Tuesday, November 23, 2010
MYUNG-SIK KIM Wins 7th Art Prize Award
Opening reception with the artist
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm
184 Insa-dong Jongro-Gu
Seoul, Korea
The exhibition continues through December 11th
Gallery hours: 10:00 to 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday
Please contact the gallery for further information:
LOCATION: 184 Insa-dong, Jongro-Gu, Seoul Korea
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday-Saturday
TELEPHONE: 02-734-0458
FAX:(02)738-4018
Sunday, November 14, 2010
'Elusive Landscape' by Dinorah de Jesus Rodriguez Opens this Thursday, November 18th
"Elusive Landscape"
Dinorah de Jesus Rodriguez
Thursday, Nov 18, 7 - 9pm
Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator
3938 N. Miami Ave
Elusive Landscape promotes environmental awareness by celebrating Miami's lush urban greenspaces and natural eco-systems. It connects the city’s diverse audiences and neighborhoods by engaging everyday people with an experience that is sensorial, magical, celebratory and rooted in nature. By presenting similar events across the city, the project becomes a shared, unifying experience.
Elusive Landscape is culminating as a solo exhibition at Diaspora Vibe this Thursday, November 18. It features film footage from all sites, with video and still images from each event, and an exhibition of the actual hand-crafted film strips.
Join us at Diaspora Vibe Gallery
3938 N. Miami Ave, Miami, FL 33127
305.573.4046
rgw@diasporavibe.net
www.diasporavibe.net www.diaweb.diasporavibe.net www.diasporavibegallery.blogspot.com
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
from the Collector's Series
Friday, October 1, 2010
Collector's Series Event: Wednesday, October 13
Please RSVP:
305-573-4046
rgw@diasporavibe.net or rogwall3@yahoo.com
Saturday, September 18, 2010
South Florida Times Reviews Carib~bean Exhibit
Diaspora Exhibit Captures Carib~bean Essence
by Kimberly Grant
I’m not one for attending gallery exhibits. Most of the time, what people deem as art is just one hot mess to me. When I do view art, I tend to gravitate to art that is aesthetically pleasing, which probably makes me an art neophyte.
The Diaspora Vibe Gallery, the only gallery I seem to have an interest in these days, is a good space for art catering to an urban clientele. It’s a decent-sized space with solid hard wood floors and white walls that come alive with art. The gallery’s latest exhibit is an ode to Caribbean artwork, called Carib~bean, The Way You Like It. Seven artists have chosen the gallery to showcase a few of their paintings and renderings of Caribbean life.
Patricia Boyd-Roldan, whose inspiration came from living in the Philippines for a period of time, has a collection of paintings that are of tropical flora. The detailing in Roldan’s paintings is magnificent and aesthetically pleasing. The artist also captures the serenity and beauty of nature at its most colorful.
Lisa Remeny, a native of Miami and a California College of the Arts graduate, loves to paint seascapes and play with the sun and the moon. Her oil-based paintings, inspired by islands from the Caribbean to the South Pacific, are large and seem to bring rays of sunshine to any space. Remeny’s A Little Way Different, with its turquoise-colored wood and splash of orange is gorgeous.
A Little Way actually made me want to escape within the turquoise of the wood. With its shadow of palm leaves and vibrant colors, it creates the perfect Caribbean vibe.
Brian Wong Won, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, grew up a stone’s throw away from where Carnival is held and his paintings are inspired by happenings in the annual street celebration. The artist had a bad experience at Carnival when he was 4 years old that obviously influenced his view of the festival. His paintings seem happy, at first, but the worried looks on the faces of some of his people convey an eerie vibe.
Paul Chang, a native of Surinam, has always been inspired by flora and fauna and bright colors, but has taken a different approach to his paintings on show.
They don’t appear to say much. With their splashes of earthy colors and random shapes in the middle of seeming chaos, his collection is the least sensical of the entire exhibit. None of his paintings have any rhyme or reason and don’t appear to match up with their titles. I didn’t like this collection.
Jeremy Powell, a native of Port Arthur, Texas, has lived in Puerto Rico and Barbados. He refers to his style as “expressive vignettes of the moment.” His six paintings, simply titled Marchand, are essentially expressions of the same unattractive woman. Assuming her name is Marchand, she looks different in each painting, old in one and younger in another.
Carol Ann Taylor, a famous Caribbean artist, was nice enough to make available on loan to Diaspora Vibe a few pieces from her collection, especially by Carol Jaime and Norma Trimborn. Jaime’s entry, a black-and-white piece titled Ruby, conveys a certain depth but is not easy to look at. Trimborn, on the other hand, seems to have captured life in a small Caribbean town called Simpson Bay. Her people are all faceless and can signify any one person living in the Caribbean.
They live in run-down houses next to a beautiful ocean. The contrast speaks to the poverty of the people and the beauty of the landscape. It’s brilliant.
There are wonderful pieces in the showroom, including the archaic, yet modern furniture courtesy of Koji Collection and Madoka Design.
Diaspora Vibe’s curator, Rosie Gordon-Wallace, adds a nice touch to the entire exhibit by displaying art books dedicated to Caribbean painters and artwork. If you go to this exhibit, be sure to take a look into these books; they are just as engaging as the paintings on the wall.
Kimberly Grant may be reached at KAliciaG@aol.com.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DISAPORA VIBE GALLERY. EXPRESSIVE: Ruby, painted by Norma Trimbourne, is on display in the Carib~bean, The Way You Like It exhibition at the Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Art exhibition titled Carib~bean, The Way You Like It
WHEN: 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday through Sept. 23 and Saturday by appointment.
WHERE: Diaspora Vibe Gallery, 3938 N. Miami Ave., Miami
COST: Free to the public
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call 305-573-4046 or log on to www.diasporavibe.net.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Jean Chiang honors 'Mama G' in Revolution Gallery's 'Tea, Glorious Tea' Exhibition
Artist Jean Chiang honors 'Mama G' in the exhibition 'Tea, Glorious Tea' at Revolution Gallery in Jamaica. In the article below, Chiang recalls her memories of Eglantine Melita Buchanan Gordon and discusses the work included in this show.
FROM HANOVER TO MIAMI
“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength” St. Francis de Sales (August 21, 1567 - December 28, 1622)
Eglantine Melita Buchanan Gordon came to mind when I heard this quote in May of this year.
I met Mama G in June, 2001, probably during my first show with Rosie Gordon Wallace and Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami. Mama G was undeniably the matriarch, wise, warm and welcoming with a beautiful smile, asking everyone to sign the guestbook at DVG openings. Her gentleness and strength were evident to me from the beginning. Only years later, did I find out that Mama G had purchased one of my pieces, Hand, a clay wall piece of my handprint, from that show. I was moved to hear about Mama G’s early support of my artwork.
Mama G with Roy, Rosie’s husband and Gordon, their son, was one of DVG’s staunchest supporters. Through the years, she attended many openings, always fashionably dressed for the occasion, meeting and greeting the many guests and friends. Mama G was a perfect ambassador for the artists and the gallery and we were always happy to have her presence and positive energy.
During the last nine years of working with Rosie and DVG, I saw Mama G countless times at home, sometimes having a meal together; sometimes Mama G was in her room watching her programs, enjoying Jeopardy, American Idol or Dancing With the Stars; sometimes we sat at the dining table with a cup of tea.
I remember having my first cup of ginger tea with Mama G, “good for the digestion”, I was told. I enjoyed our conversations together and I would try to tell Mama G funny stories or incidents to hear her laugh and shake her head at me as if to say, “Are you serious ?!” I’m sure that I told her about the 7’ dancing bear on a leash on the roadside in India or being asked if I was a ninja by an older woman in black on an overnight Greek ferry or being served an entire loaf or “tower of toast” served vertically on a tea saucer in a quick stop Mexican rail station.
In our times together, I knew Mama G to be “a virtuous woman -- dutiful, loyal, generous, faithful and strong” and....gentle. I never heard her raise her voice on any occasion but I knew that she could certainly make her opinions or ideas known without ever doing so. Twenty nine years ago, Mama G came from Jamaica, from Hanover to Miami. Nine years ago, I came from New York to Miami and became a better person for having known Mama G.
From Hanover to Miami is a mixed media work on paper to honor the life of Eglantine Melita Buchanan Gordon ( November 26, 1916 - June 10, 2010 ). Mama G touched so many lives in so many different ways; she will always be remembered and loved.
Many thanks to Carol Campbell and Revolution Gallery for continuing the tradition of Tea, Glorious Tea. This is the fourth year of my participation in the show.
Special thanks to Rosie Gordon Wallace, Roy Wallace, Gordon Myers and family for sharing their beloved Mama G with the world.
Sincere thanks, appreciation and much love to Rosie Gordon Wallace, Patricia Roldan and Diaspora Vibe Gallery for their support of my artwork through the years.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Carib~bean, The Way You Like It
Artists:
Paul Chang
Carol Jaime
Jeremy Powell
Lisa Remeny
Patricia Roldan
Norma Trimborn
Brian Wong Won
Diaspora Vibe Gallery
3938 N. Miami Avenue
Miami Design District
Miami, FL 33127
305.573.4046
305.573.7675
Jeremy Powell
by Paul Chang
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Ogunji's 'Incidents at the 22 Hotel' Premieres in Austin, Texas
Wura-Natasha Ogunji's performance work 'Incidents at the 22 Hotel' premieres at The Off Center in Austin, Texas this August 13 and 14.
Incidents at the 22 Hotel takes a post-apocalyptic landscape and imagines what it is to be part of that future. The main character, called ‘Unexplained Presence’ struggles to imagine her own existence. During the performance, she lives two lives, one as an African artifact, full of ancient power, yet motionless. In the other, she must choose to be human and imagine herself into the future. The Porter, a trickster-like character, wears a fantastical mask which also doubles as the hotel itself and accompanies Unexplained Presence on her journey. The Runners keep track of time as they literally run for as long as this futuristic world exists.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Dinorah de Jesus Rodriguez featured in Miami New Times
By Amanda McCorquodale
This article was originally published on the Miami New Times blog July 14, 2010
Full article here.
We don't know what will surprise you more -- the dancing, flickering images bouncing off the oak trees at Legion Park or the fact that there are actually people in a Miami-Dade park. This Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m., experimental film lovers and curious passersby will swarm the park for Dinorah de Jesús Rodríguez's "Elusive Landscape," a site-specific film installation projected onto foliage. Sound designer Ricardo Lastre will provide a soundscape of ambient noise.
But does Miami have an appetite for abstract cinema? Rodríguez believes Miami's "audience that will purposely seek out experimental film is very limited. But the audience that can be surprised by it in the street is everywhere."
"Elusive Landscape" recently took over the Tequesta mounds and dark trails of Arch Creek Park. And after turning Legion Park into a theater of trees this Saturday, Rodríguez will take her projectors to E.G. Sewell Park, where, according to the artist, the beauty of royal palms and poinciana trees meets the grotesqueness of discarded Santería offerings.
New Times: Describe "Elusive Landscape."
Dinorah de Jesús Rodríguez: This project is a celebration of Miami's neighborhoods, greenspaces, and eco-systems, and yes, our extreme weather, complete with humidity and bugs. The project is a series of 16mm film installations at five separate outdoor locations over the course of five months.
Is there an audience for experimental film in Miami?
I think it is a very new concept here, but fortunately we have enough transplants from other cities who know what experimental film is. I think with the upcoming expansion of the Cinematheque in Miami Beach, the opening of the new Cinematheque in the Gables, and the development of yet a third alternative film venue, O Cinema. The South Florida community is about to be bombarded by this very expansive genre in a big way. And I think our audiences are ready for this, just like they were ready for the visual art explosion that Art Basel brought our way. It may take a little time for people to realize that this type of work is already happening here, and for audiences to wholeheartedly support it, but I believe that Miami is ready for this type of art, and it will eventually take off.
Do you only work with film?
No. I work primarily in film, mainly because no other discipline allows me to play with the interface between visual art and cinema so well. I stick mainly to 16mm because, over time, I have acquired the equipment for this format (as opposed to the equipment for working in 35mm which is prohibitively expensive). I love the physicality and chemical properties of film, and I try to exploit and push these as much as possible in my work.
What filmmakers inspire you?
I became an experimental filmmaker upon seeing the works of Maya Deren, so it probably all begins there. Stan Brakhage, of course, is a major influence, as is Len Lye, though it's possible that many people in Miami have no idea who they are. Nam June Paik - what can I say? I think he may well have been my favorite artist of all time. Paul Sharits with his multiple projections, and artists like Bruce Conner and Chick Strand, who worked a lot with found footage and really blurred the line between documentary and abstraction. Among more contemporary artists, I am blown away by Pipilotti Rist and really love the work of Lorna Simpson.
You worked with Trinh T. Minh-ha. What was that experience like?
Minh-ha has been a very important mentor in my career, as I admire her tremendously both as a theorist and as a filmmaker. The most powerful influences Minh-ha has had on my work have been the understanding of time as a visual element - to really be able to feel the way pacing manipulates an audience and drives the soul of the film - and the concept of deconstruction of entrenched cinematic formulas by way of such simple gestures as separating image from sound, or by joining sound and images that "don't belong together."
Saturday, June 26, 2010
"Elusive Landscape" By Dinorah de Jesus Rodriguez
Saturday, June 12: Arch Creek Park
1855 NE 135th Street, North Miami
Saturday, July 17: Legion Park
6630 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
Saturday, August 14: Sewell Park
1801 NW South River Drive, Miami
Saturday, September 11: Miami Beach Botanical Garden
2000 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach
Thursday, October 7: Vizcaya Gardens
3251 South Miami Ave., Miami
November 18-25: Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Culminating
Exhibition - 3938 N. Miami Ave, Miami 33127
Opening Reception
Thursday, November 18, 7:00- 10:00pm
A project website is set up to facilitate the on-going project and final exhibition: www.elusivelandscape.blogspot.com
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Remembering 'Mama G'
November 26, 1916 – June 10, 2010
Born in Riverside, Hanover, Jamaica and known affectionately as ‘Mama G’, Eglantine Melita Buchanan Gordon spent the last twenty-nine years of her life living in Miami, Florida.
A member of Bay Shore Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Women Missionary League (LWML), she was recognized in her community as a matriarch. On June 10th at 8:05pm, she passed peacefully at her home in Morningside at 93 years of age, surrounded by several family members and friends.
She spent most of her youthful life as an elementary school educator and Sunday school teacher in Jamaica, West Indies, after graduating from Bethlehem Teacher’s College. Eglantine enjoyed teaching in the classroom almost as much as she loved mentoring young people within and outside of her family.
She is remembered as a virtuous woman—dutiful, loyal, generous, faithful and strong.
She traveled faithfully each year to participate in Easter celebrations at Meadowbrook United Church, her former church in Kingston, Jamaica.
Widowed from Rupert Wesley Gordon, she is survived by her three daughters—Yvonne Elaine Hill, Patricia Evadne Ferdinand, and Rosemarie Gordon-Wallace. Sons-in-law: Tyrone Hill, Donald Ferdinand, Frederick Myers and Roy Anthony Wallace. Grand children: Marc Hill, Michael Hill, Marlon Hill and Misha Hill, Michelle Ferdinand-Liu, Andree Ferdinand and Gordon Myers. Great grandchildren: Brianna Hill, Brandon Hill, Braxton Hill, Tereese Hill, Ezra Liu and Esther Grace Liu. Sisters Thelma Buchanan Campbell, Daphne Buchanan Henry, Essie Johnson, Emel Johnson, Ethlyn Johnson and Lynda Shaw. And many nieces, nephews; grand and great grand, cousins in Jamaica, Canada, United Kingdom, the Lutheran Church and Meadowbrook United Church (Jamaica), family, neighbors and friends.
Visitation, Friday, June 18, 2010, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, Gregg L. Mason Funeral Home, 10936 N.E. 6th Avenue, Miami Shores, FL 33131. (305-757-9000)
Funeral Services, Saturday, June 19, 2010, 10am. Bay Shore Lutheran Church, 5051 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33131 (305-758-1344)
Internment, Cabellero Rivero Woodlawn, 1655 SW 117th Avenue, Miami, FL 33186, (305-238-3672)
In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to The Eglantine Melita Gordon Memorial Fund, c/o, Dade Community Foundation, 200 S. Biscayne Blvd. Suite 505, Miami, FL 33131.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Diaspora Vibe Gallery Presents Exodus
June 10 - July 22, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday June 10, 2010, 7-10 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, June 12, 2-4 pm
Diaspora Vibe Gallery is pleased to present Exodus, a new group exhibition of time-based artists living in Miami, throughout the U.S., England, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Peru. Featured artists include: Rosamary Berrios-Hernandez, Chantal James, Ines Amado, Fulana, Monique Diaz, Maria Lino, Aurora Molina, Tulu Bayar, Aleli Egues, Maryann De Leo, Jorge Rojas, Beatrice Glow, Cristina Molina, and Jose Balado Diaz.
Exodus examines video as a canvas for dialogue, its influence on world events and popular culture, and the migration that artists embody. Each video is exposed continuously and concurrently on separate monitors and walls, engaging viewers through time and space to interact and absorb, as they experience the dialogue of visual effects and aesthetics. This platform allows each work to be experienced as its own conversation.
Exodus provides a time-based portal for artists to impart perceptions or observations, taking precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. This freedom allows documentation to take place outside the gallery, thus challenging traditional representations of art.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Wura-Natasha Ogunji Awarded Dozier Travel Grant
Friday, April 30, 2010
Low Lives 2 /National Live & Internet Exhibit: Friday, April 30th, 2010
Friday, April 30th, 2010
7:00pm - 10:00pm (CST)
Artists include: Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Lawrence Graham-Brown, Hector Canonge, Alexis Caputo, Vienne Chan, Osvaldo Cibils, Gabrielle Civil, Marcus Civin, Chris Coy, The Bridge Club, Francesca Fini, Linda Ford, Lynne Heller, Anni Holm, Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa AKA Devil Bunny, Las Hermanas Iglesias, Michelle Isava, Tina La Porta, Elizabeth Leister, Luke Munn, Olek, Wanda Ortiz, Jacklyn Soo, Michael Smith, Sam Trubridge with Rob Appierdo & Stuart Foster, Migdalia Luz Barens-Vera, Marcus Vinicius, Martin Zet, Agni Zotis
On-view nationally at:
Thursday, April 29, 2010
South Florida Times: Artists create “Objects of Desire”
This article was originally published in the South Florida Times.
Artists create “Objects of Desire”
by Kimberly Grant
At first glance, Rodney Jackson and Caiphus Moore (known in the art world as R. Jackson and Caiphus), look like your average 26-year olds.
In T-shirts and jeans, the duo comes off as unassuming and down to earth. On closer inspection, you come to realize that Jackson, 38, and Moore, 36, have worked in art for many years, and take it quite seriously.
“You don’t become an artist in a day. You become an artist in a lifetime,” said Rosie Gordon-Wallace, curator and owner of Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami’s design district, where Jackson and Moore currently have artwork on display.
“In any point of their maturation, there’s a different work of art.”
In “Objects of Desire/Doñupop,” on display at the gallery until May 20, Jackson explores desire in terms of a donut, and Moore visualizes a village.
Jackson’s donut display is an array of themes ranging from society’s desire for war, flesh, green living and materialistic ideals.
His displays, seemingly a mash-up of record shapes, have deeper meanings and ties to Jackson’s quest for the hidden meaning of desire and his hip-hop roots.
Jackson’s display is also a tribute to late hip-hop producer J. Dilla’s album, Donuts.
In Jackson’s own words, the album is “small capsules of music,” which served as a basis for his display.
In Moore’s work, he has strung up 33 tiny houses that hang from a ceiling using wire. Each house represents an aspect of pop culture.
Moore chose to use 33 because of his membership as a Free Mason. The number 33 is considered to be of the highest consciousness, because there are 33 vertebrae in a spine, which lead to the highest place, the temple.
Also, in numerology, 33 is considered the master builder number.
Each house, or shrine, as Moore calls them, is a particular theme with its own name. In “All God is one God,” Moore has put together a church pane of a woman who represents the one God, and various religious symbols to show that each religion believes in one God.
In “Beautiful Surrender,” a huge faux diamond sits atop a tiny couple in wedding garb, symbolizing the foundation needed to make a lasting relationship, rather than simply placing a ring on one’s finger.
Jackson, who was born in Coventry, England and raised by his Kingston, Jamaican-native parents in Miami, said he delved into the meaning of desire for his artwork.
“When I dug deeper, I found the spiritual aspects of longing and desire, which its root is of the heavens,” he said.
Moore, who was born in Bronx, NY and raised in Miami, and Jackson have been friends since their days in middle school. They attended New World School of the Arts in Miami, and roomed together at Maryland Institute of Art College in Baltimore, MD.
It’s almost as if this duo was destined to display their artwork together.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
'one hundred black women, one hundred actions' premieres tonight: April 24, 2010
Watch live broadcast: http://ustream.tv/channel/onehundredblackwomen
www.100blackwomen100actions.com
Conceptualized by Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud and Wura-Natasha Ogunji, 'one hundred black women, one hundred actions' is a performance of critical actions, gestures and movements from one hundred black women from around the world performed by one hundred black women in East Austin.
Black women responded to the following question: “What is a gesture of personal power, an extreme action that is necessary in your daily life?” Their actions have been archived in the form of photographs, videos and writings on a website: http://www.100blackwomen100actions.com/. From these actions began the choreography of 100 movements. 'one hundred black women, one hundred actions' invokes our collective strength through a work which specifically aims to locate the presence of black female bodies as central, political, powerful forces in the world. The format of live performance coupled with simultaneous video projection recognizes the significance of repetition and reverberation, the real and the mediated to individual and collective memory and history.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
DONŪPOP: Objects of Desire
with artists R. Jackson and Caiphus
3938 N. Miami AveMiami, FL 33127305.573.4046
April 8 - May 20, 2010
For more photos of the event go to rjacksonart.com or Diaspora Vibe's Flickr photostream.