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The Art and Culture Center/Hollywood: Alchemy: Pigments of Probability and Night Swimming Exhibitions Are Open

June 21, 2024

The Art and Culture Center/Hollywood is hosting the opening reception for two exhibitions, Diana Eusebio’s Alchemy: Pigments of Probability, and Carmen Smith’s Night Swimming, on Thursday, June 20 from 5pm to 8pm. The exhibitions will run concurrently with the exhibitions Animals and Faux Ecologies + Augmented Visions of the Nature-verse, currently on view, through August 18, 2024. Admission for the opening reception is $7, and Free for Art and Culture Center members. The Art and Culture Center galleries are open Tuesday-Friday from 10am to 5pm and Saturday-Sunday from Noon to 4pm and are located at 1650 Harrison Street in Hollywood.

Alchemy: Pigments of Probability, is a culmination of years of extensive research on the indigenous art of alchemizing plants and natural materials into color. In this specific body of work, she features seven different natural materials native to Miami, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, such as Cochineal, Avocados, Bija (Annatto), Spanish Moss, Indigo, Jagua, and Palo de Campeche (Logwood), often sourcing them directly from the landscape. The imagery in the works is digitally printed onto fabric and combine both archival photos of her past experiences with family and landscape, and imagined photos created with AI to reconstruct images of her family’s history in the Dominican Republic and Peru. Combining traditional practices and modern technologies, Diana explores collective memory processes, constructing familiar archives and textile traditions reflective of her ancestral past and family’s future legacy. The multi-layered process of creating these compelling new pieces is reflective of the complexities of recovering and recording Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean histories.

Eusebio is a Peruvian-Dominican multidisciplinary artist whose practice is centered on color and its cultural significance. Eusebio’s process is informed by research of naturally dyed textiles from Indigenous Latin American and Afro-Caribbean traditions, recognizing their connection to nature and their role as carriers of ancestral wisdom. Eusebio's fusion of ancestral and modern techniques, including dyeing and photography, contributes to contemporary cultural preservation and celebrates the rich heritage and Pre-Columbian knowledge embedded within these communities. Her work is a powerful testament to the enduring cultural tapestry of these regions. The exhibition is the eighth in our Oolite Collaborations series with Oolite Arts.

Smith explores how the built environment affects emotional and psychological states. Her exhibition, Night Swimming, evokes a magical, otherworldly playground of glowing pools and colorful buildings. Her painterly compositions are kept simple, while her use of color is exaggerated to emphasize a liminal, dreamlike space.

Smith designs her paintings from memories and tropical urban architecture. Her use of familiar settings invites viewers to explore the nostalgic scenery, while her use of perspective positions them as if they are part of the scene. Integrating movements such as realism, expressionism, color field, and abstraction, Smith unites an array of formal aspects in a single dreamlike space. An exaggeratedly bright, high-contrast color palette explores color as a form of leisure, a more nuanced consideration of how place affects experience, memory, and identity.

Current Exhibitions
ANIMALS is an all-encompassing, interactive exhibition that looks at the animals around us and how human interaction plays a role in endangerment and survival. From domestic household pets to wild invasive or endangered species, animals are presented through various methods including painting, sculpture, mixed media, and video. This extensively curated collection seeks to unravel the mysteries behind these connections and convey the importance of the role of animals in our environment.

[dNASAb] is an innovative sculptor of ecosystems, infusing discarded materials and consumer electronics while pioneering new technologies through extended, augmented realities. His new project, Faux Ecologies + Augmented Visions of the Nature-verse, blends environmental conservation, art, and technology to engage viewers as co-creators and advocates for sustainability. The artist seeks to challenge prevailing notions of loss, decay, e-waste, and environmental degradation. He uses upcycled ocean debris and reclaimed plastics, transforming them into kinetic sculptures inspired by underwater life, highlighting the need to protect marine ecosystems from plastic pollution. He then uses Neural Radiance Field (NeRF) scans to capture the sculptures in natural environments, creating precise 3D models. These models enable an Augmented Reality (AR) experience that merges physical and virtual elements during the exhibition, offering an immersive and interactive journey for viewers.

The Art and Culture Center/Hollywood is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported in part by its members, admissions, private entities, the City of Hollywood, the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council; and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

They welcome donations from all members of the community who wish to support our work.

For more information visit: www.artandculturecenter.org

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