OFLUXO
The Infinite Vision in the Ethereal Rainbows Swarming Behind my Eyelids Reveals a Beacon
Orlando Estrada
Presented by Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative
April 28 — June 10, 2021
Photography by Lee Pivnik
MIAMI, FLORIDA, APRIL 2021 – As spring breakers stumble past the former True Religion Jeans boutique on Miami’s South Beach, a pause reveals an exhibition examining Miami’s potential course of ecological destruction through a captivating and kaleidoscopic lens. The Infinite Vision in the Ethereal Rainbows Swarming Behind my Eyelids Reveals a Beacon is Orlando Estrada’s first solo exhibition in the city, marking a homecoming for the Miami-raised, Puerto Rican artist. Produced during a month-long residency with Waterproof Miami, the works are on view at 644 Collins Ave from April 27th – June 10th, 2021. The exhibition space, generously provided by Miami Beach’s Open House program and Goldman Properties, will be home for this latest project in the Waterproof Miami curatorial series from Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI) and Bridge Initiative.
Within the exhibition resides “Tiered Panorama”, a rotating, multi-level sculptural centerpiece addressing Miami’s future slippage into the sea. This colossal and talismanic work is filled with parables of death, rebirth, whimsy and ecstatic prophecy. Focusing, as well, on the effects of plastic waste on the biosphere, Tiered Panorama plays with concepts of how the production and use of petroleum-based plastics upend the natural fossil layers within the crust of the earth and confuse these natural markers of time.
Tiered Panorama also takes inspiration, and its title, from The Panorama of the City of New York, one of the largest scale models in the world and the “crown jewel” of the Queens Museum’s permanent collection. Presented as a celebration of the City’s infrastructure by Robert Moses for the 1964 World’s Fair, The Panorama of the City of New York exudes a kind of monumental reverence for the built environment as one of the grandest achievements of humanity. In contrast, Estrada’s Tiered Panorama on Miami Beach is a depiction of Miami’s built environment being retaken by the elements. Estrada’s postnatural diorama of Miami collages organic and artificial materials such as coconut fiber, sea shells, swarovski encrusted bones, UV pigments, and plastic Halloween masks, creating a vibrant and gritty vision of the city, literally glowing under the residue of petrocapitalism.
Transformation is also a central theme in Tiered Panorama which expands on Estrada’s ongoing series of mystical, mixed media landscapes. Using practical construction methods, ingeniously upcycled consumer waste, and 3D printing technology – cereal boxes, broken cell phones, artificial pearls, various forms of plastic and many other unconventional art materials become power objects; elevating craft to the realm of the sacred. This artwork is a shrine for contemporary ecosystems, highlighting plastics as ubiquitous, if not foundational, to the modern era. Estrada’s sculptural work takes origin from his grandmother’s expansive collection of ornamental Christmas villages as well as the Puerto Rican craft of Casitas. Casitas are typically miniature ceramic facades of traditional island homes, and this idea transforms into a nuanced and compelling statement through Estrada’s visionary lens. His animated and cinematic artwork functions as an omen; warning of a dystopian world of runaway emissions pollution. Appearing as a demented architectural model of an imagined Miami of the future, the artwork is a mirage of a city featuring idyllic vignettes, hellish apparitions, and a central, phantom lighthouse in perpetual rotation.
The fabrication process of Estrada’s sculptures yield countless cast-offs and residues that the artist recycles back into other works. This circular material ecology is visible in the series of Fire Paintings that are also on display as part of The Infinite Vision in the Ethereal Rainbows Swarming Behind my Eyelids Reveals a Beacon, where airbrushed canvases hold the shadow image of flames that appear elsewhere in the exhibition.
The Infinite Vision in the Ethereal Rainbows Swarming Behind my Eyelids Reveals a Beacon can be viewed during open hours as well as through street-facing windows on Collins Avenue when the gallery is Starting April 27th, the gallery is open Thursday through Saturday, 11am-6pm, and by appointment. To schedule an appointment to visit the show, email [email protected].
This exhibition is part of Waterproof Miami, an initiative organized by Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative. Waterproof Miami is series of site-specific artists’ projects presented in unexpected public spaces developed in direct response to the environmental issues facing South Florida, planned through 2021. This exhibition builds upon Dear Miami, a September 2020 Waterproof Miami project that Estrada was commissioned to produce leading up to the 2020 Election.
