Key West Sunsets

Key West Sunsets is the work of Isaac Valdes, and the place to find it is the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square, every night of the year. He has been a professional artist for more than thirty years and works across a wider range than the name suggests: intaglio, mixed media digital art and wood carving, output as museum-quality giclée prints and as carved original pieces. Commissions are possible if you want something specific.

The frames are part of the work. His wife Danay frames pieces in recycled lobster trap wood, the slatted timber that comes off retired Keys crawfish traps, so the thing holding the image is itself a piece of the local fishery. It is a nice closing of the loop: a sunset from Mallory Square, framed in wood that spent years in the water a few miles from where you are standing.

Valdes has shown at The Studios of Key West, Williams Hall and Jag Gallery, so this is a working exhibiting artist who also happens to sell at the most-attended free event on the island, rather than a souvenir stall. The practical point is timing. He is set up from roughly 6:15pm to 9:00pm, seven nights a week, which lines up with the Sunset Celebration itself. The celebration starts two hours before sunset and runs year round, so arrive with time to look at the art before the crowd turns to face the water.