Warehouse Art by the Train Tracks
The Outsiders took over a warehouse by the train tracks at 7620 NE 4th Court on Saturday January 7th for the opening of a one week show curated by Kiki Valdes.
The Outsiders featured various Miami and New York based artists. When asked about the title, Kiki explained “I picked ‘The Outsiders’ because all the artists in the show do not necessarily show all the time. They do their thing. A lot of times artists tend to feel like outsiders because they might not follow a particular trend so automatically they are like outsiders. They might not care about what’s in. I do not think that’s how art should be measured. It should be measured by its merit, its devotion and its time and sincerity.”
The devotion and talent of this group of artists was on display in the warehouse transformed into an exhibit space outside of expected conventions. The whitewashed walls of the warehouse provided ample space for the paintings, installations and sculptures plus the artists and guests who came out for the opening.
Eric Torriente’s 9ft tall sculpture was a focal point. Entitled “Aphrodisian”, the mixed media piece, according to the artist “consists of a central male character surrounded by seductive females. The universally themed sculpture depicts the male character fantasizing and lusting for a variety of woman while his wife or partner sits alone in the back of the sculpture reading ambiguous letters.”
Other stand out pieces were “Wall, Painting & Lights” by George Sanchez-Calderon, the site-specific installation “Skinner Camp” by Johnny Laderer, the photograph of fetish artists “Kembra and Viva” by Kristy Leibowitz, Nicole Soden’s silver aluminum sculpture “Swallow“, which won best female sculpture at the NADA Art Fair and the photograph of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna by Dianne Radler.
Edward Crowell II contributed a rather interesting piece from his “Romantic Ramblings” series. As the artist explains, the painting focuses “on text/poetry as visual art while being very disconnected from an absolute visual understanding.” Crowell says “ It’s completely up to the viewers senses to chose whether or not they want to see the lines and shapes of the words or they want to actually try and read the poems within the paintings.”
Kiki Valdes, himself an artist, exhibited 10 paintings. One large black and white oil painting entitled “Face-Time” mixed expressionism with cartoon elements. A series of nine smaller paintings, abstract versions of women who affected his life, depicted as the nine Greek muses.
The trod off the beaten path turned The Outsiders into a sure insider tip and one of the most talked about exhibits. We are already excited to see what Kiki Valdes and his friends have in store next.
