The Tribe is coming

Photo by Bryan Alexander Downing

After an excellent FAM Night this past Saturday, there are plans to have our own Art Basel weekend events here in Coconut Grove, and the first has been announced. Juan Pablo Vizcaino Cortijo and Vinos in the Grove are presenting an art expo called "The Tribe." The grand opening will be on December 5, during Art Basel Miami and FAM (Fashion, Art & Music) Night in Coconut Grove.

For quite some time Juan Pablo harbored the idea of creating an event that united his passions for art and his community in Coconut Grove, he has been a resident for five years. Eager to bring to the Grove a different kind of art and environment, alongside his longtime friend and recognized Puerto Rican artist, Fernando Mora, Juan Pablo started to work on putting together this event. They found as the perfect venue "The Red Room" at Vinos in the Grove.

"Looking to add more flavor to the grand recipe for a great night, we contacted Edgard Rodriguez Luiggi, another friend and respected artist. This unique combination formed the base of a new trifecta called "The Tribe," said Juan Pablo.

Juan Pablo is a talented artistic craftsman and traditional Mask Maker. Born in Santurce, PR in 1978 and raised in the small town of Loíza, Juan Pablo Vizcaíno Cortijo had an interest in the arts, music and traditions of his culture since he was a young child. Raised on the banks of the Río Grande Loíza and its estuary, Juan Pablo grew up admiring and being inspired by nature's beauty, especially the mangroves, the power of the river and the majesty of the sea. He also grew up surrounded by beautiful cultural manifestations given that Loíza is known as Puerto Rico’s Capital of Tradition. Juan Pablo saw the picturesque and symbolic character of “el vejigante”, one of the principal cultural symbols of his people, as a defender of the magical village of Loíza.

He will be bringing to the show, a new artistic approach to the Traditional Vejigante of his hometown. Visitors will experience a presentation of masks that range from the traditional to his more contemporary style.

"Fernando Mora is a passionate painter with a brushstroke full of life and vibrancy. Seductive imagery bold color and rhythmic design defines his painting. And it is the cadence and vivid movement found in his artwork that has led more recently to the use of painting medium as a means to interpret his rhythmic aesthetic on the canvas," said Juan Pablo. 

"Constantly adding and modifying new ingredients into his flavorful imagery nurtures the vitality that encompasses his body of work. Fernando constantly relocates from his native land of Puerto Rico to NYC and Miami, always searching for new ways to reinvent himself and his body of work," he continued.

Edgard Rodríguez Luiggi employs in his works a combination of cultural and universal elements to make, from a fantastic and superficial world, a real one with his characters. Among these characters, dogs, horses, birds and other animals. In his work themes such as global disorder, social injustice, power struggles, chaos and mostly violence are present using cultural and political elements. His work presents a particular look where the mysterious, the morbid, satirical, bold, violent, lyrical and dynamic are always at stake at the same time. He develops his work in diverse mediums such as drawing, painting, sculpture and installation.

Vinos in the Grove is at 3409 Main Hwy. The exhibit is Saturday, December 5 from 7 to 10 pm.