Japanese native artist and instructor, Harumi Abe, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Miami International University of Arts and Design, and her Master of Fine Arts from FIU. Based in Hollywood, Florida, Harumi is an adjunct instructor at FIU and Broward College, as well as the gallery director of the Rosemary Duffy Larson Gallery at Broward College.
As an artist, she has displayed her work in many group and solo exhibitions at galleries and museums across South Florida including the David Castillo Gallery, Hollywood Art and Culture Center, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, and the Leonard Tachmes Gallery. In addition to several private collections, her art is part of the Girls Club Collection, and the Arturo Mosquera Collection. She has received numerous grants and residencies including the 2008 South Florida Cultural Consortium for Visual and Media Artists, a full term artist residency at Art Center South Florida, and she will attend the Everglades Artist in Residence Program this summer.
The idea of home has been Harumi’s primary interest for a while. She states “The home is not just the physical construction in which we live, but more importantly, is a state of mind.” Her series of works titled 134 days and 21 hours exemplifies her own quest of “home”. Using bright color palettes, she paints semi-imaginary landscapes. She references the disaster that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, “We build houses with the hope of creating something new but mostly reinvent the familiar places that comfort us.” When trying to define home through imagery, she is strongly influenced by her homeland, Japan.
Here are some images from the series:
For more information and images from Harumi, visit her website.
