Gallery at The Boca Raton

Gino Miles says of his work, “Exploring the relationship between organic design and inorganic materials has led me to a strong conceptual balance of how things grow, bond together, and respond to their neighboring environment.  I often choose materials which can reflect, absorb, or blend with their surroundings. Miles works primarily in fabricated stainless steel and bronze, choosing a curvilinear aesthetic that often appears weightless as the lines spin throughout nature. "Fandango” has the ability to be kinetically turned or spun so viewers can experience the work from several vantage points. “Presenting such mass in motion with seemingly effortless fluidity invites a challenge to the viewer’s perception of the sculpture,” remarks the artist. 

A long-time illustrator and ceramist, Curt Brill’s art career took a turn in 1980 when he began working with bronze.   The sculptures he produced were sensual - a direct response to the feel of the materials and his history of working with clay. With a keen eye and acuity for people-watching, his work aims to reveal the universal human spirit, that which makes us each unique, yet shares a common home.

Boaz Vaadia’s style has evolved into figurative forms created with layers of chiseled stone and reflects the eternal relationship between man and nature. The figures appear as though created by natural forces, such as erosion by wind or water. He said, “By using the natural forces of rocks, my work awakens ancient ‘earth senses’ that were slowly abandoned by man during his evolution to civilization. By carving the stone, I release its inherent energies. Man came from the earth and in death returns to it. I see stone as the bone structure of the earth.”

Metis Atash views her sculpture as a fusion of worldly pleasure and spiritual insight. Upon first glance, their shiny surfaces and bright colors are unmistakable, though much like the human beings they resemble, their complexity lies within. As a child growing up in the 1970’s and 1980’s, Metis was heavily influence by music. She felt drawn to Punk Rock with its rejection of the mainstream and perceived excesses. This feeling continued into adulthood, when Metis chose to relinquish a successful corporate life for an artistic one. She found the source of her artwork in Bali, after much time spent embracing the authenticity and love of its people.

The approach to sculpture requires a form, and Metis’ choice is reflected literally as the form of Buddha. This shape implies a relationship to Siddartha Gautama, and to Buddhism. Siddartha’s teachings were based on the idea that we exist in a constant state of craving, or want. This endless cycle creates an attachment to impermanent worldly things and pleasures. According to Siddartha, only by recognizing these desires may they be extinguished. The physical act of creating these sculptures is also linked to Buddhism’s ascetic fundamentals. Ascetics have historically withdrawn from the world for their religious practice, and adopted a lifestyle of extreme austerity and reflection. Two examples of this practice are seen in the creation of Buddhist sand mandalas, and even Christian illuminated manuscripts. The intensely detailed work offers solitary monks a profound state of concentration. This kind of ‘escapism’ is also found in the repetitive placing of tiny crystals that cover each Buddha sculpture. Although these works are not intended for religious purposes, the simple act of creating them is meditative.

"To make the sculptures I scavenge scrap yards and construction sites for evocatively shaped pieces of steel, looking for pre-existing lines and shapes with which to draw. Most of the metal is rebar, the reinforcement rod used in buildings, bridges, and highways. Rendered from the concrete for recycling, it comes in a great variety of curves, shapes, and thicknesses. To begin a sculpture I have an idea of the type of animal it’s going to be, and a rough mental image of the gesture. I sketch loosely, welding steel line to line in the air. Rather than bending every piece, I choose pre-existing curves and cut them free from the pile with an oxy-acetylene torch. If I need to adjust the shape I heat and bend with the torch. The arc welder is immediate: I can tack weld a steel line in place and if I don’t like it can twist it off easily. Only in the final stage is each section welded thoroughly. Since the sculpture is not a solid form all the connections have to be strong; I spend a lot of time on the final welding to make the piece ready for transportation and installation."  -Wendy Klemperer

By quoting figures from well-known works of art, Manolo Valdes revitalizes these familiar images by taking them out of their original context. In both paintings and sculptures, he inflates the figure's size, abstracting form and minimizing detail, while incorporating a lot of roughly applied surface texture.

In this sculpture “Infanta Margarita”, Valdes pays tribute to Spain’s great master painter, Diego Velasquez.  His painting of “Las Meninas” (The Maids of Honor), painted in 1656 depicts Margarita Teresa of Spain in fashion of the era.  The most striking characteristic is the huge expanse of the voluminous dress.

Infanta was the title and rank given in the European kingdoms of Spain and Portugal to a son or daughter of the king.  Margarita Teresa was the favorite child of her father, King Philip IV.

Working in both monumental and small dimensions since the 1970s, Gino Miles is inspired primarily by 20th century European masters.  He instills his love of the classical figure and objects found in nature, working with a sparse and contemporary language that embodies tranquility.  Stripped of an overt narrative, his abstract forms focus on elegant minimalism with clean lines and shapes.  These kinetic sculptures can be turned, rotated or spun, allowing the viewer to change the sculpture and experience it from a different viewpoint.  

We are pleased to present our inaugural rotating exhibition at The Boca Raton's Tower lobby featuring the work of Tom Leighton.

Tom Leighton is an artist, photographer and printmaker, with a fascination with architectural structure and form. Trained at the Royal College of Art in London, he expertly layers and manipulates his photographic images, creating work which is both beautiful and provocative, encouraging us to imagine different possibilities for the world around us.

Leighton’s close and conjectural explorations are about environments both natural and constructed. Travelling between ancient cities and the most futuristic developments of Hong Kong and the Middle East, he works with buildings and cityscapes which are part of an international iconography.

Kx2 is a collaboration combining the strengths of artists and sisters Ruth Avra and Dana Kleinman who create mathematically inspired sculpture merging metal and painting. From a distance the work is bold and geometric, yet up close the viewer is engaged by textural hand-sanded metal and multi-layered paintings. By exploring geometry, symmetry and connection, their work aims to create a moment of pause, inviting the viewer to escape the stresses of the day and find a space to achieve balance. In their most recent work, themes related to environmental issues are presented with the hope to raise an awareness of the fragility of our natural ecosystems.

Isabelle van Zeijl is recognized for her mastery in creating striking self-portraits. She produces her images autonomously, taking on the roles of model, creator, object and subject simultaneously. Her work possesses a timeless beauty, while referencing the historic portraiture of her Dutch homeland. In a world that condemns beauty for shallowness, championing high aesthetics is nothing short of rebellion.  Van Zeijl presents a new way to explore female beauty ideals through her unique approach to character and emotion.  Within each series, she reinvents herself and creates a body of work to illustrate these autobiographical narratives.