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
###
This and other news releases from MDC’s Media
Relations Department are available on the web at
<www.mdc.edu>.
