The Special Projects section of Pinta Miami 2022, curated by Félix Suazo, presents the work of Carlos Medina, Richard Garet, Muu Blanco and Julia Zurilla, who focus on different aspects of the contemporary art scene, using media such as installation and video. The proposals question issues of high significance in today's society; among them, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the challenges of climate change and the incidence of science and technology in artistic processes.
Carlos Medina takes neutrinos as his starting point, subatomic elementary particles with a neutral charge and very low mass that move at very high speeds through the universe, in the work Neutrino Spheres 3 & 4 (2022). The proposal, specially conceived for the outdoor area of The Hangar in Coconut Grove, focuses on the notions of immateriality, emptiness, lightness and light, as well as suggesting a metaphorical leap between extreme powers; from the microscopic to the macrocosmic, from the corporeal to the elusive, from the visible to the invisible. According to the artist, his work proposes a journey "towards the imperceptible, the light, the transparent..."
For their part, Richard Garet, Muu Blanco and Julia Zurilla make up a videographic triad that dialogues from different levels: perceptive, social and ecological. Garet shows a work from the Perceptual series, which proposes a counterpoint between the pictorial and the electronic from the conversion of sound into image. Blanco presents the video Delivery Aesthetic, a record of his personal and professional experience during the Covic-19 pandemic. Zurilla exhibits one of her audiovisual diptychs from the Vertical Horizon series, an investigation based on the double articulation of family archive images and documentary images of extraordinary events and natural phenomena.
Félix Suazo (Havana, Cuba, 1966) is a professor, art critic, researcher and curator. He graduated from the Higher Institute of Art of Havana in 1990 and in 2003 he received a Master in Museology from the University of Valladolid, Spain. He has served as a researcher at the National Art Gallery (1997-2003) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Caracas (2004-2008). From 2008 to 2013 he was Coordinator of Exhibitions and Curator of Periférico Caracas / Arte Contemporáneo. He is currently the Manager of the Sala TAC, member of the curatorial team of El Anexo / Arte Contemporáneo and professor at the Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes. He is the author of the books A diestra y siniestra. Comentarios sobre arte y política (Right and Left. Comments on Art and Politics) (2005), Umbrales. Museo, Curaduría, Investigación (Thresholds. Museum, Curatorship, Research) (2013) and Panorámica. Arte Emergente en Venezuela, 2000-2012 (Panoramic. Emerging Art in Venezuela, 2000-2012) (2014).
Suazo currently lives in Miami, Florida, where he works as a curator and advisor for art projects. He is also co-editor of the About Images newsletter, an initiative of ArtMedia Gallery, and Curator of IDArtLab.
Carlos Medina (Barquisimeto, Venezuela, 1953) lives and works in Paris. He studied at the Escuela de Artes Visuales in Caracas, graduating in 1975. In 1977 he settled in Carrara, Italy, where he took courses in stone and bronze sculpture. Attentive to the uses, possibilities and meanings of materials, Medina focuses his language on geometry, oscillating between volumetric concerns and the investigation of space. His work explores the essential principles of the universe and its phenomena through spatial interventions and the superposition of real, virtual and reflective geometric planes. His work is represented in numerous public and institutional collections and several of his works are installed in architectural spaces and urban sites.
Richard Garet (US/UY) is a contemporary multimedia artist born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1972. Garet holds a B.A. of Fine Arts from Empire State College, New York, United States, and an MFA from Bard College, New York, United States. He has lived and worked in the United States since 1996. Garet explores the ontological relationship between the materials he uses, background noise activations, image and sound generative processes, and experiments applied to obsolete and current technological media that emulate everyday situations that translate into abstractions. For Garet these creations, both conceptual and experimental, embody the perception of contemporary life as a filtered, sensory experience.
Muu Blanco (Caracas, 1966) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Miami. In his work he combines different media, including painting, performance, drawing, photography, electronic music and conceptual video. His work poses a critique of power, wealth, and narcissism, as well as a commentary on the urban landscape, the consumer industry, social media, and art history.
Julia Zurilla (Caracas, 1967) is a Miami-based mixed media artist recognized for her experience with video and technological media, transforming written narratives into visual images. Since 2017 she lives and works in Miami. Julia is currently a member of the Laundromat Art Space Residency Program based in Miami. BFA and MFA / Armando Reverón University Institute of Higher Studies in Plastic Arts and Fashion Design / Las Mercedes University Institute of Design, Caracas, Venezuela. The written word, photographic imagery, contextual art, and interdisciplinary investigation of art methods are central pillars of her work and her intellectual development.
