GeoVanna Gonzalez is a Miami-based artist and curator, and the first commissioned artist of Commissioner’s third season. Her practice explores shifting notions of gender and identity in our environment, and the relationships between the organic and the technological. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California where she received her BFA at Otis College of Art and Design. Read More
A.G. is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Miami, and the first commissioned artist of our second season. When asked about his creative process, he explained, "I’m not big on metaphors, but show business is a good metaphor for the way I see things. It’s also not a metaphor at all—it’s quite literal. It’s the way we navigate the world, the way we navigate with other people and our environments. Everything is produced in one way or another." Read More
The Deering Estate is proud to exhibit FACING GAIA, a 10-foot interactive sculptural intervention that invites the community to participate in the creation of an artwork. FACING GAIA, a Deering Spring Contemporary Project, will be on display at Deering Estate from October 29, 2020 – December 21, 2020, courtesy of the artist and Spinello Projects. Creating fabrications from steel, wood, and gold-polished aluminum, Sinisa Kukec has provided an environment within the Deering Estate grounds for both personal introspections and a reflection of ourselves within nature. FACING GAIA is emblematic of Kukec’s exploratory practice, where the artist highlights the indeterminable facets of community and self. Kukec has cultivated this thread within his work, which is a result of his own observations. He invites viewers to do the same through FACING GAIA. Gaia, meaning “earth,” ties the reflective process of this project to the physical space it and its participants occupy. The monolithic component of FACING GAIA is accompanied by a pile of crushed granite stones, which visitors are encouraged to responsibly collaborate through Kukec’s vision and throw at the monolith to metamorphosize the surface. Participants are asked to leave the rock where it falls after being thrown. Director of Photography & […] Read More
Director of Photography & Camera Op: Jorge Gonzalez-Graupera (Jorge Graupera Films) Produced & Edited by Jorge Gonzalez-Graupera (Jorge Graupera Films) Aerial Cinematography by Javier Sanchez (Light Is Beauty) Post Production Audio by Daniel Abrusci (Loyal Sound) Special Thanks to Melissa Diaz Extended Connections is part of Deering Spring Contemporary Projects organized by Melissa Diaz – Cultural Arts Curator, Deering Estate. With assistance by Dianley Cabrera – Curatorial & Programs Associate, Deering Estate and Sofia Guerra – Curatorial & Historic Preservation Intern, Deering Estate. Special thanks to Robert Scharnagl, Jacqueline Gopie, Gerbi Tsesarskaia, Kerry Phillips, Dan Walker, Jenna Efrein, O’Neal Bardin III. Cultural Arts Programming at the Deering Estate is made possible 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, and The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc. Read More
Natalia Garcia-Lee’s new suite of paintings are the culmination of her study of human behavior from the perspective of neuroscience and is located at the intersection of art and science. Through a series intricately applied layers of paint and interlacing patterns, Garcia-Lee’s paintings trace the chemical processes of the brain that cause human beings to react, feel and exist in response to a world of stimuli. She refers to these works as the “Monkey Mind” series in reference to the Buddhist concept of the restless and reactive state of the mind of the contemporary world. Each painting in the series illustrates a reaction or chemical process and can be understood as an interconnected framework of neurons and neurotransmitters that form the mind and behavior. Through her use of atmospheric colors and layering, Garcia-Lee’s paintings recall the depth of color field painting and demonstrate her command of the language of abstraction. Director of Photography & Camera Op: Jorge Gonzalez-Graupera Produced & Edited by Jorge Gonzalez-Graupera Drone Photography by Javier Sanchez Post Production Audio by Daniel Abrusci (Loyal Sound) Special Thanks to Melissa Diaz Monkey Mind is part of Deering Spring Contemporary Projects organized by Melissa Diaz – Cultural Arts Curator, Deering […] Read More
For his new work, current artist-in-residence Richard Moreno took inspiration from the architectural structures produced for world’s fairs as well as the 1922 Stone House. The Mysteries of the First Stone is a large temporary structure built to house a resin-casted limestone found at the Deering Estate. It draws a poetic connection between humanity and the bedrock of South Florida. Oolitic limestone is a composite of fossilized organisms that form together over time and serve as a document of the life that has passed through a site. Moreno was fascinated by the evidence of over 10,000 years of human occupancy on this site and envisions a mysticism about the land at the Deering Estate that drew Charles Deering to protect it over 100 years ago. This work highlights the history of artists seeking to capture the divine in nature dating back to the earliest known works of art. Director of Photography & Camera Op: Jorge Gonzalez-Graupera (Jorge Graupera Films) Produced & Edited by Jorge Gonzalez-Graupera (Jorge Graupera Films) Aerial Cinematography by Javier Sanchez (Light Is Beauty) Post Production Audio by Daniel Abrusci (Loyal Sound) Special Thanks to Melissa Diaz The Mysteries of the First Stone is part of Deering Spring […] Read More
For more than thirty years, Miami-based artist Karen Rifas has amassed a body of work that endeavors to understand and re-imagine space. Well known for her minimal cord and leaf installations, and precise, methodical line drawings, in 2016, Rifas began a focused exploration into the constructive possibilities of color. Employing densely hued shapes and irregular lines, Rifas creates spaces that oscillate between the two- and three-dimensional. Deceptive Constructions surveys this recent body of work for the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in over 10 years. Through variegated floor and sculptural installations, works on paper, and wood panel, Rifas uses a concise language of richly contrasted color to alter our perception of space. Karen Rifas (Chicago, b. 1942) lives and works in Miami. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at: Emerson Dorsch (2017), Meeting House Gallery (2016), MDC Museum of Art + Design (2015), De La Cruz Collection (2010), Pinnacle Gallery, Savannah College of Art and Design (2007), Polk Museum of Art (2004), and Museo De Arte Comtemporaneo, Panama City (1993). She has also exhibited in group shows and presented the following projects: Transphysics, Art and Culture Center, Hollywood (2017), 100+ Degrees in the Shade: A Survey of South Florida Art […] Read More
Ugo Rondinone’s Miami Mountain follows his iconic mountain series, recognizable for their brightly colored, fluorescent contrasting palates. Miami Mountain is the latest in the series and has been acquired by The Bass. The work, towering 42 feet tall, is permanently installed in Collins Park, on the corner of 21st Street and Collins Avenue. It is the first of its kind to be acquired by a museum and signifies the launch of The Bass’ new acquisitions initiative, a ten year program to acquire contemporary works into the permanent collection. Rondinone’s first foray into monumentalizing the mountain series came in May 2016 when he unveiled Seven Magic Mountains, a site specific installation comprised of 35 megalithic boulders, stacked into seven columns situated in the desert outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Miami Mountain, a singular column, consists of five boulders, boasting fluorescent colors and is considered to be one of the most important works of land art in the past 40 years. Mediating between geological formations and abstract compositions, Rondinone’s Miami Mountain traveled across the country to Miami Beach this fall. The work finds its geological inspiration in the “hoodoo” rock formations of the North American Badlands. Hoodoos are naturally occurring stacks of rock which form as the silt and sediment at the edge of plateaus washes away over time, leaving only the densest earth behind. The tradition of […] Read More
