Faena Art To Exhibit Immersive Installation By Artist Kelly Breez

FAENA ART TO EXHIBIT IMMERSIVE INSTALLATION BY ARTIST KELLY BREEZ AT THE FAENA ART PROJECT ROOM   The exhibition 'Dirt's Dive' will pay homage to the bar scene of South Florida and feature community events during Miami Art Week 2023 Opening Friday, November 17, 2023, Faena  Art will present a new exhibition by Miami-based artist Kelly Breez in the Faena Art Project Room. Breez will transform the Faena Art Project Room into an immersive dive bar experience for visitors titled 'Dirt's Dive', an homage to the progressively declining bar scene of old South Florida. The exhibition reimagines the ever-changing nightlife of Miami through the unique perspective of a local artist. Faena Art will host a special celebratory event for 'Dirt's Dive' during Miami Art Week on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, featuring a culinary food truck-inspired experience with James Beard award-winning restauranteur and chef Paul Qui. A catalyst for innovative, site-specific, and immersive practices, Faena Art bridges the popular and the experimental, making art accessible to all, fostering new models for community-oriented exploration that transcend the traditional boundaries of art, science, philosophy, and social practice.   In 'Dirt's Dive,' artist Kelly Breez (b. 1985) will create her own fantastical bar scene incorporating dynamic sculptures and drawings as well as life-sized cut-out figures reminiscent of assemblages by Edward Kienholz and Alex Katz's work. The exhibition will also feature sculptures and drawings in the style of colorful bar ephemera to create an immersive and interactive installation. The artist will manipulate scale in the installation, imbuing the sense of an alternate universe, a fantasy-like scene that balances the familiar and unfamiliar. Breez, who was born and raised in South Florida, will incorporate personal history and local anecdotes into her aesthetic storytelling.    The artist has always been inspired by the unique motif that is South Florida nightlife. This project brings attention back to the disappearing establishment of the dive bar, a place that offered an opportunity for chance encounters with iconic local characters such as the old Florida fisherman—someone who tells stories filled with wisdom, grit, humor, and unique knowledge of the sea. In this way, the artist addresses the theme of authenticity, subtly pointing out the unfortunate loss of Miami's iconic old haunts and the authenticity attached to them.    'A dive-y bar is the ultimate equalizer,' says artist Kelly Breez. 'The environment just puts everyone on the same page. No one is a stranger, everyone is a character, anything is on the table. Collaboration feels intrinsic in a dive. Lots of ideas are always flying around. I love that energy.'   Collaborator Chef Paul Qui says: 'Dive bars for me were the epicenter of creativity.  They brought together people from high and low places, Celebrities and misfits alike.  It was a space where nothing mattered but the conversation at hand. I realize now that those moments in the height of my youth would be the fuel that would drive my creative path.'   One of the earliest sorts of communal spaces, the bar has come to represent a place where people gather to regale one another with experiences and stories. The bar as a communal space recounts both a familiar and an unfamiliar tale – a mysterious meeting place where relationships begin and end, and business deals made and broken. The exhibition is a striking, humorous celebration of the bar as a pillar of community and expression.    WHERE     Faena Art Project Room  3420 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33140        WHEN    Friday, November 17, 2023  - February 9, 2024    PROGRAM   Friday, November 17:  Opening Celebration   Wednesday, December 6, 6:00–9:00pm:  Food truck experience with Paul Qui, featuring specialty cocktails and live DJ performance.    SPECIAL THANKS  Special thanks to Chase Sapphire for their generous support of Faena Art's projects at Miami Art Week 2023.   Portrait of Kelly Breez. Image by Vanessa Diaz.  About Kelly Breez  Kelly Breez (b. 1985, Lake Worth, FL) is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Miami, FL. She works in -and combines- painting, illustration, humor, sculpture and installation. Her work chronicles life's absurdities-particularly in its seedier elements. The high gloss Bar Top resin that covers many of her pieces is a direct nod to her greatest muse and inspiration: the smoky old treasure-filled dive bar, crowded with human and non-human relics.    About Faena Art   Faena Art is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that commissions, produces, and houses cross-disciplinary artistic experiences with an emphasis on cultivating community and supporting artists locally and abroad. A catalyst for innovative, site-specific, and immersive practices, Faena Art bridges the popular and the experimental making art accessible to all. Faena Art fosters new models for social interaction transcending the traditional boundaries of art, science, philosophy, and social practice. Established in 2011, Faena Art continues to commission major installations and exhibitions that are a major highlight of Miami Art Week and the city's vibrant  cultural scene at large. Over the past 12 years, their programming has expanded to include a biannual art prize, permanent exhibition spaces, and residencies across both Miami and Buenos Aires.   For additional information about Faena Art please visit: https://www.faenaart.org/.