It’s time for Romero Britto to scooch his lounge chair over and make some room. Another artist is changing the visual landscape of Miami Beach, filling the streets with graphic artwork that is becoming as identified with the city as Britto’s relentlessly cheerful, cartoon-inspired statues.
It all begin in 2018 when the artist Flying Knight got a call from Tim Schmand, the executive director of the Lincoln Road business improvement district, who was looking to give the thoroughfare a bit of a makeover. Miami Beach law requires the windows of empty storefronts be covered, and high turnover on pedestrian Lincoln Road—which boasts some of the highest commercial rent in the country—had resulted in several boarded-up boutiques. The papered-over vitrines had the vital main drag looking more sad than chic in spots; Schmand thought it might be fun to have someone line the windows in art, and Flying Knight was the obvious choice.
Raised in Geneva and educated at Rhode Island School of Design, Knight earned a degree in architecture before moving to New York and creating sets for Saturday Night Live. Family business called her back to Europe, where she studied painting, and, when she was ready to return to the U.S., she felt drawn to Miami, although she’d never set eyes on the city. In part, she was inspired by reading Too Much is Never Enough, the autobiography of architect Morris Lapidus, father of iconic Miami Modern resorts including the Eden Roc and the Fontainableau. “He made Miami seem like a fun city,” says Knight. “And I tend to trust my gut.” In 2012, she sold her possessions on Craig’slist and moved to Lincoln Lane, near the Art Center (now known as the Oolite Arts).
Knight’s gut didn’t fail her; not only has living in Miami proved fun but it's also helped her hone her artistic style, which she calls Pop Deco: “It’s of the moment but can have a very nostalgic feel.” She created a repetitive rose pattern—a little bit Deco, a little bit Escher—to fill the windows of the empty shop. “It was fun and colorful and fit in really well to the whole Lincoln Road vibe,” says Knight. Within a week, Schmand was on the phone again, saying the owner of another empty storefront had seen Knight’s roses, and wanted to fill his window with them as well.
This time, Knight’s answer was No. “I said, ‘If we’re going to do this again, every window should be completely different,” she recalls. Other requests followed—Knight estimates she’s created art for close to 30 buildings at this point. For each one, “I go scope out the storefronts, sit down watch the people go by and get a feel for it,” she explains. A series of dogs wearing shades filled the space next to a sunglass shop. Women sitting under vintage hair dryers went next to a salon. Venus fly traps, palm fronds and other tropical plants abounded. And the Miami skyline, complete with bridge and Zaha Hadid’s undulating tower, wrapped around the ground floor of the iconic 1111 Lincoln parking garage.
“I had such fun with the windows,” says Knight. “Especially during the pandemic, it really became a way to create a sense of entertainment and happiness when there wasn’t so much at the time—I’d see people walking down Lincoln Road, spotting the art, smiling, taking photos.”
Some strolling art fans were so impressed, they commissioned their own custom wallcoverings. One collector chose Knight’s Monocle Man, who graced empty windows on Lincoln Road, for the foyer of his apartment; now that the bowler-wearing gent is the first thing guests see when the elevator door opens. Knight's artwork proved appealing to visiting out of towners as well. A New York City plastic surgeon approached her for wallpaper, so she designed a Manhattan toile for his Park Avenue office, complete with his Central Park view and a woman wearing sunglasses and a scarf—not just for retro flair but to hide signs of her recent facelift.
Over the past four years, Knight’s work has become a part of the architecture on Lincoln Road, circulating in and out of windows as businesses closed and opened, as if winking at passersby. “I always think of my artwork as entertainment to a degree,” says Knight. To make the playfulness even more explicit, Knight launched an “interactive exhibit” in 2021, painting 14 of her Peekaboo Bathers—zaftig women in retro bathing suits and caps—on the sides of buildings, and sending word on social media when a new one was up, so that fans could spot the bathing beauties before they were painted over.
Time Out Miami got on board, turning the exhibit into a scavenger hunt for readers. It was so popular that Knight now hosts an interactive exhibit annually—this year’s, Seen the Queen?, featured portraits of drag queens inspired by local legends. She’s also partnering with Miami City Ballet to design sets for a future performance, and has been commissioned by Alfa Romeo to paint their first electric car, which will be displayed on Lincoln Road—a thoroughfare lined with former mid-century car dealerships—during this December’s Art Basel.
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Like most of Knight’s public art, from the window dressings to the amoeba-shaped sculptures she painted on-site on Lincoln Lane during 2019’s Basel, the sports car will be witty, colorful, and in place temporarily. As much as Miami Beach has influenced her artwork, she’s, in turn, changing the look of the city, which ArtNews recently named fifth in a list of top five art cities in the United States, after New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. “Miami is very young compared to those cities, and she has a lot of catching up to do,” says Knight. “But because she's young, she's constantly reinventing herself. Miami is very modern, we have all these tech companies moving here, but the architecture has a vintage flair, and I think the city’s spirit has that nostalgia.” Like the windows themselves, “Miami Beach is ephemeral,” says Knight. “She’s not quite settled, and I hope she never settles.”
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Miami Beach Gets a Witty Makeover, Courtesy of Pop Deco Artist Flying Knight - Town & Country
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