IRREVERSIBLE Alec Von Bargen

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY + MODERN ART FAIR

INTERNATIONAL EMERGING + CUTTING EDGE ART FAIR Benefiting:

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ART MIAMI + CONTEXT PAVILIONS | MIDTOWN | WYNWOOD ARTS DISTRICT | MIAMI REGISTER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR VIP STATUS AT: www.art-miami.com + www.contextartmiami.com

The Uncomfortable Truth Noor Blazekovic For years I was trained in Art History and as a Documentary Journalist, having no consciousness of something many of us are today acutely aware of: that we have all been brought up to devalue women and the stereotypically feminine. It was not until the late 1990s when, along with thousands of other foreign women I moved to the USA and became aware that what I had thought were simply my personal problems were actually social problems – problems stemming from the systematic subordination and devaluation of women. Women in many non-Western countries, and especially in the so-called ‘Third World’, generally live in a state of subjection and misery. Their concerns are far more elementary and more pressing than ours. Most of them are exhausted, malnourished, ill, and are forced to work long hours for little or zero reward. My calling was born - I wanted to support women. Worldwide research shows that empowering women – personally, socially, and economically – is not only essential for women, but for us all – for women, men, and children, in order to create a more equitable, prosperous, peaceful, and sustainable way of life. Cultures where women have higher status and more political and economic power are also cultures where social and economic policies give more support to traits and activities such as care-giving, nonviolence, empathy – traits stereotypically considered feminine.

Publishers Note Contributors:

Production Assistant - (our hero) Eva Cantillo Graphic Design (the savior) Sam Beasley (the vampire) Michael Laufbahn (the miracle) Richard Chinchilla (traitors) &#$@%!!!!! Photography -

Leonardo DiTomaso Cesar Mieses

Irreversible - an International art project - is a pioneering exhibition platform for all projects that transcend the classical art show including small format, large scale installations, theatrical events, mixed media, video projections, massive sculptures, music, live performances & unlimited kids programs. norelkysb@irreversiblemagazine.com www.irreversiblemagazine.com

Art often offers the viewer a chance to challenge society and a new means to look at the world. New perspectives are important: they disrupt our expectations, allowing for new ways of thinking, new dialogues, and new ideas. VERITAS FEMINAE opens an invitation to change the culture, to change the larger system of beliefs. This is not something inherent in women or men. We are talking about gender stereotypes we inherited from earlier times when society was based on more rigid rankings of domination – a domination system that has caused, and continues to cause enormous suffering. VERITAS FEMINAE is extremely important because it takes and questions a radical position on vulnerability; suggesting that his subjects are not victims but exemplify the primary measure of capacity in the face of the human condition. I see them as taking profound responsibility for desire. We present ourselves to others in the way we’d like to be seen – according to whatever set of values or fantasy the subject has of who we are. I deeply believe that engaging with what we think we fear and yet giving all meaning to life brings with it a sense of greater peace. Featured cover artist Alec Von Bargen’s larger message is empowering personally, socially, and economically, not just for women, but for everyone. His work promotes a more equitable, prosperous, peaceful, and sustainable way of life. Another champion to women and minority artists—and personal hero of mine—I dedicate this issue to Bernice Steinbaum, founder of the former Bernice Steinbaum Gallery. Thank you for inspiring and challenging us with stories of resilience, hope, and empowerment. Norelkys Blazekovic a.k.a Noor Founder Publisher/ Chief editor IRREVERSIBLE Projects & Magazine Bernice Steinbaum and founder publisher/editor Noor Blazekovic Art Miami 2012, image courtesy of Natasha Kertes Photography

If every man would have the sensibility to immerse himself in the human being like Alec Von Bargen does, the world would definitely be a better place. A sensible globetrotter (not a tourist with a camera), a man of nowhere, a living melting pot and a curious artist who has not lost his capacity for astonishment, has made him a man of everywhere, and triggered his sharp eye to capture realities in transit and trace parallels. His exhibition Veritas Feminae (True Women) is an example of how a solid contemporary artist operates in terms of concept and workmanship. In his new series, using photography-based, multimedia portraits of marginalized women, Von Bargen expresses the multidimensional feminine reality. But more than a collection of “multimedia portraits”, this exhibition is an inner trip decoding the ontology of the female role in society throughout history and an exploration beyond their proxy-body: what you see it’s a mere representation of the complex universe beating in their inner-selves. It is in this sense that his artwork truly exceeds the bidimensional format, crossing borders to portrait a trans-historic and cross-gender reality. His lucid approach to women as fragmented icons —highlighted in gigantic photographic mosaics made of detailed tiles—, results in an artwork of great visual richness. From this point of view, Veritas Feminae is a visual encyclical, a circular letter, an exhortation to delve into women’s minds, breaking stereotypes, and at the same time, it is a sort of mental impossible, a dog chasing its own tail: since it may be hard to accept that a male artist is entitled to create such a magnificent and compassionate defense to women’s singularity without falling in the ordinary clichés about women. On top of all this, Veritas Feminae is also a retelling of myths and stories from a contemporary perspective, “a love affair” in which the artist has captured, in the blink of a shutter, a dozen women he has met in passing, giving each of them later —in the creative complicity of his studio— a stage and a background story of an important historical or mythological character. In his own words: “An abused woman from the south of Spain becomes the first female Pulitzer-prize winner for poetry, Sara Teasdale. A fuchsia-haired junkie in New York City’s Union Square becomes Nancy Spungen from the Sex Pistols’ Sid and Nancy fame. A Cambodian refugee in Myanmar becomes Isadora Duncan, the pioneering, communist ballet dancer. An androgynous bipolar artist from Chicago becomes the French novelist and feminist extraordinaire, George Sand. An Arab woman in a small town on the outskirts of Jerusalem, head covered and an outline of a smile peeking out from beneath her hijab becomes not only the representation of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, but also the incarnation of the both worshipped and despised Golda Meir. A tattooed installation artist from London becomes the controversial Mexican La Malinche. Two beggars, one from The Irrawaddy Delta, the other from Cambodia, represent not only the multiple historical conflicts on the borders of Southeast Asian countries, but they become the core of two of the most fascinating women in history: Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. A prostitute from the Kathmandu Valley becomes Homer’s Penelope awaiting the return of her beloved Odysseus.

Veritas Feminae: a visual encyclical about the immanent feminine. by Joaquin Badajoz

Installation artist Katie Surridge - La Malinche - Of Playgrounds and Carnivals and other Vage Recollections | Studio - Shanghai, China

An abandoned girl living in New York City’s Penn Station becomes the admired and troubled Eleonora Fagan, best known as Billie Holiday. A blind woman in central India becomes the wunderkind cellist victim of Multiple Sclerosis- Jacqueline Du Pré. A young Vietnamese girl sold for pennies to tourists by her own family becomes Mary Magdalene”. While this is an outstanding and elaborate exhibition, there are details worth to foreground in this brief review: Without any makeup, Von Bargen transforms a European girl — British installation artist Katie Surridge— into her otherness (La Malinche of Playground and Carnivals and Other Vague Recollections) revealing the ethnic hardness of a strong and passionate female —a rebellious woman of many faces and many attitudes embodied in a single shoot—, and creating at the end a subtle sense of a “National Geographic” reverse exploration (exploitation) of image. There is a Place Where The Pavement Ends and The Street Begins (his homage to Nancy Spungen, the queen of punk, in collaboration with artist Lyndsey Wardrop), is another piece I would like to comment on: The symbolic violence suffered by a woman used and abused, scrutinized and beaten by the media, a soul looking for her own self under the shadow of her man; is portrayed with the scratch marks of broken glass (framed and unframed). Scars; marks; wrinkles… depict the real topography of the face more than features: “the very narrative of life can be found therein”, to put it in Jonathan Middleton’s words. The video and image installation that gives name to this exhibition: Veritas Feminae (George Sand) is praise - worthy, as well. In this piece, the artist portrays a photographer and artist from Chicago who “lives in a sort of alienated state”, capturing her in five different

Veritas Feminae: a visual encyclical about the immanent feminine. by Joaquin Badajoz

Alec Von Bargen Installation Shots | Mary Queen of Scots - Ask No Questions... | 2013 | Studio - Shanghai China

photographic animations: “...where the images fade out and in — just like the presence of this woman in other people’s lives— and the sudden shifts of background female voices, from cheerfulness to pain and anxiety”, as points out Mariagrazia Costantino, Artistic Director of OCAT Shanghai. This is an explicit example of Von Bargen aiming to catch and expose his subjects’ psychologies, creating portraits of the women he had met in their living, ethereal and immanent presence, showing their strong and free spirits in a cinematic sequence. The female figure has been epitomized and worshiped in art even before the Venus of Willendorf and is a very recurrent subject in photography, thus what is very impressive in Alec Von Bargen’s Veritas Faminae is not the subject but how the artist brings a new shade to the topic retelling timeless paradigms with an honest and respectful twist. Von Bargen’s project not only gives anonymous and victimized women the same dignity of their famous pairs, but also reveals the tortured lives and the extraordinary battles some women have to face.

Alec Von Bargen captures aesthetic instances resonating true with their historical, policital and social contexts. He uses nothing but a small point and shoot camera to create his murals and installations. Most recently Alec exhibited at the 54th Venice Biennale, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and at the International Festival of Photography in Arles. He has won numerous international awards and is included in private and public collections worldwide. He works all over the world, resting at home in the Mayan jungle.

The Art of Healing Hollis Jeffcoat | Aqua Journey Series | Eaux Salées I - 36” x 30” | Oil on canvas | 2011

It is Maureen Watson’s unique vision that has built Watson MacRae Gallery’s reputation as a destination for unusual, museum-quality art. But there is more to its success than that. Watson holds to the premise that there can be a healing aspect to art and it is this that sets her gallery apart. The former owner of a corporate training company in New York City, Watson decided to pursue art and studied painting at the Art Students’ League and the New York Studio School. She co-founded and ran a painting school in Naples, Florida, called the SilverTree School of Painting and Drawing for four years. In 2008 she was inspired to open an art gallery on Sanibel Island, Florida where the natural beauty lures people from around the world. It was the perfect setting.

Over the past five years, Watson MacRae Gallery has featured regional and nationally recognized fine art and fine craft artists in 35 unique exhibitions. Enthralled by beauty and obsessed with quality, Watson creates distinctive themed exhibits each month that keep patrons excited to see how the gallery will be transformed and what new work will be shown. Throughout the exhibits, one thing has remained constant - the paintings, sculptures and extraordinary fine crafts must resonate and demonstrate a creative force. Watson terms this type of art “transformative art,” which goes beyond technical proficiency, and is infused with the artist’s spirit and energy.

The Art of Healing

Watson MacRae Gallery This energy is what differentiates art that has the ability to touch us from art that is only visually pleasing. According to Watson, certain art has been infused with this spirit throughout history. She mentions specifically the inspired work of some of the Renaissance masters and the modern creative genius of Wassily Kandinsky and Mark Rothko. Watson believes this type of art is once again on the rise and is very needed at this time. She is committed to searching for it and showing it. She says about this pursuit, “I believe that art is a critical component to a dynamic society, community and home and I feel fortunate to spend every day involved with art. Getting to know the artists, as well as their work is critical to selecting the right work. I feel artists are courageous in the sacrifices they make to bring art into our world. It is an honor to help them. And I love talking with art lovers. I find them very interesting people. It is fun to see them fall in love with a piece of art and gratifying to help them find a piece for their home or collection. (continued below pictures) What I love most is the transformative power of art. How a piece of art changes

Watson MacRae Gallery features a new themed exhibit every month of fine art and fine crafts

Marlene Rose | Disco Buddha | Sand cast glass sculpture

Maureen Watson, Hollis Jeffcoat at the gallery with Jeffcoat’s early works painted in France

Watson MacRae Gallery, North and South galleries

the atmosphere in a home or how it affects the viewers when they stand in front of it. There is a communication between the person and the art.” Watson goes on to say, “I created an intimate and inviting space for exhibiting exceptional art that is visually and emotionally engaging. The artists represented are established masters of their craft who possess a unique vision and create uncommon works of art imbued with an underlying energy of spirit.” It is this spirit that Watson’s selected artists have. Not all artists however, have this distinct quality or are far enough on their personal artistic journey to connect so profoundly. One artist that has achieved this ability is Florida native and 3rd generation Abstract Expressionist, Hollis Jeffcoat. Her work has been featured all over the world, including solo exhibitions in Paris, Montreal and New York. Several of her paintings are in permanent collections at high profile museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the Contemporary Museum of Art, Montreal. In September 2013, Jeffcoat took part in an exciting international cultural exchange in the Republic of Georgia at the National Gallery in the capital city of Tbilisi. That five

Right to left: Hollis Jeffcoat, Maureen Watson, Sally-Jane Heit, collector at gallery Opening.

Watson MacRae Gallery

Hollis Jeffcoat | Traveler IX | Oil on board |30”x40”| 2005

of her paintings were chosen to be a part of this international exhibition speaks to Jeffcoat’s influence and broad appeal. Jeffcoat is a virtuoso with color. Her delicate layering, coupled with powerful brush work, produces paintings that have strength and beauty. After years away Jeffcoat recently returned to Florida and currently lives on Sanibel Island. She has been painting all her life, but she describes her own recent artistic transition that began in 2010: “My current work takes me to realms where vision, memories and dreams rule. As I paint, with water as my muse and metaphor, I go on a journey so filled with wonder and magic that I want to take the viewer along with me.” It is this profound connection between painter and viewer that led Watson to feature Jeffcoat’s work numerous times. In addition to Jeffcoat, other prominent artists featured at the gallery include: Nicolas Carone, member of The

Hollis Jeffcoat |Portal XVII | Oil on linen | 24”x30” | 2013

New York School, Darby Bannard, Minimalism co-founder and Color Field artist, and recent Guggenheim recipient, Katherine Bradford, as well as important artists in the fields of ceramics and glass. The Gallery is not just a professional endeavor for Watson; it is also deeply personal. With the gallery, she has created a public space that nonetheless has the ability to touch people personally. It is small but potent. Sally-Jane Heit, actor, art collector states, “When I walk into the Watson MacRae Gallery there is a pulsating life force.” Under her direction, the Watson MacRae Gallery has become what Watson terms “a sanctuary of art.” “There is magic in art made with heart and soul. It is not something we can see; only feel. This is the art that restores, enlivens, comforts; this is the art that salves our spirit. This is the art that I show at Watson MacRae Gallery.” Watson MacRae Gallery 2340 Periwinkle Way, #B3 Sanibel, FL 33957

image courtesy Galerie Rauchfeld | AmĂŠlie Chassary & Lucie Belarbi | RĂŠsonance, Le Bain | 2013

Reconstruction of the Big Apple I | 55” x 55” | Oil on canvas | 2007

From Babel to Basel WAYFINDING: Fernando Vignoli at Oxenberg Fine Art By John Coppola There’s no easy path into or out of one of Fernando Vignoli’s paintings. The Brazilian artist’s work is rife with passageways and labyrinths, doors and windows that are blocked by stone walls yet swathed in light, symbolizing the possibility of escape. Looking at his paintings, writes John Ensley Hooker, who contributed to a recent monograph about the artist, “is like walking through a labyrinth of walls painted by him. Either you end up in a dark corner without knowing where to go, or you discover a vibrant view of the artist’s soul.” The persistence in his work of a walled-off yet seemingly attainable landscape arguably reflects the artist’s strict structured upbringing from which his art has provided an escape. As a child, Vignoli attended a military high school under the watchful eye of his army captain father. He later studied architectural design and then visual communication at Belo Horizonte’s University School of Visual Arts before embarking on a career as a painter both in Brazil and the United States. Vignoli currently divides his time between Belo Horizonte in his native Brazil and South Hampton on Long Island, and has exhibited widely in both places (His work has also been shown in South Florida at the Art Palm Beach, Bridge and Red Dot art fairs, and the Armory Art Center). Harvey Oxenberg, photography by Anthony Nader

“Quando eu partir não terei regresso, mas ficarei impresso.” “When I depart, I will not come back, but I will remain in print.” —Fernando Vignoli

The semi-tropical light of his home town—Belo Horizonte translates as “beautiful horizon”— and the light reflected off the ocean in his adopted home are key elements in Vignoli’s art. His paintings pay homage to Surrealist masters, notably Rene Magritte, with repeated images of apples, but avoid mere imitation by witty variation on his sources. Vignoli’s large-scale oil painting, Reconstruction of the Big Apple, depicts an oversized fruit filling up a room, much like Magritte’s iconic Listening Room except that Vignoli’s apple has a large chunk bitten out of it. It is an unmistakable homage to the surrealist master, one artist feeding on his sources and signaling their re–use. Unlike Magritte, however, who painted the apple in a hermetically sealed room, Vignoli has added windows through which exterior light casts dramatic shadows and offers viewers glimpses of an enigmatic landscape. That juxtaposition of a disturbing interior with a visible but distant exterior is a recurring theme in his work. Big Apple is one of 14 Vignoli paintings that will be exhibited at Oxenberg Fine Art during Art Basel. Other works in the exhibition continue the artist’s exploration of isolation and escape. In Kansas, a distant cloud formation suggests a tornado and inevitably evokes The Wizard of Oz, although there’s no hint of a Yellow Brick Road or the Emerald City. Instead, viewers find themselves in a cave-like setting. Through a pair of windows and a door, a sun-bathed landscape of mountains and rivers can be seen. However much we may feel trapped in that dark and dank environment, Vignoli simultaneously signals that we can escape it by depicting the rivers cascading over the window sills. In Kansas, just as he did in Big Apple, Vignoli has acknowledged but also subverted his sources.

Saturday, Nov. 30th 7pm: Opening Reception

Please join us for a private viewing of Brazilian artist sensation Fernando Vignoli An evening with the artist and his paintings

Saturday, Dec. 7th 2pm: Performance Art

Watch Fernando Vignoli demonstrate his unique painting technique

5pm: Silent Auction

Upon completion of the canvas, the painting will be auctioned along with selected works from the collection

Exhibition on view through Dec. 31st, 2013

From Babel to Basel

The movie’s clear preference for “home,” a black-and-white Kansas over the Technicolor Oz becomes in the painting a less predictable choice between the known confines of home versus the unknown possibilities of the world beyond. In his 2013 oil on canvas, Sagrado Coracao da Terra (Sacred Heart of the Earth), Vignoli again invites the viewer to make a choice between the known and unknown, but this time he has added a choice between the sacred and the profane. In the painting, our view of a landscape of trees, rolling hills and river is partially blocked by a cross of stone blocks. In an opening at the nexus of the cross, a tree floats far above the horizon line, becoming, as the title suggests, the sacred heart of the earth. Visually, we are meant to go around or even through the cross, which is blocking our way, to reach the secular Eden beyond. But Vignoli has complicated that obvious path by highlighting

Kansas I | 47” x 59” | Oil on canvas | 2013

Sacred Heart of the Earth I | 98” x 59” | Oil on canvas | 2013

the difficulties and dangers inherent in the journey: An ominous dark-blue and black sky looms over the cross and landscape. Unlike the detailed rendering of the cross and landscape beyond, the sky is undefined and represents an unknown and perhaps unknowable choice. In Sagrado Coracao, Kansas and Big Apple, as in all of Vignoli’s paintings, the paths in are maneuverable, even if replete with roadblocks. Finding a way out, on the other hand, requires choosing between the confines of a known environment and an unknown but potentially unlimited one.

Harvey Oxenberg began collecting art in the early 1980’s, starting with photographs by Bruce Weber and continued to acquire works by many established contemporary artists in the ensuing twenty five years. He established Oxenberg Fine Art in 2007. Previously in the wholesale food business, he decided to combine his love of art and business acumen, applying both to becoming an art dealer and representing an extraordinary group of artists. Oxenberg understands the intricacies of the art world and enjoy assisting individuals starting collections as well as seasoned art buyers. He also acts as a private art dealer, locating special artworks for clients.

GALLERy 2014 A SANJUAN | BROWN GALLERY 2014 Harrison Street Hollywood, FL 33020 | 954-505-3291 | info@gallery2014.com | www.gallery2014.com

Represented Artists Debbi Becker Cathy Benny Heather Calderon Andres Dominguez Shady Eshghi Jennifer Hirshfield Ed Johnston Manuel Gonzalez Christina Major Eduardo Mendieta Alejandro Mendoza Lori Pratico Susan Somerstein Olga Vargas

A massive hydroelectric dam and associated land grabs for sugar plantations now threaten the indigenous tribes of the Lower Omo River in Ethiopia. The tribes have lived in this area for centuries and have developed unique techniques to survive in a challenging environment. They have had no voice in decisions about the dam or the plantation agriculture that it is expected to supplant their smaller scale agricultural existence. Elizabeth went to Ethiopia to bear witness to this simpler way of life, one that remains in tune with the Omo Riverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s natural cycles, before it is lost forever.

Photography by Elizabeth Sanjuan, The Omo Valley tribes, Ethiopia

PINTA NY 2013 gathers together the main artists and galleries of the United States, Latin America and Europe. This careful selection of the trends of the international scenario in art of today is staged in an intimate environment, divided into the Modern Art and the Contemporary Art segments under the guidance of a team of prominent curators of international prestige. In its seventh edition, PINTA NY is scheduled for November 14 through November 17, 2013, coinciding precisely with Christieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Sothebyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s auctions of contemporary art, which attract a sophisticated public of international amateurs and travelers. This circumstance propitiates countless opportunities for the large scale visibility of PINTA NY.

Image courtesy of 82Mercer, New York, NY 10012

Nov 14-17 2013 New Location: 82Mercer New York, NY 10012 www.pinta-ny.com

PINTA VIDEO Richard Garet, Synchronous; the resonance of his voice, 2013, Sound Installation, Electric Guitar, guitar amplifier, sound exciter, audio file, 42 x 30 x 140 inches, Continuous running, Courtesy of the artist and Julian Navarro Projects, New York

(PV) PINTA VIDEO presents a selection of new video art curated by Octavio Zaya (New York/ Boston/Leon). Octavio Zaya, is a writer, curator, and editor, born in the Canary Islands, Spain, and living in the US since 1978. He is the Director of Atlántica: Journal of Art and Thought, published by the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Las Palmas, Spain. He is Curator at Large for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MUSAC) of Castilla y León, as well as Guest Curator at CAAM. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Performa, New York, and of NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Duke University Press; a contributing editor of Flash Art; and a regular contributor to several art publications, including Art Agenda, New York, and ART-iT, Tokyo, and Arte al Día, Miami.

PINTA Next features young artists and emerging (PC) PINTA CENTRO, a regional, curated project will galleries selected by the full curatorial committee of be organized by Omar Lopez-Chahoud (New York/ PINTA New York 2013. Miami), concentrating on Central America. The twenty participating exhibitors have been Omar Lopez-Chahoud earned MFAs from Yale open under five years, recognized by the curators University School of Art in New Haven, CT, and the for their unique programs, and represent the next Royal Academy of Art in London, UK. generation of exciting young artists.

PINTA NEXT Gerardo Rojas, The Power of Photoshop, Installation view, Courtesy Carmen Araujo Arte, Caracas

PINTA CENTRO Simon Vega, Third World Sputnik, 2013, Installation at 55th Venice Biennial, 57 x 157.6 in.

PINTA CONTEMPORARY Mathias Goeritz, Veintidós torres para Fundidora Monterrey, 1975, Cartulina ilustración ensamblada y policromada, 23,4 x 3 x 3 cm c/u, Procedencia: Colección Ida Rodríguez Prampolini, Sucesión Mathias Goeritz, Courtesy La Caja Negra, Madrid

Art Galleries 2013 Pinta Galleries Pinta Emerge Pinta Centro Pinta Video Pinta Next

(PE) PINTA EMERGE will be curated by Jose Roca (Bogota/London), who will select and invite ten emerging artists under the age of forty (40), whose individual presentations will give the audience an in-depth look into their current work and practices. José Roca is a Colombian curator working and living in Bogotá. He is currently the Estrellita B. Brodsky Adjunct Curator of Latin American Art at Tate, London, and Artistic Director of FLORA ars + natura, an independent space for contemporary art in Bogotá. He co-curated the first San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial in San Juan, Puerto Rico (2004), the 27th Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2006) and the Encuentro de Medellín MDE07 (2007), and was the Artistic Director of Philagrafika 2010, Philadelphia’s international Triennial celebrating print in contemporary art. He served on the awards jury for the 52nd Venice Biennial (2007), and was the chief curator of the 8 Bienal do Mercosul in Porto Alegre, Brazil (2011). He is the author of Transpolitical: Art in Colombia 1992-2012.

PINTA EMERGE Jose Carlos Martinat, De la serie Pintas, 2013, Registro de apropiación de piezas, Courtesy Galeria Revolver, Lima (Mismo de anntes)

PINTA EMERGE Nicola Lopez, Closing in, 2009, ink, watercolor, gouache, graphite, gesso, photolithoon-aper and mylar, collage on paper 18 x 18 in, R.A.W., Woodblock on mylar, Dimensions varible, Courtesy Arroniz arte contemporaneo, Mexico, DF

Artist Representation Installation Ines Silva Microcosmo Series, 2013 Painted Plexiglass 19 x 19 x 10cm

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Baranquillarte: April 3rd to 6th 2014 Art Monaco: April 24th to 27th 2014 Moscow Contemporary: June 5th to 8th 2014

ART MONACO AVRIL 24-27, 2014

An Art Show Fit for royalty location: Grimaldi Forum, photography by Olivia Marocco

ART MONACO

Johnessco Rodriguez Location: Cannes Festival’13, Presentation la Palme d’Or, photography by Anastasiya Severgina

Her Majesty Farah Pahlavi, former empress of the Imperial State of Iran

The Drang Gallery, artist: Alastair Gibson

Rudolf Budolf Budja Gallery, Andy Warhol

Sculptures by Jan Desmarets

Monaco, the world’s second smallest country, is best known for its royal opulence and the twentieth century reign of Prince Rainier and his son Prince Albert II. But for four days annually, the constitutional monarchy becomes the site of an international event called Art Monaco. The world’s richest people flock to the country to take in the colorful sights and sounds of a vibrant event in a spectacular locale. Embedded in the French Riviera between Nice and Menton and 15 minutes from the Italian border, the principality of Monaco has built its reputation and appeal on its luxurious, royal lifestyle and stylish surroundings. Even though the country is roughly the same size as New York’s Central Park and can be traversed entirely in under an hour, it has become a major financial and artistic mecca. Art Monaco focuses on quality rather than quantity and showcases a diverse mix of art, including paintings, sculptures, mixed media, and jewelry. Fine contemporary art remains a staple of the entire show; recognizable names like Roy Lichtenstein, Kotchar, Andy Warhol, Picasso and Lempika can be both viewed and bought off the walls of the fair. Other more classical art pieces from Margritte, Monet and Salvador Dali are equally on display. The featured art runs the gamut from masterpieces worth over €30 million to emerging pieces that can be purchased for €3,000. Johnessco Rodriguez, the creative master mind behind Art Monaco, expresses the specific goal of Art Monaco: “There are more than 300 art shows worldwide. The concept and idea was already out there. The only input and modifications we have done is that the participation at our event is by invitation only and instead of receiving 40,000 visitors or more, we only receive about 10,000 but all of them with interest in art and with buying power.”

Prince Albert II signing sculpture for charity project

A visitor’s experience at Art Monaco is saturated with multisensory pleasures, and all attenders, both visitors and curators alike, happily contend with the distractions of the locale. The event takes place in the elegant Larvotto district of Monaco, and the fair is held inside the Espace Diaghilev Hall of the Grimaldi Forum. The 13,000 plus square foot space is accentuated by breathtaking 180 degree views of the Mediterranean Sea. Rodriguez says, “Art Monaco is an essential reference for the international cultural scene, and is established as one of the most exclusive and fastest growing art events in the world.” The exclusivity of the show is what makes it a success. Rodriguez has designed the show with its elite audience in mind at every point in the planning process: “We target a premium clientele with a financial buying power that is excessively higher rather than just an abundance of visitors.” In 2010, the first Art Monaco occurred as a special event, and the fair received public criticism for taking place during the international economic recession. Yet despite global economic turmoil, thousands of wealthy art buyers came to the show and made purchases that financially benefited the artistic community worldwide. At last year’s event, there were over 4,500 pieces of art on display, many from France, Italy, Asia and Russia. Every country that participated in the show, whether it be through visitors, curators, journalists or buyers, contributed to the European economy. The future of Art Monaco is bright. Rodriguez wants the event to not only be an unmatched visual experience, but also a contribution to the future of global culture: “Part of our commitment with society is to continue with the promotion of art and the education of the new generations in regards to art and buying.”

Art Monaco: April 24th to 27th 2014 www.artemonaco.com

The Artists in Residence in Everglades (AIRIE) program allows artists, writers, choreographers, photographers and composers to break free from the city and let their imagination run wild in the pristine wilderness of one of Floridaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest and most prized pieces of land: The Everglades. Now in its thirteenth year, AIRIE has operated as a not-for-profit organization and thrives from generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Arts Challenge Grant. For the upcoming year the partnership has monthly events that include workshops, lectures, readings and performances in MiamiDade County. AIRIEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal is to support and help artists by providing them not only a monthlong residency in an unparalleled location, but

raising money for special projects and outreach programs that ultimately grant the artist with more exposure. The juried fellows are entitled to a an apartment and guidance by rangers in Long Pine Key which allows a full immersion experience into the Evergladesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 1.5 million acres of wilderness. As part of the residency, each artist becomes an informal ambassador of the Park and community by donating a piece of work to the Park collection and volunteering for events. For the first time select pieces can be seen in a traveling exhibition titled Fresh AIRIE, Artists Experience a World Heritage Site. airie.org

image courtesy of Deborah Mitchell

2000 - the present, “...began serendipitously when a sparrow fell dead at my feet on the sidewalk as I was walking home from the gym in Brooklyn. Unable to leave it lying there, I took it home with me.” –Susan Silas

The South Florida Collections Management Center is tucked inside Everglades National Park at the end of Research road. Inside its temperature controlled and darkened drawers, birds that inhabited the park as far back as the 1960’s are laid out, each with a handwritten tag carefully tied to its feet, in much the same way that corpses are labeled at a morgue. Some of these birds were road kill, and a few sad specimens have labels indicating that they starved to death. They are, collectively, a part of the record of upheavals and changes in management techniques that have beset the park for over a century. While the park may seem abundant in nature, with careful inspection one can see that no corner of it has not been subject to the intrusive plans of politicians motivated by development interests, the demand for water in the ever more populated pockets of South Florida and the follies wrought by the Army Core of Engineers. At first the park disappoints. It is a scruffy landscape without the obvious glamor of Yellowstone or Yosemite. A rise of 4 feet in elevation is mountainous here. But with repeated exposure to the “river of grass” the eccentric and subtle beauties of the place begin to impress themselves on the psyche. Opening one of the Center’s drawers, I momentarily imagine Lenin resting in his glass mausoleum in Red Square in the middle of Moscow or Ho Chi Minh’s tomb, in Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi—a place from which he was conspicuously absent during my visit to Hanoi—he goes for a makeover to Moscow once a year, where the technology exists to spruce him up for future visitors. Some of the birds at The South Florida Collections Management Center, their bodies stiff and their eyes stuffed with cotton, have resided here as long as Ho has sat in his tomb at Ba Dinh Square. And like their human counterparts, these specimens may be as arbitrary a sampling of their kind as Lenin and Ho are a sampling of ours. –Susan Silas

Susan Silas |The Specimen Drawer, 2013 | Silas finds dead birds and poses them in appealing ways. During her 2013 fellowship, Silas worked closely with the Orinthology Collection at South Florida Collections Management Center | Everglades National Park. Courtesy of the artist and AIRIE | Everglades, FL

Left to Right: Susan Silas, image courtesy Noor Blazekovic| Lisa Elmaleh | AIRIE fellow paints in a kayak | Rebecca Reeve, Untitled (Marjory’s World, 1), 2012 The remaining images are courtesy of AIRIE | Everglades, FL

Gustavo Matamoros | Recording the soundscape at Everglades National Park

“ For the phenomenon of music is nothing other than a phenomenon of speculation. The elements at which this speculation necessarily aims are those of sound and time. Music is inconceivable apart from these two elements.” Igor Stravinsky

Sounding the Everglades

Sound Artist Gustavo Matamoros and an Unusual AIRIE Residency David Dunn

This quote by the great Russian composer speaks to the primary aspects of an art that uses sound as its base material. While many of us may have trouble coming to an easy accord about the purpose of music, this insight remains legitimate: whatever else music has ever meant, it is essentially the organization of sound and time—and by extension the communication of how the organizer perceives and “hears” these aspects of their world—that defines a common ground for musical creation. This understanding must also apply to art that does not accept the familiar tropes of traditional musical form and function but is also “a phenomenon of speculation” aimed at the elements of sound and time. The controversial genre of Sound Art—controversial because of how it strives to define an autonomous status as a genre while often straddling between various lineages of experimental music practice and the visual art world—is also a communication of how its practitioners hear their reality. Sound art, however, is much less about the classic interpretive characteristics of musical communication and more about the direct experience and communication of our auditory perception and the use of technology to mediate that perception. Gustavo Matamoros is one of America’s most important sound artists in addition to being one of the most dedicated advocates for this artistic genre alive today. This is most evident by his untiring commitment to the region of southern Florida as an artist, producer, and community organizer of Miami’s Subtropics Festival for over 25 years. His work has been presented throughout the United States and internationally. It is amongst the most innovative work using sound as its medium being created anywhere. Recently he had the opportunity of a one-month AIRIE residency in the Everglades National Park where he could apply his unique perspective as a sound artist towards the exploration and documentation of that unique auditory world. There are several issues that characterize Gustavo’s explorations with sound. Taking inspiration from John Cage’s admonition to make art that “imitates nature in its manner of operation,” he is especially interested in how active sound making can articulate the physical and historical context of space, whether man-made or natural. He is always concerned

to make projects that heighten our understanding of the unique window that an aural perception of the world provides. In his view, noise is merely sound that has yet to be made fully apprehensible. All sounds are audible evidence of phenomenal reality, and every sound communicates both the unique gestalt of its generative source and contextual environment. The “art” resides in the strategic design that can reveal these properties. Ultimately such revelations can deepen not only our sense of connection to the world but also our aesthetic awe at its beauty. The AIRIE residency has provided Gustavo with what has been the most extended period of time in his career to simply listen to and record the sounds of the natural world. Such a listening opportunity is much more than mere recreation or an exercise in applying and solving technical issues. To place a sensitive microphone into the quietude or cacophony of nature, and amplify its details, changes the way we listen to everything and is as important for a sound artist as learning the established canon of musical precedence is for a composer. At this historical moment, it is also critical for our species. Bearing witness to the disappearing voices of the non-human world, and making them audible to others, is an act of defiance against those forces that claim no value to that world other than an exploitation that fattens the “multi-headed beasts”—as defined by Buckminster Fuller—that too often guide corporate agendas and vested power structures. So, how will Gustavo make further use of the sounds that he experienced and collected? For him this was just the beginning of an ongoing process that will lead him to spend further time in the Everglades National Park. The CD that accompanies this magazine, and an installation version of the same material for the Listening Gallery on Lincoln Road, are the most concrete projects to date. There are also many ideas for future projects. These include a proposal for Soundscape Park and a CD of sounds representing the Everglades from a natural history perspective. It will probably be something made available as a semi-commercial product capable of contributing another, and otherwise impossible, level of experience to park visitors. Such projects exemplify the movement of the arts towards increasing our social and environmental awareness.

Wade Kavanaugh and Stephen B. Nguyen, as seen at the Locust Projects, Miami, FL. | Drawn from the Everglades | Muliti-colored Paper | 35’ x 45’ x 10’, Courtesy of AIRIE Residency Program, Everglades, FL

Fernando Rossia (detail) The Deranged One, 2012 Series “Circular Story” Fine Art Print on Plexiglass 32 inches | edition of 7

2750 NW 3rd. Ave. suite 15 Wynwood Building, Miami, FL. 33127 | P: 305.244.0918 | www.irazoqui.net | FB/irazoquiart

Painter Monique Lassooij was born and raised in the Netherlands. Home to many of the world’s greatest artists, including Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, and Vincent Van Gogh, the Netherlands has been an artistic tour de force since the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. Ms. Lassooij began her artistic career as an abstract painter and eventually developed a passion for figurative painting. Several years ago, Monique relocated to Miami, Florida. The intimacy of her subjects, coupled with her innovative depictions of popular cultural icons, has led her to become a prominent member of the Miami Art Scene. Ms. Lassooij trained both at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the Hague and under the direction of prominent Dutch artists Henk Hubenet and Pien Hazenber. These days she finds her inspiration in colors and how those colors affect the subject. She gravitates towards various shades of grey, white and red. Over the course of her career, she has painted on a diverse number of surfaces. She began to work on canvas but eventually transitioned to wood panels, particularly poplar or birch panels that provide her work with an “old school” feeling. Regardless of the surface, Ms. Lassooij gravitates towards simplicity. She describes her artistic style: “My vision is to maintain the integrity of my art while deleting as much superfluous detail as possible. Telling all of the story can be fun, but most of the time it is just distracting. I hone in to the details that inspire me to create.” Her subjects are often not placed within a particular background that clarifies context. This minimalism allows a single color or a combination of colors and geometric shapes to illuminate the chosen topic.

Monique Lassooij Little Elizabeth (United Kingdom) | 9”x12” | Acrylics on birch wood | 2013

(detail) Little Frida (Mexico) | 9”x12” | Acrylics on birch wood | 2013

Little Basquiat (Haiti) | 9”x12” | Acrylics on birch wood | 2013

Ms. Lassooij’s aesthetic relies primarily on images derived from popular culture. She expresses that “my work explores the paradox in modern pop culture and society, sometimes clearly visible and sometimes through an underlining dichotomy interjected with humor.” Her creative process often involves looking at a famous photo or painting and finding intriguing subjects. She then images how that prominent musician, movie icon, or historical figure would look as a child. It is from this juxtaposition of past and present that she derives her inspiration. Once she has a grasp of her subject, Ms. Lassooij selects the surface and sketches the subject directly on the selected wood panel. She prefers to work on several pieces at once and approaches the background and the subject as two separate artistic entities: “The subject is the visual translation of visual research, whereas the background is almost every time the visual translation of textual, written research.” Ms. Lassooij not only deals with pop culture icons but also with enduring works of art. For example, hearkening back to her Dutch heritage, “Little Girl, Big Pearl Earring” reimagines Vermeer’s formative

Little Andy and the Mouths (USA) | 9”x12” | Acrylics on birch wood | 2013

Each day that I travel by public transport, I notice the silence; most everyone is focused on a little box in their hands: texting, reading, listening to music but especially the children. Little Girl, Big Pearl (Netherlands) | 9”x12” | Acrylics on birch wood | 2013

When I was young, we would sit in the back of the bus and we would be loud, talking, joking, and being children, causing all the adults to turn their heads and give us the stare to knock it off. Now the children have a different way to communicate and they are not vocal about it. When they find something funny you will see a shrug in the shoulders and the typing of “LOL”. If something is happening in the bus, they look at us from under their eyebrows, almost expression less, sometimes slightly annoyed as we disturb them in their communications. —Monique Lassooij Proprietary Innocence Series

Little Mona (Italy) | 9”x12” | Acrylics on birch wood | 2013

young subject as less serene and more petulant. Ms. Lassooij terms her childhood renditions of famous figures “Proprietary Innocence.” An observer at heart, she is drawn in public to the actions and gestures of 21st century children in particular: “Children [today] have a different way to communicate and they are not vocal about it. When they find something funny, you will see a shrug in the shoulders and the typing of “LOL”. If something is happening in the bus, they look at us from under their eyebrows, almost expressionless, sometimes slightly annoyed as we disturb them in their communications.” This modern, disaffected look is the centerpiece of her portrayals of so-called “disturbed children” who stare at the world from “under their eyebrows.” The artistic community both in Miami and elsewhere has responded to Ms. Lassooij’s innovative approach to her young subjects. Her paintings hang in numerous private collections in the United States and abroad. Several of her works are also featured in public places like the Town Hall of Scheveningen, a seaside city in the Netherlands. Presently, she has a studio in downtown Miami.

irreversible magazine exhibition 2013 winners

Marcus Jansen

BEST IN SHOW: MIXED MEDIA Born 1968, Manhattan New York City, Jansen was first influence by a vibrant Graffiti art movement that was emerging in his Bronx Neighborhood. He spent most of his childhood years traveling between New York City and Europe and received his education in Germany while traveling most of the Western world. Jansen grew up bilingual speaking German and English exposed to conversational Dutch in his surrounding areas. He was raised by his Westindien Mother from Jamaica and German Father from Moenchengladbach Germany. In 1982, Jansen revisted New York and was introduced to graffiti art legend WEST who encourgaed Jansen to paint. In 1990, after his studies at the Kunstgewerbe Schule in Moenchengladbach Germany and not being able to paint for a living, Jansen joined the US Armed Forces and was sent immediately to his first assignment with Fort Bragg, NC., to Desert Storm. Jansen was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in 1992 and began painting as a means to survive after participating in art therapy classes at Walter Reed in Washington DC. After becoming critical of US foreign policies, Jansen

discharged and started creating gritty urban landscapes in 1997 and introduced them first to the German public at street fairs and later in 1999 in New York City on the corner of Prince Street & Broadway. It was there where he sold his first works to celebrity clients like Hollywood actor John Ortiz who at the time was filming with Julian Schnabel in Downtown Manhattan. Jansen did well selling his work in Manhattan and working as bartender in Long Island on weekends to be able to continue his craft during the week. In 2004 after Jansen moved to Florida, one of Jansen's career highlights was the introduction to artist Robert Rauschenberg by friend and Musician Kat Epple at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery during a joint exhibition. His most recent project “The Art Album”, a Russell Simmons supported book release by “Art on Dekz” in New York City shows Jansen’s work on the book cover with some of the worlds most recognized contemporary artists inside including, Shepard Fairey, Takashi Murakami, Jonathan Meese, Daniel Richter and Chuck Close. Discovered by former Museum director Jerome A. Donson, (Director of the American Vanguard

Plots and its Influential Friends | 115” x 88” | Oil enamel mixed media on canvas | 2011

Exhibitions Europe 1961), in charge of traveling exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, (MOMA), New York, Jansen is an Internationally known painter and seen by many as a pioneer of expressive urban socio-political painting or as Donson puts it, “reminiscent of the Ash-Can School.” Jansen’s Museum collections include The Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA), Russia, The PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art, Russia, The New Britain Museum of American Art, CT, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, MO, The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC and recently the UIyanovsk Museum of Fine Art, Russia. Jansen is also one of the ABSOLUT VODKA artist’s of this century along side names Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. Jansen’s awards include being the cover artist for the prestigious National New American Paintings Art Publication in 2011, curated by Dan Cameron, Founder of the US Biennial

Inc., making Jansen the first Florida based artist ever to do so, as well as the Dave Bown Projects Award in 2012. Among his International Awards is The Aesthetica Art Prize 2012 in the United Kingdom, the Laguna Art Prize 2013, Venice Italy and inclusion at the Fleurieu Art Prize 2013 Biennale, Australia noted as the highest valued landscape painting prize anywhere in the world curated by Nigel Hurst, Director & Chief Executive, Saatchi Gallery London. Jansen’s upcoming shows include Galleri Urbane at CONTEXT ART MIAMI during Art Basel Miami Beach, Galleria Bianca Maria Rizzi & Mathias Ritter, Milan Italy published with catalog by Italian art critic Alessandro Riva, the Lazarides Gallery in London, UK as well as solo Museum shows into 2015. ©2012 UNIT A Contemporary Art Space marcusjansen.com

(detail) ”RONNIE AND FIDEL” | Mixed Media |96x48 | 2013

irreversible magazine exhibition 2013 winners Social Realism (aka Socio-Realism) was most dedicated to fighting social injustice. This movement was the most prominent during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Social Realism focused on the working-class, especially the poor, to highlight the appalling realities of then contemporary life. Social Realists captured what they see without any embellishments to send a message rather than focusing on style or aesthetics. The issues then become: Art makes people think, but do we, as creators, funders, cultural workers, think ourselves? Do we use our own practices to

Dario Posada

BEST IN SHOW: MULTIDISCIPLINARY

make ourselves think differently (or anew)? I understand that I like hard surfaces, I feel very little attraction for the soft…I can’t take a canvas with wrinkles and loose fabric, I like the hard textures and noble materials: woods, raw fabrics, primary colors, stencils, resin. My process is an exercise of the whole body. I am short which helps me to move quickly and easily; I try to be daring and pernicious with my work. I enjoy the satire of what I am actually showing. Some speak of death but certainly I am talking about life.

darioposada.com

(detail) D A R E | 75cm x 80cm x 50cm | Wood, Textile and Copper | 2013

irreversible magazine exhibition 2013 winners My aim is to create transformative and theatrical environments ready to be integrated into any social, cultural, ethnic, emotional or physical landscape. As such, in these environments, the viewer is invited to reflect and choose how to feel his own experience. Emotionally and physically stimulated, the public is engaged with the idea of a new space, his own space, which even being shared with other viewers, results in an intimate and unique experience. The different segments of a specific artwork whether in motion or not, create unique multisensory

Tiago Valente

BEST IN SHOW: SCULPTURE

spaces, colored and virtual rationalizations of a Utopian Society, in which each individual chooses his own way to experience it, his own space, his own time to digest it, his own way to interact within itself. The artwork itself even eases the cross of each one of its layers , automatically removing, in this way, any emotional or physical border. This provides the time for reflection that walks along with the viewer during these multisensory and interactive experiences. I prefer these realities. Choice is a gift.

(detail) On The Rise | Oil on stainless steel | Size: 61 x 61 cm

irreversible magazine exhibition 2013 winners Jovan Karlo Villalba (b. Quito, Ecuador; 1977) was raised in Miami, Florida. He is an alumnus of New World School of the Arts in Miami and the Cooper Union School of Art (BFA) in New York City. In 2001, Jovan acquired his first art studio in New York’s Chelsea Art District. From there he began to exhibit his work at nearby galleries. In 2006, Jovan moved his practice to a much larger space in Long Island City. There, he created work that would be included in exhibitions at numerous galleries in New York City and Miami, and soon after featured at the Queens

Jovan Karlo Villalba BEST IN SHOW: PAINTING

International 4 Biennial in the Queens Museum of Art. Over the past 5 years, Jovan has exhibited his work at galleries, fairs, cultural institutions and museums throughout the United States, including solo exhibitions in New York City, Los Angeles and Miami. His work has been published and collected worldwide. In February, Jovan was featured in a documentary titled “Imagination Unleashed: An Artisan’s Journey” that aired on nationally on Ovation TV. He presently lives and works in his hometown, Miami.

jovanvillalba.com

(detail) Transitory Space | Pink Tree Field, NYC, USA | Photography 2012-2013

irreversible magazine exhibition 2013 winners

Leah Oates

BEST IN SHOW: PHOTOGRAPHY My current body of work explores the passage of time and the fragmentation of memory during the moment of perceiving. In each moment hundreds of small gestures are expressed, motions taken, words spoken, sounds heard, and images recorded. I use the impression of these moments by condensing, grouping, double exposing and blurring images and found objects and thus have constructed a more fluid and emotionally charged interpretation of passing time. By presenting a fuller and more abstract recording of perception and emotion my work captures the wonder, confusion

and fullness of the whole moment. My work begins in a specific location gathering fragments of sound, image, smell and emotional response to environment and space. I collect and accumulate many images and found objects based on time spent in a specific location. From this collection process I make a series works that include artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; books, digital prints, c-prints, light boxes, installations and sculpture. This process of working through an idea is similar to alchemy as I let the work and my research guide me.

leahoates.com

Aaron Ansarov | USA

On March 2, 2012, Norelkys (A.K.A Noor) Blazekovic founder Publisher/Editor of IRREVERSIBLE Projects/ Magazine inspired by the creation of a global participatory project started an art competition with the potential to give everyone the opportunity to share their work and make a statement for what they stand for. IRREVERSIBLE is a global platform for people to share their untold stories and inspiring messages to become part of a better world.

Luca Bray | Italy

Amanda Bradway | USA

Deborah Mitchell | USA

Rafael E. Rodriguez | Venezuela

Jake Cordero | USA

Olga (Onguis) Vargas | Colombia

Amanda Madrigal | USA

Leah Oates | USA

Jamal deJong | Canada

irreversible 2013 winners exhibition

image courtesy Alessandro Abate

Diana Contreras | Peru

Daffke Hollstein | Germany

Jonathan Baez | Dominican Republic

Jaime Ferreyros | Peru

Monique Lassooij | Holland

Yuh+Mi, Michelle and Victor Vazquez Cuba/Colombia & Mexico

Luis Jimenez | Colombia

Lindsey Wardrop | Scotland

Luisa Faletti | Italy

Laetitia Soulier | France

20 Honorable mentions

Cesar Rey | Colombia

Juan Asnares

When the creative spirit stirs, it animates a style of being: a lifetime filled with the desire to innovate, to explore new ways of doing things, to bring dreams of reality. Born in Buenos Aires in 1967, Juan Asnares demonstrated this creative passion for the world of arts from the early age of ten. At forty six, the talented and versatile painter continues to devote his life to artwork and the pursuit of new methods and techniques. Beginning in adolescence, he began to explore the wide range of tools of artistic expression in local workshops in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he learned drawing and oil painting. By the age of twenty, he added graphic design and photography to his arsenal of artistic expression. In 1996, Juan moved to Miami,

Path to the Future II (tangled) | 40â&#x20AC;?x60â&#x20AC;? | Acrylic on canvas | 2006

Firma Irreproducible I | 14” x 17” | Ink on paper | 2006

“the constant challenge to change the everyday is what makes me develop each day: a search for energy and inspiration other than running against the tide and being faithful to the same.” Thirsting every moment for the next sensation that rises from the imagination, Juan draws artistic inspiration from all aspects of life and society, including the difficult challenges that individuals face. Carefully crafted by our beliefs, life’s turmoils, deficiencies, longings, joy, pain, hurt, desires, wants, loss and abundance are what Juan brings to life in every stroke of his brush. In particular, he is drawn to the themes of mercy, justice and tolerance. His works give form to fundamental beliefs and feelings that serve as conduits for culture; they are, in effect, carriers of culture. Such works make a significant contribution to transmitting ideas, values and attitudes from person to person and from generation to generation. Always striving for new color palettes and techniques, Juan seeks to communicate a larger social message that resonates profoundly yet differently with each individual viewer’s humanity. His work constantly questions why imagination should ever be

Coral y Ancla Oxidada I | 48” x 60” | Acrylic on canvas | 2012

In the Garden I | 48” x 60” | Acrylic on canvas

Tranquilo I | 36” x 60” | Acrylic on canvas | 2012

Florida, and began to paint with acrylics. His versatility over his long artistic career reflects his focus not on the media itself but on the individual result, which is an expression of his inner voice: “[To] capture in every painting the sound of the silence is to represent the inner voice of my thoughts. To release them is the most satisfactory and pure way to express art, being true to ourselves.” Juan defines himself as a versatile artist who cannot live without the new challenge of a different media of expression. He expresses that “as soon as I begin working with some new material or medium, I can adapt quickly to the change.” Whether it be wood, camera or paper, he establishes a cosmic connection between himself and his canvas. With infinite energy flowing, unfettered or contained, his boundless artwork makes Juan a witness and a profound voice in our society. In a globally connected era and a time of constant change, he has become a sincere representative of artistic creativity and its timeless possibilities. Over the years, Juan has evolved both spiritually and artistically to become better able to translate his own dreams and theories into his art. Juan is painting his history, his timeline on earth, his journey. It is the magic of fluctuating waves of energy that provides the fluid motion described by science. Art gives him the concept of time. Although early on he knew scholarly techniques, he never let the influences of these lead him from his desire to evolve and express himself freely in a natural and pure way. This explains the wide range of styles in his works and his urgent need to express without fear or limits a world full of images and messages. In each of his creative stages, his dreams, perception of time, the current, the pure and the present, all converge. In his words, he expresses that “the constant challenge to change the everyday is what makes me develop each day: a search for energy and inspiration other than running against the tide and being faithful to the same.” Thirsting every moment for the next sensation that rises from the imagination, Juan draws artistic inspiration from all aspects of life and society, including the difficult challenges that individuals face. Carefully crafted by our beliefs, life’s turmoils, deficiencies, longings, joy, pain, hurt, desires, wants, loss and abundance are what Juan brings to life in every stroke of his brush. In particular, he is drawn to the themes of mercy, justice and tolerance. His works give form to fundamental beliefs and feelings that serve as conduits for culture; they are, in effect, carriers of culture. Such works make a significant contribution to transmitting ideas, values and attitudes from person to person and from generation to generation. Always striving for new color palettes and techniques, Juan seeks to communicate a larger social message that resonates profoundly yet differently with each individual viewer’s humanity. His work constantly questions why imagination should ever be restricted by the limitations of our beliefs and our strictly regulated definition of self. He reflects this question on the canvas, and its answer is the images he paints of life, the beauty of being human. For Juan Asnares, being human is a captivating work of art on canvas itself. The artist comments, “The canvas comes to life when we become lost in the magnificence of the colors, images and sensations. We are the brush that continues to stroke itself against the canvas, expressing every next thought, emotions and feelings. With every stroke and with every creation we are fooled into a sense of permanence. The scent of the paint confirms the life that is being breathed into the art.” In his versatile art, Juan has achieve this mind-body-spirit connection and in that symbiotic relationship rests his power as an artist.

Roof and Chimney I - 24”x36” | Print on photo metallic paper, plexiglass mount | 2012

Giselle Fajardo

Gerry Stecca

Ninoska P茅rez Castell贸n

Giselle (Gigi) Delgado Buraye

The creative souls face great challenges, defining their own path, having to invent a way to turn their talent in life. Between this creative subculture that thrives and grows in the U.S., there are thousands of Latino artists, entrepreneurs, musicians, all struggling to define their dreams. In an effort to encourage young students to pursue their creative passions, Ford Motor Company highlighted the successful journey of Latinos dreamers who share their success stories through the Space For Your Dreams (Espacio Para Tus SueĂąos) program. Ford joined Irreversible Magazine based in Miami, Florida. Irreversible is an international art project and exhibition platform for projects that transcend the classical art show. It reviews small works, large installations, theatrical events, mixed techniques, video projections, massive sculptures, music, live performances and programs for children with disabilities. During Art Basel in Miami, Florida, Ford Motor Company and Irreversible Magazine will honor four influential creative Hispanics who pursued their passions and found professional success in the arts. The event will take place on Friday December 6 in the Artisan Lounge located at 500 NE 1st Ave., Miami, FL 33132.

Giselle (Gigi) Delgado Buraye is a Colombian artist who has made her career through advertising and graphic design, publishing, illustration and art. She is co -founder of ARTcycle, Terna Creative Group president, executive creative director and partner of Impulse Magazine and creative director of Arte AmĂŠricas. Giselle produces art workshops for all ages and children with mental illness or substance abuse problems.

Gerry Stecca began creating sculptures and installations in the year 2002. His sculptures are connected by the nature of the media and repetitive techniques. Wooden clothespins are his material of choice and make up the core of his current body of work. He patiently drills and winds wires around with cutters and pliers to create sections that are connected to each other.

Ninoska Pérez Castellón is a journalist by profession but her passion is art. She has achieved her dreams by devoting herself to produce a work full of nostalgia and symbolism of her native Cuba that takes place in a mythical world full of imagination and longing. She is currently a radio commentator for Radio Mambí/ Univisión Radio who’s Ninoska in Mambí program is one of the most popular in South Florida.

Giselle Fajardo was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, and has lived the past six years in Miami. She is an artist with a lot of ambition reflected in her decision to reduce her current job hours to work on her passion, art. Giselle is an avantgarde artist of Cuban heritage with a modern and unique way to select what to do with the colors and bring them to life with her distinctive perception.

Yvonne Pfeiffer Calacas Reinvented: An Introspective Into the Female Emotion text by Camilo Gomez and Noor Blazekovic

Yvonne Pfeiffer | Calaca VII: Corazonada, 2013 | Soft pastel and charcoal on archival sandpaper | 46inch x 90 inch | Miami, Florida.

Yvonne Scarleth Recinos Grignon (Pfeiffer) was born in Guatemala and comes from a family of painters and sculptors, the foremost being her uncle Efraín Recinos, who was a famous architect, painter and modernist sculptor. At an early age, she felt the call of art in her heart, but dedicating her life to art was never an option. Looking back on her upbringing, Yvonne articulates how Latin American paradigms about women shaped her outlook: “You ought to have what they consider a ‘serious career’ in case you don’t succeed, as we go through our lives with existential pessimism. You have to take a certain amount of steps to earn the privilege of doing something you love, your passion.” In a culture dominated by men, pursuing a career in art was considered an idea for “crazy people,” or more euphemistically “unconventional people” as Yvonne puts it. These were two phrases frequently to describe the creativity and ingenuity of Efrain Recinos. Eventually Yvonne came to the United States on a Fulbright scholarship and graduated with a Master’s Degree in international business. Throughout her corporate career and as the Vice President of a multinational company in Miami, she continued to foster a private and hidden passion for painting. While living in Puerto Rico, she was able to devote her time solely to honing her artistic style. Before rejoining the corporate world, she had the opportunity to obtain a master’s degree in art history from California State University. It was during this time that her love of art crystallized into a love of pastels. Dating back to prehistoric times, early pastel painters used red, white, and ochre earth pigments, as well as burnt bone. The modern art of pastel painting began over two hundred years ago in Southern Europe. Renaissance painters used red chalk as well as advanced techniques of rubbing and blending to create a unique new medium.

Yvonne Pfeiffer | Calaca VI: Valentia, 2013 | Soft pastel and charcoal on archival sandpaper | 40 inch x 40 inch | Miami, Florida.

Yvonne Pfeiffer | Calaca III: Frenesi, 2013 | Soft pastel and charcoal on archival sandpaper | 40 inch x 40 inch | Miami, Florida.

Yvonne was drawn to this diverse art form, particularly its immediacy and ability to morph under the direction of her hand. She expresses that pastels “are willing to change at your will until you are satisfied with the results. They share their essence with you; you become them and they become you – a true cooperation of existences.” In particular, Yvonne started depicting the human figure and found her calling in pieces that portray the essence of her Guatemalan heritage. A vibrant and varied nation meaning “land of forests,” Guatemala is home to numerous indigenous and non-native peoples who speak a diverse number of local languages. In her pastel paintings, Yvonne captures this linguistic and cultural vibrancy. Finally the opportunity came for Yvonne to publicly reveal her artistic personality to the community of Miami. The 2013 exhibit “Calacas Reinvented” is Yvonne’s tribute to the history of Latin American women. A colloquial Guatemalan word for skulls, “Calacas” is Yvonne’s “coming-out-of-the-closet” exhibition, as she jokingly describes it. Featuring a series pastel paintings in large format, where she explores the emotions of women and the different masks they wear to consummate their life experiences. All hiding behind masks, she depicts skeletal women in different emotional states like sensuality, boredom, enthusiasm, ambivalence, courage, and strength. “Calacas Reinvented” reinterprets the concept of death celebrated on the Day of the Dead, the ancient Aztec celebration. Yvonne has the deepest admiration for this annual event and recognizes the deep paradoxes within her subjects. “Following Latin American literary magical realism, these women are alive, but there is in them certain magical element that reminds us that the ultimate form of exaltation of life is death, and without it, it would not be worth living to the fullest,” she explains. “Calacas Reinvented” expresses the intrinsic fear of death that all human beings experience at different levels and seeks to elevate Latin American women and their emotions. Yvonne says, “I come from a very diverse country where there are many single mothers. On the Day of the Dead, they go to the cemeteries where they still suffer and mourn those men and those children who are already gone, but the next day, they have to put on their masks and go on with life.” In her first public exhibition, Yvonne Pfeiffer wants to touch the lives of people and engage them in artistic dialogue: “I want people to be filled with excitement and reflect on their own lives and admiration of the elusive element that is life. I’ve removed my mask of a corporate woman and I am revealing to the world my secret love affair with art, in tribute to my culture and to my mom, my friends, my aunts, my grandmothers and all women and their inextricable emotions,” concludes the artist.

all photographs courtesy of Kyrna Sanabria Kyrnaphotography.org

IN SIDE OUT

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE ARTIST’S CREATIVE PROCESS

LUIS VALLE

My work reflects my obsession and influence with the ancient past, spirituality, the super-natural and the divine. I am a local artist originally from Managua, Nicaragua. Being displaced from my homeland at a young age has caused me to reflect on my native cultures’ heritage and history. Some influences come from the actual region while others have been absorbed by other indigenous cultures and world traditions. Borrowing elements from surrealism, aboriginal, pre-colombian and shamanistic indigenous societies I paint images conveying the world as moving fluid energy. My work is a contemporary approach of creating images to touch the soul. I am a strong believer that spirituality has been lost in the mix of commercialism, trends and fashion in art. My goal is to make art that not only looks good to the eye and fits your home but also touches a part of you where words just can’t describe. I work in various mediums from canvases, large scale murals, the female body and video. Through the various mediums the act of creation is a process where I attempt to transmit my images through divine inspiration. Angelic spirit guides, power animals, nature and the subconscious mind are all aspects that can be found in my work. Recently my focus has been painting large-scale murals where the community and passer by’s can appreciate what I do. I have found that creating art in the streets gives me a certain satisfaction that the galleries and institutions can’t provide. The effect that my work has on others is greatly magnified when it is put out in the open for the world to see. The Play-In: Mother Natures Revival is the mural that I collaborated on with Diana Contreras and Buddah Funk. I was asked to take on the task of painting this amazing wall right on NW 2nd ave and 25th street in Wynwood. It is the largest wall I’ve ever attempted to paint. I am a big fan of both Diana and Buddah’s work. I asked both of them If they would like to collaborate on the project. We all agreed and came up with the concept of the mural being a tribute to Mother Nature and the children in the community. The mural consist of 3 kids trapped in the belly of a beast. There is a shaman shooting light energy at the being in an attempt to rescue the kids. Their are extraterrestrial and spiritual beings interceding in the process with a crowned prince encountering god and giving him a lotus flower. Mother nature consist of a tree woman who’s hair are tree branches radiating cherry blossoms throughout the piece. We all had a great time creating this mural and where very happy to leave this piece for the local community.

Luis Valle | The Play-In: Mother Natures Revival mural in collaboration on with Diana Contreras and Buddah Funk | Photography Allisa Christine

IN SIDE OUT

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE ARTISTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CREATIVE PROCESS

allison kotzig

The NEST BOX SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION FOR IRREVERSIBLE MAGAZINE the parameters of the installation were to use a cardboard box. This led me to examine the nature of materials; cardboard is a base material, common and mundane. But it is elevated to the realm of ideas and art through irreversible magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s project; to a place where the creative act occurs. Nests, to me, are conceptually similar; made of mundane and common materials, twigs, dead leaves, cast off plastic bits, these materials are elevated to the status of Home and to a place where the generative act and creation can occur. At the same time, the idea of a box is limiting, restricting. However, in this instance the box is not only limiting, but supportive as it itself is the matrix holding creation, much like the nest. In this installation, I have woven 4 smaller boxes together, highlighting the philosophy of collaboration by strengthening the box through support of the many. The box is itself and is full of natural materials with the one exception of the sex store vagina. This introduces dissonance into the creation. Vaginas are, of course, the ultimate conceptual pinnacle of the ideas contained in this installation, being both he passage through which creation is delivered and a metaphor for the creative act, the home, the biological imperative. The artificiality of the material highlights the cultural role pushed onto the vagina: it is no longer a beautiful natural process but a stigmatized taboo. The artificiality of this cultural construct is highlighted by the very obvious fakeness of the material in contrast to the harmonious naturalist of its surroundings. The original nest, found on the ground in Ocala Florida in 2012 has fallen apart and has returned to its original state as nothing more than a collection of detritus materials. However, the underlying support materials have preserved it and have served as a matrix holding its nest shape. This, once again, highlights the strengthening nature of collaboration. The entire piece, then, is a beautiful winding conceptual echo of itself.

Allison Kotzig | Photography Leonardo Di Tomasso

IN SIDE OUT

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE ARTIST’S CREATIVE PROCESS

Jude Papaloko

Haitian culture sustains myriad art forms, such as painting, that express a Caribbean synthesis of African and European elements. Though formally trained artists appeared by the beginning of the nineteenth century, Haitian painting burst into the art world during the second half of the twentieth century. Multi-talented artist and Vodou oungan (priest) Jude “Papaloko” Thegenus was raised in Jacmel, Haiti. His passion for painting started at age six: “I have been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember,” he recalls, “ I would find myself drawing all over my house, on the walls, the floor. I drew anywhere, my pants, the walls of school, and when I got older I began to paint, enrolled in art school and have been painting ever since.” Papaloko started working with metal in 1979, when he first cut milk cans to make little cows. Thegenus sang and danced from a young age, but he “felt the drum” at 12. He then began to study Vodou and play its music during local festivities. In this way he followed the path of many of his family who were involved in Vodou. During his teenage years, Thegenus organized a group of artists who expressed political and social concerns through their art. He was forced to leave Haiti in 1987. Papaloko’s painting and sculpture is eclectic and riveting, often focusing on the Vodou pantheon, Haitian history, and social issues. He continued his work as a visual artist in Miami, and founded Jakmel Art Gallery in 1999. The gallery, located in the Wynwood Arts District, exhibits the work of Papaloko’s and many other local artists. In addition, it offers events and musical performances by Papaloko and Loray Mistik. Tina Bucuvalas, Ph.D. Curator of Arts and Historical Resources City of Tarpon Springs

Jude Papaloko | Photography Cesar Mieses

IN SIDE OUT

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE ARTIST’S CREATIVE PROCESS

DIANA CONTRERAS

I wasn’t suppose to be an Artist. It all a started in Elementary School. My art teacher, Mrs. Myerson, recommended I go to a Magnet school. My parents never wanted me to pursue art as a profession so they didn’t allow me to go. I stayed in public school but I always excelled and won many awards. By eighth grade I applied to my dream school, New World School of the Arts. However, days before the auditions my sketchbook and a few pieces were accidently thrown away by the custodian. I was devastated but I still went to the audition. Once there, we had to draw a still life but I was sitting in the back and couldn’t see.. Not only because I was too short but I needed glasses and I couldn’t make out the image at all. I didn’t get accepted. I was heartbroken. I began high school at Miami Killian and took a beginning art class. Discouraged from my previous rejection I didn’t put any effort so as a result my teacher gave me a “C”. Mr. Easton gave me that grade because he believed I could do better. He challenged, inspired, and made me love creating art again. I was awarded an art scholarship to Miami-Dade College. During this time I met artist Julia Rivera. She became my mentor, she was the first person I knew who was living off her art. She gladly shared her studio and materials at no cost. Then, I transferred to Florida International University as a fine art major. My paintings of figures did not fit in with their more conceptual preference. There were several negative critiques that caused me to switched my major to art education. This made my parents happy and it allowed me to paint whatever I wanted. Once I changed my major I was able to create more of the type of art I wanted. Most art teachers were not consider a “real” artist anyways. Once I graduated and became a teacher, I never stopped making art. It was a meeting with my advisor Professor David Chang who told me that I was one of the most talented students he has seen and to never stop. I created a series of portraits inspired by my female students called ‘Pretty Girls’. In my graduate show I sold my first painting and I haven’t stopped since then. I have found my purpose, it brings joy to others, and meaning in my life.. Using the gift God has given has opened up doors to this amazing artist life.

Diana Contreras | The “Queen Isabella” mural 40 ft high commissioned by Adriana Hernandez the co-owner of Midtown Pawn Boutique Miami, FL |Photography Misstakes

Opening Reception Thursday, January 16th, 2014, 6 PM to 9 PM An evening with the curator and the artists Exhibition on view January 2nd - February 28th, 2014

TRANSITIONS Victor Matthews & Paolo Nicola Rossini Curated by Natalie Clifford

Show previously traveled to La Biennale di Venezia, 55th International Art Exhibition (June 2013) and Boca Museum of Art (Aug-Sept 2013)

Hours of operation: Monday to Friday 11 AM to 5 PM Saturday by appointment only OXENBERG FINE ART 50 NE 29 Street, Miami, FL 33137 O: 305 854 7104 F: 305 854 7106 gallery@oxenbergart.com www.oxenbergart.com Paolo Nicola Rossini, Still Life 1, 59 x 90.5 inches, pigmented fine art print, 2013

Victor Matthews, Ice Frozen Cold II, 62 x 156 inches, acrylic and wax pencil on canvas, 2013