• Introduction
• Wynwood
• Design District
• Boutique Hotels in Wynwood and Design District

Wynwood

WYNWOOD
Behind the stucco facades you'll find modern art treasures and today's cutting edge.

In other cities, art and design usually occupy distinctly different worlds (and neighborhoods). Miamians don't make the same distinctions – some of the city's top artists work out of Design District lofts, and some of the best art galleries are connected to design-based enterprises. As such, a great place to start your tour of Wynwood is The Lab Projects (120 NW 25th St.; 786/472-9195; www.thelabprojects.com), an art gallery housed in the office of a leading Hispanic advertising and promotions agency, which presents work at once conceptual and sociological, like Grimanesa Amorós's glassy domes illuminated by images of Machu Picchu or geometric farm landscapes.

The real sea change in Wynwood took hold when Mera and Donald Rubell, the city's most daring collectors, turned a bunker-like building (once owned by the DEA) into the Rubell Family Collection (95 NW 29th St.; 305/573-6090; $5; www.rubellfamilycollection.com). The museum is filled with stellar pieces from the 1960s (when the Rubells began collecting on a shoestring) to today. See works by Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman's enigmatic self-portraits, or browse the Phaidon bookstore, with art and design tomes from the famed publisher, and the Cerealart kiosk, with its affordable, mostly limited-edition art and home products designed by top artists (Marcel Dzama salt-and-pepper shakers, $50).

Walking distance from the Rubell are two outposts of conceptual art. Paris-based Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin (194 NW 30th St.; 305/573-2130; www.galerieperrotin.com), home to Takashi Murakami, Sophie Calle, and design collective Gelitin, hosts Aya Takano's melancholy, anime-inspired paintings through July 4. Around the corner, the Luis Adelantado Gallery of Valencia, Spain (98 NW 29th St.; 305/438-0069; www.luisadelantadomiami.com) sometimes hosts group shows, but ask to see Anthony Goicolea's haunting photos.

Six blocks away is the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse (591 NW 27th St.; 305/576-1051; www.margulieswarehouse.com), a remarkable (and free) contemporary museum established by developer Martin Z. Margulies. Photography is the specialty here, with a comprehensive array of images from Bauhaus photo-experiments to Farm Security Administration archival prints.

MOCA at the Goldman Warehouse (404 NW 26th St.; 305/573-5441; www.mocanomi.org), an offshoot of North Miami's Museum of Contemporary Art, hosts a show featuring Cologne, Germany artists including Martin Kippenberger and Rosemarie Trockel through the summer. The nearby Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (1018 N Miami Ave.; 305/455-3380; www.cifo.org), or CIFO, focuses on Latin American art and cross-cultural exchange. Check out CIFO's bamboo forest-tiled exterior, designed by architect René González.

It's another short drive to the Bakehouse Art Complex (561 NW 32nd St.; 305/576-2828; www.bakehouseartcomplex.org), a 1930s bakery building that now provides studio space for 70 up-and-coming artists and mounts shows of their work. "Sculptural Objects At the BAC" (June-July), features work from the complex's sculptors, jewelry artisans, ceramicists, and mixed-media artists. You may even get a bargain by an art star of tomorrow.

Visit www.wynwoodartdistrict.com for dozens more galleries and design boutiques, plus local art events. Art Basel happens every December; for more information visit www.artbasel.com.

See Miami Travel Guide