According to the gallery, 100 applications were received, and 15 were selected, with works featuring topics of identity or exploring conversations around it. The work of those artists will be exhibited at the gallery from Friday, June 28, through Friday, August 23.
Artists from Miami to West Palm Beach were selected, including Addison Wolff, Alberto Alejandro Rodríguez, Amanda Linares, Anna Miorelli, Chantae Elaine Wright, Chloe Sailor, Ernesto Gutíerrez Moya, Katelyn Kopenhaver, Liz Beltran, Luna Palazzolo-Daboul, Marianna Angel, Marilyn Loddi, Smita Sen, Susana Kim Alvarez, and Zoe Schweiger.
Their trajectories and backgrounds reflect Florida's rich diversity and multiculturalism, exploring themes of personal and collective identity, cultural heritage, and self-exploration. The exhibit, representing those topics, features a variety of media, including painting, installation, video art, sculpture, and conceptual art, showcasing a wide range of artistic approaches within the region's emerging art scene.
"This year was the first time that the initiative expanded not only to Miami but also to Berlin, where the gallery also has a nonprofit space and a gallery space as well, plus our residency. So it shows as well the expansion of Zilberman to the different communities that it is impacting through the presence of this institution in Istanbul, Berlin, and Miami," says Gladys Garrote, one of the gallerists at Zilberman Miami.
"Young Fresh Different" (YFD) is an initiative that was created with the objective of providing a platform for highlighting the work of young artists and encouraging artistic exchange and dialogue between creatives and the gallery. Initially launched in 2009 to connect with young artists in Turkey, the location of Zilberman's first gallery, YFD has grown into an annual group exhibition curated by an independent jury.
For the first Miami edition, the selection committee was made up of Omar Lopez-Chahoud, an independent curator and artistic director of Untitled Art Fair; artist Omar Barquet; Teresa Enriquez, a collector and Fountainhead's board vice president; and Ziberman gallerist Nazli Yayla and Garrote.
The artists selected will receive a $300 honorarium for their participation and will have the opportunity to sell their artworks during the exhibition.
On that note, Garrote comments, "I think that it's interesting to think about Zilberman as more than a commercial gallery. It's becoming an art institution that has, of course, the main element of the gallery being a commercial gallery that represents a diverse array of artists, but it's also an institution that is interested in impacting the communities that it's part of. This initiative here in Miami has also allowed Zilberman to explore what is happening in the city with emerging artists. Where are their interests, where they're going to, and [what they are] looking for? It's been an interesting exploration in that sense, too."
Wolff's work, For Oscar, pays homage to Oscar Wilde. "Violets, pansies, green carnations, have been used throughout queer history and culture to talk about desire. Oscar Wilde used green carnations with his cohorts in the opening premiere of his play Lady Windermere's Fan. He and his gay friends wore green carnations to signal their sexual preference or that they were part of a group. And so, I took that idea of color and, specifically, the green carnation, and utilized it in my piece to color my sculpture," says the artist.
Wolff's piece integrates elements of queer history and personal identity, using ceramics and textures to connect past and present.
"The contemporary take on that blue and white pottery... There's a quote from Wilde," and then Wolff apologizes, saying, 'This is not gonna be the perfect quote, but basically he said, 'I'll never be able to live up to blue and white pottery.' Talking about beauty and standards."
Palazzolo-Daboul created an installation composed of a painting and a sculpture titled A Barrier Falls Between the World and Me, consisting of an oversized chair sculpture and a painting of a cloud. "There was a particular thing that Gertrude Stein said about liking a good view but liking to sit with her back facing it. This idea of duality, of having the options to do something and still not choosing to do so," explains the artist.
Elaborating on their use of materials, Palazzolo-Daboul says, "The work surrounds this idea of freedom of choice, but also difficulties to come across the situation. And simultaneously, it is placed off of the materiality that is always running my work."
"A Barrier Falls Between the World and Me," an installation by Luna Palazzolo-Daboul
Photo courtesy of the artist
The artist says that their participation in the exhibition underscores the importance of providing opportunities for local artists. "Doing an open call is a great way to equalize the opportunity channels and to see what's out there that you, as a gallerist or as a curator, might not know about. And I do think that there needs to be more [of that.]"
– Florencia Franceschetti, ArtburstMiami.com
"Young Fresh Different Miami." Friday, June 28, through Friday, August 23, at Zilberman, 25 NE 39th St., Miami; 305-603-7763; zilbermangallery.com. Admission is free.
