Deconstruction: A Reordering of Life, Politics and Art

12 MIAMI ARTISTS HEADLINE MAJOR SHOW
AT THE FROST ART MUSEUM FIU
FOR 10th ANNIVERSARY KICK OFF

 

Apocalyptic Cartographies. Vano dello ínfero (Sandra Ramos, 2017), courtesy of the artist and Pan American Art Projects

 

Opening Celebration with the Artists:
Saturday, July 14 (4:00-7:00 p.m.)

On view through September 30

 

MIAMI, FL [ ABN NEWS ] ― To kick off its tenth anniversary celebrations, the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum FIU presents the premiere of Deconstruction: A Reordering of Life, Politics and Art featuring the work of twelve Miami artists: Eddie Arroyo, Zachary Balber, Frida Baranek, Christopher Carter, Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova, Yanira Collado, Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Pepe Mar, Glexis Novoa, Sandra Ramos, Jamilah Sabur and Frances Trombly.

“Some say Miami’s vibrant art scene can be overshadowed by the art fairs that descend upon our destination every December, and the question looms large: what is the real visual arts landscape like in Miami during the other 51 weeks of the year? As this city experiences a major growth boom, working artists in Miami have a broadening range of opportunities and challenges,” said Dr. Jordana Pomeroy, the Director of the Frost Art Museum FIU. “For this major exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary of our spectacular building, these twelve Miami artists boldly confront current global issues.”

 

 

All of the artists in the exhibition live and work in Miami

These 12 artists hail from all over the country and the world, and now make Miami their home. Many have been exhibited at some of the most prominent museums and galleries nationwide and throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia.

These works examine the theme of deconstruction – from current events in the frenetic social media stream to cross-cultural awakenings these artists have experienced in Miami. The subtitle of the exhibition is derived from prophetic messages in Guy Debord’s 1967 book The Society of the Spectacle that warned about a future world where social interactions become too influenced by images that would prevent us from direct personal contact.

More than fifty years ago, Debord foreshadowed our reliance on isolating hand-held technology and the twenty-four-hour news cycle that dominates our times. The different ways these artists interrogate deconstruction in their artworks open a window allowing us to step back and take a long, hard look at our world today.

 

 

The opening reception is Saturday, July 14 (4:00 – 6:00 p.m.), and on the same date the museum debuts a new exhibition showcasing its permanent collection and recent acquisitions gifted to the Frost for its 10th anniversary. The museum is located at 10975 S.W. 17 Street, on the campus of Florida International University.

“As we recognize the 10th anniversary of this architectural jewel-in-the-crown, the Frost Art Museum FIU is pleased to dedicate our Grand Galleries to Miami-based artists,” said Dr. Jordana Pomeroy, the museum’s Director.

“When this beautiful building was constructed on campus ten years ago, few could have imagined the cultural beacon the Frost Art Museum FIU would become for our community. Now, as the museum enters its next decade we continue elevating our mission to new heights: helping to define Miami’s arts and culture evolution through a global perspective that celebrates the vision of Florida International University,” adds Dr. Jordana Pomeroy.

 

Four of these Miami artists will create new works for this exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Frost Art Museum FIU: Christopher Carter, Yanira Collado, Gonzalo Fuenmayor and Pepe Mar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gonzalo Fuenmayor will create a monumental charcoal drawing with a total width of 20 feet, titled Happy Hour.

Pepe Mar will create a large-scale site-specific installation that is an homage to the late artist Craig Coleman, who died tragically of complications related to AIDS/HIV in 1994. Coleman is fondly remembered for his drag alter ego Varla from South Beach’s renaissance years of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

 

 

 

This new exhibition is Amy Galpin’s curatorial debut at the Frost, and showcases her extensive studio visits throughout Miami after recently being selected as the museum’s new Chief Curator.

“These twelve celebrated Miami artists are keenly aware of the world we are living in,” said Amy Galpin, PhD., the Chief Curator of the Frost Art Museum FIU. “Their mutual starting point is Miami itself—as their artistic home and creative community, Miami serves as the catalyst for this new exhibition.”

“By deconstructing and re-ordering objects and imagery in disparate ways, they disrupt our conventional ways of seeing, opening our eyes to new possibilities,” adds the Curator of this exhibition, Amy Galpin.

Deconstruction: A Reordering of Life, Politics and Art features more than 20 works including acrylic on canvas, digital C- prints, found objects, photography, mixed media, engraving and installations.

 

 

 

About the artists

Eddie Arroyo

 

Eddie Arroyo (b. 1976) is known for his impressionistic techniques that document local and regional aesthetics. He explores the realities of how neighborhoods are impacted by gentrification. Essential factors contributing to his work include accelerated commerce and how it assesses value among different cultures within an urban community, and the relational tensions between real estate developers, artists, and local residents in Miami. Arroyo received a BFA from Florida International University in 2001. His work has been exhibited at Bridge Red Studios, Locust Projects, Girls’ Club Collection, Arthill Gallery of London, Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Haitian Heritage Museum, Spinello Complex, the Bakehouse Art Complex, Swampspace, Magic City Innovation District, Edge Zones, Schmidt Center Gallery at Florida Atlantic University, Little Haiti Cultural Complex, and the CS Gallery.

 

Zachary Balber

 

Zachary Balber (b. 1984) was born and raised in Pittsburgh and moved to Miami at the age of thirteen, where he received his first camera. Years later, he was hired to assist the fashion photographer Bruce Weber. While assisting Weber in his campaigns for Abercrombie and Fitch, Vera Wang, and Vanity Fair Magazine, Zachary’s passion expanded toward the fine arts side of photography. Zachary’s work uses photography to penetrate boundaries between different socio-economic groups. Photography as he uses it, connects him to people and groups that he may never speak to; without the excuse of photography.” My camera becomes a private chamber to reorganize life, as I prefer to see it.” He attended New World School of the Arts, graduating Summa Cum Laude, majoring in creative photography. His work has been displayed in Art Basel, OCCA, MOCA NOAMI, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Locust Projects, Spinello Projects, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, The Armory, Art Hong Kong and Primary Projects.

 

Frida Baranek

 

Frida Baranek (b. 1961) is a Brazilian sculptor renowned for her large sculptural works incorporating industrial materials such as plates, rods, and iron or steel wires along with fibers. Baranek creates organic forms and subjects using inorganic materials. Her works are known as commentaries about the environment and industrialization. She studied Architecture at Santa Ursula’s University and worked at Museu de Arte Moderna and Escola de Artes Visuais (both in Rio de Janeiro). Baranek received her master’s Degree in industrial design from Central Saint Martins in London in 2012. She has lived and worked in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paris, Berlin, New York and London and currently lives and works in Miami.

Solo and group exhibitions include: Museum of Modern Art MoMA, New York; XLIV Biennale Internazionale di Venezia, Venice; Untitled Art Fair, Miami; Heike Moras Art, London; Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro; Galerie am Trakalhaus, Salzburg; Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo; Galerie Seitz & Partner, Berlin; La Maison du Bresil, Brussels; and Stux Gallery, New York, “Territories” – Collins Park, Public Sector, Art Basel Miami; Biennale de Sculpture, Monte Carlo; Central Saint Martins Degree Show, London; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington; Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany; Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo; Museo del Barrio, New York; and Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, among many others. Her works are held by the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, the Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of São Paulo, and the Kemper Art Museum.

 

Christopher Carter

 

Christopher Carter (b. 1966) was raised in Boston, born in New Mexico. He earned his BFA from MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), and studied bronze casting and foundry work in Cortona, Italy. He received his MFA in fine art/sculpture at the University of California at Berkeley. In 2002, Carter spent a summer in New Zealand studying the art of the Maori people. His own multi-ethnic background had earlier drawn him to African-American and Native American wood carving traditions. He uses found materials significantly in his sculptures, including glass, resins, recycled metals and wood, discarded and reclaimed objects.

The themes of resilience and struggle are projected in his works. A signature piece, Growth of a Nation has been acquired for exhibition by the Smithsonian’s The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).

Exhibitions include: American University-Katzen Museum of Art, Washington, D.C.; FIU Miami Urban Studios, Miami Beach; PRIZM Art Fair-Art Basel, Miami; Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco; Art Basel/Miami (Omniart grant recipient); Pacific Film & Archives/ UC Berkeley; The Hamlin School, San Francisco; and the Copley Society of Artists, Boston, among others.

 

Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova

 

Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova (b. 1973) is from Havana and is currently one of the directors of Dimensions Variable, an exhibition space located in Miami, where he also lives and works as an artist. He immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1980 during the Mariel boat lift. He attended the Ringling School of Art and Design and the New World School of the Arts where he was awarded the Frances Wolfson Endowed Visual Arts Scholarship, and has completed residencies at the Capri Palace in Capri, Italy and the Vermont Studio Center. In 2011 he attended the artist-in-residence Ville de Paris-Cultures France program at the Centre international d’accueil et d’échanges des Recollets in Paris.

Select exhibitions include The Center for Architecture and Design, Miami; Factoria Habana, Havana; Alejandra von Hartz Gallery, Miami; ZONA MACO Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City; Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami; Prosjektrom Normanns, Stavanger, Norway; Museo de Bellas Artes, Havana; Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach; Abrons Arts Center, New York; Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles; Locust Projects; David Castillo Gallery, Miami; Casas Riegner Gallery, Bogota, Colombia; Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY; and Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami. Selected collections include Sayago & Pardon Collection, San Diego; Alfredo Hertzog Da Silva, Sao Palo; Cintas Foundation Collection, Miami; and Capri Palace, Capri, Italy among many others. He is in the public permanent collections of several museums and private collections throughout the United States.

 

Yanira Collado

 

Yanira Collado (b. 1975) is a mixed media artist from the Dominican Republic. After graduating from the New World School of Arts High School, she received a full scholarship to attend the Art Institute of Chicago for her undergraduate study. She is known as an interdisciplinary artist, working at the confluence of constructivism, textiles, and literary texts. Yanira has exhibited in Chicago, Pennsylvania, Berlin, New York and Miami. She has also studied early childhood development and art therapy specific to people with mixed abilities. Her experience with arts education as social engagement is central to her work, which includes extensive work with children and adults with mental and physical disabilities. Collado has been an artist in residence at the African Heritage Cultural Center and has exhibited in several galleries in Chicago, Pennsylvania, West Palm Beach and Miami. She was awarded first prize in the 2013 Miami biennial. She has also participated in the prestigious Project Row Houses as part of the summer visiting artist program that included a site-specific installation.

 

Gonzalo Fuenmayor

 

Gonzalo Fuenmayor (b. 1977) is a native of Barranquilla, Colombia. A master of sublime charcoal technique, he is laborious in his drawings as well as in his researching processes, resulting in large scale, monumental works. His mastery of charcoal drawing technique has reached the point where for the viewer it is almost impossible to differentiate black and white photographs from his work.

He creates stunning, surreal drawings that explore ethnic pride with a culturally and politically critical approach. Throughout his practice, he explores his position as an outsider in the U.S. and his cultural heritage. He received his Bachelor of Fine Art from School of Visual Arts, New York, and his master’s in fine art from School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, from which he also earned the prestigious Traveling Fellowship. His solo and group exhibitions include: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Contemporary Art, Lima, Peru; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach; LMAK Gallery, New York; Galeria Mundo, Bogota; Dot Fiftyone Gallery, Miami; Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco; Queens Museum of Art, New York; Galería Mundo, Bogota, Colombia; Colombian Center Gallery, New York; The World Bank, Washington; The Naples Museum, Florida; and the Museum of Modern Art of Santo Domingo, among many others.

 

Pepe Mar

 

Pepe Mar (b. 1977) hails originally from Mexico and lives in Miami. He is known for his sculptural collages, featuring distinctively bright colors and his creative use of source materials from pop culture and ancient mythologies. His works have developed an immediately recognizable that comes across as sinister, whimsical and exuberant – with frenetic energy. The artist draws his inspiration from his passions for music, fashion, clubbing and shopping. He creates explosive, dazzling collages and mixed-media sculptures and installations that exploring the excesses of contemporary consumer culture. Much of the material for his work comes from thrift stores, packaging, and advertisements.

He received his BFA from the California College of Arts in San Francisco, and his MFA from Florida International University in Miami. Mar’s work has been exhibited nationally, including solo and group exhibitions at: David Castillo Gallery, Miami; Freight + Volume, New York; Hanna Gallery, Tokyo; Gavin Brown Enterprise, New York; Faena Forum, Miami Beach; New Arts Project, London; and the Nada Art Fair. His work is included in major collections in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America including public collections such as the ICA Miami and Perez Art Museum Miami.

 

Glexis Novoa

 

Glexis Novoa (b. 1964) is originally from Cuba. He received a degree from the National School of Arts in Havana. He lives in Miami since 1995 and shares his time between his studios in Havana and Wynwood, Miami. Novoa also works on site specific wall drawings and ephemeral projects anywhere around the world. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

Solo and group exhibitions include: Cheekwood Museum, Nashville; Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts; Locust Projects, Miami; The Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana; Espacio Aglutinador, Havana; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana; Center for Contemporary Art Laznia, Gdansk, Poland; David Castillo Gallery, Miami; Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; El Museo del Barrio, New York; Exit Art, New York; City Art Museum of Ljublana, Slovenia; Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin; The University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara; Centro de Cultura Contemporanea, Barcelona, Spain; Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; Palffy Palace, Vienna, Austria, and The Bronx Museum, New York, among many others. His work is featured in numerous private collections, museums and art in public places.

 

Jamilah Sabur

 

Jamilah Sabur (b. 1987) is an artist working across various disciplines including performance, video, and installation. She was born in Saint Andrew, Jamaica and received her MFA in Visual Arts from University of California San Diego, and her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in Interdisciplinary Sculpture. She is interested in embodied cognition, social mimicry, dissonance, ritual, and the uncanny.

Sabur was recently commissioned to create a performance at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex by Bas Fisher Invitational. Currently, she is an artist-in-residence at ArtCenter/ South Florida. Her work is currently included at the Perez Art Museum’s group exhibition The World’s Game: Fútbol and Contemporary Art and Scorched Earth at Current Projects. She has an upcoming solo exhibition at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum of Rollins College.

Exhibitions and screening venues include: Dimensions Variable, Miami; History Miami; Los Angles Film Forum; (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain; Transmission Gallery, Glasgow; The ICA, London; Cine del Nuevo International Festival in Havana; and Busan Corner Theater, Busan, South Korea.

 

Sandra Ramos

 

Sandra Ramos (b. 1969) has become known for surrealist expressions about her relationship to her native Cuba’s social and political situation. As a young artist, she first began to study art at Havana’s Escuela Elemental de Artes Plasticas and then continued her studies at the prestigious San Alejandro Art Academy and the Superior Institute of Art in Havana (where she was taught by notable artists including Carlos Cardenas, Leandro Soto and Jose Bedia). In her works, she projects her personal experiences that derived from hardships in Cuba, including loss, grief and isolation. Ramos uses a variety of mediums, which including collage, etchings, painting, digital animation and installations. She is renowned for her engraving.

Her solo and group exhibitions include: Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo; Arizona State University Museum; Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan, China; American University Museum at the Katzen Art Center, Washington; Accola Griefen Gallery, New York; Rosphoto, St. Petersburg, Russia; Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach; XI Havana Biennial, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana; Dot Fiftyone Galery, Miami; The Fraser Gallery, Washington; Promo-Arte Gallery, Tokyo; Concourse Gallery, London; Perez Art Museum Miami; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL; The Jewish Museum of New York; The San Diego Museum of Art; The Xin Dong Cheng Space for Contemporary Art, Beijing; and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, among many others.

 

Jamilah Sabur

 

Jamilah Sabur (b. 1987) is an artist working across various disciplines including performance, video, and installation. She was born in Saint Andrew, Jamaica and received her MFA in Visual Arts from University of California San Diego, and her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in Interdisciplinary Sculpture. She is interested in embodied cognition, social mimicry, dissonance, ritual, and the uncanny.

Sabur was recently commissioned to create a performance at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex by Bas Fisher Invitational. Currently, she is an artist-in-residence at ArtCenter/ South Florida. Her work is currently included at the Perez Art Museum’s group exhibition The World’s Game: Fútbol and Contemporary Art and Scorched Earth at Current Projects. She has an upcoming solo exhibition at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum of Rollins College.

Exhibitions and screening venues include: Dimensions Variable, Miami; History Miami; Los Angles Film Forum; (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain; Transmission Gallery, Glasgow; The ICA, London; Cine del Nuevo International Festival in Havana; and Busan Corner Theater, Busan, South Korea.

 

Frances Trombly

 

Frances Trombly (b. 1976) uses labor-intensive processes such as cross-stitching, embroidering, and weaving to produce dynamic yet understated two and three-dimensional works. In these painstakingly-crafted works, she references issues pertaining to feminism and domestic labor. Her work presents an opportunity to ruminate on materiality and craft tradition in a contemporary context. Trombly co-directs Dimensions Variable, an exhibition space in Miami.

She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore. Trombly has exhibited nationally and internationally, including: American University Museum College of Arts & Sciences, Washington; Vienna Biennale; Boston Center for the Arts; Abrons Art Center, New York; Prosjektrom Normanns, Stavanger, Norway; Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach; Locust Projects, Miami; Perez Art Museum Miami; Moore College of Art & Design, Goldie Paley Gallery, Philadelphia; Galeria Casas Riegner, Bogota; Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville; The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT.; and Emerson Dorsch, Miami.

 

 

About the Museum

 

One of the largest free-standing art museums in Florida, the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University was founded in 1977 and is the Smithsonian Affiliate in Miami. The museum’s new lakeside building debuted in 2008, designed by Yann Weymouth (the chief of design on the I.M. Pei Grand Louvre Project), and this year celebrates its 10th anniversary. With 46,000 square feet of energy efficient exhibition, storage, and programming space, the museum was honored with LEED silver certification.

The museum’s mission is three-fold: to be a campus resource for the entire FIU community; to offer interdisciplinary training in the arts for the next generation of artists and art historians; and to serve as a premier cultural destination for the residents of Miami, and the 15 million visitors to one of the world’s most vibrant cultural destinations – home to global cultural events including Art Basel.

The Frost offers programming that complements its exhibitions with a wide range of educational initiatives. Admission to the museum is always free. The Frost is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is located at 10975 SW 17 Street. Open Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m., and Sunday noon-5:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays and most legal holidays. The Sculpture Park is open every day. More information at frost.fiu.edu or 305-348-2890.

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Edited by Jose H. Oliveira Jr. / ABN NEWS