Photo Credit: Chica Restaurant
Jojo Anavim
Blurring the line between mass consumerism and fine art, New York City based artist Jojo Anavim has established his body of work stemming from a background in graphic design and brand development. Anavim got his start as a commercial artist and creative consultant for brands such as W Hotels, and Universal Music Group, Anavim crossed over full-time to fine art in 2013. His work continually employs bold color palettes, acrylic paint, oil stick, collage scraps, found items and advertisements Anavim has been collecting since his childhood. He is known for elevating the mundane by transforming everyday items into objects of transcendence. The paintings oscillate freely between playful and subversive. Triggered by his fascination with a child-like consciousness, Anavim challenges the viewer to not only see something beautiful but feel something as well.
As a child Anavim enrolled in art classes taught by Disney animator Al Baruch, creator of the legendary characters Captain Hook and Mighty Mouse. Anavim credits Baruch with instilling a creative confidence that led him to embrace art as more than a hobby early in his life. Much of Anavim's work depict the nostalgia of the brands and packaging he was surrounded by during this time, down to the LifeSavers his grandmother would always carry in her purse.
Samuel Gomez
Gomez’s steampunk aesthetic is marked by an extensive usage of universal symbolism and contemporary themes of science, socioeconomics, sustainability, and, prominently, the future of automation and AI. The self-proclaimed storyteller's ominous scenes are so dense with imagery and symbolism, they beg the viewer to lose themselves in their interconnected, multi-dimensional depths. Gomez shows a society that has been led astray by corporations, capitalism and over consumption. “I question a world where all events and affairs seem systematic and guided,” says Gomez, “yet, without a clear compass on the horizon, it's just chaos.” Samuel Gomez’s complex metal shapes are machinery and pipes wrapped in successive contortions, in a strangling labyrinthine. A semiotic criticism of a capitalist and politicized society, the ironic future of automation, where, between man and machine, there are more similarities than differences. The new industrial revolution comes up with a significant change in roles, and their total perversion of functions. Now, the machine produces the man. The man works for the machine, being an integral part of it. It is always at its service, and its disposal. Gomez creates a hybrid being that, in a proliferation of scales, trespasses the macro and the microcosm. A future society where the organic fabric is replaced by the industrial fabric. Where, at all costs, all kinds of mechanisms keep feeding a mechanical ecosystem. A metallic web that weaves kaleidoscopic patterns, in a knit that twists itself, and projects to infinity. A high-precision drawing (with unusual detail) traces our fate with a geometric accuracy." Texts by Pedro Boaventura, Art Galaxie.
Maite Nobo
Nobo is an Artist and Interior Architect born in Havana, Cuba. She is known for being the creator of BIG. in two and three dimensions all exhibiting her proprietary style which she calls “Underground Chic”.
After the Cuban Revolution, Nobo fled to America with her family where she spent her formative years living in New York City. She is a descendent of one of the most noble families in Spain who was granted a Marquis title and land in Cuba. She currently resides in Florida.
Nobo has developed her Artist career over the last 37 years and is currently launching publically . Her goal is to deliver a message with minimal content. She has developed two main platforms; large scale paintings and shield sculptures. Each has a purpose and delivers a powerful message.
Nobo views herself as an “art rebel” that uses unconventional tools, metals and construction materials. She plans her work methodically weeks and sometimes months in advance but allows the process to happen with ease. Nobo has an avant- grade approach to her work and is committed to a life without fear and boundaries. Ultimately her work is forward thinking with a disconcerting eye for proportion, color and detail.
Hunt Slonem
Hunt Slonem is an American colorist and figurative painter, best known for his large Neo-Expressionist oil paintings of tropical birds inspired by his personal aviary. His lavishly colored canvases are populated with rows of birds, bunnies and butterflies rendered with thick brushstrokes.
His earlier works of the birds, bunnies, and butterflies were painted wet-on-wet, hiding the subjects behind crosshatched patterns, creating a blurred effect and emphasizing the painting's tactile qualities. According to The New York Times art critic Roberta Smith, “This witty Formalist strategy meshes the creatures into the picture plane and sometimes nearly obliterates them as images, but it also suspends and shrouds them in a dim, atmospheric light that is quite beautiful.” Besides the birds, Slonem also paints repetitions of flowers, bunnies, butterflies, as well as portraits, particularly of Abraham Lincoln.
According to critic John Rothschild, "Slonem's work is deeply rooted in the act of painting. His jarring color choices, spontaneous mark making, and scratched hatch marks are the result of his ongoing fascination with the manipulation and implementation of paint." His work is known for his use of impasto and texture. The Manolis Projects features a large collection of these earlier works (1972-1987) of birds and butterflies painted in the wet-on-wet style where he explored man's relationship to nature and his own spirituality. This work was a reaction to the earlier Minimalist Movement and is characterized by bold colors.
Manolis Projects is Florida's largest working studio and fine art gallery, located in Miami's Lemon City neighborhood. We proudly feature unique paintings, sculptures and collectible limited edition works from over 40 artists from around the world. We focus on modern master’s and contemporary art, bridging the gap between established and emerging artists and collectors. J. Steven Manolis, a leading and critically acclaimed abstract expressionist artist, also paints and displays his own work.
Manolis Projects also hosts the East Coast’s only Artists’ Salon where artists come to exchange ideas and inspire each other and show their work. We curate 3 new shows every year. If you want to see a working studio gallery and what happens behind the scenes, this is the place to visit. The Gallery is open by appointment only; 7 days a week.
J. Steven Manolis is a well-known philanthropist in the Arts, having served as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the National Academy of Design in New York City and on the Board of Trustees of the Vermont Studio Center. Manolis also offers private curation services for collectors, architects, and designers.
“The gallery offers visitors a unique behind-the-scenes view of a working studio + gallery.”
Manolis Projects is a family business owned by artist J. Steven Manolis and his wife Myrthia Moore. Additionally, Myrthia’s sons, Jason and Brian are helping to bring Manolis Projects to the next level of service and expertise. We all have different roles.
Steven brings his business expertise and profound knowledge of art history and curation, both as an artist and as the former (1997-2006) Chairman of the Advisory Board of the National Academy of Design in New York City. Prior to his Chairmanship, he spent 1987-1997 serving as a Member of the Advisory Board of the National Academy of Design. He also served as a Trustee and Development Director of the Vermont Studio Center, from 2007 until 2016. This is the largest international artist residency program in the United States. He was also a Trustee of the Emily Mason Wolf Kahn Foundation from 2007-2016.
Many of our gallery artists are members of the National Academy of Design (National Academicians.) Additionally, we strive to bring new artists who have the potential of becoming collectible artists. We want to help our clients invest in art they love and that has the potential to appreciate over time.
Myrthia has a background in finance and economics, as well as, having a degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She is also an artist who designs jewelry.
MANOLIS PROJECTS is located at 335 NE 59th Street Miami, Florida 33137, is open 7 days a week, by appointment only.
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