Art Miami 2017
Art Miami 2017
DECEMBER 5, 2017 THROUGH DECEMBER 10, 2017
MIAMI- Wexler Gallery is pleased to be exhibiting at Art Miami from December 5th through the 10th , at One Herald Plaza at NE 14th Street On Biscayne Bay in Downtown Miami.
“Our mission is to exhibit art of all extremities together, creating carefully curated spaces where work from our talented roster of emerging artists and designers to contemporary art world heavy-hitters can seamlessly coexist,” said Victoria Rosenberger, Wexler Gallery Associate Director. “We take great pride in breaking down the traditional boundaries that categorize art, and bringing this vision to Art Miami for the first time this year.”
Along with important works by Sean Scully and Julian Opie, as well as new work by Parisian Art and Design studio Harow, one of Wexler Gallery’s standout artists, Roberto Lugo, will be using his work to break down cultural boundaries within their exhibition as well.
Lugo, named the 2018 Ceramic Artist of the Year and self-proclaimed Ghetto Potter, will be exhibiting a brand new body of porcelain work inspired by the colorful tin-glazed statuary technique invented by Florentine master sculptor Luca Della Robbia in the 1400s.
“I think about the cultures typically represented in various facets of historical artwork, and I am inspired to give a voice to under-represented minorities by revisiting these traditional techniques and proudly depicting faces that look like mine,” said Artist Roberto Lugo. “Della Robbia tiles are an important and prolific movement in the history of art, and the stark white glaze used on its sculpted figures presented in my mind as a blank canvas. Instead, I have applied black skin, the skin of my ancestors. I also reference orange and black Greek pottery motifs alluding to the orange jumpsuits worn by so many black faces in the US prison system.“
Lugo's work has been compared to Kehinde Wilde's portraits of young people of color in heroic poses, often based on famous historical paintings, and Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton's use of hip hop wigs and waistcoats treatment of the American Revolution. Lugo uses porcelain, a traditionally precious material, as his medium of choice, illuminating its aristocratic surface with imagery of poverty, inequality and social and racial injustice. Lugo's works are multicultural mash-ups, traditional European and Asian porcelain forms and techniques reimagined with a 21st-century street sensibility. Their hand-painted surfaces feature classic decorative patterns and motifs combined with elements of modern urban graffiti and portraits of individuals whose faces are historically absent on type of ornate luxury item – people like Sojourner Truth, Cornel West, and The Notorious BIG, as well as Lugo's family members and, very often, himself. Faces framed by colorful patterns are prominent and often in direct contrast, such as a confederate flag surrounding the faces of victims of racial discrimination.
In its 28th year, Art Miami has secured its position as one of the most important fairs and is globally recognized as a primary destination for the acquisition of the most important works from the 20th and 21st centuries in collaboration with a selection of the world’s most respected galleries.
Wexler Gallery exhibits work that coexists in the expressive realms of design, fine art and contemporary glass and ceramics. Questioning and testing the boundaries of these fields, Wexler Gallery aims to present functional and non-functional work that consistently celebrates innovation as much as aesthetic beauty.
The Wexler Gallery is located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia. We invite you to visit our gallery or explore our website at www.wexlergallery.com.
Wexler Gallery is open to the public Tuesday-Saturday 10:00am – 6:00 pm., and Monday by appointment.
For high resolution images or additional information, please contact victoria@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030.