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| "Happy," a work by Juan Carlos Arana, one of 11 artists exhibiting at the first Brickell Art Walk in Miami. |
But it's hard to complain too much art and as far as I know, no one in South Florida is doing an art walk on a Tuesday night, until now.
The first Brickell Art Walk will take place from 5-11 p.m. Tuesday, June 26 (and is now scheduled the last Tuesday of every month). The event will feature exhibitions by nine artists and performances by Josephine Bauza a.k.a. Pepa, jazzman Leo Casino, Miami-based traveling performance troupe CircX, Llamabeats, Pat Hunter, Priscilla Mari and DJ Fabio Domo from 7-9 p.m. in Mary Brickell Village Courtyard.
The mission of Brickell Art Walk is as unique as its mid-week timing. "With a great variety of art styles and prices we want to eradicate furniture store 'art' from the walls of Brickellians," organizers note on Brickellartwalk.com.
Being "Brickellian" or an owner of "furniture store art," however, is fortunately not a prerequisite for attendance. All you really need is a love for local art, music, food and wine and a calendar that's free on Tuesday night. And really, what else is happening on Tuesday? An after-party will be held at Kyma Lounge @ The Epic, 270 Biscayne Boulevard Way, Miami. Below is a list of exhibitions you will find at Brickell Art Walk.
Balan's Brickell
900 S. Miami Ave., Miami, 305-534-9191, Balans.co.uk/Miami/Brickell.php
Rock Artist in Red, an exhibition of paintings by Floyd Heglichs a.k.a. Floyd the Rock Artist.
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| "Sit With Me" from Juan Carlos Arana's "Back in the Day" |
1001 S. Miami Ave., Miami, 305-381-5901, Barurbano.com
There ... Back in the Day, an exhibition of paintings by Juan Carlos Arana, an artist inspired by people life, nature, and recently, Charlie Chaplin, whose film scenes Arana captures in his work.
Arana notes his appreciation of history and nostalgia for his own childhood. Growing up in Cali, Colombia with many cousins his age and later in New York, he notes that "Fond memories are all I have of a world where there was no responsibility and no social pressure - just pure bliss."
His current work centers around children of the Industrial Revolution. "When viewing photographs of that time, a deep sadness strikes me ... that these children, at such a young age, were put through horrid circumstances as our country was built. Living without a childhood to be fond of stirs me in such a way. I am compelled to create this fantasy world where the children can experience that which most people now long for: running around free from obligations, riding your bike until it is dark out, playing with friends and inventing new games. I give these children that long lost childhood in my work.
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| Don't Be Afraid of a Little Bit of Pain," from Richard Kurtz's Boxers Inspiration |
900 S. Miami Ave., Miami, 305-523-2244, Bnbjoint.com
Boxer's Inspiration is an exhibition of Richard Kurtz's mixed-media paintings featuring boxers, which to Kurtz represent the ongoing battle to remain conscious and present. "When I was thirteen Muhammed Ali was my hero," Kurtz notes in a written statement. "He spoke his truth. I saw him walking on the boardwalk in Atlantic city in 1968. His boxing title had been stripped from him. He walked the planks of the boardwalk with integrity. The boxer series for me serves as a metaphor to focus." Kurtz says the the boxer image is also his way of dealing with demons from within the confines of society – his ring.
Kurtz still recalls cutting up paper and gluing shapes together in his father's study as a kid and feeling mesmerized, intoxicated even, by the process of making art. "The drawn line, the mark, the stroke, contained millions of tiny vibrations," he notes. "They traveled through me."
He continues to maintain a playful style that he feels speaks for the inner child in all of us. "The child preserves myth and wonder, heroes and villains, in a world of violent manufactured control," he notes. "My artwork serves as an alternative to a rigid system, a key for the shackles that bind us."
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| Christian Bernard a.k.a. Narbero's sculptures will be on exhibit at Cavas. |
900 S. Miami Ave., Miami, 305-372-8027, Mycavas.com
Dolores by Narbero will feature sculptures by Christian Bernard a.k.a. Narbero.
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| "Red Mangrove" from Ernesto Kunde's "Moving Mangroves" |
1000 S. Miami Ave., Miami, 305-403-3103, Doloreslolita.com
Moving Mangroves is an exhibition of a new series by Ernesto Kunde's. Much like Tribute, an earlier series that the Brazilian-born artist painted of landmark Miami buildings and street scenes, it's locally inspired. The exhibition will be accompanied by live music.
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| Ian Fichman's "Bear Your Burden" from Heavy Burden |
901 S. Miami Ave., Miami, 305-381-6130, Marybrickellvillage.com
Heavy Burden is an exhibition of sculptures by Ian Fichman. The artists titles his works, made from Scrap, Stock steel and found objects, in a manner that conveys their most basic meaning. The works in Heavy Burden, for instance, are about will power leading to achievement and have titles such as "Bear the Burden" and "Hold On to What You've Got."
"Each piece depicts specific physical actions that humans perform as they struggle to reach their goals," the artist notes. "The pieces lack individual facial characteristics as they represent our commonality as human beings."
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| Photographs by Rubem Robierb will be on exhibit at Oceanaire Seafood Room. |
900 S. Miami Ave., Suite 111, Miami, 305-372-8862, Theoceanaire.com
Rubem Robierb will exhibit his photographs. He considers photography as writing with lights, ratehr than words. After years spent translating his poetry into visuals via camera, the words began to fade away as the photographs consumed increasingly more of his passion. He focuses on the human form, which he views as "a container that can be filled or interpreted in a number of ways."
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| David Siqueiros's Homage to Andy Warhol at Perricone's Marketplace & Cafe |
15 S.E. 10th St., Miami, 305-374-9449, Perricones.com
Homage to Andy Warhol, an exhibition of mixed-media photography by David Siqueiros, who was born in Texas and so drawn to photography at a kid that he spent the nights of his junior and senior year of high school in a sleeping bag so he could use his bedroom as a darkroom. After earning his bachelor of fine art in photography, he moved to New York where he met many fashion photographers and photographed models from The Ford Modeling Agency. That's how he met Andy Warhol, who he photographed in October 1985 at Codalight Studio in New York City, 16 months before the artist's death. Siqueiros will be sharing some of these photographs in Homage to Andy Warhol.
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| "The Entire Universe" from Antonio Guerrero's I Live on a Red Planet |
52 S.W. 10th St., Miami, 786-316-0303, Redbargallery.com
I Live on a Red Planet, Antonio Guerrero's exhibition of mixed-media paintings, depicts a world in which the color red dominates and birds and beaked humans are among the primary residents.
The contemporary Cuban artist grew up with much artistic encouragement but few artistic materials, according to his bio. After getting drafted into the army and sent to Africa in 1986, he became interested in modern expressionism and began creating works and exhibiting them at the military base. Upon returning to Cuba in 1988, he resumed his art, making paintings, engravings, woodcarvings and sculptures, but according to his bio, government oppression and worsening conditions, prompted him, his cousin and their friend, to build a raft and launch it from the coast of Mantanzas. Five days later they were rescued and brought to the U.S.
A portrait Guerrero later painted of himself and his fellow rafters became part of a collection donated to the Jose Parti Foundation to raise money for FIU scholarships. Guerrero continued making art. He views the world as "a cosmic stage for human activity" and his role as a painter as an involved one. "I'm in the system like a computer programmer writing codes with my sketchbook and brushes, playing the critic, here to create and program the unconscious," he notes in his artist statement. "Apart from all the trouble we cause ourselves, I believe we are immersed in a powerful and beautiful mystery. The fact of our existence is a great riddle to me."
For more info on the June 26 Brickell Art Walk, visit BAW's website, Facebook or Twitter.
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