Argentine Rose

Whether he’s building over-the-top hotels or constructing an entire arts district in Miami Beach, Alan Faena dreams big. Director Alejandro Jodorowsky takes a break from his latest film, Psychomagic: An Art That Heals, to investigate Faena’s creative heart.

IN A UNIVERSE WHERE EVERYTHING IS AN ILLUSION,

where the imaginative individual finds himself confronting dreams that shift between horrific inferno and blissful paradise, there are those who admit defeat when faced with a crisis. Others, however, choose to seek out the most beautiful illusions. And nowhere is illusion more poignantly crystallized than in one’s personal spaces: In a home, we create a finite universe, one whose structure and decoration reflect that reverent paradise of our dreams. That is what Alan Faena—a man who has created neighborhoods and art districts—has done in his gilded and rouged Miami Beach home.

Alan knew deep in his heart that getting close to a beautiful illusion was not the same as arriving. He bounded forward, surpassing the limits of some industries in his freehearted search. Alan is a creator who has not only lent his name to his singular territories but also resides in them. Witness him in his signature tropical whites (sometimes with a flash of red), a matching top hat or fedora perched jauntily on his head, as he fully inhabits the baroque, serenely exuberant rooms of his house. Or pay a visit to his Faena hotel nearby, a red-curtain fantasy of life that is a distillation of pure joy, with exquisite details. His presence transmits the alchemistic harmony of well-being and extreme elegance and transforms luxury into a sweetness of living.

My friend Alan’s ambition is generous. By seeking the most beautiful of all illusions, he has constructed an expanding universe, overcoming the perpetual evanescence of things through incessant creation, brimming with art and beauty, without ever losing his profound sense of hospitality, his elegance, his courtesy, and his trueness to himself—all precious and rare qualities. Here, I welcome you into his most inner galaxy through a series of introspective questions.