Art of Black Miami

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Reginald O'Neal

Bougainvillea, 2023 oil on canvas
by: Reginal O'Neal

Reginald O’Neal (L.E.O.) (Miami, Florida 1992) began painting in 2012, soon meeting his friend and mentor, Alejandro Dorda, who would teach him classically. His captivating oil paintings portray narrative scenes deeply influenced by his upbringing in Overtown, a historically Black neighborhood in Miami. In 2014, L.E.O. took his first trip to Europe to complete murals in Austria, Norway, and Spain, as well as exhibit in a collective show alongside his teacher in Berlin, Germany. In the years since, Reggie has focused on canvas work, residencies, and murals that embody his community surroundings, experiences and beliefs.

O'Neal's work has been acquired for the permanent collections of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, and the Rubell Museum. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Youth Concept Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL, and Urban Art Clash Gallery, Berlin, Germany. Spinello Projects also featured O'Neal's work in Art Basel Miami Beach 2023.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social
Sound Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor IG - @_reginaldoneal_ 

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Bayunga Kialeuka

Mwasi Kitoko
by Byunga Kialeuka

A Congolese-born narrative painter, curator, and mural artist, Bayunga Kialeuka grew up in Miami (USA), where he worked as an artist before moving to other US cities, all the while variably travelling to DRC. His work focuses on themes of social realism, investigating society through the prismatic lenses of economic ecosystems, race and cultural identity. While in the USA, the artist started working along the lines of classicism and modernism to represent his immediate urban surroundings, focusing on the African American context.

Bayunga Kialeuka currently works on an ensemble of portraits and figurative depictions of protest, domestication, and status in Kinshasa (DRC). This expanded series further compares the hierarchical temperament of Kinois (indigenous Kinshasa residents) at home and abroad to scale concepts of escapism and utopia in the face of the stigma of lower working class communities. His drawings and paintings now start shaping a triangular representation of contemporary pan-Africanism aiming to deconstruct our accepted understanding of wider African history to make place for new perspectives into how Africans and Afro descendants are shaping a truly global society. Having painted numerous large murals as a way to engage with contemporary history and local society in the USA, Kialeuka also worked as a curator and producer of art exhibitions. His compositions are technically influenced by various painters, photographers, filmmakers, writers, musicians, and philosophers alike. Among them are Palmer Hayden, Moké, Tupac Shakur, Claude Brown, Franco Luambo, Lucian Freud, Romare Bearden and Eric Monte.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social | Sound
Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor 
IG – @bayunga.kialeuka.studio 

 

More artwork by Bayunga Kialeuka

"Panoticon"

Art of Black Miami Podcast with T. Eliott Mansa

Four Moments of the Sun II
By: T. Eliott Mansa

T. Eliott Mansa is a Miami based visual artist who specializes in creating assemblages, paintings, and sculptures. His artwork is characterized by the fusion of styles reminiscent of visionary Southern vernacular sculpture. Mansa's primary objective is to stimulate the imaginative faculties of his audience, urging them to challenge prevailing norms and discover their own socio-political agency within their communities. He draws on a diverse range of influences, including West African, Caribbean, and Southern religious and vernacular sculptural traditions. Mansa received a BFA from the University of Florida (2000) and an MFA from CUNY-Hunter College (2018). Recent exhibition venues include LnS Gallery and David Castillo Gallery in Miami, FL, African American Museum of the Arts, DeLand FL, and Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora, Miami FL. Mansa is a recipient of the 2019 and 2022 Ellies Creator Awards, Green Space Initiative Grant, and the YoungArts Microgrant.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social | Sound Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor
T. Eliott Mansa
IG - @Teliottmansa

 

More Artwork by T. Eliott Mansa: 

"Dirge blues III" by T. Eliott Mansa

 

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Nicole Salcedo

Art in Public Places Father Marquess Barry Apt in Historic Overtown
by Nicole Salcedo

Nicole Salcedo is a Cuban-American multi-disciplinary artist based in Miami, Florida. She works in sculpture, fibers, performance and film, with a foundational practice in drawing and pattern design. Nicole’s drawings open up pathways that offer a deeper understanding of consciousness and the various connections between our bodies and the environment.

Using repetitive marks to create patterns and webs of energy within her work. Incorporating human-elemental hybrid figures that reflect various scales of ecosystems and natural phenomena that exist within and around us. Salcedo’s influences include botany, fractals, the physics of electromagnetic energy, and her animistic spiritual practice. By delving into her personal experiences and cultural heritage, Salcedo creates art that speaks to universal themes of identity, transformation, and interconnectedness. Salcedo’s work draws us closer to the mystery of existence and invites us to embrace the beauty and complexity of the world around us.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social | Sound
Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor

Links: nicole salcedo, oolitearts, artefuse, cubanartnews

@nikkidreaming

More of Nicole's artwork:

Pressure Release by Nicole Salcedo 2023

Superorganism by Nicole Salcedo 2023

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Mark Delmont

Giants of the Fields 2023, photographed by Melody Timothee

It's rigged, I told you, photographed by Melody Timothee

by Mark Delmont

Mark Delmont, born in 1990 to Jamaican and Haitian parents, is a dynamic multidisciplinary artist known for his innovative mixed-media creations. Hailing from the vibrant heart of Miami Gardens, more formally recognized as Carol City, Mark's artistic journey has been shaped by his diverse cultural heritage and rich life experiences.

From a young age, Mark found solace in the world of music and film, where he felt seen and heard. These mediums, ranging from the evocative sounds of Outkast, Curtis Mayfield, Kendrick Lamar, to thought-provoking films like "Equilibrium," "Boyz n the Hood," "Memento," and epic sagas like "Lord of the Rings," became his companions in exploring the complexities of identity, blackness, and masculinity. Through these art forms, he discovered an escape from forced archetypes in a world that often felt antagonistic. Art provided an opportunity for otherworldly uniqueness.

Mark's artistic journey was further enriched by his father, a mechanical contractor and fabricator. Their backyard wasn't your typical playground; it was a treasure trove of tools, hydraulics, pumps, motors, steel pipes, and electrical components. While it may have posed hazards for most kids, it was an intriguing playground for Mark. He'd take things apart to understand how they worked, quietly observe his father, and occasionally break things out of sheer curiosity. As a teenager, he began working alongside his father, learning the intricacies of the trade. Yet, Mark chose to channel this mechanical expertise into the arts, transforming warehouses into performance venues, working on construction, stages, lighting, and sound equipment.

Around the age of 25, Mark decided to take a profound leap into the world of art. He became a self-taught artist, weaving together his experiences, influences, and skills into creations that are a testament to his mastery of construction. His works encompass dramatic portraiture and expansive imagery of black iconography, utilizing paints, construction materials, and fabrics meticulously set on wooden frames.

Mark Delmont's art is more than a mere creative expression; it is a reflection of a lifelong quest for self-discovery and an exploration of the intricate layers that define us. Through his art, he invites us to join him on this journey, where construction, deconstruction, and rebirth coexist, creating a space where belonging and uniqueness thrive.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Links: markdelmont, harpofoundation, miaminewtimes, miamitimesonline

@artlovetrap

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Kandy G. Lopez

 

Lamenting Luis
by Kandy G. Lopez

Kandy G Lopez was born in New Jersey and moved with her family to Florida. She received her BFA and BS from the University of South Florida, concentrating in Painting and in Marketing and Management. She received her MFA with a concentration in Painting from Florida Atlantic University in 2014. She has taught at Florida Atlantic University, Daytona State College, and is now teaching as an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Arts at the Halmos College of Art & Sciences at NOVA Southeastern University.

As an Afro-Caribbean visual artist, Lopez is eager to be challenged materialistically and metaphorically when representing marginalized individuals that inspire and move her. Her works are created out of the necessity to learn something new about her people and culture. Lopez is interested in developing a nostalgic dialogue between the artwork and the viewer. If she’s not learning from her materials and how it affects the message, it's not worth creating.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social | Sound Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor
Links: kandyglopez, american-craft spring 2024, voyagemia, hyperallergic
@kandyglopez

More of Kandy's work:

Sukii & Spinelli

 

 

 

 

 

Marley & Luis Green

           

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Marjaries Marmolejos

Untitled, airbrush on sheetmetal
By: Marjaries Marmolejos

Born in Dominican Republic, Marjaries Marmolejos has lived in the United States since he was eight years old. The hip hop influence in his work comes from growing up in the South Bronx as a child and loving hip hop culture. He considers his art a direct line to the minds of the working class, what he calls “the voice of the people.” Though Marmolejos received some traditional training at a young age, he has mostly taught himself by studying independently and observing the world around him.

Marmolejos thinks of his art as a form of cultural currency. He readily shifts gears, giving equal value and attention to custom painting a pair of Nikes, airbrushing a T-shirt, and creating a commercial mural. A professional artist for more than 10 years, he has worked in Wynwood, Allapattah, and Liberty City. His art is raw and highly calculated, figurative and abstract—his media ranging from oils on canvas to airbrush on car hoods, murals that wrap around buildings, and room-sized immersive installations. Marmolejos is devout and dedicated in his practice, motivated by his vision to express the love, fears, and challenges that everyday people experience in the world today.

Links: Marjaries Marmolejos, Liberty Square Artists in Residence Program, African Heritage Cultural Arts Center

@miacustom

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Shawna Moulton

Me-mom-mini-2020
By: Shawna Moulton

Shawna Moulton is a multi-disciplinary artist and art educator based in South Florida. She was born in Freeport, Bahamas, raised in Kingston, Jamaica, and then migrated to the United States. Ever since she discovered the magic of art, she has been manifesting her creativity in drawings, paintings, sculptures, and papermaking.

In 2015, she graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Her art journey has taken her to the Awagami Factory in Tokushima, Japan, where she learned traditional Japanese paper making. Through teaching and artmaking, she engages diverse communities in conversations around art and culture.

Her art reflects her search for identity through her heritage as an immigrant in America with deep connections to the Caribbean and the African Diaspora. Moulton’s current work includes life-size paper-casting figures, illustrations on handmade paper, and watercolor paintings reflecting her journey into motherhood.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio
Related Links: Shawna Moulton, Summer Open 2022, Bakehouse Art Complex, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

@shawnamoultonart

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Anthony Renelle Reed II

Our Family Tree
By: Anthony Renelle Reed II

Anthony Renelle Reed II, better known in the art community as 'Mojo,' is a professional contemporary artist based in Miami. His upbringing in St. Louis, Missouri, grounds his perspective on making art—inspiring him to bring uplifting awareness to his community through his paintings and murals. Reed graduated from Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in 2015, earning a Bachelor Degree in Fine Art with an emphasis on Sequential Art. Since he moved to Miami in 2018, a series of residencies, commissions, and partnerships have supported his vibrant depictions of Black American culture. The artist established the nonprofit Healing with Hues, Inc., in 2021. The organization aims to create impactful visual narratives, mentor aspiring visual artists, and bring public fine art to underserved communities.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio
Related Links: Mojo, Gone Til September, Local Black artist hired for Wynwood murals
@gotthemojo

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Thom Wheeler Castillo

Arraiján 
By Thom Wheeler Castillo

Thom Wheeler Castillo lives and works in Miami. He graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art with a degree in Intermedia. Interested in landscape, environmentalism, and ecosystems, he works from an interdisciplinary approach, entwining art history, earth science, Queer politics, and anthropology.

In Miami, he participated in the inaugural Commuter Biennial, supplanting advertisements on public buses with a series of handmade, editioned prints. Wheeler Castillo produces works through experimentation and partnership that nurture his studio practice. He and Emile Milgrim founded Archival Feedback to engage in various critical dialogues of the moment, approaching the environment as a field studio and producing sound works in a wide range of mediums. Since 2021, he's embarked on cultural missions throughout the Caribbean region, working with curator Rosie Gordon-Wallace and the Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (DVCAI) to participate in international cultural exchanges. He is currently an Artist-In-Residence Studio Fellow with DVCAI and a 2023 recipient of DVCAI’s Catalyst award. He works throughout the region as an educator with institutions including Perez Art Museum Miami, O, Miami Poetry Festival, HistoryMiami, A.I.R.I.E. (Artist in Residence in the Everglades), Rubell Museum, and Miami Design District.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Producer: Fresh Art International | Sound Design/Editing: Anamnesis Audio

Special Audio
Sanibel Shoreline Shells, from Archival Feedback by Various Artists
Biscayne Bay Storm Drain, from Archival Feedback by Various Artists
11th St. Station Whistle, from Archival Feedback, Single by Emile Milgrim & T. Wheeler Castillo A Call to Bird, August 2018, from Archival Feedback

Links: Thom Wheeler Castillo, Archival Feedback, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Commuter Biennial, Wynwood Walking Tour with T. Wheeler Castillo

@twheelzzzzzzzzzz
@archivalfeedback