Audio By Carbonatix
Reader support matters more than ever
We're in the final stretch of our summer campaign. Our goal is to raise $10,000 to support the journalism our community relies on. Reader support is helping shape the future of local news.
Rara Kuyu is one of the artists responsible for the incredible muralization of every surface in Miami Beach Haitian restaurant Tap Tap. He got the name Rara at a young age from neighborhood friends who couldn’t pronounce Gerard, and has run with it ever since.
Tap Tap curators Gina Cunningham and Peter Eves discovered Kuyu’s work in Haiti,
where his art graced the walls of the famous Oloffson Hotel in Port Au
Prince, where Kuyu was also a noted musician. He also has his own Universal Soul Arts Gallery at 51 NW 71st Street.
Last Sunday, Rara was at new music venue The Stage in the Design District where he set up an exhibition with artist Ghandi Daniel amid a “Freshly Squeezed” massage lady Angela Terrell, craft vendors, cupcake chicks, all while Monkey Village jammed on Marley riffs and Gastropod sold tacos.
Rara says his art is inspired by “Everything beautiful, y’know, nature, life.”
Kuyu’s friend Ghandi says “My own style is from the African market, the food, and the people. I started painting at 14 years old. I’m autodidactic, I taught myself. Me and Rara met a long time ago, like 30 years ago, and went to an exhibition together in New York at SOB’s.”
Both artists use bright, vivid colors, and celebrate folk traditions.
You can see more Rara at the Rhythm Foundation’s upcoming Big Night In Little Haiti at the Little Haiti Cultural Center on March 18th where he will be performing music with his Universal Soul band with special guests from respected acts Boukan Ginen and Boukman Eksperyans alongside Pokito and Jean P Jam.
