Leah Poller is a representational sculptor working principally in bronze. Classically trained at the prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieure de Beaux Arts of Paris where she resided for 20 years, Poller participated in a rich, multi-cultural environment, interacting with foremost members of the international arts communities of France, Spain, Italy and Latin America. Her singular approach to her subject matter was forged by this international experience. The Work: Returning to the United States, she established her studio in Soho (New York) and began the series of “101 Beds” in bronze that has been exhibited in galleries and institutions worldwide. In 2013, China beckoned and in 2015, she was selected as centerpiece artist, and the first/only foreigner in the Beijing Biennale of Female Sculptors. Thirty-five sculptures and a major installation piece were exhibited at this exhibition. Her large-scale works and installations have been exhibited in Beijing, Mexico, Miami, Providence and New York City. Poller lives and works in Harlem, dividing her time between NYC, Europe and Asia.
Suprina’s finesse with found objects comes from her work as a sculptor and prop maker for clients such as Annie Leibovitz, Apple, Bloomingdales, Fortunoff and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Her artworks deal with the human condition and social issues and incorporate detritus, castings, modeling, and painting. She has created a number of public art projects including the DNA Totem featured in the FLUX Art Fair 2016, now on view at the Rye Arts Center, Rye, NY through spring 2017. Other public art commissions and awards include Figment NYC 2012, ‘Best Portfolio’ by Pro Arts 2013 and 2015 and grants by the Puffin Foundation and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Suprina made a splash in 2013 when thirty-two of her sculptures installed in the Morristown courthouse were deemed dangerous to the public by the County Sheriff, who placed a 24/7 guard on the work and ordered them removed. The experience inspired Suprina to create a series of ‘Dangerous Art’ and another series related to the theme of ‘Injustice in the Justice System’.
Leslie Jiménez is a Dominican multidisciplinary artist and illustrator based in NY where she works and lives with her husband, daughter and two blood parrot fish. Ms. Jiménez graduated from the prestigious Altos de Chavón School of Design, in the Dominican Republic. She was awarded a full scholarship and graduated with honors from Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. Leslie's work has been exhibited in galleries in NYC, Washington DC, Barbados, Santo Domingo, SCOPE Contemporary Art Fair NY, and New York Presbyterian - The Allen Hospital. Other venues include PBS, and online magazine Mashable. Jiménez has been invited to talk about her work at El Museo del Barrio, CNN en Español, Rutgers University, City College, Art In FLUX and Parsons The New School.
City of Curiosities
“City of Curiosities” a public art installation, falling under the Art In FLUX 2017 curatorial theme, “Re-Imagining A City” where artists use art, play and community engagement as a catalyst for examining and conceptualizing urban life. The public art installation consists of a mural by Carlos Jesus Martinez Dominguez and eight diorama projects by uptown artists. The unveiling of the projects is set for the evening of April 12.
Exhibition: The Diorama Project – City of Curiosities
Artists: Leah Poller, Leslie Jimenez, Uday K. Dhar, Suprina, Dominant Dansby,
Ruben Natal-San Miguel, Sui Park, Leon Johnson, Carlos Jesus Martinez Dominguez
Opening: April 19, 7:00 to 8:00 PM
Dates: April 19 through May 31, 2017
Location: Frederick Douglass Blvd and 121st Street
Dominant Dansby began exploring his artistic talents working in a variety of mediums early in life. By 17 years old, the young painter and illustrator was recognized as a national finalist of the NAACP's Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics. Dominant received four first place honors in the 2005 North Jersey Student Art Show for his drawings and works in oil and pastel, charcoal and mixed media, and was named the 2005 NJ Governor's Award for Art Education.
Dominant has interned at the Rupert Ravens Contemporary Gallery in Newark, NJ and is currently studying at The Art Students League in New York City.
He currently works as a studio assistant to the artist Willie Cole.
Ruben Natal-San Miguel, American, is an architect, self-taught photographer, curator, writer, art collector and consultant specializing in the art of fine emerging photography. His stature in the photo world has earned him awards, features in major media, countless exhibitions and collaborations with photo icons such as Magnum Photographer Susan Meiselas. Gallery shows include: Asya Geisberg, SoHo Photo, Rush Arts, Finch & Ada, Kris Graves Projects, Fuchs Projects, WhiteBox Gallery, Station Independent Projects Gallery and others. His work has been featured in numerous institutions: The New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Griffin Museum of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, African American Museum of Philadelphia, The Makeshift Museum in Los Angeles, University of Washington and Phillips Auction House. International art fair representation includes: Outsider Art Fair, SCOPE, PULSE, Art Chicago, Zona Maco, and Photo LA. His photography has been published in a long list of publications, highlights: New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Time OUT, Aperture, Daily News, OUT, American Photo, ARTFORUM, Musee, ARTnet and The New Yorker. In 2016 Ruben’s Marcy's Playground was selected for both the Billboard Collective curated by Mona Kuhn and a new ap and website for Apple.
Sui Park is a New York based artist and an interior architect born in Seoul, Korea. Her work involves creating 3-dimensional flexible organic forms of a comfortable ambiance that are yet dynamic and possibly mystical or illusionary. She recently had a solo exhibition ‘Playing with Perception’ at the Denise Bibro Fine Gallery in Chelsea, New York in April 2016. She also had a solo exhibition ‘Garden of Humans’ at Kingsborough Community College, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY in March 2016. She participated over 50 exhibitions, including a two-person exhibition, Uncommon Landscapes, Art FLUX Harlem, New York, July 2016. Sui Park is also a Bronze Awardee in ‘2013-2014 A’ Design Award’ in Arts, Crafts and Ready-Made Design Category with her design ‘SuiTable’. Sui Park’s education includes MDes in Interior Architecture at Rhode Island School of Design in 2013 and BFA in Environmental Design at Maryland Institute College of Art in 2011. Sui Park also has MFA and BFA in Fiber Art at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
Leon Johnson is an illustrator and fine artist, born and raised in Kansas City. He was interested in drawing from a very early age and was heavily influenced by caricature artists Jack Davis and Al Hirschfeld. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute. His first professional job was for the newspaper Pitch Weekly in Kansas City, MO. Leon works primarily in mixed media, ink, paint, and found objects. He is attracted to texture and various mediums and searches for many ways to create images, often revisiting drawings and paintings done in the past, believing there’s always something different to be said. Johnson’s work can currently be seen in The Red Rooster Cookbook by Chef Marcus Samuelsson (October 2016) and at The Red Rooster restaurant.
Carlos Jesus Martinez Dominguez is a visual artist whose work is influenced by graffiti art. He draws inspiration from the culture and histories of Hip Hop, New York City and the Caribbean. His agency as an artist is born between the intersection of his identity as a Dominican-Puerto Rican-American male and the tensions that exist inherently within that systematically engrained framework of beliefs. His work conveys an anxiety and thrill with history and how it manifests in the present, as well as its implications for the future. Rather than simply cheerleading, he uses his respect and pride for his culture to shine a bright light on the things that should be reexamined within them. Among a variety of institutions and galleries, Martinez has exhibited at El Museo del Barrio in New Work, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Cenro Leon Jimenez Museum. His exhibitions Caribbean: Crossroads of the World and The (S) Files 2011 at El Museo del Barrio are among his proudest accomplishments.
Uday K. Dhar immigrated to the United States from India as a teenager in the early 70's. He was born In London, raised as a child in India, and spent a significant time in Berlin, Germany. Dhar was trained as an architect, earning his B.A. at Columbia College, Columbia University, and an M.Arch from the Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, Columbia University. Dhar works with diverse materials to create works that translate into visual terms the experience of Immigration. He received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2005-2006) and the Weir Farm Trust Grant (2006), and is a former fellow of the Vermont Studio Center, MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo. Dhar’s works are held in numerous private collections and have been exhibited globally including the Museum of African American Culture, Houston (2017), The African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA (2016), FLUX Art Fair, New York (2015), the Whittier Center, Boston, MA (2014), the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York (2014). Prior to that, he has shown his works in such far-flung places as Bali, Indonesia, London, Gr. Britain, Berlin, Germany, Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkatta, India, Toronto, Canada, and in Los Angeles and New York City.
