TROPICAL STOMPING GROUNDS

—PEPE MAR

COMMISSIONED BY THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH IN COLLABORATION WITH THE MIAMI BEACH CONVENTION AND VISITORS AUTHORITY PRESENTED BY NO VACANCY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FAENA ART

PEPE MAR’S SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION, TROPICAL STOMPING GROUNDS, TRANSFORMS CASA FAENA’S SUNLIT ATRIUM INTO AN IMMERSIVE TABLEAU COMPOSED OF TEXTILES PRINTED WITH IMAGERY DRAWN FROM FIFTEEN YEARS OF HIS COLLAGE, ASSEMBLAGE, AND SCULPTURAL PRACTICE.

Unfolding as a floor-to-ceiling panorama of pattern and memory, the work reimagines fragments of Mar’s earlier pieces in textile form as a tactile retrospective that maps his visual and emotional terrain. Both autobiographical and celebratory, Tropical Stomping Grounds pays homage to Miami Beach, a place that has shaped the artist’s life and practice for over two decades. The repeated patterns and layered imagery evoke ideas of myth, culture, self-exploration, and nature, creating a vibrant environment that reflects Mar’s ongoing exploration of identity and belonging. As a part of the installation, Mar introduces a custom-designed sofa upholstered with imagery from his monumental collage My First 25,000 Years on Earth (2024), extending the work’s vivid iconography into a lived and tactile encounter. Viewers are invited to sit, read, and lounge within a living collage that bridges art and everyday experience. Mar’s assemblage practice embraces a spirit of reuse and transformation, incorporating discarded objects, vintage jewelry, ceramics, glassware, leather, and other found materials. Books and objects integrated into the installation further expand this sense of discovery and reflection, encouraging a communal and contemplative engagement with the artist’s world.