Urbanus Furniture while trying to hail a cab. We were in Midtown Miami, an area with the feeling of ‘revamped warehouse district.’ Urbanus’ ‘Field of Dasies & CondoNation’ art installation stands between its all-in-one furniture facility (they produce and show the furniture there) and some train tracks that looked as if they had been dormant for some time. The installation reminded us of Adam Kalkin’s Push Button Home from last year– the shipping container-made dwelling served as an apt medium through which to showcase Urbanus’ heralded furniture, given that Midtown was formerly a container storage location for the Port of Miami. While we weren’t ga-ga over the furniture, the structure they built to showcase it was fascinating– if you’re in the area, check it out.

We stopped by Meg Pukel’s latest exhibit here in miami last night, entitled ‘Street Life’. The photos help illustrate the transition of urban Miami over the last several years. Pukel, a Miami native focuses on capturing the imposition that once force has on another. She incorporates pictures and ‘essences’ of the female body into the city scenery, creating quite the dichotomy. Pukel does an amazing job capturing the beauty and wonder which we all see driving (and walking endlessly in search for a cab) around the streets of Miami– most of us take these simple views of underpasses for granted, she finds magic in the details. Her Street Life show is up through March, you can see it at Metro 1 Properties, 120 NE 27th St, Suite 200.

You often come across interesting juxtapositions of disparate genres and styles in the art world, but the art of Heiko Mueller really caught my eye. Heiko seamlessly blends religious icon art, renaissance paintings and comic culture into an unmistakable style. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, and has quickly made a name for himself globally with shows in places as obscure as Estonia and as big-league as New York and Paris. Yes, Heiko is a busy guy these days and is currently in two group exhibitions, one in Missouri and another in his hometown of Hamburg called “Don’t Wake Daddy.” Be sure to check out the drawings and paintings for sale on Heiko’s website.