Tags archives: Belaxis Buil
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5 years ago
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by Beláxis Buil
We met a few years back. Our meeting encounter happened during an exhibition Intersectionality, 2016 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, Florida. Eurydice Kamvyselli struck me as a woman who resists nonsense, but more so, foolishness from any opponent who questions her prerogative. But her confrontation is directed towards men (since it has been men creating most sex scandals), and rescuing our vaginas and womanhood, as an agency. Her ammunition deeply roots in communication and literature, with an array of published books on sexual identity, investigations on socio-sexual practices and the raging plague of sexual violation women face every day.
In her first novel, F/32, she tells the story of a "woman's vagina abandoning her body as a stranger on the street is assaulting her." It is not to say Eurydice has a problem with sex, but more specifically, she reminds us of how women are silenced when faced with the woe of the patriarchs' contamination of its true meaning and intention. After all, sex should be an element of power for women in both public and private spaces, not a transactional feature as compromised in Western capitalism.
Her practice as a writer, visual artist, speaker, and activist has given her a voice: one that aims to dismantle "the patriarchy that binds women to its words, laws, paradigms, and aesthetics." Since the #METOO movement, Eurydice grabbed the "bull by its horns" and commenced a new project: SpeakSex Podcas[...]
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6 years ago
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Traveling opens one's eyes to truths that otherwise become lost to distance, suspicions, and misinformation. By traveling, we connect with cultures and find out about crippling circumstances that may impair individuals from being included in global communications in which they should participate.
During a recent trip to Costa Rica, I found some surprising facts on the local view on art. First, I must disclose: aside from national institutions, there are hardly any galleries in the city of San Jose. Some of the residents claim an enormous problem with the few public works facing vandalism or individuals uncertain of art's purpose in a town, or even as a serious career.
It is true that cultural institutions such as the National Museum of Costa Rica and the Jade Museum boast an extraordinary dose of Pre-Columbian art and jade artifacts. MADC ( Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo) exudes a lovely exterior and has gained the public interest of many traveling abroad because it is one of the only contemporary art spaces in the city.
Upon entering the space, there were two modestly small galleries. The first had a few paintings wrapped in plastic. It seemed as though a transition of works was taking place. The second displayed smaller pieces lined up in a row or salon-style arrangements.
Towards the back wall, a larger-scaled painting with jagged angles in vibrant blues textured, ragged greens, and crisp whites stood out as a lovely landscape. Perhaps, one of Cost[...]
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6 years ago
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South Florida has become a considerable pocket of art in the last 12 years. Maybe even longer. Being so close to the equator makes the southernmost region of the United States pretty hot, climatically so, but in respect to artists turning heads in the city and bringing attention to the area (particularly Miami), artists with distinct backgrounds and practices are turning up the heat, making it hotter than before by addressing pressing issues.
Discussions such as climate change, gentrification, South Florida's wildlife in the Everglades, preservation of local cultures and historical sites, or identity-politics seem to be on the artist's minds and leak well into the works.
Every blossoming artist has a unique perspective and aesthetic to offer the public. Competition between peers shouldn't be a factor in success, but instead should be acknowledged and applauded. Miami's sundry is key to the city's progress in the arts. It can be pretty hard to keep up with the talent and "who is who," but even more so trivial to find individuals who care enough to spread the spotlight onto the enormous mass of creatives.
Amid the roaring sea of Miami artists, two women producers Elysa Batista, and Maria Theresa Barbist decided to pair up as a team. The result was the birth of Rocking Chair Sessions- spontaneous interviews with a list of preordained invitees from the arts community. The meeting's format discloses both professional and personal information to the public, making it [...]
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6 years ago
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Federico Guzmán (AKA Fiko) has become an iconic figure in Western Sahara, utilizing the platform art offers as a vehicle to promote peace and social change to the Saharawi people. Guzmán treads between a soldier of solidarity and curator of cultures emphasizing on gatherings, art, and experiences that will induce an exchange of ideas and collaborations between artists and wherever his projects realize, and the local community.
For twelve years Guzmán has co-organized ARTifariti The Arts and Human Rights Encounters of Western Sahara in the African desert "as a way to explain the circumstances of the Saharawi people " creating a "weapon of visibility" to a story not globally known by many nor should be hidden from the public eye: and with projects such as ARTifariti one sees the opportunity to include foreign narratives and artists distanced by unfavorable political circumstances into the art world”.
The selected artists demonstrate couth in human rights and its relevance within the arts, but more importantly "are confronted a reality" that is life-changing from personal to professional, receiving a surreal cultural exchange with fresh perspectives and resilient power from the Sahawari people (especially from the matriarch figure whose role is to lead the community).
During 2018's visitation in the Sahara, the artists delve into intense creative processes of art-making, finally exhibiting and documenting the work(s). Collaborations are accessible on the list of act[...]
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6 years ago
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Tina La Porta opens her first solo exhibition, Side Effects in South Florida on September 29th in the FAR Gallery at FATVillage Projects. The presentation is a candid oeuvre on La Porta's encounter with mental illness and her skilled approach to creating a pharmaceutical, candy-like frenzy to the viewer's eye and psyche.
Far Gallery is a long corridor of two walls facing North and South to the main entrance, making the task for any curator or artist challenging to organize works within the space without it becoming predictable. Nonetheless, La Porta and curators Vee Carallo and Leah Brown strategized the area by assembling the wall sculptures in a non-linear format, concentrating on colors, geometric designs within the works and by the story of each prescription pill.
Although La Porta is open about her way of life and how her functionality depends on the suppression her pills provide, she also comments in Indian Summer (2003) on the comfortable accessibility people have to order any prescription online. With its deceiving romantic shades of pink and old rose, Indian Summer 2003 exudes an ill feeling to a morning-after pill, direct from India without any proper instructions or what damaging side effects one is to expect from it.
From La Porta's grueling process to crush each pill, comes the construction of a larger disk or shape resembling a small tablet filled with an array of smaller capsules sprinkled in vibrant colors and delicious enough to want to bite. The scu[...]
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6 years ago
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Milly Cardoso was born and raised in Miami, Florida and is the Director and Curator for the University of Miami Gallery in the Wynwood Art District. Prior to joining University of Miami, she worked for the Miami Art Museum (Pérez Art Museum, Miami) and the Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Private Collection.
Milly is currently organizing an all-female group exhibition titled " Yes, I'm a Witch" to be presented at FATVillage Projects on September 24 – October 28, 2018, strongly supporting the works of local artists residing in South Florida.
I decided to chat with Milly about America's obsession with the topic, what or who determines a witch and the '' mass hysteria" ( of sorts) we still face today.
Interview with Milly Cardoso:
BB: From my understanding, it's been stated, you title the exhibitions you curate after songs? Why is that?
MC: Not for every exhibition, but yes, I’m very inspired by music. Lyrics inspire me. I hear a great lyric and think “that would make a fantastic exhibition.” I like every genre; I feel sorry for people who only listen to one form of music. They don’t know what they’re missing.
BB: What song, in particular, has most personally affected an exhibition? How so?
It’s difficult to pick a favorite, but it would have to be Clang, Boom, Steam. It’s an exhibition I curated in 2013 with male artists that focused on the state of masculinity in contemporary art. Clang, Boom, Steam is a song by Tom Waits. It’s only 52 seconds long, but it delive[...]
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6 years ago
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One of the things I used to detest so much as a child was watching the Spanish actress Charo shaking her ass and screaming out “cuchi, cuchi!" on stage. Her famous act would make my blood boil. Please, Charo, forgive me (for we are both Spanish, Latin women) but you're capitalizing on broken English and the need to be sexy all the time, and I wonder if you helped shape the brand, image for Latin women.
There is more to my personal history with Charo's legacy than growing up watching her on television: my paternal grandmother was a performer too and there was a crossing of paths between these influential Latin women. Seeing such a beautiful Latin woman depicted in Charo’s characteristic way was beyond me. I questioned this image constantly, wondering about the advantages of being famously sexy and vulnerable. As opposed to all the women in my family who were immigrants and championed higher education. They worked as professionals, speaking fluent English, and every single one of them was extraordinarily attractive.
On one hand, I saw Charo as a brilliant entrepreneur. She seized the opportunity to commoditize a stereotype and hence became a star with a net worth of twelve billion dollars. In a society where money is synonymous with power, that is a ton of power.
In contrast to Charo's sexy Latina character, Panamanian artist Sandra Eleta tapped into another Latin female stereotype by photographing housemaids, albeit, with a much different attitude depicted in her su[...]
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6 years ago
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It was the industrial revolution that first attempted to record sound “as a medium for preservation," activating the phenomena of noise as an integral source when documenting history. Thomas Edison received notoriety for the phonograph in 1877, but it was really Edouard-Lèon Scott de Martinsville who invented the phonautograph in 1857, the first recording device. The device was specifically created to study frequency found in sounds, an intention much different from the phonograph invented by Edison which was to play and “reproduce the recorded sound… originally recorded onto a tinfoil”. As per historical reference ( author unknown ), “The phonograph revolutionized the art of music. Performances were recorded and people could listen to them at their leisure. It also made music and communication more public. The invention signaled the birth of a new form of entertainment and an entirely new field of business that fed the demand for the new invention, the music industry”- hence both inventions put an end to the masses' naiveté to the sense of hearing, and introduced the start of audio’s sensational future possibilities.
When we fast forward through the history of music and sound, we could say that the underground rave music scene (which famously erupted somewhere in between Chicago and the UK during the late 80’s), had a lot of thanking to give the founding fathers of sound, more so Edison’s phonograph. It was the phonograph that gathered groups of people before a speake[...]
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8 years ago
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"NYC based arts organization Art for Progress (AFP) teams up with local Miami artists to celebrate the link between Cuban and South Florida culture for Art Basel 2016."
NYC based arts organization Art for Progress (AFP) teams up with local Miami artists to celebrate the link between Cuban and South Florida culture for Art Basel 2016. The events will take place in South Beach with an art exhibit opening on Friday evening and a rooftop- fashion, music and performance art event titled, Cosa Rica is set for Saturday night.
The art exhibition, “P.U.E.N.T.E.” which opens Friday evening (6:00pm – 9:00pm) December 2nd, will feature eleven artists (Nestor Arenas, Willie Avedano, Orestes De La Paz, Michael Gray, Catalina Jaramillo, Brandy Lynn, Guido Mena, Cristina Victor, Sterling Rock, Belaxis Buil)working in various mediums (paintings, sculpture, installation, textile and drawings).
After many decades of frosty relations between the U.S. and Cuba, the recent positive developments have brought a feeling of excitement and hope to the Cuban people of both South Florida and Cuba. The exhibition observes the relationship of the artist to their environment- changing landscapes and ability to adapt-retreat, refuge and escape. The show which will run through Sunday, December 5th and is curated by Belaxis Buil whose work has been exhibited in “Intersectionality” and “Taz” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, Art Shanghai, China, Tacheles Museum, Germany and Art Basel Miam[...]
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