Feel the Sunnier Side of 80s Miami at an Art Show in London

The 'Miami Vice' exhibit filters the rage and recklessness of the 80s through Ray-Bans and sherbet tones.

by Diana Shi

July 9, 2016, 12:00pm

By Jennifer Campbell. All images courtesy the artists and Transition Gallery

Miami in the 80s was more than just a playground of debauchery—it was the playground, spearheading a freewheeling decade of drugs and decadence. The rest of the country only had to hop onto Miami bandwagon, scattered with cocaine use and street violence, to get a taste. In a turn away from this prototypical image, however, a new exhibit at Transition Gallery in London features a handful of artists who filter 80s Miami vibes through a rosier pair of lenses.

The exhibit, playfully titled in reference to the cult television show, Miami Vice, includes works that evoke walks along the beach with a candy-colored creamsicle. It's decadence and excess, minus the desperation. As the show’s press release states, “Thanks to the legacy of [the show] Miami Vice, the 1980s conjure images of pastel suits, no socks, rolled up sleeves, Ray-Ban sunglasses and the last days of technological innocence.”

Jennifer Campbell

One of the artists in the show, Jennifer Campbell, tells The Creators Project, "My paintings fracture their own unreality by breaking out of the traditional flat picture frame. Attempting to become bodies, they immediately start to come apart. Like a stage prop seen in close proximity, they reveal the shoddy material beneath the surface color and their potential for disintegration."

The artists each took the popularity of the hit TV show with sincerity when forming the tone of their artwork. Campbell continues, "[Miami Vice] is a violent pantomime and I choose to temporarily invest in it. But as I watch endless box sets and vintage TV late into the night, like a cop under cover, I begin to loose myself, in a world of peach poolside murder and pastel handbags with hidden revolvers."