Find more of Eric’s work here.
Eric Estrada has three major influences in life: fishing, music, and art.
Born and raised in Miami, he spent every weekend of his childhood in the Florida Keys. Once in high school, he got into the graffiti scene. At the age of 16, he was mentored by a well known Miami artist. It was with him, where he began to get paid for artwork. Not on walls or canvas, but on high end power boats.
But in his college years, he picked up a rod and got back into fishing. Fishing quickly took over his life, and lead him to the Everglades.
Where fishing became a lifestyle, rather than just a hobby. By the time he picked up his first canvas, the only thing on his mind was fly fishing. On those windy days that fishing just wouldn’t work, he would get lost on canvas. What one would see in one of his paintings is a moment he remembers. Portrayed as he sees it.
Find more work from Ivan here.
Born on December 27, 1991 Ivan Jorge Roque also known as “The Lost Artist” is a Cuban-American urban artist from the infamous Carol City, Florida an inner city located on the northern side of Miami-Dade County. Roque attends the Miami International University of Art & Design working to attain his bachelor’s degree all while still pushing his works to much greater extents. For an artist of his age Roque has had many accomplishments from working with local established artist Gabriel Gimenez to the hip hop group known as RVIDXR KLVN, and even having a public installation commissioned by the Town of Surfside located in Miami Beach, Florida also not to mention the countless shows all over the city. Ivan Jorge Roque truly is the freshest artist in the Miami art scene and a pioneer in the “Urban Pop” movement he is definitely something to be watched out for in the next coming months as we see what creations can come of the one that is forever lost.
Find more of Desiree’s work here.
Desiree Kawass, known to most as “Desi”, was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. She attended Immaculate Conception Preparatory & high school and graduated at the age of sixteen. She then moved to Miami, Florida to pursue a career in Visual Art at Florida International University. Having discovered a new interest in the mechanics of the human body, however, Desiree embarked on a degree in Exercise Physiology, of which she obtained both a bachelors and masters degree. In addition, she was licensed as a dental hygienist in 2007. Throughout this educational journey, Desiree’s painting became secondary to her studies, only to resurface during her spare time. As time passed on, Desiree always felt as though something was missing in her life. Each endeavor she pursued became unfulfilling over time, never to compare to the contentedness which art brought to her life. She needed to paint, she wanted to paint and paint she did.
Desiree began with her Bamboo Series, a collection of paintings which focused on the detailed beauty of bamboo stalks. She expanded this series by utilizing more vibrant colors and tones and ultimately, larger canvases. She felt as though such vibrancy could not and should not be limited to small canvases. As she continued to rekindle her relationship with a paintbrush, her paintings became more meaningful, paying tribute to her Uncle by emulating his art with her interpretation of his work through her P-Tree series, a series that she holds very close to her heart. She then began experimenting with three-dimensional art – a form of art that truly made her happy. Labeled as her “Happy Times” series, these paintings do nothing more than exude happiness from the eyes of their beholders. This series became the immediate focus and the inspiration for Pop Up Piano Miami 2012.
Prior to this event, Desiree participated in the SOMI Art Walk, The Kiwanis Club of Little Havana – Art in the Park and Miracle Mile Art Walk, Artists Wanted – Art Takes Miami and Art Takes New York. For Desiree, however, the acceptance as an official Pop Up Piano Miami 2012 artist has been her greatest achievement yet. She still continues to define herself with her new series – Arbor Ballet. This series was finally born through the collaboration of her education and her artistic talents. Her education provided an abstract use of the mechanics of the human body whilst the inspiration of her P-Tree series set the tone to create this collection. She needed to paint, she wanted to paint and paint she did.
Find more of Rodrigo’s work here.
Rodrigo Gaya was born and raised in Miami. His passion for photography started when he first picked up his aunt’s film camera to shoot football for his high school paper. He continued shooting throughout college at The Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan’s student run newspaper, where he was appointed as the Managing Photo Editor in 2008. After graduation, he returned to Miami and has since been a part of the World Red Eye team starting in 2010. With his background in photojournalism, Rodrigo is well versed in various different types of photography and has technical knowledge with different camera and lighting systems. His passion is photography but his motivation is documenting human interaction with its surroundings. Documenting the truth in spontaneous moments of human life.
Find more of Federico’s work here.
Federico Carosio III is a self-taught artist whose work captures the intense light and rich colors of South Florida like no photograph can. Carosio’s eye for detail can be seen in the photo-realism of his early pop-art paintings, while his abstracts and sculptures reflect the bold colors of his native Colombia. But it is his landscapes and streetscapes (acrylic on canvas) that have made him one of South Florida’s most celebrated and successful painters. From the sun-drenched beaches of Key West and Miami Beach to the tree-shaded streets of Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, Carosio’s beautifully detailed paintings bring to life the region’s lush tropical splendor. Each work of art perfectly captures the vibrant colors and varied shapes and textures of South Florida’s tropical foliage…and the complex interplay of light and shadow that changes not just with the seasons but also with the time of day. Painting has been Carosio’s passion since he was a three-year-old boy living in Bogota, Colombia. Perhaps it was in his genes: his great uncle was the renowned Italian painter Lorenzo Carosio, and his father was an actor who painted and sculpted in his spare time, often with young Federico by his side. Carosio’s talent was recognized and nurtured as a child, and eventually he decided to make painting his career. He started painting professionally in Soho in 1974, but it wasn’t until he settled in Miami in 1979 that he discovered his passion for painting South Florida’s tropical landscapes. Carosio says his paintings are his way of sharing his love of nature with others. “I love creating things that are pleasing to me and others,” says Carosio. “And I love knowing that my paintings are giving people an appreciation for South Florida’s abundant natural beauty.” Carosio is a frequent exhibitor in one-man shows and at South Florida’s many juried art festivals. His paintings have been honored with a number of “Best of Show” awards and featured as the official poster for the South Miami Art Festival, South Miami Arts & Crafts Festival, Pinecrest Fine Art Festival and Key Biscayne Art Festival. Today, Carosio’s popularity extends far beyond South Florida, and his work hangs in homes all around the world. A single father, Carosio claims that his best work of art will forever be his two now-grown children, Federico and Bianca.
Find more of Ruben’s work here.
Ruben Gerardo Ubiera Gonzalez (born October 19, 1975 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican neo-figurative artist, known for his strong use of the line, who has been drawing and painting ever since he had use of reason.
Ruben paints and draws in a style considered by many as Pop-surrealism, but he prefers to call it urban-pop, since he has lived most of his life in the urban, populated areas and most of his inspiration is derived from the interactivity between man and his urban environment. At the age of 15, his family moved to the Bronx, NY, where he was heavily influenced by the graffiti art that surrounded him, something he wouldn’t realize until much later in his life.
He strives in all his work to capture an essential part of his past, his present and his subjects through the use of the line and form. His work includes still-life and situational portraiture but Ruben tends to primarily focus on city landscapes.
His paintings are, on first examination, noted for being charged with “skateboard-isms”, paint drips and the constant presence of graffiti in some shape or form. But, after closer inspection, one notices the detail, sarcastic contrast, the social commentary and human struggle that’s felt by the technique and subject matter.
Find more of Alexander’s work here.
Born and raised in Miami, Florida, the debut of Alexander Mijares into the art world was a long time coming. Mijares has a keen eye for finding inspiration everywhere—whether it’s in people (mostly women), traveling abroad to a far away locale, or just observing culture as it exists in itself. Here in Miami (“a city of passion”), Mijares has been exposed to culture from all over the world, and his family roots in Cuba and Spain have helped to give his artwork a unique, colorful, and almost historic feel. Mijares creates art that has significant meaning to him, such as a friendship or the life and death of a loved one, and that sense of purpose comes across on the canvas. Alex grew up sketching and doodling, and briefly dabbled in graffiti. Quite simply, he had a creative gene that stayed burning bright. Life experience is a creative catalyst for Mijares, who believes “a day without meeting someone new is a day wasted.” Each encounter has a purpose, each person a piece to the overall puzzle of his life. Alex translates that puzzle ideology to his paintings, where he constructs figures seemingly from puzzle pieces that comprise the person of focus in each work of art. Following a successful opening exhibit on February 23, 2012, Alex has found himself involved in various artistic endeavors throughout South Florida. Never one to rest on his laurels, Alex also runs a family business and recently completed his MBA. Upon moving into a new apartment, he searched for a statement art piece to hang in his home—when nothing quite jumped out at him, he created something himself. Things show no sign of slowing down for Mijares, who takes his success gracefully and with humility, who says a “lot of emotion” goes into creating his work—and he just wants to grab viewers and engage them.
Ross von Rosenberg, 33, is a painter, graphic designer, and photographer.
Ross has been exploring the visual world of art since he was child. He grew up in Austin, and graduated with a degree in graphic design from Texas Tech University. Ross now lives in Dallas, working as a senior art director for an ad agency, and continuing to grow and expand as an artist the rest of the time.
Ross is primarily fascinated with texture and the human figure, and likes to explore these things with a combination of traditional art ideas, abstract and modern ideas, as well as a graphic designer touch. Ross is also fascinated with words, either in their narrative sense, poetic sense, or even in their fragmented absence. Through texture, images, and words Ross communicates his vision to the world by encouraging people to reach out and look closer so they can see what his work says to them.
Arnaud Pages is a French urban artist, graphic designer, photographer and videographer that studied Fine Arts at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He recently made the decision to leave the cold for a warmer lifestyle in Miami, FL. He is currently working at Macias Advertising as a Artistic Director, and continues to work as The Black Key Group’s In-house Graphic Designer.
Arnaud was responsible for the Pop Up Piano logo and the rest of the graphic design as well as the photography last year.
