2004 Residency Program
CIFO Art Space, Miami │ November 1, 2004 – May 1, 2005
Cifo’s Residency Program was conducted in the Fall of 2004. The two recipients of the foundation’s first residency were Jarbas Lopes (Brazil) and Tomás Saraceno (Argentina). A project exhibition was presented in May 2005, bringing together the work these artists produced during their stay in Miami. Both Lopes and Saraceno were inspired by Miami’s most prominent geographical feature: the beach. During his residency with cifo Jarbas Lopes produced a series of seascapes that were both aesthetically compelling and playfully ironic. Characteristic of Lopes’ oeuvre is an amusing “deconstruction” of his chosen subject matter.
Lopes’ piece Hurricane, 2005, for example, is based on a postcard image of a kitsch painting of palm trees swaying before a beautiful seaside sunset; by contrast, Life Guard Station, 2005, riffs on a less-than-picturesque image of a lifeguard station on a bare beach; and Rafters, 2005, utilizes a photograph of Jarbas Lopes and Tomas Saraceno themselves, paddling on a Key Biscayne Beach.
The work Saraceno produced during the program, When spheres meet spheres from Miami to Cuba, 2005 is unique in that it is the first time that this artist has made a “site-specific” piece for the sea, capable of floating both on the water and in the air. It is a work inspired by the formation and interaction of bubbles. As scientist Brian Charlesworth tellingly writes: “When one bubble meets with another, the resulting union is always one of total sharing and compromise. (Human beings could learn a lot from bubbles).”
These two artists, from differing national and artistic backgrounds, responded to the Miami environment during their cifo residency in remarkable ways. Each in their own fashion explored the city’s geographic and socio political landscape–highlighting the ubiquitous beauty and menace that is represented by the sea.
Artists Jarbas Lopes (Brazil) and Tomás Saraceno (Argentina).
