Best Way of Rewarding
Plagiarism
Dear Sirs and Madams,
Several months ago, I
finally decided to stop reading your newspaper, the
SunPost.
I felt that the quality
of the journalism had degraded over the years, and the
newspaper was no longer worthy of my limited time. I still
try to consume some of your articles via the Web site,
miamisunpost.com.
However, after your
recent SunPost Best of 2007 Editor’s Choice issue
[published July 3], I can officially and finally say,
sayonara. Your SunPost Best of 2007 named Santiago
Rubino as “Best Emerging Artist, Male.” I am familiar with
Santiago’s work as I spotted it at Scope Miami2006
and found it appealing. As interesting as the work was,
there was something about it that didn’t sit right. Two days
later, as I was walking through Art Basel, I made the
connection of my earlier impulse. Santiago’s work is an
outright rip-off of Mark Ryden’s work. Not only did Santiago
lift the image of the ghostly, doe-eyed girl, prevalent in
many of his works, he even stole the presentation that Ryden
uses with the ornate frames. Just Google Mark Ryden and
spend five minutes looking at Ryden’s past works, including
the frames Ryden uses to complete the work.
If the matter was a mere
difference of opinion, I would give your editors and writers
the benefit of the doubt, as undoubtedly they are subject
matter experts. However, when I encounter an egregious
error, especially one borne of a lack of research and due
diligence, it really proves my point about the degrading
quality of your journalism. Shame on Santiago for his
plagiarism, and shame on the SunPost for printing and
promoting this fraud.
Sincerely,
An Art Collector With
Integrity,
Eric M. [Last name
withheld by request]
Miami Beach
P.S. The Miami New
Times had an article that alluded to the similarities
between Santiago’s work and that of Ryden’s. If you want to
find that article, this time, do some research on the Web.
The SunPost
Responds: While Santiago
Rubino is working in a similar vein as Mark Ryden, Rubino’s
work clearly stands on its own merits. Ryden’s wife, Marion
Peck, is a devotee of the “School of Ryden,” and she has a
perfectly respectable career as well. Most artists’ works
don’t leap forth fully formed from a vacuum, and in our
experience, great minds actually do think alike. Rubino is
an emerging artist with great promise, in our educated
opinion. That said, the SunPost welcomes discussion
about art with anyone.
Best Choices From a
Best Of
Dear Robin:
Now that my issue of Best
of 2007 has finally dried, I am able to thoroughly enjoy it.
Great issue, and I agree with many of your choices (Grove –
Best Neighborhood, Marc Sarnoff – Best Elected Official). Of
course, all of us here at MOCA were thrilled to be cited for
our education programs (lots of thought and effort go into
them) and we wholeheartedly support your choice of Best
Curator [Bonnie Clearwater]!!!! Thank you so much for the
recognition. I will keep this issue for a long time (at
least until next year’s) for reference! Congratulations.
Valerie Ricordi
Public Relations Manager
Museum of Contemporary
Art (MOCA)
For
Assisting the Dubya Empire, Consider Your Menendez/Reinhard
Badge Revoked!
Dear Ms. W.:
I’ve always looked
forward to, and enjoyed, your weekly Miami SunPost
column; to me you are the Ana Menendez/Beth Reinhard of the
SP.
However, after reading
your July 12 get-out-the-vote column, I have lost a lot of
respect for you [Wakefield, “Voting Is Cool”].
You voted for Ralph Nader
in 2000? After all the pre-election warnings that people
like you might just take enough votes away from Gore to
allow that idiot Bush to sneak in?
Congratulations: Our
national nightmare has come true because of you and the rest
of the Nader nuts. What did we get? Iraq, the Imperial
Presidency and, worst of all, a right-wing Supreme Court
that will make matters even worse (if that is possible) for
God knows how long, no matter who is president and who
controls the Congress.
I’m afraid your
get-out-the-vote campaign, while well-meaning, is a case of
too-little-too-late/locking-the-barn-door-after-the-horse-is-gone.
This country is now officially a disaster and nothing is
going to save it. And all because of you Ralph Nader nutters.
Thanks a lot, Ms. W.
Marty Monroe
Bay Harbor Islands
Wakefield responds:
If you read closely, I voted for Nader not because I
believed in Nader, but because I didn’t believe in either
Bush or Gore. Neither party offered me much to get excited
about. I liked the idea of a third party breaking up this
“weakest link” political paradigm, so why not support that?
I had no idea just how important my one South Florida vote
would be that year. That’s the point of why I mention it
now. Votes do matter. And everything starts
at the local level, where almost all national politicians
get their start.
I think the lesson here
could not be clearer. We have to try to engage the huge
masses of people who don’t vote because they don’t think it
matters. And we have to show the politicians that they can’t
just get away with the same rhetoric, because people are
paying attention.
Cheers,
Rebecca Wakefield
Step One in Devouring
the Working Class: Make Sure They Can’t Get a Good Night’s
Sleep
In rebuttal to Mr. Louis
Puig’s letter, when and where did he attend a meeting
[Letters, “The Perils of
Attacking That Which Gives Parkwest Life,” published
July 19]? What poor working people is he referring
to? Mr. Puig is the typical land shark eating the legal
working people. If Mr.
Puig loves his atmosphere, why not move it to his backyard
and in his family’s face?!
Thank you,
George Link
Miami
Bijou Nights: Bigger
Isn’t Always Better, Especially When It Comes to Residential
Life on South Beach
RE: “Trojan Club?”
published July 19
As a longtime unit owner
in 301 Ocean Drive, I appreciate the distinctive character
of our neighborhood. The streets are quiet and I keep my
windows open, enjoying the ocean breezes. For many years
this has been a quiet retreat.
I strongly object to the
outsize commercial enterprise planned. What is contemplated
by the applicants would destroy the residential qualities of
our historic district. As the owner of Joe Allen restaurant,
I know you do not need a huge restaurant to provide a
quality dining experience for hotel guests.
Sincerely,
Joe Allen
Miami Beach
Bijou Nights:
Illustrating That Miami Beach’s Public Notice System Is in
Need of Much Improvement
RE: “Trojan Club?”
published July 19
I am against building any
type of club in our residential neighborhood.
I have a complaint for
the Miami Beach City Commission. When official notices of
public hearings on developers’ projects are mailed to us
with two weeks’ notice, we don’t receive the notices in time
for the meeting. By the time I get forwarded mail it is too
late to reply. This is true not just for me, but for friends
and relatives who are out of state, especially during the
summer.
I see that the developer
of the Bijou project timed his application so that notices
would go out in the summer, guaranteeing many residents
would be away, wouldn’t get the notices and wouldn’t be able
to attend. Can’t the City Commission require at least 30
days’ public notice for these developers? They have an
unfair advantage over residents.
Margaret Kelly
Miami Beach
The Axis of Pandering
Lame duck Mayor David
Dermer has waded into U.S. foreign policy again.
Last Wednesday (July 12), at his behest, the Miami Beach
City Commission decreed that the city pension fund should
divest its holdings in Iran and Darfur.
The Axis of Evil isn’t
about to collapse, however. That’s because there are NO such
investments. You know, kinda like WMDs in Iraq. But, not to
worry. The mayor can’t do anything about the fund’s
investments anyway.
Since the city is now in
the business of making unenforceable proclamations, here’s a
way to make all these histrionics just a tad more relevant.
Let’s prohibit investments in Halliburton, Kellogg Brown and
Root, Bechtel and all the big Bushie war/oil profiteers for
whom this country bleeds in Iraq. Better yet, why not step
up to the plate and simply offer a resolution to just get
the hell out of Iraq? It’s more important than moving the
grandstand to Tallahassee.
Mike Burke
Miami Beach
Arts Community to Free
Weekly: We Need More Press
Dear Robin Shear,
Locust Projects in
collaboration with Silvia Karman Cubiñá, director of
The Moore Space, and Jose Diaz, independent curator,
organized a series of discussions to cultivate a necessary
and critical dialogue about Miami’s art community.
“Conversations with Miami” raised topics centered on
institutional and artist responsibilities, as well as the
current state and direction of Miami’s growing art
community.
“Conversations
with Miami Part III” was held on May 9 at Locust Projects
and invited a panel of five local arts writers/critics —
Alesh Houdek (Critical Miami & freelance writer), Joanne
Green (New Times), Elisa Turner (Miami Herald),
Omar Sommereyns (SunPost) and Anne Tschida (freelance
writer) — to discuss their roles as arts writers in Miami.
More than 75 people from the art community attended this
discussion. During this discussion we formulated a panel of
three arts leaders, Rosa De La Cruz, Fred Snitzer and Nina
Johnson, to work with the moderators and act as spokespeople
on behalf of the community.
The aim was to open
channels of communication between press and the art
community. What resulted was a general consensus that the
community would like to see an increase of coverage, as well
as an increase of critical and academic content in what is
being written about the arts. It is understood the
restrictions newspapers currently face, however we feel
there is room to improve the way in which the arts are
covered in Miami.
Wynwood is home to over
57 galleries, not-for-profits and alternative spaces. The
Art Basel art fair, while only occurring one weekend a year,
has turned the focus of the international art community
toward our city. It is crucial at this time in our
development that we show the world that we are substantiated
by critical discourse and an intellectual dialogue. The
opinion and input that comes from art writing is vital to
the artistic process and we are failing our artists and
community by not providing this.
On behalf of the members
attending the discussion, we, the panel, appeal to your
newspaper to review your approach and consider the arts as a
relevant and significant cultural contributor. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Nina Johnson, Bernice
Steinbaum
Rosa De La Cruz, The
Moore Space
Fredric Snitzer, Fredric
Snitzer Gallery
Claire Breukel, Locust
Projects
Silvia Karman Cubiñá, The
Moore Space
Jose Diaz, Diana
Lowenstein Fine Art
