MFA Candidates and BFA Alumni Collaborate for First Gallery of the Spring Semester

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IMG_0168On January 12, 2017 Florida International University’s A+AH’s department held its first opening reception of the spring 2017 semester at Miami Beach Urban Studios.  Alumni and current students, collaborated to bring together a unique gallery experience that showcases a little bit of everything.

The gallery included photography, watercolor paintings and site-specific artwork handpicked by Belaxis Buil and Meg Kaplan-Noach, two MFA curatorial practice candidates.

The first of the exhibits is ‘There & Then’, a dual photographic perspective by two current MFA candidates, Jose Garcia and German Ruiz. Together, they complied a melancholic series of photographs that adorn the MBUS gallery walls. The images depict specific places, moments in time and personal narratives in throughout their life.

Both artists display the same aesthetic and feeling of nostalgia but use different vessels to display their work; Jose uses experimental, painted home structures and German opts for large-scale, black and white portraits and landscapes.

“Jose’s painted places or structures veil the photograph with the illusion of something that is visible but you cannot grasp; and that’s something that directly translates into with my own work but not the same way he does,” explains German. “The photographs I take capture what is important to me when I was growing up; translating them into something that is both meaningful to me and connects with the viewer. That interplay between us is what really ties this show together.”

The second exhibit, entitled ‘Lexicons & Signifiers’, features artwork from BFA alumni, Carlos ‘Spartacus’ Garcia and Gonzalo Nunez-Galetto. The recent graduates collaborated on two series of work: one featuring correlating watercolors and unconventional materials and the other a site-specific installation using oil paint and pencil.

Both series of work by Carlos and Gonzalo reflect on the passage of time and the art dialogue between presence and absence; a similar tone to the exhibit of ‘There & Then’.

“Our work is impermanent, meaning they are created for a period of time but are taken down at the end of an exhibit. Their transience is reminiscent of our actual lives, where we see people and things come and go, live and die, grow and change; nothing remains the same,” explains Carlos, BFA 15’.

Both exhibits are open for viewing at Miami Beach Urban Studios until March. A closing reception and artist talk for ‘Lexicons & Signifiers’ is scheduled for March 10th at the gallery. The gallery at MBUS are free and open to public.

View more pictures from opening night below:

FIU College of Communication, Architecture + the Arts | Miami Beach Urban Studios | 420 Lincoln Road Miami Beach, FL 33139 | Free and Open to Public

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