Andy Sweet’s South Beach 1977-1980
with Jonah Strub
From February 20
5220 boul. Saint-Laurent
$8 suggested admission
Andy Sweet
Untitled (South Beach 1977-1980)
Courtesy of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU
UPCOMING EVENTS
Vernissage | Shtetl in the Sun
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Nuit Blanche
Saturday, March 1, 2025
In the late 1970s, more than 20,000 elderly Jews, many of them Holocaust survivors and transplants from the Tri-state area or Canada, lived in South Beach, Florida – the storied Miami neighbourhood nestled between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. This area of less than two square miles became akin to a modern-day shtetl, reminiscent of the tightly knit, predominantly Jewish pre-World War II Eastern European villages.
Shtetl in the Sun, on loan from the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, lovingly captures the ferocious strangeness of this place through the eyes of Andy Sweet, one of the most dynamic young American photographers of the late 1970s. Photographed between 1977 and 1980, Sweet’s work showcases a distinct aesthetic and cultural moment in South Beach: a rich portrait of lives that unfolded between the paparazzi-chronicled Beach visits of Dean Martin in the 1950s and 60s, and Madonna’s reign in the 1990s. His photographs dispel the stereotype of 1970s South Beach being “God’s Waiting Room.” Instead, the images capture the community’s daily rhythms in all their beach-strolling, deli-noshing and cha-cha dancing glory.
On view in Canada for the first time, the Museum of Jewish Montreal has put Shtetl in the Sun in conversation with the tongue-in-cheek sculptures of Canadian contemporary ceramicist Jonah Strub. Irreverent, extravagant, and kitsch, Strub’s figures appear to be taken straight from the candy-coloured scenes caught on film by Sweet. Together, the works highlight an emblematic and instantly recognizable North American Jewish phenomenon and figure – the Snowbird – whose vibrancy resonates across time, regions, and generations.
Shtetl in the Sun: Andy Sweet’s South Beach 1977-1980 is a project of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU and the family of Andy Sweet.
Jonah Strub
The Universal Jewish Experience of Getting Yelled at in a Pool by an Old Woman in Florida
Glazed stoneware, 2022
ARTISTS
Andy Sweet, Jonah Strub
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Alyssa Stokvis-Hauer
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Austin Henderson
CURATORS
Taryn Fleishchmann Austin Henderson
Alyssa Stokvis-Hauer
TRANSLATION
Benoit Pelletier
CONTRACTOR
Build Paint MTL
PRINTING
MFBB Inc.
IN COLLABORATION WITH:
Andy Sweet (1953-1982) grew up on North Bay Road, not far from South Beach. At age 12, he converted a small room in his house into a darkroom. His father, Chick, was a judge and his mother, Audrey, was the daughter of hoteliers who opened the Monte Carlo and the Royal Palm Hotels on Miami Beach. Andy went to the University of South Florida in Tampa, joining his sister Ellen. He proved to be a maestro in the darkroom, able to go in at midnight with a box of 50 sheets of photographic paper and come out in the morning with 49 perfect images.
After completing his MFA at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Andy was drawn back to South Beach, the beauty of the old faces, possibly even the sense that this world would soon be lost. The artist’s early and violent death has often overshadowed the body of work he developed in his short career. A perceptive and intuitive street photographer, Andy’s photographs of South Beach brought together in Shtetl in the Sun are a tribute to the people who lived and played there during that time, perfectly encapsulating the lively spirit and warmth that shaped their community.
Jonah Strub (b. 1996) is a Toronto-based gay, Jewish artist with a primary focus on sculptural ceramics. Jonah’s work is a love letter to camp, kitsch, musical theatre, Yiddish humour, and drag, and explores his own femininity through the humour of traditionally queer and Jewish aesthetics. Jonah explores themes like glamorous grandmothers, cutesy creatures, and sublime self-portraiture in his work. Jonah often superimposes his face on his creations, paired with over-the-top patterns and exuberant, joyful imagery, to celebrate himself as a fully realized kitsch object. Jonah aims to create dialogue around masculinity, femininity, matzo-balls, and outrageous up-dos using humor, bright colors, animal prints, and body hair, embracing the harmony of his Jewish and queer identities.
Jonah holds a BA in Studio Art from the University of Guelph, specializing in oil painting and sculpture, and discovered ceramics during an exchange in Bremen, Germany in 2019 where he immediately fell in love with the medium. He earned a certificate in Cartooning and Illustration from George Brown College in 2022. In 2023, he participated in the Banff Emerging Artist in Residence Program. Jonah has exhibited around Canada and abroad including The Canadian Clay and Glass Museum, Art Gallery of Burlington, The Artist Project, and galleries in Germany and the USA.