Two new South Florida-centric works created for Miami International Airport by local artists Anastasia Samoylova (Layovers) and Michelle Weinberg (Tropic Episodes) are designed to take visitors on visually rich, imaginary journeys before their real-life trips at the airport.
Located in Concourse G, just beyond the security checkpoint, Samoylova’s Layovers is a series of six large-scale photographic murals inspired by long journeys from one city to another via multiple layovers. Each panorama is titled by an actual airport code and are all based on existing flights via MIA. The compositions present a light-hearted depiction of real and imaginary routes by transforming some of the most picturesque destinations into vibrant, kaleidoscopic tableaus.
Samoylova creates her collages by printing, sculpting, assembling and re-photographing nature-themed images in the studio along with typical studio props and mirrors, building compositions as if they were three-dimensional mosaics. The resulting assemblages represent worlds constructed from memory, such as souvenir postcards and picture albums of places visited and photographed.
Born in Moscow and currently living in Miami, Samoylova moves between observational photography, studio practice and installation. Her work has been featured in collections at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago and ArtSlant Collection in Paris, among others.
As passengers travel on MIA’s third floor moving skyride between concourses E and F, they are immersed in Tropic Episodes, like players in a giant film strip or heroes in a graphic novel or video game. The 32-panel installation infuses the experience of moving on the skyride past these walls with changing scale and relationships. Interior spaces emerge out of geometric abstraction and are swapped for exterior horizons, recurring motifs of pinwheels and artist’s canvases playfully slip in and out of patterned architectures and storefronts dissolve into dense layered floral passages, which speak of the climate and flora of South Florida.
With Tropic Episodes, Weinberg introduces a rich, stylized narrative inspired by South Florida’s collision of lush tropical flora with streamlined mid-century modernist architecture. Michelle Weinberg is a painter who creates art for surfaces, interiors, architecture and public and civic spaces. She lives and works in New York City and Miami, and her work has been on exhibition in museums across the U.S. and Europe.
“Layovers and Tropic Episodes are two stunning exhibitions that aim to amuse and entertain passengers during their journey through MIA,” said Lester Sola, MIA director and CEO. “It is an honor for us to host the works of these renowned artists who are also residents of Miami-Dade County.”
