Event Information: Robert Perez, (305) 237-3696
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CRUCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES EXPOSED THROUGH THE ART OF MIAMI ARTIST XAVIER CORTADA AT MDC’S NEWEST ART GALLERY
~New Gallery Opens at North Campus Gallery Oct. 14th~
(Miami, Florida, October 04, 2005) – The North Campus at Miami Dade College launches a new art gallery with renowned artist Xavier Cortada’s “Mangroves” exhibit.
The gallery will open with a kick-off reception for “Mangroves” on Friday, October 14, 2005 7-9 p.m., at MDC’s North Campus in the North Gallery, 11380 NW 27 Avenue, Building 5000.
“Mangroves” initiates the exhibition program of MDC’s North Campus, a new art space built with state of the art technology, environmental controls and ample spaces. The new gallery is located in the North Campus Art Complex, a concept introduced this fall as a vital and important arts reference for North Miami.
The exhibit includes Cortada’s paintings, drawings, and a video of his urban scale projects, showing Cortada’s personal and artistic approach to a crucial environmental issue. The Mangrove Swamps in the Everglades is one of the most polluted and abused wetlands in America. Captivated by this treasure of our flora, Cortada’s work is an active contemplating process, providing through his artwork a reverent mapping of the environmental crisis of a beautiful and unique tropical forest.
Art critic Alfredo Triff says “As in the tradition of natural history, Cortada records biological events where he explores his natural milieu carefully and patiently, creating a rich and detailed range, from color monochromatic, to darker and mysterious.”
Cortada has exhibited his work in museums, galleries and cultural venues around the world. He has also created art for the White House, the World Bank, The Florida Capitol, The Florida Supreme Court and the Miami Art Museum. In Miami, his commissioned work hangs in City Hall, County Hall, the Juvenile Courthouse, and the Miami Children’s Museum.
Cortada is well-known for his collaborative public art and has worked with groups across four continents to produce numerous large-scale murals and community art projects. Major projects include International AIDS Conference murals in Switzerland and South Africa, and peace murals in Northern Ireland and Cyprus. In Miami, hundreds of volunteers helped him paint the Miami Mangrove Forest on I-95 underpasses during Art Basel 2004. Recently, he created the Painted Cuban Plane and Freedom Luggage Installation, featuring a Soviet Antonov 2 airplane flown by its Cuban pilot to the United States.
WHAT: “Mangroves” by Miami artist Xavier Cortada and opening of new art gallery at MDC’s North campus
WHEN: Exhibition opening reception on Friday, October 14th, 7-9 p.m. Works will be on display through Friday, December 9, 2005; Gallery Hours: 10 a.m. – 4p.m.
WHERE: MDC North Campus, 11380 N.W. 27 Avenue, North Gallery, Building 5000, Miami.
The event is free and open to the public.
Event information: Robert Perez, (305) 237-3696.
Media contacts: Laura Sánchez-Ramírez (305) 237-3710, or Beverly Counts Rodrigues, Director of Media Relations, (305) 237-3949
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CRUCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES EXPOSED THROUGH THE ART OF MIAMI ARTIST XAVIER CORTADA AT MDC’S NEWEST ART GALLERY
The gallery will open with a kick-off reception for “Mangroves” on Friday, October 14, 2005 7-9 p.m., at MDC’s North Campus in the North Gallery, 11380 NW 27 Avenue, Building 5000.The North Campus at Miami Dade College launches a new art gallery with renowned artist Xavier Cortada’s “Mangroves” exhibit.