Limited Edition/

FEDERICO CHACPOL, Puertas de Yucatan Series, 2008.

IRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRPublisher’sDO IT YOUrSELF

The printing press: it was the fi rst one of many modern communication mediums,

changing how information was collected, stored, retrieved, criticized, discovered, and promoted. The Automobile: Henry Ford said of his new invention

“You can have it in any color as long as it is black”. The Laser: Forty years after einstein drew up the concept of the stimulation of light waves, a doctoral student

received a patent on “Light Amplifi cation by Stimulated emission of Radiation (LASeR)”. Doctors adored lasers because they simplify and quicken cosmetic and eye surgery. And

of course : The Internet: Began as a secret Pentagon project, the Internet served as a communication network which would remain intact, even if several of its digital links

were broken.

Inventions are IrrEVErSIBLE’S incredible source of inspiration. You simply have to be willing to be all you can be, contributing all that is yours to create and be open

to think outside the box. - John Baldessari, a renown American conceptual artist, has mentored countless artists and he tells students-, “Art comes out of failure” “You have to try things out. You can’t sit around, terrifi ed of being incorrect”. My awareness of what I

have been afforded in life feeds my desire to challenge new channels for our book. My grandmother was my greatest mentor, I can only think of her as the incredible strong woman who never complained – she never had a car, no running water at home, etc -

however the impact that her education and her strength brought to my life makes what IRReVeRSIBLe is today a strong universal vision, a documentary about our generation, a

special project that welcomes constant changes.

I have great respect for people who create the things that keep changing/shaping the world. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention- it is also the mother of all

forms of creativity. While developing the Henry Bermudez story on his personal quest I had the opportunity to feel national pride; we both are originally from Venezuela and

from the same hometown Maracaibo- the incredible stories about the Amazon and the infl uence of mythology on his works immediately make me feel something special,

I responded to his works with fervor without having any knowledge or previous connection to it. I avoid reading critics I do not want to get infl uenced by what others

think. I am convinced that a great work speaks for itself and we may connect to them or not at all. Our greatest pride is having the privilege to be able to share with the world

artists’ intimacies. Alexandre’s letter is a work of art itself, full of his trademark sincerity, kindness, and creativity. I know that this story will become a permanent part of the

historical oeuvre on Black Sun (Alex we must say the translation gave us a tremendous challenge, trying to be as loyal to the original as possible, so people could understand

it is a ReAL letter). I hope it will become a powerful story for many - not because of his ordeal in launching the work- but because it inspires us to never to give up. !

While troubles deepen for museums nationwide MOCA ContemporaryArt Museum North Miami is expanding!

The Detroit Institute of Arts is hard hit, laying off 20% of its 301 employees,The Metropolitan Museum’s endowment, which generated a third of the institution’s

$220m budget last year, shrunk from $2.9bn to less than $2.1bn.Five of 63 museum directors surveyed by the American Association of Museums say

they are considering mergers with other institutions or groups, reports Jason edward Kaufman for The Art Newspaper (Published online 15 Apr 09 / theartnewspaper.com/news).

The Seattle Art Museum announced recently it is closing its three principal buildings for two weeks next year, reducing its staff, and instituting a two-week furlough in an effort

to balance its budget, reports Janice Tu in The Seattle Times. Strong and sharp Bonnie Clearwater MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art North

Miami continues her life’s work after almost two decades, pushing the museum and the community. What she pursues and practices everyday- educating our youth, regardless of income, language, or background we celebrate. Ms. Clearwater said “we will have many

Bonnies in the world”. Nations are powerful because education is accessible to their children.

...And last, but not least, Chacpol “Puertas de Yucatan Series 2008 (Mexico)” an

incredible documentary tribute to Merida. The artist has frozen an era, like an old movie, capturing eternally the beauty that time carries- the historical fi nishes, the washed-out

colors, the corrosion, the remnant pieces…He simply invites you to take a deeper look so that you can fi nd the beauty within...

Our darling Miami Art in Public Places’ most relevant show “Giants in the City” by

Alejandro Mendoza (now in his 3rd year)- a monumental infl atable public art project (www.giantsinthecity.com)- keeps us smiling with jubilant sculptures which consistently developed, over the years, harmonious relationships between artists and public in

general. Do not miss their upcoming exhibition which is free and open to the public (including the summer kids workshop- you do need to register) to be held at the

gorgeous Miami Beach Botanical Garden from August 1st to 6th, 2010. Giants in the City is an incredible contribution to Miami and to world diversity- one

with a creative monumental message.

Our Limited Edition fair totebag made for Irreversible by Lucinda Linderman is created completely from reclaimed materials. each upcycled bag is unique because

everyone is made by hand by the artist. Plastic for these totes is reclaimed from dumpsters and picked up off the streets of Miami. The front of the bag is made from 2 to 3 used dry-cleaning bags that are textured and fused together with heat instead of glue. The backs are made from bubblewrap or other found plastic, and the handles

are made from plastic packing material. each bag takes about an hour to make by hand, a process including collecting the trash, cleaning it, separating it, texturing it, and then

forming it into a bag that is durable enough for reuse and beautiful.For more information please visit www.upcycledobject.com

See you at the fair!Noor

IRReVeRSIBLe MAGAzINe

PUBLISHEr/EDITOrNorelkys (Noor) Blazekovicnorelkysb@irreversiblemagazine.comContact: 786- 444-2790

ASSOCIATE EDITOrCarla roverIndependent Curator and writer based in Miami.

CUrATOrAlejandro Mendoza

CONTrIBUTOrS

José Luis rodríguez de Armas (El Chino)Art Critic, Curator and Museographer of Mérida’s Museum of Anthropology and History, Yucatan, Mexico.

Abelardo MenaChief curator, NationalMuseum, Havana, Cuba

Diana FreundlFreelance journalist and art writer based in Shanghai. She has worked for the curatorial department at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA Shanghai) and is currently the art Director of Art + Shanghai, China

Lynne Bentley-Kemp, PhDChair, Sculpture Key WestInstructor, Florida Atlantic UniversityDept. of Visual Art and Art History

Maki HashizumeAritst / Urbanist based in Japan www.makihashizume.com

Jonathan roseCulture in the City / PresidentCultureinthecity.wordpress.com

Carlos Suarez De JesusArt Critic

Sergio GarciaArtist

GrAPHIC DESIGNricardo Javier Nuñezricardo.j.nunez@gmail.com

PHOTOGrAPHYMiguel Fleitas (for Giants in the City)

FILM & VIDEOAlfonso Vasquez

Special Thanks to: Jonathan rose - Culture in the City - for his endless support. Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami: Sonia Siesholtz, Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator and Valerie ricordi, Public Relations Manager

IrrEVErSIBLE is available at the following locations:Onlinewww.irreversiblemagazine.com

BookstoresBooks & Books | Miami Beach & Coral Gables

MuseumsMOCA | Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami,Museum of Contemporary Art ChicagoThe Chelsea Art Museum | New York

Art FairsScope Art Show (Basel, Switzerland | New York, NY | Miami, FL)Miami International Art Fair (MIA)Art Palm Beach | Contemporary Art, Design & PhotographyArteamericas | Miami Beach, FLChicago ARTeahoraPing Pong BaselLISTe 15 | The young art fair in BaselHot Art Fair | Basel & Mexico CityFIART | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

© Copyright 2010 IRReVeRSIBLe an International Art ProjectPublished by Irreversible Magazine, Inc. 1508 Bay Road # N115, Miami Beach, FL 33139

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. IRReVeRSIBLe an International Art Project is protected through trademark registration in the United States.

Hi Noor,

I’ll explain a bit the ordeal of the piece before arriving at Times Square in New York March 2010. Black Sun had its fi rst

challenge in Madrid in 2008.

The story began with an invitation from a very important Madrid institution that had asked me to submit two ideas for

the façade. At that time my idea was to create a Black Sun wrecking ball made of rubber. I had the dimensions of a real

wrecking ball but when colliding with the front of the building it bounced. The concept was intended to create a kind of

trap for the eye of the beholder- to let people see the threat in a way but ultimately to see that nothing happened. The

two Black Sun ideas were chosen without any problems. But just two weeks before the event happened, and while I was

producing the piece, the organizers canceled my presentation. The head of the institution never showed his face to me or

explained the reason for this decision. A curator’s call was all that I received to notify me about the show’s cancelation. My

reaction was rather cautious- luckily I managed to have them cover the costs of production until that very moment. Two

days later I raged with anger. It had come to my attention that the cancelation of the show had been a politically motivated

decision and that the organizers thought that my piece would create a “scandal” since the ongoing political situation in

Madrid back in 2008 was a very delicate one. The institution, it seemed, did not want to be involved in such a situation.

A letter to...alexandre ARReCHeA

Black sun, March 2010. NASDAQ Billboard, Times Square, NYC.

CubaLives & works in Madrid, Spain

Pregon, 2009. Piano and small chairs

My presentation was replaced by an artist whose work cost much more than mine but did not risk anything “politically” so it was

not problematic for them, at least in terms of discourse. That left me eager to do the piece at any cost but logically I had to let the

piece mature if I wanted it to happen in a conservative context or in any context. This is when I decided that the piece was to

be even more subtle leaving no physical marks but stronger than before. This is when it occurred to me to develop the idea as a

video. This fi rst video showed a wrecking ball hitting a building in Madrid- something you could see on a single channel in any TV- but it was not striking. It was strong but not there yet. Then I was able to show it in a personal project in Washington but nothing more. Months later after watching the video several times I realized that I had to delete the building from the video and project the wrecking

ball alone over any chosen building. This change gave me a tremendous freedom since with only a projector I might travel the entire city

projecting it, almost as an act of vandalism, as I initially thought, and I would not harm anything and the best part I did not have to ask for

permission. Thus the evolution of the piece itself and the initial failure gave me the keys to have a better solution at the end.

I never thought about Times Square in New York at that time. After accomplishing the piece to perfection I proceeded to send

it to Madrid Abierto (www.madridabierto.com) were it was totally ignored. “Persistence pays” and the great moment for Black Sun came at The Thessaliniki Biennal in Greece in 2009 . The curator

was Gabriela Salgado- a person whom I hold in great esteem and an expert in Latin American art-. She was organizing the Second

Biennale of Thessaloniki and wanted a strong Latin American presence. I showed her some projects and she was intrigued by Black Sun. She said that she had an ideal place for Black Sun - an

ancient Byzantine Wall from the XV Century. She saw very clearly the importance of the contrast between the technology and the antiquity of the wall. The piece was exhibited at the Biennale and

that was when I fi rst saw the potential of it. During the projection the ball looked huge and more overwhelming than I had ever seen, specially the ball fading effect after crashing into the wall. The Black

Sun projection on the wall revealed the different periods of the wall’s construction clearly. The beam of light showed clearly how

the wall had changed over the centuries.

Elasticity Series, 2010. Lacquered Aluminum

Alexandre Arrechea was born in Trinidad, Cuba in 1970. He graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana in 1994.The interdisciplinary quality of Alexandre Arrechea’s work reveals a profound interest in the exploration of both public and domestic spaces. This quest has led him to produce several monumental projects like “Ciudad Transportable” (2000), “The Garden of Mistrust” (2003-2005) and “Perpetual Free Entrance” (2006).For twelve years he was a member of the art collective Los Carpinteros until he left the group in July of 2003 to continue his career as a solo artist.

The city that stopped dancing, 2010. Lacquered wood.

That’s also what I was told by viewers whom corroborated this. The piece was then revealed to me as one of multiple meanings- wherever the show went hereafter it was going to make viewers

focus on the details of the building showing the fi lm. So people might ask for the fi lm here and not there- the importance of the

building showing the fi lm would be vital-. The idea of Times Square came later. Initially I put forth that which

seemed feasible, it was my gallery in New York along with the Cuban Artist Fund and The Times Square Fund alliance who came

to the conclusion that showing in Times Square was possible. I was asked to go to New York to see the phenomenon of Times Square

and to see if I could envision how the piece might fi t there. For me it was a dream. They even gave me the opportunity to choose

the screen. It was very clear to me- I wanted to use the NASDAQ screen- but I did not know how to gain access. Glenn Wise told me

you choose the screen and they will try to make it possible.Two weeks after several meetings of the Cuban Artist Fund, The Times

Square Alliance, the screen rental company & my NY gallery Magnanmetz, the dream came true, Black Sun

would have its premiere in the USAin Times Square at a time when the economy trembling

and fear of failure is in all our minds.

Noor, the story continues but I want to stop here because I am dead tired. We continue to talk tomorrow.

A hug, AlexFri, April 16, 2010 4:51 pm

anja MARAISThe Woman Who Was Turned into a Tree

Pusillanimous (II), 2009. Hand sewn paper, thread, fabric and glass.

South AfricaLives & works in Key West, FL USA

The African folk-tale told by the San Bushmen tribe is full of animistic deities and life metaphors. This tale is about three sisters who go to a river to bathe. They take off their dresses and leave them on the riverbank. While in the water a demon with an eye in each foot approaches them and steals their dresses, saying: “If you would like your dresses back I want something in return, and that is a thorn from the thorn tree.” The bravest sister goes to fetch the thorn and, when she hands it to the demon, he pricks her and she turns into a tree. The remaining sisters get so scared that they run away, leaving their sister trapped as a tree. One day one of the gods appears as an antelope walking the earth, when he hears a tree crying. He turns

the tree back into a woman. She tells the god her story and begs for his help to reunite with her sisters and punish the demon. The god hides while the woman take off her dress and bathes in the river. The demon reappears and steals her dress saying: “If you would like your dress back, I want something in return and that is a thorn from the thorn tree.” With this the god charges out from his hiding place, saying, “Thorns for you are none but only my sharp horns,” and pierces the demon’s heart. With the demon dead the god returns the woman to reunite with her sisters.

A demon with an eye in each foot...

A demon with an eye in each foot...

A demon with an eye in each foot...

The African folk-tale told by the San Bushmen tribe

The Woman Who Was Turned into a Tree, 2008. Paper, wire, charcoal, ink and river rock.

Anja Marais is an artist who is a passionate truth-teller, a shaman who leads us into darkness only

to reveal the lightness of being one with our world. Her search begins by finding comfort

with duality and contradiction. She employs the adaptive strategies of a stranger in a strange land.

The choices Marais makes are in direct relationship to her insight into form and function on a cellular

level. It is no accident that paper is her medium – its protoplasmic structure and organic nature

creates a credible foundation for internal worlds that skillfully articulate with external environments.

Her intense engagement with her materials helps to weave the intricacies of art and science into the consciousness of the viewer – we are seduced by the artistry of her work. It is this kind of serious engagement with craft that is too often seen as

superficial trickery. In Marais’ case this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Marais draws upon her South African heritage and engages folklore with highly charged intellectual

statements. Marais is most interested in describing simultaneity through her examinations of

contradiction and synchronicity. She carefully explores the juxtapositions of human and animal,

male and female, life and death, the physical and the metaphysical and weaves a story that is all

encompassing in its eloquence. Her connection to the cycles of nature always leads back to an obligation to integrate sensation and intellect –

through this challenge she reveals her poetic voice and consistently delivers a message that focuses on the primary themes of time, memory and the unity

of knowledge.

Her work is life affirming in its resonance with spiritual preservation and renewal – her materials,

her subjects all become part of a reconciliation story. This is a new story that is made up of

mythologies that collapse under the scrutiny of Marais’ macro worldview and microscopic vision.

She unpacks cultural symbols and repackages them into a form that allows us to see what has been

happening all along – that hierarchies become illogical when confronted with open minds, power can evolve into empowerment and transformation

just might lead to redemption.

Lynne Bentley-Kemp, PhDChair, Sculpture Key West

Instructor, Florida Atlantic UniversityDept. of Visual Art and Art History

anja MARAISThe Woman Who Was Turned into a Tree

Ex Unitate Vires, 2008.Hand sewn paper, serigraph, charcoal, alligator skull, doll.

dot FIFTY ONeyearscelebrating the journey

Dot Fiftyone Gallery is an ever-evolving space as well as a productionlaboratory for conceptual and contemporary art.

Dot Fiftyone Gallery is located in the Wynwood Art District of Miami, FL occupying a converted 1930’s two story warehouse comprised of 7000 square feet. The gallery consists of a rooftop

terrace, the main gallery, a large open space on the first floor, as well as a project space on the second floor, employed specifically as an area for promoting young emerging artists.

The gallery was founded, by Alfredo Guzman and Isaac Perelman in 2003, with the purpose of creating links between the artists and the community. It specializes in choosing surfacing and

established global artists whose work retains lasting impact and staying power. Dot is not intended to be a traditional art gallery or exhibition space; its objective is to create a flexible, mobile structure, a production laboratory for contemporary and conceptual art to which all

members of the community can have access.

Aside from art exhibitions, Dot Fiftyone Gallery also promotes and produces other type of projects involving different spheres of expression and communication, such as: lectures,

Leonel Matheu (Cuba/USA)Good Intentions, 2004Ceramic, oil barrel and vintage chains. (Installation)

DotFiftyOne51 NW 36th St. Miami Design District, FL 33127

Mauro Giaconi (Argentina)Partial view of Mauro Giaconi‘sexhibition “Unburden”, October 2006

“I began to work with Dot Fiftyone Gallery back in 2004

since then, either Isaac and Alfredo have offered me a truly

space of development, experimentation and freedom for

my work, where each project I has presented was defended by them

as something of themselves”.

Mauro Giaconi

7

seminars,workshops and screening of: world wide non-commercial film series and alternative foreign television productions. Amongst its accomplishments are benefit events for The Pet Project, Task Force, Miami Dade College, Florida International University, The Jewish Federation and Gen Art. In addition, for 4 years running, Dot has received the support and sponsorship from UBS Financial Services, to produce its exhibitions during the celebration of Art Basel Miami Beach. Dot Fiftyone Gallery, in production with Life Style TV Network and Nativa Production (Karina Castellano), is the host of the original Docu /Reality Television Art Series: LIVING IN ART, where the Miami Art Scene was featured from the perspective of the daily life of a major and influential art gallery. The show has being broadcasted in Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Isaac Javier Perelman, along with Alfredo Guzman, founded Dot Fiftyone Gallery in 2003. Mr. Perelman holds a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising from the Foundation of Higher Studies in Commercial Science, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Alfredo Guzman became first Chair of 2B (non Profit Organization) in June of 2005. Previously he was part of the academic staff of the Buenos Aires State University, UBA where he was the professor for the “BA in Fashion & Textile Design” courses.

Manuela Gabaldon is a writer based in Miami.

Leonel Matheu (Cuba/USA)Partial View of Leonel Matheuexhibition “Just in Time”, February 2006

Leslie Gabaldon (Venezuela-USA)Partial view of Leslie Gabaldon‘s exhibition“Goodie two shoes”, March 2010

Nati Shamia Opher (Israel)Land Escape, 2005, Mixed Media – Live installationLand escape group exhibition, February 2007

Hernan Cédola (Argentina)Partial view of Hernan Cédola‘sexhibition “Timeless”, April 2009

Dream Weaver

This Myth-Inspired Artist is a Prophet of the Unknown

As a youth Henry Bermudez ventured into the Amazon jungle on a quest for solitude and self discovery not unlike those ancient prophets who wandered in desolate desert wastelands surviving on locusts and wild honey while seeking otherworldly knowledge alone. He returned a changed soul with his artistic sojourn foretold.

The episode resulted in Bermudez’s epiphany to express his vision of personal roots integrated with his insatiably curious exploration at the crossroads of pan-cultural memory and the universal myths and legends shared by humankind.

His chimerical, trance-inducing paintings, works on paper and sprawling murals are steeped deeply in the lore of pre-Columbian and Christian mythology, Celtic symbol, forgotten ritual and the sweep of mysterious primordial cultures and religions that once thrived on the margins of magic in the mistiest reaches of history.

During his early trajectory as an artist, Bermudez spent time in Mexico studying Aztec culture and learning about the pantheon of Mesoamerican deities and the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl.

henry BeRMUDezThe Horseback Rider, 2008. 29”h x 59”w. Acrylic on reassembled cut paper

VenezuelaLives & works in Philadelphia, USA

The Heavens, panel 1. detail

Afterwards he received a scholarship to study in New York where his interest in African and Oceanic art was awakened at the Metropolitan Museum. Later he visited London where he became immersed in classical Greek myth at the British Museum. And when he was chosen to represent Venezuela at the XLII Venice Biennale in 1983, he relocated his studio to Rome where he haunted the halls of the Vatican absorbing the mythological elements of the Judeo-Christian religion during a period in which his work also became influenced by the concepts of the Renaissance masters.

From this opulent Byzantine tapestry of inspiration the artist weaves a complex, inscrutable iconography of painstakingly constructed spiraling vortexes inhabited by fabulous beasts and creatures such as sea serpents, griffins or gorgons with rippling muscles, coiled in titanic struggles and adorned in lavish iridescent, jewel-saturated hues and shimmering gold details.

Reminiscent of illuminated medieval manuscripts or gilded antique Venetian silks or brocades and deftly created with acrylic paint on cut paper meticulously

The French Kiss, 2009. 9’ H x 10’ W approx. Acrylic paint on cut paper

reassembled on canvas, Bermudez’s mystifying bestiary and sensuously pulsing figures emerge from impenetrable tangles of tentacles, tendrils trees or vines that sumptuously branch into intricate arabesque patterns that both enchant and transport the viewer to unearthly realms.

It’s as if the artist has harnessed an intuitive genius for auguring dreams or probing the unplumbed reveries of the psyche in these enigmatically freighted works that at times evoke an impression of an arcane talisman or unfathomable secretive rite.

Today, after a rewarding career lived hewing to the revelation he experienced during his early trek to the Amazon jungle, Bermudez in his maturity has evolved along the same path as those shamanic sages who trafficked in the unknown before him.

The artist has succeeded in becoming a conjurer of spells, an articulator of myth and a diviner of dreams effortlessly tapping into ethereal frequencies to create a singular and uncanny visual lexicon of unparalleled brilliance.

for more information please visit henrybermudezart.com

IN The cITyGIANTSInfl atable sculpture public ART PROJeCT

by Alejandro Mendoza

The submission for the 2010 exhibition duringArt Basel Miami Beach week & Satellite Fairs

will be available July 30, 2010 @www.giantsinthecity.com

LeONeL MATHeU, Good IntentionsInfl atable Sculpture 25 x 8 feet, 2010

2008Jose BediaAlejandro MendozaGustavo AcostaTomas essonFrank HyderAngel Ricardo RiosCiro QuintanaAnja MaraisJohn MartiniMichelle Weinberg

2009Maki HashizumeLucinda LindermanNoor BlazekovicKaren Starosta GilinskyRamon WilliamsMiguel FleitasJose BediaAlejandro MendozaGustavo AcostaTomas essonFrank HyderAngel Ricardo Rios

2010edouard Duval-CarriéPablo CanoAngel Vapor Yovani BautaGisela SavdieNicolas LeivaSergio GarciaMiguel RodezJorge FernandezMariano Costa PeuserOthon CastañedaGino TozziLeonel MatheuPablo LaucericaJoel + KateMaki HashizumeLucinda LindermanNoor BlazekovicKaren Starosta GilinskyRamon WilliamsMiguel FleitasJose BediaAlejandro MendozaGustavo AcostaTomas essonFrank HyderAngel Ricardo Rios

Summer exhibition 2010Miami Beach Botanical Garden / August 1st-6th

“With the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.”

Artist’s Soaring Vision Set to Conquer WorldGIANTS IN The cITy

Photos courtesy of Miguel Fleitas

Alejandro Mendoza first floated the idea for his Giants in the City project while he was on a plane bound to Mexico City from Miami. The artist was

weighing his options for creating a sculpture on a monumental scale, based on a work he had executed earlier. In a flash of inspiration it dawned on him

that it might be possible to give his concept flight by using inflatable media. That was back in early 2008 and from his airborne realization a novel model

for creating unlimited, public art projects on an epic scale was launched.

Mendoza assembled a group of friends in Mexico City during which time the five artists joined forces for a collaborative monumental and nomadic

public arts project. They each consequently had soaring inflatable sculptures fabricated that reached a forty foot height and beyond. These were first

exhibited together at el zocalo, Mexico City’s principal public plaza in August of that year.

Later, with a growing group of international artists now numbering over a dozen, Mendoza guided the worldwide debut of his Giants in the City

initiative during Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2008.This sprawling exhibit at Bayfront Park included works by Mendoza himself

and artists such as Gustavo Acosta, Jose Bedia, Frank Hyder, Anja Marais, Michelle Weinberg and others, each of whom created a colossal balloon-like piece for the show. Facing Downtown Miami’s Biscayne Boulevard, the giants

included a whale sprouting from the earth by Bedia, a gargantuan bottle of dish soap with “Joy” emblazoned across it by Weinberg, and a hot-pink

lighthouse by Acosta that was just a few feet short of matching the height of Cape Cod’s famed Nobska Light built in 1828.

The sculptures were fabricated of a lightweight yet durable nylon taffeta material and maintained upright by tethers to the ground. An electric cold

air blower fed a continuous stream of air through a duct at the base of each piece. Tens of thousands of local residents and visitors alike stopped

to marvel at their lofty appearance during the stirring show. In just two short years since it was founded, Giants in the City has garnered several honors including a Knight Foundation Arts Partnership Award in 2008 as

well as earning invitations as a guest project at numerous prestigious art fairs worldwide.

The intrinsic nature of the project and affordability for artists to create works on a monumental scale, has led to the project’s rapid evolution

and participation by an ever growing number of talent whose works will be viewed in the 2010 edition during Art Basel Week in Miami Beach in

early December by representatives of over one thousand visiting and local galleries, innumerable scores of art critics and journalists and collectors as

well as the general public.

Artists interested in collaborating with and integrating into the expansive public arts project can fill a submission form

by visiting www.giantsinthecity.com

Since that inaugural U.S. show, the scope of Mendoza’s project has blown up to currently include more than twenty participant international artists

from countries ranging from the U.S. to China, Russia, France, Portugal, Cuba, Venezuela, South Africa and beyond.

Giants in the City inflatable sculptures offer artists a unique opportunity to create massive public works that maintain a subversive, ephemeral nature

while offering a critique on the current epidemic of budget cuts for arts funding in a failing economy. In addition they provide a ground-breaking

paradigm for local governments to subsidize provocative outdoor or indoor exhibits of a public nature that invite corporate sponsorship, and on a

massive scale, without incurring excessive costs. Perhaps the most amazing thing about these billowing behemoths is that they can collapse to fit inside of a backpack. Think about it. The next time you find yourself traveling on a

plane, one of these monumental sculptures might be tucked in the overhead compartment above your seat.

Like Jules Verne’s classic 1873 story of innovations in transportation shrinking the globe, Around the World in eighty Days, Mendoza’s equally

daring undertaking might easily match the adventure novel’s remarkable feat.

In our age of globalization where information and inspiration travels at the speed of ether, it’s not inconceivable to imagine, given some modest

corporate sponsorship by creative thinkers, Mendoza’s Giants making an appearance today in London, the next day in Moscow, the day after in

Geneva or France and so on until they circumnavigated our entire planet in eighty days while also setting records and being seen by millions of people.

Now that’s the type of public arts project that boggles the mind and pumps up the imagination and thanks to Mendoza and his collaborators it is no

longer a product of fiction.

Merida, Yucatan. MexicoMix media: Photo sculpture, Fuji Film paper, nails, aged iron finishes, hinches, locks, wood.

Doors, devices conceived by man to protect their dwellings from intrusion and to create an interior world might come to personify to the architect or the owner of the dwelling whom orders it, or likewise the city or region in which it exists.

Both- the building and the owner- are mortal and changing beings: the house with her door may be altered, it may change to another use or form, and then another and another and another.... And thus doors will always change at least in color.

As far as additions of extra doors to the house, they demonstrate the evolution of the building, the overlapping histories that can be discovered under layers of renovations, after layers of additions (the locksmith’s handiwork often leaves traces of

his modifications as well), adaptations (sometimes the doors have windows added), under layers of color… This is not does not even speak of the vitality of the city which, like heat, affects everything in her borders- borders which are naturally in

perpetual expansion. Thus it happened in Merida, a southeastern city of the Mexican Yucatan which because of its expansion began relegating its residential zones. Merida’s spaces - the houses and with them their entrances- were modified as far as

function: sometimes turned into commercial space (the doors’ welcoming human hosts were replaced by great iron curtains for vehicles); others were demolished. And thus the doors found a new path- some ended up in warehouses, in happier cases in the galleries of antique dealers. But many were simply removed, deteriorating next to the homes that they once

guarded like sentinels. It was then that Federico Chacpol, jubilant at having won a new camera in an amateur photography contest began to document the story of the doors of the domestic spaces of Merida.

CHACPOL doors...the soul of a city

that jealously guards its tranquility

MexicoLives & works in Merida, Yucatan

chacpol.com

FeDeRICO CHACPOL,Puertas de Yucatan Series, 2008.

This subject was not one totally unnoticed by many, but no one had dedicated such a detailed narrative to this kind of work before. Today in the Yucatan

Merida doors have become synonymous with the identity of Chacpol. But that is not all; like a child who opens up a new toy to discover the mechanisms,

which make it move, Chacpol took the images captured and with a computer program did the same to a far greater degree. Then, to make matters more elaborate, Chacpol added aged iron finishes and blacksmith work as well as other additions, creating photo sculptures which made the doors seem not

only product or a testimony of the past (if it existed), but artistic objects. It was the sheer creative energy of Chacpol which conceived these sets of

photo sculptures- doors that some identify as those of the Yucatan (but that are equally of Chacpol)- a demonstration of his perseverance and creativity

which, with appropriate speed or slowness, determined to create something that could not have before be precisely called art. I clarify; to make these doors

does not imply that Chacpol has simply distorted them , these doors, which are still everywhere in Merida and in the Yucatan, are almost the same but exist

in another dimension, perhaps awaiting that they too in turn are transformed into a different reality, one which Chacpol has constructed enthusiastically.

The doors are no longer anonymous- although they will never be viewed like the symbolic doors of legend that open and close mythical Mayan cities, nor as those created by artistic commissions ( for example the Ghiberti for the baptistry of the cathedral of Florence, those of Rodin, or those of Cristina Lucas to open and to close the new Prado), they will always be an example of the first rite of passage in which an artist decides to commit to a work and, and by ricochet, it is an example of the multitude of stories that one

can generate from that which we find stimulating in any object, any texture, any color, any flavor or scent. The doors of Chacpol are one of a universe of

fragments that in their interweaving, their superimpositions, their trajectories and their alteration may construct one of the host of signature images that we might have of a certain place. Here, the city’s latent transformation and

stimulation becomes a site of perfection. It is a singular, inimitable identity- as that which we create together- born of history and of the present- has never

existed before.

José Luis Rodríguez de Armas (el Chino) is an Art Critic, Curator and Museographer of Mérida’s Museum of

Anthropology and History, Yucatan, Mexico.

Out of the earth’s most versatile and essential minerals- titanium- sculptor Jorge Fernandez has forged a provocative piece which alludes gracefully to the famed ancient torsos of Easter Island as well as ancient Norse ship sculpture fused into a futuristic form akin to that of modernist architectural greats such as Frank Gehry. Fernandez’s works are grand explorations of the natural form with an operatic flourish drawing the eye along a journey which finishes with an overriding sense of coaxed introspection and folkloric intrigue. We are forced to momentarily alter our more passive methods of aesthetic cognition as we attempt to draw meaning from the piece which instructs with its deliberately indefinable, yet visceral concept. Yet the grand scale aside, Fernandez’s works create likewise an interior journey. The piece seems human, yet not quite- it might be a modern ship, a building, a machine, a Norse or Greek deity, a new form of life both machine and human. The choice of titanium connects the viewer metaphorically with the earth-bound and human nature of the piece while suggesting a complicated, yet organic evolution. The piece’s fable speaks a transcendent logic which connects a natural substance- within and without our bodies- to the interconnectedness of all things mechanical and living- suggesting that the improbable is not only likely, but latent within the environment and the bodies within which our creativity dwells. Titanium is one of the most used minerals in industrial, medical and commercial applications- it is also the only mineral which may be placed within the human body and exist in harmony with the body’s processes- if man evolves to another form, the mechanical appendages might well be made of titanium. The title of the piece references Dubai- that ancient yet relentlessly modern and commercial kingdom which, whilst once imprisoning a couple for a public embrace is one of the world’s leading buyers and producers of high technology. The duplicity of world society- as ancient cultures (many fishing and agriculture based) move into a realm in which mechanics and digital innovations replace the fishing hook and ship as engines of commerce- is a sublimated theme of Fernandez’s work. Dubai- a formerly “closed” nation is now a frequent stop for an international jet-set- despite it’s status as a strict Islamic kingdom ruled by a sultan- it is, in terms of luxury haunts and pricey amusements no different than a stop at St. Barth’s or Malibu. The exception is, of course, that one might be sentenced to a month in jail if found in public possession of a Martini. That amalgam of new and old and ancient practice in hypermodern form is emblematic of Fernandez’ cheeky wisdom in Fly To Dubai. The piece might be a very minimalist Jean Dubuffet- the world in its politics, religions and economies represented in a single structure- one might worship it, revile it, or offer critique. Fly to Dubai is a visual representation of a world in perpetual change- developing into new forms yet remaining, on the most elemental levels, grounded in that which makes us human.

Carla Rover is an independent curator and writer based in Miami.

“I have learned the best way to live is in a non-judgmental way. It was really hard at first, but once mastered, it became magical as it freed me of all

the clutter and let life flow in a timeless manner, allowing me to draw my inspiration from that unique place”.

Structure vs. Passion jorge FeRNANDez

Fly to Dubai, 2006. Titanium

CubaLives & works in Miami, FL USA

MOCAmuseum of contemporary art, north miami

Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami - MOCA Facade by Steven Brooke

Two decades on, Bonnie Clearwater keeps identifying & supporting emerging &

underrecognized artists.

1981 Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, FL. MOCA was founded as a alternative space for local artists.

1990 Clearwater’s arrival in South Florida coincided with a burgeoning emerging local art scene. Since then the museum director has been at the forefront of recruiting some of the region’s top young talent for her shows.

1994 Miami did not have a contemporary museum until Ms. Clearwater was hired as a chief curator to what is was then the original MOCA gallery space.

1996 The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) opened its state-of-the-art building to the public in February. The 23,000 square foot structure was designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Charles Gwathmey of Gwathmey Siegel, New York who worked in conjunction with the Miami firm of Gelabert

Navia to create an exquisite space in which to experience art. The museum has been an essential part of the City of North Miami, which paid $3.75 million for the 1996 building, and continues to provide part of its annual operating budget.

2001 Daniel Arsham, part of an alternative space called The House held his first museum show at age 20 which included 15 members of TheHouse group.

Back in 2008 in an interview by Cindy Karp for The New York Times Clearwater said: “I wanted to prove that you could create an institution in which everybody mixed together at the same level”, “One of my concerns about the art world is that, due to fund-raising needs, museums are offering people exclusivity to the point where donors and top members never intermix with artists anymore...”

“No Ghost Just a Shell” (collaboration with Philippe Parreno) 1999-2003

“Annlee,” original image, 1999 © Pierre Huyghe

February 2007, MOCA received its single largest gift of artwork in its history from collectors Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz. The gift, which is being jointly shared with The Tate Museum, England (one of England’s premier museums) includes the groundbreaking works, No Ghost Just A Shell, a multi-media project by 17 international artists originated by Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno, and the monumental installation Zero Hero by German artist John Bock.

In 2007 MOCA also received a $5 million endowment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to establish the MOCA Knight Exhibition Endowment. It enables MOCA to present exhibitions and multi-media projects each year featuring the work of emerging and experimental artists, as well as to develop innovative public and education programs.

The Knight Foundation Endowment makes MOCA one of the few contemporary art museums in the nation to have a dedicated source of funding of this nature. Since its launch in December 2008, MOCA’s Knight Exhibition Series has featured the exhibitions: Anri Sala: Purchase Not by Moonlight (2008-09), The Possibility of an Island (2008-09), Luis Gispert (2009), The Reach of Realism (2009-10), Ceal Floyer : Auto Focus (2010), and Cory Arcangel : The Sharper Image (2010).

2010 Funded by a variety of public and private sources expansion plans for the Museum of Contemporary Arts’ Joan Lehman Building will triple MOCA’s current exhibition space in North Miami allowing the public ongoing access to the museum’s permanent collection. Currently, the museum has to close to the public for up to two and a half weeks at a time during the installation of exhibitions. The city of North Miami will pay $18 million for the expansion, expected to be completed in 2012. Funding for the concept plan phase was provided by MOCA Board member Michael Collins and his wife Sandy.

MOCA outgoing expanding education programs, aimed primarily at teenagers, have helped tremendously to involve the Miami community’s populace which is predominantly African-American, Haitian, Hispanic and Anglo. Today MOCA’s director celebrates the museum’s expanding educational outreach programs that include a museum-studies partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and impacts over 7000 students from kindergarten through the12th grade. Clearwater confides that “I always get a kick out of it when one of our MOCA kids writes a letter telling us that they just finished a college degree or are pursuing a career in art education.” Clearwater is passing on her life-long love of art to teenagers through a junior docent after-school program geared at training youths to give museum tours to peers and even journalism workshops teaching kids to think creatively and write about art. “ ‘From MOCA we build our community’ is our motto”, the director says.

Bonnie Clearwater is an American writer and art historian. She is currently the director and Chief Curator of Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. Some of Clearwater’s publications include The Rothko Book: The Tate Essential Artist Series, Julian Schnabel: Versions of Chuck and Roberto Juarez: A Sense of Place & Jorge Pardo: House

Education-Childrens Programs

Museum Studies Magnet ProgramMuseum and Fine Arts Academy and Communication Academy Magnet Program. The Museum

of Contemporary Art, in partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, offers school-wide programs in museum and communications studies at North Miami Senior High, North Miami

Middle School, and W.J. Bryan Elementary School.

Advanced Creative Arts for ages 11 – 14Starting January 2010! The third Saturday of each month, 2 – 4 pm

Advanced Creative Arts is designed to help students ages 11 – 14 build their portfolios and gain experience in a variety of art mediums. A different theme will be explored each week during

dynamic two-hour classes.

Creative ArtsGeared toward children ages 6 through 12, classes are held on the first Saturday of every month

September to June and are taught by professional artists and educators who encourage family participation. The program features gallery tours and hands-on art activities, and serves as an

excellent introduction to the wonders of contemporary art.

Creative Arts Summer CampIn the summer months MOCA’s Creative Arts program expands into a 10-week, full-day program

for children ages 6 – 12. Children are invited to develop their artistic talents by experimenting with a variety of media, including painting, drawing, print-making and sculpture. All instructors are

experienced art teachers and educators whom are assisted by teen counselors. Class projects are designed for both beginning and advanced art students.

http://www.mocanomi.org/moca-art-pixie/

Thanks to her devotion to budding generations of young art lovers and the community in general, a new level of awareness and cultural consciousness in the community is shaping her institution into our ideal notion of an irreversible space.“I don’t discover them,” she states. “They exist and our paths cross. I have never been afraid to have confidence in what I see,” Clearwater adds.

A deeper look…

Bonnie Clearwater was raised in Rockland County New York in a milieu of artist and intellectuals who treated her as a little adult while she was still a toddler, encouraging her independent and creative nature. “My parents were told they couldn’t have children so they never treated me as one” she revealed during a recent visit to North Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Her father, Herbert Janowsky, was a concert producer who exposed Clearwater at a young age to avant garde performers like John Cage and Paul Taylor, as well as folk, classical, jazz and rock music and once even delighted his daughter by presenting her to Big Band legend Count Basie after a show. “It was wonderful,” recalled Clearwater. “I grew up in show business”. A maternal uncle, Dr. Morris I. Stein, was a pioneer in the psychological study of creativity and regularly engaged his precocious niece in intellectual discussions on a variety of topics, including the arts. “As kids we were treated with the same respect as adults. We were always involved in stimulating conversations that have been sort of a springboard for me understanding and trusting how artists work,” Clearwater says. As a young teen she became interested in ideas about conceptual art and attended adult classes every Saturday at the Art Students League while only thirteen years old. Later she studied at New York University where she received on-the-job training at the school’s Grey Art Gallery where she got “a career and a husband out of the job.” Her spouse, James Clearwater, was the gallery’s assistant director at the time, and after their marriage she went on to pursue her graduate degree at Columbia University where she specialized in modern and medieval art. From there she went on to run the Rothko Foundation in New York City before moving on to direct the Lannan Foundation in Los Angeles and then taking over her current post at MOCA in 1994.

The Museum of Contemporary Art established its Permanent Collection in 1995. MOCA’s Permanent Collection now numbers approximately 600 works. The museum has acquired works through donations or purchase with funds donated specifically for acquiring art. The permanent collection reflects significant artistic developments in contemporary art by emerging and established artists from the U.S. and abroad. Among the artists included in the collection are; John Baldessari, Dan Flavin, Dennis Oppenheim, Alex Katz; Louise Nevelson, Edward Ruscha, Gabriel Orozco, Julian Schnabel, Zoe Leonard, Nam June Paik, Uta Barth, Teresita Fernandez; Garry Simmons, Jose Bedia, Anna Gaskel, Mariko Mori, John Bock, Phillip Huyghe, Edward Kienholz, Raymond Pettibon and Matthew Ritchie.

eDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING The Museum of Contemporary Art recognizes the need to enrich the cultural life of the community and to nurture a knowledgeable and supportive audience. To further an understanding of contemporary art, MOCA offers educational programs geared toward the community and its diverse population. In 2009, the museum launched its Wednesday evening MOCA by Moonlight programs featuring Contemporary Art Boot Camp Lecture Series, 5 Minutes of Fame artists forums and Arts for All, a series of hands-on art classes for adults.

MUSeUM OF CONTeMPORARY ART, NORTH MIAMIJoan Lehman Building / 770 NE 125th Street, North Miami, Florida 33161 / T +1 305 893 6211 / F +1 305 891 1472 / www.mocanomi.org

Rita Ackerman, Firecrotch. 2008.

Claire Fontaine, Courtesies. 2008.

Cory Arcangel, Super Mario Clouds. 2002. Ceal Floyer, Untitled. 2008.

Catherine Opie, Justin Bond,1993.

miguel RODezLotus Flower: Symbol of the Sun, of creation and rebirth.

Holy Lotus Buds from a Royal Buddha Temple, 2008, Digital Photograph. Bangkok, Thailand

Cuban-AmericanLives & works in Miami, FL USA

The pure white lotus flower, the only plant to fruit and flower simultaneously, emerges from the depths of the muddy swamp. Growing from the mud at the bottom of ponds and streams, the exquisite Lotus flower rises above the water and is usually white or pink with 15 or

more oval, spreading petals, and a peculiar, flat seedcase at its center.

A Lotus Flower: This is a symbol of the sun, of creation and rebirth. Because at night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. According to one creation myth it was a giant lotus which first rose out of the watery chaos at the beginning of time.

From this giant lotus the sun itself rose on the first day . The lotus is a flower which opens and closes each day.

Miguel Rodez spent 5 months photographing interior Thailand, a country of 67 million people of whom approximately 95% are Buddhist. Regardless of the religion, artists have struggled to portray religion’s ultimate objective of blissful immortality by creating objects of beauty. The lotus is a universally recognizable icon of Buddhism, representing the progress of the soul. I chose to depict the fate of lotus buds which never blossomed for IRREVERSIBLE, focusing on the connections between the bud and the stem that sustains them. I saw the stems as difficult spiny paths- making a connection with a potential beauty which never unfolded, similar to man’s quest for transcendence through the trials of mortality. These lotus buds lay in a bronze-colored platter glistening after being dipped in holy water, waiting to be used to anoint the selected faithful. Although discarded after use they continue to live in my mind’s eye, preserved in a permanent state of unrealized magnificence. Holy Lotus Buds and Golden Buddha from a Royal Buddhist Temple in Chiang-Mai, Thailand. Early one morning, I wandered into what seemed like an abandoned temple compound. The temple doors were wide open, but all the windows were closed.

Menacing looking dogs looked in my direction as I entered. Little by little my eyes adjusted and out of the darkness a golden Buddha made his presence known. I was in awe. I reached for my camera, but there was not enough light for even my widest aperture lens. Knowing that using a flash would ruin the feeling that I was trying to convey, it occurred to me that I could cup my hand over the flash and thereby regulate the amount of light from the flash while giving it a bit of my own color. The result is a composition that leaves no doubt about the subject’s importance in an ethereal environment.

Miguel Rodez works in various mediums, from photography, painting, sculpture to design. His latest projects in 2010 include illustrating a book on Cuban Cuisine, designing two covers for novels to be released this year, participation in a photography exhibit in the summer and creating a large scale sculpture for Giants in the City. He has served as Chair of Miami-Dade’s Art in Public Places Trust and

as Chair of the Miami Symphony Orchestra, He lives and work in Miami, Florida, USA.

Budha from Chiang Mai, 2008, Digital Photograph. Chiang Mai, Thailand

Owen Mundy and Joelle Dietrick (US).Timely Preparation for Future Eventualities, 2009 at Ft. zachary Taylor Photo Lynne Bentley-Kemp

For the past fifteen years Sculpture Key West has been the touchstone for contemporary art in Key West. It began as a small local show at Ft. Zachary Taylor

State Park and has morphed into an international exhibit attracting world-class sculptors working in all forms of media. Committed to enriching the cultural life of

the Keys, Sculpture Key West has taken on the role of responding to the vagaries and exigencies of the artistic process and has facilitated art that takes on ideas.

The establishment of a juried show several years ago insured that the art didn’t lapse into a predictable pattern. The jurors have come from the ranks of working artists,

collectors, curators and museum directors. Along with the support of local artists and the SKW Board of Directors, they have choreographed a much broader definition of aesthetic experience. Every year the artworks transform the landscape and the

environment into a magical site that makes strangers talk to each other, there are works that prompt children to ask questions and answer them simultaneously and

there is a reflexive consciousness that envelopes and engages viewers of all ages. The exhibition invites interaction with art and nature and encourages a heightened sense

of place for tourists and locals alike.

Sculpture Key West has accomplished its mission of incorporating art in to the community. The organization has asserted that the art we connect with and create reflects the culture and values of all members of the local and global community. It

helps to prompt us into thinking in ways that help transform fixed perspectives. We embrace the arts so that we can make journeys of the imagination and so we can commit to possibilities. The art that Sculpture Key West brings to the community helps to exercise the imagination in a beautiful and dynamic environment – who

could ask for more?

Lynne Bentley-Kemp, PhDChair, Sculpture Key West

sculpture KeY WeSTFort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Key West, Florida

The Prospectus for the 2011 exhibition will be available July 30, 2010.

sculpturekeywest.com

SALUSTIANO. Barroco, 2009. natural pigments and acrylic resin on canvas.

Galina Kavachnina was born in the cultural capital of Russia, where she studied Linguistics at the University of St.Petersburg and Art History at

the Academy of Art. As a native Russian speaker, fl uent in French, Spanish and english, with a background in Art, she was a unique position to

promote Russian culture abroad.

Kavachnina started the International Art Agency, specializing in Russian Contemporary Art in 1987; two years earlier, Gorbachev rose to power and glasnost led to opening the Soviet society. This aperture created an

opportunity to develop new markets for The Russian Painters Union, a non-profi t, for whom Kavachnina developed a series of exhibitions in Russia and abroad, providing oversight of projects, supervision of

personnel, strategic planning, budget development, cultivation of clients and directing logistical operations.

Working in conjunction the Russian Cultural Ministry and Mexican Foreign Ministry the exhibit “Russian Contemporary Art: Masters from

St.Petersburg” traveled to Mexico in support of both the Russian Painters Union and “CONFe”: An Organization to Aid Person with Intellectual

Disability”. Her successful fundraising efforts for both cultural and health organizations, established good will with governmental organizations at

home and abroad.

As an experienced arts administrator with multi-lingual skills, Kavachnina was in a unique position to promote Russian Art within the international

arena. The exposure opened new markets for Russian painters many of whom today are considered museum calib artists. The fl ourishing Russian

economy, highly-amenable to small businesses during the economic restructuring of perestroika was the environment in which Kavachnina

opened her Gala Gallery. Her popularity within the art community grew as her marketing services allowed artists the freedom to continue to

develop their work internationally and to use their increased resources to explore new mediums.

Fine Arts University of Seville, Spain.

SErGIO GArCIA. Pussy-Man, 2009. mixed media on canvas.

Gala Gallery established a satellite program based in Mexico where she coordinated events including, traveling exhibitions and conferences with local universities and non-profi t educational institutions in Mexico.

Though these efforts, the work of Russian artists were placed in Mexican collections. At the same time Gala Gallery in Mexico City started to work with emerging and middle-carrier artists, many of whom have

respected careers today.

Her managerial experience in small art business allowed her to work as production and design manager in frame company “excelsior” in Mexico for several years. Later she was proposed a position of operations

manager by Construcciones Industriales del Sur, Mexican company. Based on her knowledge of the Art World and her performance carrying out her duties for the company, the corporation decided to expand

their activities to the Art Field and create a new offi ce in the U.S. Kavachnina was instructed to travel to the U.S. to help establish and staff Art Rouge Inc.

Art Rouge Gallery was opened fi rst in Coral Gables and then relocated to Wynwood – the epicenter of Miami’s booming art scene. The Gallery participated in the prestigious Art Miami Fair for several years. The

gallery’s cultural contributions made it an asset to the community and in 2008, it received the Dealers and Art Gallery’s Best Business Award.

During Art Basel Miami week & the satellite fairs back in 2008, Kavachnina launched the Sculpt Miami Art Fair, created and organized by Art Rouge, Inc. which exhibits internationally renown sculptors. Throughout

Kavachnina’s career she has created bridges across cultural boarders through private and public partnerships. She is a successful art dealer and a visionary whom has astutely adapted to the changing times to open up

opportunities for artists in new territories.

expanding to create an extensive contemporary program Art Rouge is now Kavachnina Contemporary,46 NW 36th Street. Miami, FL, 33127.

With his pupils tired from the daily task of painting through the long ours of dawn, because to create s an escape, not a lucrative investment. One verbose

cigarette after another, dreaming in Cuban and speaking in Spanglish. Tough guys do dance boleros

of love. With eyes wide open to detect with pain the opportunists of the world and the always

inevitable sons of bithches, Sergio Garcia is one of the most authentic creators of the Cuban-American

artistic community in Florida. Underestimated in the American art world and unpublished for the

Cuban public. The artist was born the year Fidel and his bearded rebels entered. Garcia if compelled in

profound introspection of the self and hisdemons through an expressionism of ethical roots.

The canvas assumes to register a diary without interventions the confl icts of his soul. Artists like

Sergio Garcia are a part of this new generation who do not identify with the social cultural marks of a

prisoned exile.Sergio in cold harmonious colors as though it

were dripping blood down the walls of the canvas, mortifi cated knifed, evolving pschic skin where

more than narrated we feel part of.

Abelardo MenaChief curator, National

Museum, Havana, Cuba

EMIL ALZAMOrA. Afterlife Afterthought, 2006. Gypsum. Life-Size.

Photos courtesy of elsa Roberto

I’m truly amazed by your mastery of sculpture. It seems you can bend materials to fi t anything within your imagination. You mentioned you worked at Polich Tallix, www.polichtallix.com, in Beacon, NY for a few years. How was that experience and did it get you to the technical level you are currently?*

EA: ...I always dreamed of being able to push a material around until it went right where I wanted it. One of the materials I used for an enlargement at the foundry was Structolite, a gypsum based cement. It gives me the fl exibility I need to get where I want. The experience at Polich has been critical in this respect. I notice on your web site you use Gypsum in a lot of your work. It is technically Structolite from Home Depot. Ok the secret is out, but it took me quite a long time to fi gure it out. It requires just enough water to get a thick consistency. I then apply it over a welded steel armature. th sky is the limit, if you are patient enough. You can then wax it any color you want.

*www.globatron.org / Special Thanks to Byron King for sharing the interview with IRReVeRSIBLe.

“In emil Alzamora’s sculpture, concept meets craft at a very high level, a union as rare as the teeth of the proverbial hen. With the general de-skilling of art and the rise of conceptual strategies, which have gone hand-in-hand since the early 1960s, it has been too little noted that what amounts to an old-fashioned, Henry-Fordish division of labor has taken over in the art world. The “artist,” who is really the entrepreneur and jefe, commands an army of assistants, often from the developing world and just as often poorly paid, to produce work that ranges from the grandiose and trivial to the impossibly elaborate. No argument from this quarter against Francesco Clemente’s miniatures or Jeff Koons chrome bunny, not to mention Roni Horns glass cubes, but I can’t help thinking of St. Clair Cemin’s term: “mental readymades.” In contrast, certain artists continue to demonstrate that knowledge of materials and, more importantly, of techniques, opens doors to imagery that can’t simply be “conceived” out of the cultural ether. I am thinking of sculptors such as Cemin, Kiki Smith, Pier Consagra, Martin Puryear, and others such as the embroidery artist Angelo Filomeno. So add emil Alzamora to the list.”

-Lyle Rexer for The Brooklyn Rail

Diana Freundl is a freelance journalist and curator base in Shanghai. Currently she is the Art Director of Art + Shanghai Gallery

1Gao Minglu wrote a number of articles and journals regarding his critique of the theory of Chinese Abstract art. For the purpose of this article I refer to his comparison of Chinese “Maximalists” and religious (namely Buddhist) practice. “The squares, dots, and lines symbolize the repetition and triviality of everyday life. They are the expression of self-development in an urbanized context that keeps its distance from the outside world...Almost all these abstract artists stress repetition, continuity, and a simple, unaffected state of mind. They focus on creating an internally satisfying spiritual realm.” [“Does Abstract Art Exist in China”, Artzine Magazine, 2006, pg 6-8].

Mandalas have been employed by spiritual traditions of both western and eastern doctrines. As a micro-representation of the universe perceived by humans, they act as sacred (and secular) narratives composed of icons and symbols aimed at

unifying its viewer with a sense of oneness.

Art + Shanghai Gallery exhibition, Wuwei: Being and Nothing explored the common ground between the mandala-creating practice of mindfulness and the Taoist/Buddhist concept “Wuwei” (non-action), which emphasizes being in the

moment and how these two forms appear and are applied to particular artworks.

Art critic and scholar, Gao Minglu, refers to such artists, often filed under the umbrella term of abstract art, as Maximalists [1950s Minimalism and late 20th century Western Modernism]. For Gao, the artists go beyond the formal appearance of an artwork to express an individual perception through daily

practices. 1

The repetition of fragility visible in Wang Jun’s complicated and entangled lines communicate a labyrinth of intricate meaning, and share the meditative nature

of repetition of Shi zhiying’s ocean sutras. Repetition of action was also adopted in Wang Hui’s washboard performance, which illustrated being in the moment of

action through repetitive scrubbing of sutra-engraved wooden washboard.

Ben Houge’s manipulated recordings of a busy Shanghai intersection created a lush, meditative environment. Houge’s endless permutations were echoed in a moving ink painting by Cindy Ng, which flowed unpredictably and without any

definable beginning or conclusion.

Xu Kong: The Art of Triviality observes the mandala as a visual illustration employed in meditation and its ability to provide solace to viewers. The exhibition

examines the sequence of patterns and personal codes used by four artists working in the mediums of video, painting, and photography, and applies their work

to the significance of iconography in meditation.

While Wuwei sought to investigate the human ontological dilemma for being in the world, Xu Kong is marked by unconventional imagery of a more metaphysical

nature. The exhibition focuses on the use of space and more specifically how trivial codes and patterns are used by an artist to communicate meaning to

an audience. Both represent an ‘abstract’ art genera, but highlight very distinct aspects, Wuwei, the action and Xu Kong the visual.

To return to Gao and expand on his theory to include ‘non-Chinese’ abstract art or Maximalism, the physical form of the works is not the essence of the art, but rather the relationship between the artwork and the artist’s affect on it, as

impacted by the artist’s environment. His point is best illustrated in Xu Kong by the works of Fabrice Guyot and Fabria Alam, who express their spatial concepts

through repetitive forms, creating an infinite space.

Huang zhiyang’s triangular, organic icons form landscapes to a viewer, yet visible objects have not meaning to the artist, whose symbols express the triviality of

contemporary life.

Similar to the philosophical poetry of early 17th century europe or Tibetan Vajrayana mandalas, the works of Xu Kong are seculamentals, to be venerated

not for what they are, but for what they represent. They symbolize an understanding and feeling that cannot be read and must be experienced.

SHI ZHIYING, Mediterranean, 2009. Oil on canvas.CINDY ING, Tree Series 6, 2006. C-Print. edition of 20

Wuwei/Xukong:

ReLIGIONin the modern world

FABrICE GUYOT, Accident, 2009. Print on Archival Art Paper. edition of 10

When most people look at a lump of clay or a piece of walnut, they see just that—a simple, unmoving object. Joe Parker, though, looks at such raw material and sees something waiting to be turned into a long-lasting thing of beauty.

A conversation with

joe PARKeR

It’s Howdy DoodyTime, Self Portrait,1995, Painted ClaySeries “ My life as a Gnome”

I see myself as aneveryman...

IrrEVErSIBLE - Carla rover: You studied architecture at FIU (Florida International University). What event or feeling caused you to change mediums?

Joe Parker: When I was at FIU I needed to take elective courses as a part of my degree program in architecture. I took a ceramics course and as soon as I put my hands in the clay I felt an instant affi nity. I have done some bronze pieces but I love the human quality of the clay.

Cr: Do you have a message or is the art itself left to the viewer to interpret?

JP: I see myself as an everyman. I have both a light side and dark side as everyone does- although everyone doesn’t acknowledge it. I don’t do a lot of happy pieces. I was in Vietnam. I saw the famous photo of the little girl running, her clothes burned off- it affected me greatly. I began to want to examine human nature - the ideas of oppression, submission, exploitation- to see why we as humans do certain things to each other. I portray both the darkness and light- I do this to portray how good people can end up doing horrible things to others.

Cr: How do you birth a piece? Does it start with a feeling, a fully formed idea or does the art reveal itself as it goes along?

JP: Ideas come to me somewhat fully formed. It is more my expressing myself through the work rather than me changing according to what I am working with.

I am not really into popular culture. My work is from within- but I tend not to expose my personal psychology in the work.

Cr: Musings, the Joe Parker Bike

JP: The concept began when I saw a TV program on a group of artists in Oakland, Ca- creating exotic bikes- this started forming different ideas in my mind. A tricycle sprang to mind. There was no real meaning to it. After working with it a while I thought “this is like when you have two people peddling and one person riding- like in India how the Raja would be carried aloft” . It relates to how people subject other people - the dichotomy of the superior and inferior. I have a friend- Sandra Pardo Garcia who helps with the wielding. Each piece is an evolution.

Cr: Joe Parker’s Howdy Doody

JP: As a little boy he was relentlessly teased by the older boys who said he looked like Howdy Doody. Whenever they saw him they would sing “It’s Howdy Doody Time”, and he came to hate everything about Howdy Doody. As he grew older he failed to grow and would always remain small. One day fortune dictated that Buffalo Bob moved into his neighborhood and the still angry young man lured him into his home. From his pocket he produced a small saw and cut off Howdy Doody’s head. Laughing, he ran triumphantly from outside, holding the still smiling Howdy Doody’s head above his own.

Adam & Eve, 2010, Slip Glaze Terracota.

Chess Game, 2009, Clay, Steel, Plexiglass board JP: expressing myself through the work rather than me changing according to what I am working with.

I am not really into popular culture. My work is from within- but I tend not to expose my personal psychology in the work.

Cr:

JP: artists in Oakland, Ca- creating exotic bikes- this started forming different ideas in my mind. A tricycle sprang to mind. There was no real meaning to it. After working with it a while I thought “this is like when you have two people peddling and one person riding- like in India how the Raja would be carried aloft” . It relates to how people subject other people - the dichotomy of the superior and inferior. I have a friend- Sandra Pardo Garcia who helps with the wielding. Each piece is an evolution.

Cr:

JP:who said he looked like Howdy Doody. Whenever they saw him they would sing “It’s Howdy Doody Time”, and he came to hate everything about Howdy Doody. As he grew older he failed to grow and would always remain small. One day fortune dictated that Buffalo Bob moved into his neighborhood and the still angry young man lured him into his home. From his pocket he produced a small saw and cut off Howdy Doody’s head. Laughing, he ran triumphantly from outside, holding the still smiling Howdy Doody’s head above his own.

USALives & works in Miami, FL

www.irreversiblemagazine.com

We look to our governments,

businesses and non-profi t

organizations to solve our environmental

problems. In reality, however no organization or government can stop

climate change, only individuals can. Each of us

has the ability to make minor changes to our

own lives that can have rapid and positive impacts on the

global environment.

fab-bri-ca[FAB Rik a] noun (Italian)

a contemporary art space

From within the heart of artist Gino Tozzi comes Fabbrica, featuring:

5,000 sq. ft. of gallery space.A 2,000 sq. ft. video and photo studio with full cyclorama fl oor and walls.

9 artists in residence (AIR) studios.A state-of-the-art recording/rehearsal studio.

8,000 sq. ft. of dedicated garden space adorned by monumental masterpieces.A European style bistro terrace serving as a creative retreat.

Ample on-premise parking.

Innovative Resident Curator Program

VIP Preview Party Wed. Dec. 1, 2010

Fabbrica - 55 NW 36th St. Miami FL 33127fabbrica.us

“I want to create a sanctuary for themost exhilarating and moving artwork.”

GinoTozzi.com

Submission for curatorial projects will be available at fabbrica.us onAugust 1st, 2010.