Cuban American artist Michel Hernandez was born in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba,1975.He immigrated to the United States in 1998, settling in MiamiFlorida,where he continues to live and work. Hernandez studied industrial mechanics in 1993, later at Instituto Superior De arte , Havana, Cuba where he specialized in acting and theatre. He participated at the world renkown Casa de las Americas, 1^st Festival for theatre of performance art, Festival Internacional de Teatro,Camaguey, Cuba.He is recognized in the Island & abroad as one of the most important Vanguard

Performer of the arts. In 2003 he is invited to participate and represent United States in the first cultural exchange with Cuba since 1959. Essentially a self-taught artist, Michel embraced sculpture as a means of expression,exploring his personal identity, both past and present within the context of the ever present human modern condition. “Utilizes a contemporary aesthetic language in his quest for industrial waste,  tansforming the meaning of recycle”, says Diana Alvarez-Amell, Seton Hall University, N.Y. He has been the subject of numerous articles and publications. Michel’s work Has rendered him as one of the most authentic recycled sculptures in Miami

Artist Statement

Selected Exhibitions & Collecions

Miami Biennale 2013, Miami Fl.

Sculpt Miami 2011

Miami Dade College, N.Campus, Miami, Fl.

Centro Cultural Espaniol, Coral Gables, Fl.

Obrapia Fine Arts, Miami, Fl.

International Ballet Festival of Miami, Fl.

Jackie Gleason Performance for the Arts,Miami Fl.

Wasaga Art Space, Miami, Fl.

Teatro nacional de la Havana, Cuba

Teatro Principal, Sanct Spiritus, Cuba.

Teatro Obstaculo, Havana, Cuba.

Manuel Artimes, Miami, Fl

Casa de las Americas, Havana, Cuba.

La Casona de Linea, Havana, Cuba.

Teatro Principal, Camaguey, Cuba.

del joven creador, S.Spiritus, Cuba.

Marcello Daniel Ibanez was born in Argentina and grew up in the Triple Frontier, an area that borders Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Throughout his childhood he lived in each country for different periods of time. From each place he was able to absorb all the diverse cultures that surrounded him. He has always had a passion for drawing and can recall drawing on walls, sidewalks, and even on his clothes. Marcello would draw on anything he could get his hands on. During his teenage years Marcello developed a passion for photography because he started to get bored with drawing alone since it took him too long to perfect what he was trying to express through his art. At sixteen years old he found an old reflex camera in his grandmother’s house and his new journey and appreciation for a quicker way to deliver art through photography began.

After high school, he started attending the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) to study medicine. He changed his mind and changed majors from economics to business administration. During his time in college he realized that school just wasn’t for him because of how structured it can be. He could not stand sitting in school all day when art was his real passion. He then turned to pursuing a career in photography. He began working as a movie projectionist in two movie theaters and quickly found an appreciation for independent films, particularly for the locations the movies were shot in. These films inspired him to travel and he gained a passion for taking pictures of people in different cultures and exotic places around the world. As the economy in Argentina began to fall into a depression Marcello knew he needed to find new opportunities elsewhere to begin showing his art.

Marcello had always had an interest in Miami because it is such a melting pot of all different cultures. One day he decided to take a vacation to Florida and fell in love with Miami, and needless to say he stayed. He started freelancing as a photographer for weddings, events, and fashion shows. Marcello took a job at the Standard hotel in Miami Beach. One day at the hotel he came across a blank chalkboard and had a flashback from his childhood of him drawing on the sidewalk, immediately his passion for drawing returned. He began drawing with (the) colorful chalk and let his mind run free. Customers started to look forward to his drawings and it has now become a part of the hotel’s culture. Since then his chalkboards have gained much exposure and has lead him to work with Ford Motors, NBC, The Japanese Red Cross, The Standard Hotel, Herradura Tequila, exhibitions during Art Basel week, Sleepless Nights, Hollywood Takeover, murals in Wynwood art district as well as many local galleries in Miami. Marcello has finally been able to combine his passion for art in exhibits, galleries and culture events throughout South Florida and has found ways to express himself with no limits.

Introducing Floyd – a pioneer in the Motion Art movement; he is the only artist of his kind who creates art with rock bands. The final product is a revolution on canvas fueled by the music’s energy and Floyd’s art. His art manages to span the commercial, artistic and street worlds.

He has performed with music greats such as Ricardo Montaner, Tito Nieves, Jerry Rivera and Edesio Alejandro (Cuban musian and producer nominated for both the Latin and American Grammys for his documentary 100 Sones Cubanos). Floyd was invited to exhibit his work in New York City at a charity gala event with participants including Victoria Secret models, championship NASCAR winners and elite fashion designers at Gloria Cressler’s Austrian Forum Cultural Event (2010).

During 2009′s Art Basel Week, Floyd was invited by Hardy Hill of Bravo Channels show Miami Social to perform and exhibit at the Victor Hotels relaunch of the Zen Garden, Broward/West Palm Beach New Times’ Artopia (2009) and has had several gallery exhibits in Miami, Coral Gables, Wynwood Design District, Miami Beach, New Orleans and New York.

His work has been auctioned off to benefit organizations such as La Ventana de los Cielos, American Developing Smiles, Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, ONE Campaign to end Poverty, Family Builders, Florida Breast Cancer Foundation and Stand Up.

His performances and art were featured at the Art Miami’s Bridge Art Fair and Green Art Fair in December 2008. In March 2009 he was invited by Irreversible Magazine to exhibit at Arte Americas at the Miami Beach Convention Center and at the 2010 MIA Art Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

SATURDAY MAY 12, 2012 in Miami Beach

Efforts to raise environmental awareness don’t end in the month of April; organizations and communities work year-round to take care of our planet and that is exactly what ArtMiami.TV and Greenpeace, in partnership with the Shelborne Hotel, are doing in Miami Beach this Saturday!

Meeting point; The Shelborne Hotel in South Beach between 18th Street and Collins.

4:00-6:00 p.m. : Huge afternoon event at Lucy’s Cantina Royale at the Shelborne Resort with live DJ Music, Arts & Crafts and Free Giveaways including;

1. A One (1) video commercial made by our crew to promote your art, business or cause. (value$3000)
2. One (1) Decobike.com one year community bike rental memberships! ( value $400)
3. Two (2) A free Artist Profile, Gallery Profile, or Business Profile page on our ArtMiami.TV website! (value $50)

6:00-7:00 p.m. : Help Greenpeace and volunteers to cleanse our shores with a fun beach clean up full of surprises!

7:30-8:30 p.m. : After sunset, on the Hotel beach front, be part of history, making an illuminated Living Sculpture (Flash Mob) Project which will include;

- The building of a large human sculpture of a traditional incandescent light bulb with hand held LED Flash lights. This light bulb will symbolize the old inefficient light source of the past and the LED Flash lights will represent the Eco-friendly future.
- The whole project will be enhanced by live African Musicians, playing drums and dancing to energize the entire project!
- Floyd (The Rock Artist), a pioneer in the Motion Art movement, will be fueled by the project’s music while painting live!
- The entire Miami Beach event will be documented on land by our film crew and from the sky to be an example for future generations of all ages.

Event Attendees
This event is FREE and open to responsible people of all ages. Children are more than welcome and will be engaged in an unforgettable Art event!

Legendary Awareness Artist Billie Grace Lynn is a force to contend with. Over the years she has invested a good chunk of her life amassing and collecting welding and sculpting tools in order to have everything she could possibly need to create her thought provoking art. Once she starts a project she will disappear in her machine shop for months at a time where she will work diligently away in quiet solitude.

To say that her artwork is intense seems to fall short. It is strikingly powerful and has a unique way of dredging up some of our over commercialized and desynthesized senses. She awakens our dormant conscience with the skillful and deliberate use of contradictory symbols, signs, colors, sounds and movement. Her poetic art work is not just a visceral and intellectual experience. It is both kinetic and interactive where the spectator becomes a participant and often leaves with an indelible impression that lasts a life time.

In her own words she strives to make art in which the viewer interface becomes an intrinsic part of both the form and function of the piece. She wants to help people remember themselves in much the same way that babies discover their fingers for the first time. She feels that she has left her mark when the viewer/participant walks away and continues their journey in life more aware, in tune and in sync with themselves and their environment.

In 2008 when Billie Grace completed her “Mad Cow Bike” she was not prepared for the impact and overwhelming response she would receive from her fans, the media and public. The Mad Cow electric bike is a subtle albeit bold statement about animal farming abuses. When Billie Grace takes her artistic creation to the streets, her installation “performatics” begin when curious bystanders ask why she is riding a bike made out of a cow skeleton. This is when her gentle diatribe ensues about our food choices and she starts raising awareness about the unfair treatment of animals.

In 2011 Billie Grace Lynn was awarded the prestigious West Prize for the Mad Cow Bike. The West Collection chose Billie Grace among thousands of global applicants because of her remarkable kinetic sculpture and the important message it delivers about environmentalism. She has been using the prize money to build a fuel efficient diesel Mad Cow II Motorcycle that she will drive cross country and continue raising awareness about animal farming. The date for her maiden voyage will be announced in the coming months.

Billie Grace Lynn studied philosophy and religious studies as an undergraduate at Tulane University in New Orleans. She went on to earn an MFA in Sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute and is currently a Professor of Sculpture at the University of Miami.

By Tina Cornely

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jude Thegenus, better known to some as Papaloko, is an artist, whose work is born through trance, the act of falling into a deep meditative state and then being possessed by a spirit whose purpose is to paint strokes of life onto canvas. At about age six, Jude moved on to study sculpture and ceramics, in addition to his dimension interest, at the Art Institute of Saint Jean Bosco and later completed his education at Lycee Antenor Firmin. Thegenus has mastered all the disciplines of Haitian art, from native to modern. He has developed a unique and personal style of working with acrylics. His one-of-a-kind textural compositions create a serene excitement.
Thegenus’ work experiences are in the field of education, illustration, graphic design, sign making and many other disciplines of the visual arts. Solo and group exhibits have been held in his native Haiti as well as Trinidad, Canada, France, and the United States. Papaloko’s work can be found internationally in galleries, private homes, cafés, restaurants and nightclubs. He is currently putting the final touches on a eighteen-year project at Mango’s Tropical Café on Ocean Drive in South Beach, where he was commissioned to design a tropical atmosphere (that covers the entire the facility) within the realms of his extreme creative talent, with paint that shines vibrantly during the day and turns 3-dimentional in the evening hours. A full mural by Papaloko is also featured in the private home of championship boxer Lenox Lewis, as well as at locations such as Tap Tap in South Beach, Club Paradise in New York, and outside the United States in Aruba, Switzerland and Panama.
Rich in natural passion, Thegenus brings a vivid awareness of man’s closeness and attachment to the “Spirit World” through his art. After completing a period of study for the Roman Catholic priesthood, Jude determined that a more culturally rooted spirituality would be the road he would take and thus begun a more in depth study of the Vodoun Temple. In 1989 he turned again to music forming a group, Loray Mistik, a vodou pop band. Prior to Loray, Jude got his feet wet with the popular Rara band Koleksyon Kazak. Branching out with Loray allowed Jude to more fully exhibit his talents while teaming up with the power of Vodou ceremonies, panorama, and songs of the drum.
In 1999 Jude founded in Miami Jakmel Art Gallery, Cultural Center and Caribbean Backyard, a center for cultural diversity, awareness, positivity and creation. Jakmel Art Gallery, is currently located at 2701a NW 2nd Ave, in the heart of Wynwood Art District. Jude Thegenus is a son of Haiti who also led the call for justice in times of civil right violations, such as with the case of Abner Louima’s brutal sodomizing at the hands of New York police officers. Jude’s own sense of moral outrage led him to organize fundraisers for Louima’s defense fund, like an “International Music Festival” in Miami’s Design District, along with other South Florida performing artists.
In 2005 Jude established a non-profit organization, Papaloko4Kids, with the mission of empowering the youth from all communities through the arts. Having witnessed the tragic living conditions that many children experience in Haiti, he committed himself to help the youth in need using the talent he was given, his art. Papaloko4Kids came to life with the goal of providing a space for the children to learn music, dance, arts and crafts, express their talents and be exposed to a positive environment to help their growth with a sense of community and unity.Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jude Thegenus, better known to some as Papaloko, is an artist, whose work is born through trance, the act of falling into a deep meditative state and then being possessed by a spirit whose purpose is to paint strokes of life onto canvas. At about age six, Jude moved on to study sculpture and ceramics, in addition to his dimension interest, at the Art Institute of Saint Jean Bosco and later completed his education at Lycee Antenor Firmin. Thegenus has mastered all the disciplines of Haitian art, from native to modern. He has developed a unique and personal style of working with acrylics. His one-of-a-kind textural compositions create a serene excitement.
Thegenus’ work experiences are in the field of education, illustration, graphic design, sign making and many other disciplines of the visual arts. Solo and group exhibits have been held in his native Haiti as well as Trinidad, Canada, France, and the United States. Papaloko’s work can be found internationally in galleries, private homes, cafés, restaurants and nightclubs. He is currently putting the final touches on a eighteen-year project at Mango’s Tropical Café on Ocean Drive in South Beach, where he was commissioned to design a tropical atmosphere (that covers the entire the facility) within the realms of his extreme creative talent, with paint that shines vibrantly during the day and turns 3-dimentional in the evening hours. A full mural by Papaloko is also featured in the private home of championship boxer Lenox Lewis, as well as at locations such as Tap Tap in South Beach, Club Paradise in New York, and outside the United States in Aruba, Switzerland and Panama.
Rich in natural passion, Thegenus brings a vivid awareness of man’s closeness and attachment to the “Spirit World” through his art. After completing a period of study for the Roman Catholic priesthood, Jude determined that a more culturally rooted spirituality would be the road he would take and thus begun a more in depth study of the Vodoun Temple. In 1989 he turned again to music forming a group, Loray Mistik, a vodou pop band. Prior to Loray, Jude got his feet wet with the popular Rara band Koleksyon Kazak. Branching out with Loray allowed Jude to more fully exhibit his talents while teaming up with the power of Vodou ceremonies, panorama, and songs of the drum.
In 1999 Jude founded in Miami Jakmel Art Gallery, Cultural Center and Caribbean Backyard, a center for cultural diversity, awareness, positivity and creation. Jakmel Art Gallery, is currently located at 2701a NW 2nd Ave, in the heart of Wynwood Art District. Jude Thegenus is a son of Haiti who also led the call for justice in times of civil right violations, such as with the case of Abner Louima’s brutal sodomizing at the hands of New York police officers. Jude’s own sense of moral outrage led him to organize fundraisers for Louima’s defense fund, like an “International Music Festival” in Miami’s Design District, along with other South Florida performing artists.
In 2005 Jude established a non-profit organization, Papaloko4Kids, with the mission of empowering the youth from all communities through the arts. Having witnessed the tragic living conditions that many children experience in Haiti, he committed himself to help the youth in need using the talent he was given, his art. Papaloko4Kids came to life with the goal of providing a space for the children to learn music, dance, arts and crafts, express their talents and be exposed to a positive environment to help their growth with a sense of community and unity.

Eduardo Kobra is an exponent of neovanguarda Paulo. His talent emerged around 1987, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, and soon the city and spreads. Following the developments that urban art has gained in Sao Paulo, convergeu Kobra – Kobra with Studio, created in the 1990s – for an original mural, inspired by different artists, especially painters Mexicans, and taking advantage of its features artist experimenter, good draftsman and skilful realist painter. In this way, he develops the project “Walls of memory” that seeks to transform the urban landscape through art and to rescue the memory of the city. Summary of its peculiar way of creating, through which adheres pint but also interferes and supersedes scenes and characters from the first decades of the twentieth century, this is a joint project of nostalgia and modernity, resulting in scenographic paintings, some monumental.Through these portals to create nostalgic moments of the city, the greatest of these murals, measuring 1000 m2, was carried out in 2009 on Avenue on May 23, commemorating the anniversary of St. Paul.

Kobra presents works feature-rich, light and sombra.O result is a series of three-dimensional wall allowing the public to interact with the work. The idea is to establish a comparison between air and the atmosphere of romantic nostalgia, with constant agitation characteristic of big cities like Sao Paulo is today.

In parallel, Kobra performs exhibitions inside and outside Brazil, as well as research on recycled materials and new technologies such as 3D paint on floors. The artist made the Patriarch Plaza, in downtown Sao Paulo, the first 3D paint on the floor of Brazil. The anamorphic technique is to “fool the eye”, the painting might look distorted at a certain angle, but viewed from the correct angle, it is stipulated by the artist “becomes” 3D, featuring an amazing range of depth and realism. The artist’s latest project, called “Green Painter,” artistically aims to combat the various types of attacks the nature of man and the environment.

Restless and relentless in their creative pursuits, Kobra is today a phenomenon of Brazilian art neovanguarda that “already” is not allowed to ignore.

BIOGRAPHY

Lara Patricia Campiglia Monzon develops a successful career as business leader in the real estate and construction industries in Montevideo, Uruguay for over 15 years, as founder of Patricia Campiglia Real Estate and one of the 3 directors of Campiglia Development; at the same time her interest for art is reflected by the need she feels to learn and explore everything related to it.

She starts to experiment  painting and engraving at Freddie Faux, Juan Carlos Rua and Taller Pocitos art shops; studies Art Science (1991-1992), Arquitecture (1993-1995), Major in Marketing (1996-1998); Graphic Design (1990-1991). Lara continues her education at Taller Botijo (1993-1994), Taller Montevideo (1996-1998), with Clever Lara (2006) and as of 2008 with Fernando Lopez Lage at the Contemporary Art Foundation.

In 2008 Lara makes the life changing decision to work full time on what is clearly her passion: contemporary art; beginning a new stage in her life. In 2010 she finally cuts any ties left with the business world, which for many years defined who she was, to welcome the artist in her.

2008

• Contemporary Art Foundation – permanent exhibit (Montevideo)

2009

• VIP room Carrasco’s International Airport – permanent exhibit (Montevideo)

2010

• Opening Museum Condominium – solo exhibit  (Montevideo)
• Cygnus Condominium – group exhibit (Montevideo)
• La Licorne Bookstore, grand opening – solo exhibit (Montevideo)
• Film performance, Contemporary Art Foundation – guest artist (Montevideo)
• Crística – Pablo Atchugarry Foundation – Group Exhibit (Punta del Este)
• MyWay Art – solo exhibit (Punta del Este)

2011

• Selenza Hotel & Residences – group exhibit (Punta del Este)
• 7 artistas 7 países, Museo de las Américas – group exhibit (Miami)
• Bar Tabaré – solo exhibit (Montevideo)
• Grand opening/main lobby Aquarius Condominium – group exhibit (Montevideo)
• Museo Latino – solo exhibit (Pomona, California)
• Red Dot Fair, Art Basel week – group exhibit (Miami)

2012

• Lara Campiglia Atelier & Art Gallery (La Barra, Punta del Este)
• Amsterdam Whitney Gallery – group exhibit (Chelsea, New York)
• Apeiron Art Plus – group exhibit (Estambul, Turquia)
• Go Modern grand opening event, series “City from the Sky” – solo exhibit (Miami)

Upcoming projects:

• Museo Juan Zorrilla de San Martin, series “City from the Sky” – solo exhibit (Montevideo)
• Crisolart Gallery – group exhibit (Barcelona)

Gallery – group exhibit (Vienna)