Between Little River and Little Haiti, close to Liberty City, Johnny Robles is one of ten artists within a few blocks of each other in raw warehouse studios creating work.
Gustavo Oviedo, who works in paint, scultpure, video, and more, works next door to Robles and is pitching a PBS documentary on the area.
While Robles prepares for a show in LA later this year, he's exploring new techniques and displaying them locally. Here's what his new work and studio look like.
"I've been in this studio for about six months. By 71st and Miami Ave., I love it here. I got offered a solo show in LA at the end of the year at Hadid Gallery. I like having the time to work on that."
"I'm also going to be in a small group show here on February 14th behind
the Bass Museum at (2155 Washington Ct., Miami Beach), with eight artists. It's called Futurespective, it's
curated by Kiki Valdes.... It's with Jel Martinez, Ruben Ubiera, Jean Paul Mallozzi, Florencia Rodriguez, and more."
I'm excited to show with artists whose work I like. I'm gonna be showing these new "floater" pieces. I'm in the first stages of this body of work. They're bubble like forms made from acrylic and maple wood...It's the idea of a form that's changing, like glass taking shape where what would be behind it is absent, bending the laws of nature. The idea is derived from the floaters that everyone sees on the outer shell of their eye, that constantly changing transparent shape, usually worm-like. I'm making them 3 dimensional, and trying to capture the organic shape of a soap bubble at the same time."
"I like the negative space and embracing the minimal quality, even though it's a complex form that's very carefully made. It's an exploration that's still unfolding. I work backwards. I build the frame and then I think of what's going to go in it. I build a boundary, then go into the playground and get loose."
"I like to have fun and create what I wanna create."
"I work mostly from photo reference. Pictures that I shoot of my friends and family, mostly."
"I love it here at this studio. I'm hoping to stay a lot longer."
"I'm also working a lot with charcoal."
"This is an experiment I'm working on."
"I've been camping in the Dry Tortugas four times. I found a whole alphabet of bleached coral. I like printing on different types of old paper, in different printers with different inks."
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