Delray Beach-based Fine Art Photographer Jon Glasser at Spectrum Art Fair in Miami Dec.3-7, 2014

Delray Beach-based Fine Art Photographer Jon Glaser exhibiting at Spectrum Art Fair during Art Week in Miami - Booth No.415 - Opening Preview on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 from 6-10pm. Glaser is known for the simplicity of his style and the subtlety of his palette - the photographer's portfolio invites rather than demands a viewing --> Images by Jon Evan

Miami Mini Maker Faire in Wynwood on Saturday, Nov.8th

The Miami Mini Make Faire is a celebration of all things hand-made, returns to Wynwood on Saturday, Nov.8, 2014 from 10am-6pm. This is the fair’s second year, organizers say they are expecting at least 2,500 visitors and more than 90 exhibitors at this all-day, family-friendly event that will be held at The LAB Miami and LightBox, as well as on the street with a "block-party" feel. This year, along with the two indoor venues, organizers are closing off NW 26th Street between 3rd and 5th Avenues for a full-on arts and crafts street festival.

The Miami Mini Maker Faire will boast over 80 interactive exhibits. From 3D printing, fashion design, doodling, to product innovation, there’s always something to learn about and make! The Miami Mini Maker Faire is an all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, artisans, inventors, tinkerers, entrepreneurs and educators who get together to show what they make and share what they have learned. The faire features both established and emerging local “makers” specializing in robotics, hardware hacking, 3D printing, art and crafts, urban farming and sustainability and much more.

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/the-starting-gate/2014/11/2nd-miami-mini-maker-faire-promises-more-robots-block-party-.html#storylink=cpy

To buy tickets, visit www.makerfairemiami.com
400 NW 26th Street in Miami, FL 33127.

Mixed Media Artist Vito Bonanno

Rising art star Vito Bonanno is a nationally recognized artist with autism spreading the word through his art that autism is a creative and magical gift. Bonanno is best known for his unique storyboard, grid-like artwork filled with colorful characters, objects and ideas that act and interact in striking ways. He is considered an outsider artist whose work is highly coveted by collectors and art aficionados worldwide. His style is edgy with a graffiti-esque, urban vibe. Bonanno's art has been exhibited in countless art exhibitions and shows, and he has participated in a myriad of art competitions and contests.

Bonanno was diagnosed with PDD/Autism just before his 4th birthday. Language delayed, his parents and teachers developed strategies that tapped into his high visual acuity, utilizing storyboard styles to relay academic and social information to Vito. He was also encouraged to draw in storyboard format to express his feelings. The storyboard grid remains prominent in his work today and is a poignant reminder of a boy who was trapped in his mind, but through the tireless work of professionals and undaunting support of his family, has been given the opportunity to develop into a highly functioning, young man who has learned to take the information trapped in his head and transform it into art that contains the essence of his life, feelings, thoughts and dreams.

He remembers it was his dreams that motivated him to draw. “My disability helps me remember things like my dreams, but it also doesn’t let me forget - so both good and unpleasant things remain in my head always and I have to live everyday with all that stuff in my head," explains Bonanno. "Some of it I will end up obsessing about, so drawing these things helps me get this stuff out of my head for a while.”

"Vito Bonanno’s art contains the essence of his life, feelings, thoughts and dreams, coupled around objects or topics that 'get stuck in his head', including traffic lights, grids, ceiling fans and graffiti. His work is image and concept driven and may incorporate any media which will fuel this expression. Using spray paints, gouache, India inks, oils, acrylics and so on, he works on paper, canvas, or whatever support may suit. Most of the characters or topics he draws are important to his life and embedded in his personal philosophy. His work has been described as raw, unfiltered, unedited, truthful, comedic, irresistible, bold, playful and charming, much like the man himself. He has found a way to tap into the intensity of focus and insight afforded him through Autism Spectrum Disorder to unleash a formidable creative power and vision." - Elizabeth Peterson, Director of Akus Gallery at Eastern Connecticut State University.

Miami-based Street Artist 'Ahol Sniffs Glue' Sues Retailer American Eagle Outfitters

Miami-based urban art star David Anasagasti, known better by his street art name Ahol Sniffs Glue, is suing American Eagle Outfitters alleging that the teen apparel brand used his work in a global advertising campaign without permission. Anasagasti filed a lawsuit last week in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York accusing the retailer of stealing two copyrighted images depicting his signature art – rows and rows of droopy eyes that appear half asleep. The South Florida native is among the most well known of the local street artists for his soaring urban murals with expansive fields of drowsy eyes, which can be found adorning numerous walls and hotspots throughout Wynwood and the rest of Miami.

The beloved Miami-based street artist has a raw yet instantly recognizable style. His work involves disparate themes from mass media, popular culture and marginalized pockets of society. From a young age he started on a path toward art-world notoriety with persistent sketches in his notebooks. “I did these whole civilizations of characters,” he says. “One day, I just decided to take their eyes and make a pattern out of it.” Drawing inspiration from the urban environment and systems of society which dehumanize its inhabitants, his deceptively simple, yet complex renderings portray the veneer of our everyday surroundings and the dull, job-related conflicts often encountered in a dysfunctional workplace.

The question is, did American Eagle rip off Ahol’s street art? The suit claims that American Eagle brought models to Wynwood for a photoshoot, and at that point, the company allegedly used the artwork in a variety of ways, integrating the images into their advertising campaign in several countries last Spring. The lawsuit also said that the retailer recreated the eyes on a wall for the grand opening of an American Eagle store in Medellin, Colombia. Anasagasti claims in his suit that the brand is using his art in their stores, as well as online and outdoor billboards without his permission. The artists’ agent is Gregg Shienbaum of Gregg Shienbaum Fine Art, the owner of one of Miami’s contemporary art galleries located in the Wynwood Arts District. “Ahol is not painting for a corporation,” said Shienbaum. “He’s painting because he loves it.”

The lawsuit said, “Given that he hails from the counter-culture world of underground street artists, Mr. Anasagasti’s reputation as an artist has been founded, in part, on a public perception that (he) doesn’t ‘sell out’ to large corporate interests.” Even though Anasagasti registered the copyrights after American Eagle launched their advertising campaign, he is suing for unspecified damages, as well as profits from the infringement.

Shienbaum said, “the eyes are decidedly anti-corporate. They represent the working class, who struggle and are good people,” he explained. “They may look a little droopy, a little sad, but it’s his way of saying, ‘You may be down today, but you’ve got to keep going.’”

Art Party at Isolda Mora Noli Gallery in Boca Raton

Join us for an evening of art and culture with artist Isolda Mora Noli at her gallery in Boca Raton on Thursday, July 24th from 5-9pm. The artist is showcasing her newest works of art while entertaining collectors and guests in her beautiful space by Mizner Park - located at 144 South Federal Highway in Boca Raton, Florida 33432. Enjoy an evening of art, cocktails and hor d'oeuvres with the artist in her gallery and outdoor courtyard while enjoying music, creative people and great atmosphere.

Isolda Mora Noli is an international artist whose father is the famous sculptor, architect and art professor, Jose Guillermo Mora Noli (1923-1981). He is the founder of the school of Cylindrical Constructivism, known as 'Cylindrismo', and is known as the father of modern Panamanian sculpture. Isolda has continued her father's legacy, her work is held in private collections all over the world. Her paintings are influenced by two main things, Cilindrismo and Nature, she focuses on raw form and natural design. Isolda's work is published in high profile art and design magazines from New York, Palm Beach to London.

The artist will be opening another location in the coming months, so stay tuned for more information about her new gallery space. Isolda's art event is being held to showcase her newest collection of paintings, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting a local charity. 

Brazilian Twins Os Gemeos Collabo with GOL/9ine

The famed São Paulo-based street art duo Os Gemeos collaborated with GOL/9ine to transform a Boeing 787 into a flying work of art. They just recently finished painting this beauty, which is the Brazilian national team’s plane for the World Cup this year.

The urban duo created a colorful masterpiece, taking their signature yellow characters into the skies. The full-service plane will be flying for the next two years taking the team around the country this summer and to each of their games for everyone to see. This project is a great example of the local support & celebrations being done for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Since the late 1980′s identical twin brothers Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo have been working under the name Os Gemeos, which means “twin brothers” and stands for “one world, one voice” among other associations they make. Painting graffiti on the streets of their native São Paulo, they first emulated the styles coming out of New York City, but slowly the pair discovered their own style and approach to their work. Today Os Gemeos’ signature characters with their yellow skin and colorful clothing appear on public walls, and gallery and museum installations around the world. Subjects range from family portraits to commentary on São Paulo’s social and political circumstances, as well as Brazilian folklore. Their graffiti style was influenced by both traditional hip hop style and the Brazilian culture.

Os Gemeos are no strangers to large-scale works, their colorful images adorn buildings in cities including Berlin, Lisbon, New York, Moscow, Athens, Krakow, and in their native Brazil they’ve even painted whole trains – after successfully persuading the authorities to let them do it. In 2009 when they came to Miami during Art Basel, they created a masterpiece in Wynwood on NW 2nd Avenue. Os Gemeos collaborated with Nina and Finok, two Brazilian artists they have worked with many times before, so it was a relatively easy and comfortable process to decide what to paint.They discussed all the details and made a lot of sketches before coming to the final composition. We see Os Gemeos’ characters in the back of a truck floating in the ocean that springs from Nina’s wide-eyed girl’s hair, while Finok’s half-man, half-boat waits on the beach.

NYC-based artist Sanford Biggers' Solo Exhibition at David Castillo Gallery

An LA native working in NYC, Sanford Biggers creates artworks that integrate film, video, installation, sculpture, drawing, original music and performance. He intentially complicates issues such as hip hop, Buddhism, politics, identity and art history in order to offer new perspectives and associations for established symbols. His solo exhibition ‘3 Dollars & 6 Dimes’ at David Castillo Gallery is on display now through July 25, 2014. The work presents new mixed media painting, installation and performance. The artist destabilizes linear notions of history, identity, and spirituality with a syncretic visual language culled from slave narratives, hip-hop culture and Afrofuturism.

In his Quilt series, Biggers appropriates antebellum quilts from the American South and renders them with acrylic, spray paint, silkscreen, embroidery, and fine art paper. The result depicts aggregate symbols from the Underground Railroad and sacred geometry, particularly the mandala. The mandala also constitutes the structure of the artist’s 16 x 16 foot dance floor, a site of implicit performance upon entering David Castillo Gallery. The dance floor invites ceremony and celebration in an environment of histories made new, including that of the art object itself.

The mandala is often posited as a doorway between heaven and earth. Interspersed throughout the gallery are cloud sculptures suspended at varying heights, creating depth and atmosphere for the floor and wall artworks. This heaven, however, is not that of manifest destiny. Biggers’ buoyant clouds are twisted from chicken wire and stuffed with raw cotton, referencing the plantation system and the sky under which its slave laborers fled.

3 Dollars & 6 Dimes is rich in the totality it represents: a three hundred and sixty degree cartography, a circular mandala, an embrace, the wisdom that comes from contemplating the interconnected past, present, and future. “I was born underwater with 3 dollars and 6 dimes,” Erykah Badu sings. 3 Dollars & 6 Dimes invites viewers not merely to ground themselves in the historical realities that have shaped American economy and culture, but to return to the water, the origin of all life, and a state of untarnished knowledge.

Sanford Biggers was born in Los Angeles, CA and lives and works in New York, NY where he is also an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Visual Arts program and a board member of SculptureCenter and the CUE Foundation. In April 2014, he participated in Carrie Mae Weems Live: The Blue Notes of Blues People at The Guggenheim New York and was recently included in the Americana exhibition at The Perez Art Museum Miami.

David Castillo Gallery opened in 2005 under sole ownership after transforming a dilapidated warehouse in Miami, Florida into a 5,000 square foot gallery – exhibiting mid-career and emerging artists, both international and local. The gallery’s focus is on conceptual curatorial models as they relate to art historical, cultural, and personal investigations of identity. David Castillo Gallery recently announced that it will be moving from it’s longtime Wynwood location at 2234 NW 2nd Avenue in Miami, FL 33127 to its new location on the 400 block of Lincoln Road. “This is where I wanted to be,” said David Castillo. “It will be similar in size, but in the heart of the Beach. I love it there.”