Vizcaya Museum and Gardens preserve its cultural and environmental resources to engage people in connecting with the past, understanding the present, and shaping the future. Built in 1916, Vizcaya features a Main House filled with a decorative art collection and 10 acres of formal gardens.
For its 2024 Contemporary Arts Program Exhibition, Vizcaya presents Pastiche, featuring site-specific work by Miami-based artist Lauren Shapiro. The exhibition explores the enduring legacy of Vizcaya’s artistic advisor, Paul Chalfin (1874 – 1959), whose 150th anniversary we celebrate this year. Interpreting Vizcaya’s architecture, history, and environment through this lens, Shapiro will debut a series of sculptures in response to three spaces decorated by Chalfin: the Breakfast Room, Enclosed Loggia, and Reception Room.
Shapiro’s approach to studying Chalfin parallels her methods of studying nature. Whereas she typically explores the Everglades and the ocean to gather her source material, for this project Shapiro turned to Chalfin’s contributions at Vizcaya, particularly the use of pastiche – the blending of styles and influences to create a cohesive whole – to inform her own work. The resulting ceramic, glass and technology-infused vessels, in decidedly artificial and yet quintessentially Miami neon pinks, blues and greens, create a visual language that evokes the past while resonating with the present.