This summer, as guests walk into the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami's Wynwood Art District, they will be greeted by a newly-commissioned installation by Bakehouse artist Alain Castoriano, Tropical Storm, on view in the atrium.

Tropical Storm explores the power of natural events, particularly, their ability to transform the places through which they pass in the span of a few short moments. Through Alain's dynamic use of color and composition, he has worked to expand the visual vocabulary of his practice beyond the limits of a canvas, creating a conversation between different surfaces and the larger space. 

When asked about the making of Tropical Storm, Alain commented, "When I was asked to exhibit some of my works in the atrium of Bakehouse, I immediately considered the very beautiful overhead light of this space. I realized that, given its size, I wanted to occupy the space in a dynamic way, rather than simply hanging a few paintings on the wall."

Escape the summer heat! Come by to see Alain's installation and visit the Bakehouse artists in their studios, Bakehouse Art Complex is located at 561 NW 32nd Street in Miami, Florida 33127.

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/.

The Betsy Hotel Announces Exhibits for Miami Art Week 2022 Opening During Art Basel Miami Beach

 

The Betsy Hotel Announces Exhibits for Miami Art Week 2022 Opening During Art Basel Miami Beach, with new work by visual artists Tamary Kudita, Nadia Huggins, Sri Prabha, Ray Tenario, and Eric Kroll, and a dance premiere by the Peter London Global Dance Company

 

The Betsy-South Beach, one of the preeminent global arts hotels announces exhibits for Miami Beach Art Week 2022, curated by Betsy co-owner Lesley Goldwasser. Works include photography by Tamary Kudita (Zimbabwe), Nadia Huggins (Trinidad/Tobago), and Eric Kroll (USA), and a mixed media collection by Ray Tenorio (Cuba). Also exhibited is new work by conceptual multi-media artist Sri Prabha (India) and a dance work by Peter London (Trinidad/Tobago). The Betsy will also celebrate new artist books by Alessandro Sarno, Carlos Andres Cruz, and Eric Kroll.

 

The Betsy Hotel is well regarded for programs and partnerships that paint a portrait of Miami both old and new by embracing diversity through artist selection, subject matter, and cultural framework. Since 2018, The Betsy has exclusively focused on global photography in all but one of its 9 public galleries; the remaining gallery features the work of emerging artists working in sculpture, painting, illustration, and mixed media.

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS 

Tamary Kudita (photo): Back at The Betsy after a successful US debut of 'African Victorian' at The Betsy's 2021 Miami Art Week, Kudtia presents a new collection "Fabrics of Man, Family, and Society ... ' that explores "the impact of her country's colonial experience on African life and identity today." Tamary's new work specifically reflects "on the intersectionality of the cultural and ethnic fusion of lifestyles from the past and present, and how that is expressed in body language, facial expression, and gestures, as well as the use of clothing as a necessity, social status, and cultural emblems".

 

Nadia Huggins (photo): The Hotel's BBar Gallery features Strange Territory, Huggins' underwater photography, an underground space with 26 light boxes; its mylar ceiling producing a mirrored effect, making viewers feel they are under water. Huggins' cinematic underwater landscapes contain colorful flora environments and human beings interacting with Nature, inviting viewers to reflect not only on 'what I put within an image, but also what I choose to leave out of that frame".

 

Eric Kroll (photo): A titanic figure in contemporary photography, Eric Kroll has published high profile best-selling art books with houses like Taschen and his work has featured in countless magazines. This exhibition contains images from his new art book, THE NEW YORK YEARS 1971 to 1994 (the book!).  "There is no discipline in my life. No order. I used to think that chaos helps creativity—I'm not so sure about that anymore...I shot Grace Jones performing at Studio 54 .... I also photographed Kenny Scharf with his wife and daughter, Keith Haring, and Andy Warhol in his art car ... "

 

Sri Prabha (multi-media), commissioned by the City of Miami Beach and using multi-media in 3 outside areas surrounding The Betsy Orb,  Sri will create a locus of attraction with this message: "We are but  a small part of the cosmos, with energies linked to ideas of regeneration, growth, and sustainability emerging from the cocoon of the pandemic to be deployed internally and for the world around us. In our existence, we ask ourselves about our responsibilities to the universe/"  

Sri Prabha's Spaceresearchcentre/AKA Southern Lights, via the Transmutable Central Dharma Gateway Incorporating the 5 Known Elements at the Orlando Museum of Art

 

Ray Tenorio (mixed media): With art collections influenced by Ray Tenorio's Latin roots, Expressionism, urban mythology and fashion,  Mythological Africa and the Transcultural Influences in the Americas,  inspired The Betsy to break out of its exclusive commitment to photography to provide space for an emerging youthful – and colorful – global artistic voice.

 

Art Books by Carlos Andres Cruz, Alessandro Sarno, and Eric Kroll:  With text written by Miami-based children's author Pablo Cartaya, international dog photographer Carols Andres Cruz contributed images for a book entitled Rosa's First Day as CEO;  Alessandro Sarno will release a new artist book called Miami: Jungle Island, with a Foreword by Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibarguen. These books will be exhibited in Betsy gallery spaces and available for purchase at the front desk – as will Eric Kroll's new art book: THE NEW YORK YEARS 1971 to 1994 (the book!).

 

Peter London Global Dance Company: The Betsy's Miami Art Week 2022 also features 'random and repeated' performances of a new dance work created by former Martha Graham dancer Peter London  in response to Tamary Kudita's new collection entitled,  Fabrics of Man, Family and Society ... ". This work is presented in partnership with the City of Miami Beach and the Miami Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs by the Peter London Global Dance Company.

 

Other 2022 Miami Art Week installations @thebetsyhotel include 1) The Betsy's Outdoor Sculpture Garden exhibiting  Zimbabwean stone carved sculptures inspired by traditional Shona mythology; 2) The Poetry Rail presenting the words of 12 writers that 'shaped Miami', located between Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue at 14^th Place;  3) More than 300 historic images of The Beatles and Rolling Stones (the Paul Saltzman and Bob Bonis Collections), situated in hallways and stairways, 4) And work from architectural photographer Robin Hill, Miami Beach documentarian Andy Sweet, Hollywood set photographer Robert Zuckerman and travel photographer Alessandro Sarno.  

 

The Betsy Hotel exhibits art in 20,000 square feet of gallery space located throughout the property with nine galleries as well as halls and stairway areas open during regular business hours (9 AM – 11 PM) during Miami Beach Art Week 2022.

Exclusive Art Installation by by Ivan Toth Depeña at Spotify's 'Clarify' Miami Exhibition

Spotify presents Clarify, a series of exhibitions that explore the connection between music, art, and politics. Enjoy an Opening Reception + Talk on Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 6:30pm featuring a conversation about the intersection of art, music and climate change. Leading up to the November election, there will be 8 exhibitions in 8 cities around the United States, each one taking on one of today’s key political issues. Join us in Miami for an exclusive art installation by Ivan Depeña plus a conversation about the intersection of art, music, and climate change.

"Reflect" 2012.

Ivan Toth Depeña is an artist who is currently living and working in Charlotte, North Carolina. With a Masters Degree in Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Depeña’s production is informed by his experience in art, architecture, technology and design, and encompasses a range of media. Depeña pursues the intersection between different disciplines with the aim of choreographing the moment when these aspects come together seamlessly. Using traditional avenues such as drawing, painting and sculpture then interweaving interactivity/responsiveness, video, light and high-tech methods of fabrication, Depeña explores the fine line between chance and intention.

Although Depeña has been working increasingly in the public realm, he maintains a rigorous and experimental, self directed studio practice. He has exhibited extensively, nationally and internationally, in both solo and group exhibitions, including at the McColl Center, NC; Praxis NY, NYC; New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; Miami Art Museum, Frost Art Museum, and the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, FL. Depeña has recently completed large-scale public commissions in New York, NY; Denver, CO; Albuquerque, NM; Gainesville, and Miami, FL. His work is held in numerous public and private collections.

“Inside/Out” Public Art Responsive/Interactive Light Installation 2015 at PAMM

In early 2014, he was awarded a prestigious Knight Arts Challenge Miami Grant for his proposal for a first of it’s kind series of augmented reality public art projects throughout South Florida called “Lapse”. Depeña is also currently a finalist for the renowned Cintas Fellowship 2016-2017.

“Prisoner’s Cinema” (Series) Ongoing.

Combining many sources of media, technology, form and materials, Depeña seeks to blur boundaries and create work that exists within a new and amorphous hybrid of various creative disciplines.

“Fail Safe” (Fallen Sky Chronicles) 2013.

Past exhibitions include, ‘Aesthetics and Values 2011’ at the Frost Museum in Miami, ‘Miami in Transition’ at the Miami Art Museum and various group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States. Depeña is the recipient of several grants including the ‘South Florida Visual + Media Artist Fellowship Grant’. He has completed residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida and the Digital Sculpture and Public Art Residencies at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

“Fail Safe” (Fallen Sky Chronicles) 2013.

Join us for Spotify’s Clarify exhibition at 11 11 Lincoln Road on Miami Beach opening on Tuesday, October 18th at 6:30pm. 11 11 is a unique shopping, dining, residential and parking experience located at the gateway to Lincoln Road’s pedestrian promenade. The exhibition features an exclusive art installation by Depeña plus a conversation about the intersection of art, music, and climate change. Free Admission and Gallery Hours are 12noon-10pm.

International Artist Evi Photopoulos Is Inspired By The Mills Of Crete

Mills of Crete is a place of constant inspiration for the renowned multidisciplinary artist Evi Photopoulos, and her Sculpture Painting out of Steel a Hidden Masterpiece.

Mills of Crete has become a place of creative ideas for the international art star. The magical place has motivated her imagination, giving birth to powerful and creative artworks.

Using panels made of aluminum forged by hammer and other special tools on the anvil, almost a year in the making to create piece by piece, each one patiently fabricated and collectively united into a massive sculpture panel. The installation is placed on a wood panel using hundreds of steel nails with oil colors to paint various parts, painstakingly created for days and nights.

Finally the masterpiece was complete, "Written on Steel", which was created at the Mills of Crete Workshop hanging atop the main building of Mills at the Bakery.

This magnificent artwork remains hidden as it belongs to a private collection and has travelled digitally to many Biennales & Art Fairs in Miami, New York and beyond.

But for the artist there is no limit for inspirations. The basements of the Mills will become the place for Photopoulos' next creation. She wrote a poem/script and makes the Short Film "You! My Souls of Darkness", which has been selected from more than 40 International Film Festivals worldwide, the artist was awarded by the Italian Fine Art Association.

The extraordinary sculptures out of bread which were exhibited at the London Biennale, Mexico, the Louvre Museum, and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.