Argentine-born Fernanda Lavera’s inventive art back on display in Miami
Miami, Mar 1 (EFE).- Argentine-American visual artist Fernanda Lavera, whose work will be on display once again here starting this week at the Manolis Projects Gallery, told Efe Tuesday that all art conveys a message and that hers aims to advance the cause of social justice.
Titled “The Inventive Mind of Fernanda Lavera,” this new exhibition features the work of a neo-expressionist artist whose admirers include famed music producer Clive Davis, a five-time Grammy winner who guided Whitney Houston to superstardom and also is an avid art collector.
Davis discovered Lavera’s work in 2016 in Buenos Aires and his enthusiasm for it has caught on with other celebrities, many of whom now have the artist’s signed paintings in their homes.
Lavera’s work was exhibited last year in Argentina and New York City and on two occasions in Miami, where the Buenos Aires native is currently based.
Now, nearly 30 of her vibrant, monumental art installations are set to grace the walls of the Manolis Projects Gallery, which is located in Miami’s Design District and was already the venue for “Mr. Freak and Lucy,” a group exhibition featuring Lavera that debuted in April 2021.
The Argentine-American’s work also was on display during the 2021 Miami Art Week at a museum in that South Florida city, while earlier that year her “The Pharaoh and the Celtic Gods” exhibition in New York City was a big success.
“At first glance, Lavera’s paintings appear to be wall images or graffiti that captures the human eye, but her usage of hypnotic colors and bluntness with a brush set her apart from the rest,” read a press release issued ahead of Thursday’s exhibition launch.
The artist told Efe that her paintings have an urban art aesthetic foundation and express her state of mind much like entries in a “personal diary.”
Inspired by late Argentine “Nuevo Realismo” (New Realism) artist Antonio Berni (the creator of two characters Juanito Laguna and Ramona Montiel that represent the socially marginalized), Lavera also has populated her own works with different figures.
One of them, Mr. Freak, has taken on a life of his own on social media and also is trademarked for use on a variety of products.
“He escaped from one of my paintings. He’s someone who came to Earth with no rules, full of questions, fearless and with no prejudices,” said Lavera, who became interested in drawing and painting as a young girl thanks to the influence and encouragement of one of her aunts.
Lavera, who in December exhibited her work in One Thousand Museum, an emblematic, high-rise residential condominium in Miami designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, said of the pandemic that it has been a time to think, reinvent herself and step out of her comfort zone.
The Covid-19 crisis also has provided her ample opportunity to create, according to Lavera, who said she has spent much of her time confined to her home/studio located in Buenos Aires’ Lower Belgrano neighborhood. EFE
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