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Essay / The Perez Art Museum Miami - 1116
The Pérez Art Museum Miami, abbreviated PAMM, is a contemporary art museum located in downtown Miami, in the state of Florida. It was founded in 1984 as the Fine Arts Center, and in 1996 it became the Miami Art Museum. It wasn't until 2013 that the museum changed its current name and location from East Flagler Street to downtown Miami. The current name derives from a donation by Jorge M. Pérez, the largest among private donors. Additionally, Mr. Pérez is a well-known and respected administrator and collector of Latin American art. During my visit, a work of art caught my eye. It was painted by Sue Coe, born in Tamworth, England, in 1951, and living in New York. The name of this work is Pinochet and it is a mixed media collage on paper. The painting shows the tunnels under the national stadium in Santiago de Chile which were used by coup plotters as detention, torture and execution centers during the Pinochet dictatorship. To the left there is a pile of corpses with blood on them. In fact, the red of blood is the only color different from the black, white and gray that predominates in the painting, giving a feeling of death, cruelty and nightmare. In the middle, we see soldiers pointing their weapons at a group of civilians who will probably be executed. On the right is a group of prisoners, probably awaiting execution (middle), to be transferred to the pile on the left. The fact that the author included a Pepsi vending machine is a clear reference to the complicity of corporate America with Pinochet's unconstitutional government, due to the privatization of many industries that were previously run by Salvador Allende's government. This masterpiece is a reflection of the medium of paper. There was a very special exhibition of some of his work, called Basquiat: Les Cahiers Inconnus. They were ordinary notebook pages, but with observations, sketches, ideas and fragments of poetry, either from popular culture or from world history and races. These pieces were completely unique and the sketches had a special touch that I had never seen before in any other work of art. Basquiat's work was very simple, but with strong ideas and a clear message. That was the beauty of his work. During my visit to the Pérez Art Museum Miami, I did more than just observe beautiful works of art. With the guidelines provided, I was able to appreciate and also study the hidden meaning of some of the pieces I had in front of me. Some of them were easier than others, due to my prior knowledge, but all of them led me to examine them in a critical way that enriched my cultural heritage..