If you’ve taken a selfie beneath Sun Stories in Coral Gables—hey, you’re not the only one—then you’re familiar with Jessy Nite. The local artist is known for her massive projects that use light and shadow to dramatic effect. Her next canvas? The windows that encircle Time Out Market Miami, where her piece One of Everything debuts on December 2. We spoke with Nite just before the installation process began.
What’s the concept of your piece for Time Out Market Miami?
The Time Out Market is such a great canvas. There are so many windows, and they wrap around this really great corner of the beach. I wanted to do something bright and colorful. I’m going to be playing with a lot of my geometric work, including some of the more recent illustrations that I’ve been doing. So, I’m merging two styles to make something really fun.
What’s it like to handle commissions from brands such as Nike, Instagram and Red Bull?
We’re at this amazing time right now when brands aren’t asking artists to do stuff that the brands want. They’re asking artists to do what the artist wants to do. I’m really lucky that all the brands that I’ve worked with are just trying to lift up my practice and give me the opportunity to do bigger things and execute larger ideas.
What is your takeaway from exhibiting in far-flung cities like Vienna and Bangkok?
All of my pieces, whether they’re the shadow works or the new, larger-scale sun-scape pieces that I’m doing, are really supposed to be narrated by nature—the environment and the landscape. No matter where you travel, you start to realize that the environment, the people and the culture affect the landscapes in the same way.
Your sun installations use natural light to cast creative shadows on the ground and the surrounding buildings. How did you come up with that idea?
I’m just kind of a dork about signage. I love signs, and when I get my photos back after every vacation, I realize that they’re just pictures of signs that I love. And I noticed that, in Miami, when it gets really, really hot in the middle of the summer when the sun is high up in the sky, the sun becomes this unifying element. The sun can speak to all of us on different levels, no matter where we come from or who we are or what our job is or how much money we make or how well educated we are. It’s this unifying thing and a voice that we all have in our lives.
One of Everything is on view Dec 2–Jan 5 at 1601 Drexel Ave in Miami Beach.
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