WEAM Miami Art Week Opening: Summer of Love - A Paul Kagan Retrospective

Join us for the start of Miami Art Week with complimentary wine and the opening of an exciting new exhibition at WEAM.
About this Event

Start off Miami Art Week at WEAM! Come enjoy complimentary wine at the opening reception for a new exciting exhibition exploring the cultural energy of the late sixties Summer of Love: A Paul Kagan Retrospective.

Summer of Love: A Paul Kagan Retrospective

Curated by Helmut Schuster, and guest hosted by Sue Kagan

WEAM proudly presents Summer of Love: A Paul Kagan Retrospective. Works by Paul Kagan (1943–1993) on view include concert posters, silkscreens, black-and-white photographs, and rare Kodaliths shown publicly for the first time.

“Paul was the photographer who captured the cultural energy of the late sixties,” says Sue Kagan, his widow and longtime collaborator. “KMPX was the sound, and Paul’s work was the image.” Nicknamed “Susi Sweet Smile,” she worked as a radio engineer at KMPX, the pioneering radio station that transformed San Francisco’s musical landscape in the flower-power years. At the reception, she will share first-hand stories of San Francisco in 1967—what really happened at the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park, what Timothy Leary actually said—in a summer like no other.

Set against a backdrop of the Vietnam War, civil rights struggles, and psychedelics, the times called for people to “make love, not war.” Paul Kagan’s images mirror that summer’s unspoken conviction that people could live differently, without violence.

“Yab-Yum,” his psychedelic poster of a naked couple in tantric union, became a symbol of the times. His concert posters for Country Joe and the Fish connect visual experimentation with the energy of live music. His photographs, featured in both Rolling Stone and the San Francisco Oracle, are presented alongside his silkscreens and the sensual Kodaliths (high-contrast images made with lithographic film), revealing an artist deeply attuned to a generation that imagined a future shaped by love and peace.

“Summer of Love” brings that world vividly back to life. WEAM, founded in 2005, is located in the heart of South Beach, between the Miami Beach Convention Center—home to Art Basel Miami Beach—and the beachfront fairs Untitled Art and SCOPE. As artists, collectors, curators, and visitors gather from around the world, “Summer of Love” offers an intimate encounter with art and cultural history.

The reception is free to attend and includes complimentary wine and beverages. Summer of Love: A Paul Kagan Retrospective opens on November 30th and will remain on view for Miami Art Week through December 6th. Visit weam.com for more details.