Last night, despite a torrential downpour which is typical of an indication of the beginning of a yearly hurricane season in South Florida, hundreds of people gathered at the Miami Iron Side in the Upper East Side of the city for the opening reception of the mega-exhibition entitled “International Biennale Artists Exhibition Miami, IBAEM” a 7-day showcase event by 80 artists from 19 countries.
With the assistance of the City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, and Mercedes Cisneros, the Chairman of the Miami Arts & Entertainment Council along with Elisha Ben Yitzhak the founder of the International Biennale Artists Group, the producers of the show, Maria Napoles, President of the Art Marketing Mind, LLC and Tata Fernandez, VP of Art Marketing Mind formalized the opening ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate the exhibition that included a special performance by eco-fashion artist and designer, Luis Valenzuela, IBAEM’s Creative Director.
Back in the early 1990’s and throughout various world capitals, there was a surge in art biennials that emerged as a concept of mega exhibitions taking place every two years which developed within the art fair age and became a center for urban entertainment where the focus of art went from major art spaces to other locations and venues.
In Miami, The Art Marketing Mind’s producers made practical and effective use of the Italian word biennale to describe a large art exhibition to be held annually to be presented throughout the city’s most unique exhibition spaces.
“We were looking for spaces throughout the city that would loosely accommodate a vast amount of artwork and we found in this complex 10,000 square foot of space that perfectly suited our demands,” said Tata Fernandez, VP Art Marketing Mind.
The City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado said that “the city is proud to collaborate, support and endorse this type of events especially for those artists who do not have yet a track record that ensures commercial representation necessary for growth in their careers.”
But there were not only emergent artists exhibiting at IBAEM 2013, there were also mid-career artists that have successfully exhibited in prestigious international art fairs and world biennales such as Shawn Man, Alicia H. Torres, Anica Shpilberg, Carolina Rojas, Maria Fernanda Lairet, Beatriz Gerenstein, Jaapkore, Teresa Neal, Carlos J. Tirado, Magaly Otaola Barnola, Nahila Campos, Stephanie Bloom, Maby Rod, Fabiola Osorio, and Pavel-Miguel.
