EXHIBITION  |  DIA DE MUERTOS
OCTOBER 23, 2023 – NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Celebrating a holiday of joyful remembrance, Method & Concept opens a call-to-artists for a juried exhibition entitled, Dia de Muertos.  Embracing our local heritage of Hispanic traditions, Dia de Muertos provides a creative platform for all artists to connect to the memory of dearly departed family and friends, visually depicted using a variety of media.  Traditionally a Mexican cultural celebration, this exhibition stands to unite a community of all artists.  Exhibition highlights include, a large-scale ofrendas (alter) as well as traditional hand-made wears from Mexico for an interactive flea market installation (mercado de pulgas).  Artists by invitation include, Columbian-born painter, Juan Diaz (b.1981), whose large-scale mixed media painting entitled, King Warrior Reborn depicts a son’s sensitivity and compassion for his beloved father.  Born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico, internationally recognized fine art photographer, Omar Cruz of South Beach Miami, graces the exhibition with an elegant contrast of beauty and implied malevolence in his black and white silver-printed photograph, Candela.  Multi-faceted creative, Maria Pia Malerba’s imposingly large fur-adored scull sculpture, The Spirit Within, presents like an object of couture fashion reflecting the artists expertise in wearable design.  Recent Florida Gulf Coast University/FGCU art program graduate Maria Dominguez showcases a series of wood block relief prints that inform the viewer of language and cultural barriers confronting the artist as a first-generation American.   A playful homage to the father of La Calavara Catrina, Jose Guadalupe Posada (1832 – 1913, Mexico) Method & Concept Director, Chad Jensen reproduces some of the iconic characters of the political illustrator and printmaker’s:  with large-scale installations throughout the gallery.  Among the aforementioned: Tamara Sigler, Nicario Jimenez, Brett Harvey, Lauren Redding, Anna Velia Alonso and Pedro Gerardo De Armas Puig.  Additionally, participants of the open-call-to-artists include a spectrum of student and professional artists whose submitted work embodies the spirit of the exhibition theme.