Eight leading emerging and mid-career Latin American artists are featured in the current exhibition at
ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries in Coral Gables. Curated by veteran art dealer Virginia Miller, the exhibit includes nearly three dozen original paintings, photographs and tabletop sculpture, all priced under $6,000.

“I like to do a Latin American invitational exhibition in the summer,” Miller says, “because it offers an opportunity to show some of the outstanding young talent represented by the gallery and for our younger collectors to begin acquiring the master artists of tomorrow.”

Santiago Beltran Valladares of El Salvador is represented by two five-foot oil and mixed media paintings on canvas. Predominantly in amber and earth tones, their supple surfaces and magical realism are rendered with Beltran Valladares’ unique vision and technique.

Three biomorphic abstractions are by Michelle Concepción, a painter from Puerto Rico. Her three 40-inch acrylic paintings on canvas suggest the foliage of her native country.

Leonidas Correa of Nicaragua, is exhibiting nine color photographs, including four five-foot prints. Shot in Paris, Costa Rica and Romania, the photos are part of his extensive exploration of reflections.

Born in Cuba, a citizen of Spain, educated in the United States and France, Pablo Gonzalez-Trejo is represented by a large-scale color photograph of a dreamlike abstraction, its central emerald-hued image suggestive of an island reflected in a surrounding pool of inky water.

Luis Jaramillo of Colombia, a master printmaker, has two abstract works in the exhibition. Both are collagraphs, intaglio prints whose plate is made of collaged materials. One of the 28- by 40-inch diptychs is predominantly earth tones and turquoise; the other, shades of amber and brick red.

Born in 1952, Renato Meziat is a Brazilian artist whose super-realistic technique usually evokes a “Wow!” from viewers. He is represented by a 45-by-63-inch painting of two nude young women who are twins. One twin is applying lipstick to the lips of her sister.

One five-foot and two 31-inch abstract oils by Guillermo Londoño, also from Colombia, show an extraordinary richness and depth of color, a result of layers of thin paint, called glazes. The two smaller works feature horizontal compositions that can be viewed as landscapes. The larger painting, a vertical composition, is predominently acqua with flashes of glimmering gold underpainting.

Two realistic still lifes of fruit and pumpkin, reminiscent of those done 400 years ago by Flemish masters, are by Rita Miranda, another Colombian painter. Her antiqued frames contribute to their timelessness.

Rounding out the exhibition are five tabletop bronze sculptures and three combination paintings and sculpture by Carolina Rodriguez-Baptista, a versatile Venezuelan artist. Several of her sculptures feature human figures flying in space, metaphors for the leap of faith required by human relationships or any creative endeavor. Others are sensual female forms in semi-recumbent poses.

Greater Miami’s longest-established contemporary fine art gallery, ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries entered its 31st year last month.

The gallery is located in downtown Coral Gables at 169 Madeira Avenue, just east of Ponce de Leon Boulevard about midway between Miracle Mile and Southwest 8th Street.

During the summer months it is suggested that visitors phone 305-444-4493 to be certain the gallery will be open.
Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and by appointment.