Art and Film Exhibits Coming to Vizcaya Museum & Gardens

Miami, Florida - October 2007 -Vizcaya Museum & Gardens presents installations by Miami-based sculptor, Cristina Lei Rodriguez and Chicago-based theater and film artist, Catherine Sullivan. Rodriguez's exhibit will open on November 8 and Sullivan's film will roll, beginning November 29, 2007. Both exhibits will be on display until February 24, 2008.

The artists' exhibits, created from their interpretations of the historic site, are part of Vizcaya's Contemporary Arts Project.  A public Art Basel event, where guests will get to meet both Rodriguez and Sullivan, will be held December 8, 2007 from 9:30 am until 12 noon at Vizcaya. Admission to the museum and gardens is $12. Admission to the Art Basel event at Vizcaya is free.

"The Contemporary Arts Project, started in November 2006, has been very successful," said Dr. Joel M. Hoffman, Executive Director of Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. "In addition to exposing visitors to cutting-edge art, our visitor numbers have increased. In April 2007, the number of paid guests was up by more than 1,000 over last year. We are excited about the upcoming exhibits of Rodriguez and Sullivan. We anticipate an increase in attendance and look forward to celebrating the works of these talented artists."

 

On November 8, 2007 Vizcaya Museum & Gardens welcomes the opening of Cristina Lei Rodriguez's exhibit.  Rodriguez's piece, 'Struggling for Grandeur', is described as a response to the topiaries found in the formal gardens of Vizcaya. 'Struggling for Grandeur', which is estimated to be about seven feet tall, will be exhibited in the center of the tea room which overlooks the gardens.  

Of Cuban and Japanese-American descent, Miami native artist Cristina Lei Rodriguez uses a wide mix of media.  Epoxy, resin as well as consumer products such as plastic flowers, are just a few of the materials Rodriguez thematically melds together to create one-of-a-kind pieces.  A graduate of California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, with a BA from Middlebury College (VT), Rodriguez has held exhibits at The Museum of Contemporary Art (Jacksonville, FL), The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY), Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst (Oslo, Norway), The Centre for Contemporary Art (Warsaw, Poland), as well as various galleries in the United States. 'Struggling for Grandeur' was commissioned by Vizcaya Museum & Gardens.

On November 29, 2007, Catherine Sullivan's epic 'Triangle of Need' will open at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. 'Triangle of Need', a multi-channel video installation was filmed in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Miami. For "The Patroness," the centerpiece of 'Triangle of Need,' Sullivan used Vizcaya as a setting for her ambitious new work.  Sullivan provocatively mixes "Neanderthals" and Vizcaya's lush environments to create "vestigial narratives" that urge the viewer to consider the inequalities and injustices in our global economy. A richly layered collaborative project, Sullivan worked with choreographer Dylan Skybrook, Nigerian actor and director Kunle Afolayan and Los Angeles-based composer Sean Griffin who wrote the score and created the complex performative language used throughout the piece.  

As described by the A Foundation, the script for "The Patroness" will make reference to an imagined narrative based on a series of emails disseminating a popular form of fraud and will also incorporate the mood of Vizcaya. Sullivan wishes the piece to be seen within the context of the current American situation where primitivism is veiled by notions of progress.
'Triangle of Need' was commissioned by Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in collaboration with the A Foundation (Liverpool, UK), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN) and Catherine Bastide Gallery (Brussels, Belgium). 

On December 8, 2007 from 9:30 am until 12 noon, both Sullivan and Rodriquez will be honored guests at the official Art Basel event at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. Art Basel Miami Beach is the American sister event of Art Basel in Switzerland, the most important annual art show worldwide. Art Basel Miami Beach combines an international art show with a program of special exhibitions, parties and crossover events located in venues around the city. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens is one of several exhibition and event sites.  For more information on Art Basel Miami beach, visit www.artbaselmiamibeach.com.

The Contemporary Arts Projects at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens engages artists in developing and presenting exhibits reflecting their interactions with Vizcaya. After a preliminary immersion visit to the Museum, each artist creates an original work that is revealed through related public programming, such as performances, demonstrations, and studio labs. The Contemporary Arts Projects was launched in November 2006 with Organic Pipes, a sound exhibition by Miami-based sound artist Gustavo Matamoros using sound elements from Vizcaya's historic pipe organ. From March 15 through June 1, 2007, still life, the short film by New York based visual artist Anna Gaskell was on exhibit. Starting November 8, 2007 through February 24, 2008 installations of Miami-based sculptor Cristina Lei Rodriguez will be on exhibit. The film created by Chicago-based theater and film artist Catherine Sullivan will roll November 29, 2007 through February 24, 2008.