This Friday, April 5, 2013, a FIU alumni exhibition curated by professor Pip Brant, will open at FIU’s College of Architecture + The Arts Miami Beach Urban Studios.
The exhibition will feature paintings by artists Harumi Abe, John Bailly, Aramis O’Reilly, Marcos Valella and Yolanda Sánchez, who received their Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from FIU respectively. Several have returned to teach at FIU and all exhibit nationally and internationally. A cocktail reception and silent auction to benefit the FIU Painting program will be held this Friday from 6:30-9:00pm. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to gpique@fiu.edu.
The exhibition is loosely organized around the complex interplay between the “city”—broadly construed—as well as what is often referred to as its obverse nature. Aramis O’ Reilly’s works depict highly stylized gardens—often seen as spaces of reflection or leisure in cities—and engender a meditative quality. John Bailly’s works are more cacophonous; he stacks diverse visual information upon each other—perhaps referencing the glut of information in contemporary urban life but through paradoxically referencing ancient or historically significant cities.
Marcos Vallela’s works also include complex layering, but only of paint. The dynamism of his strokes are felt in the visible flourishes and smudging; his works are stripped of any signifiers but seem rife with affective energy that one might even connect with the hurly-burly of Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. Yolanda Sánchez references felt experience of space she’s inhabited, and puts the personal—often overshadowed by the built city—in her work front and center. Harume Abe’s paintings depict individual subjectivity as overwhelmed by cataclysmic events, such as earthquakes, and solitary homes seemingly engulfed by nature.
Don’t miss out on a great way to support the Art and Art History department at FIU as well as its alumni.
For Miami Beach Urban Studios’ hours and location, please visit their website.
