Enrique Flores-Galbis Opening at Williams McCall Gallery - posted by FFAB

Enrique Flores-Galbis Dreaming of Havana:  The Collision of Memory and Fact Opening Reception Saturday, April 19th  6-9 pm Exhibition April 19-May 6

Dog on the Malecon 30"x30"  oil on linen ABOUT THE ARTIST Enrique Flores-Galbis is a landscape and portrait painter. Born in Havana, Cuba, he left in 1961 with Operation Pedro Pan, arriving alone in South Florida at the age of 9. Also a novelist, his award-winning book 90 Miles to Havana was based on the events that led to his departure and the life he encountered in the U.S. "This ongoing series of paintings began before the first return to my birthplace, my magnetic center, the island of Cuba. The first images, painted from memories, were tinged by the emotions and longings this landscape evokes in the heart of an exile. After that first visit I started painting urban themes where the collision of memory and fact is palpable. The bare buildings of Havana, bitten by the salt and wind have the look of paper-thin, brittle honeycombs. The clanging approach of an old Ford retrofit with a sputtering Fiat engine is an unsettling metaphor for the intersection of nostalgia, history and cold fact." Flores-Galbis received a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the Parsons School of Design in 1992. He has served on the Faculty of the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts for over twenty years and Parsons School of Design for over sixteen years as well as the Morris and Montclair Museums in New Jersey. Flores-Galbis' work can be found in corporate, university, and private collections throughout the country. ABOUT US The Williams McCall Gallery is the first fine art gallery located in the South of Fifth neighborhood in South Beach and has become a "must visit" destination for art lovers and collectors. The gallery holds one of approximately 30 licenses issued by the U.S. Treasury Department to import artworks from Cuba. The gallery represents a diverse roster of local and international artists creating contemporary paintings, works on paper, fine art photography, encaustic collage and sculpture. There is a unique mix of emerging, mid-career, and established artists. Several of the artists have a strong Provincetown, Massachusetts connection - the oldest, largest, and continuous art colony in America. The gallery was voted the Best New Gallery 2013 by the Miami Sun Post newspaper. It was also a 2013 Finalist for Best Art Gallery by the Miami New Times newspaper. Williams McCall Gallery | | gail@williamsmccallgallery.com | http://www.williamsmccallgallery.com 110 Washington Avenue, CU-3 Miami Beach, FL 33139 I'll be driving down for the show and checking out this gallery for the first time.  I actually used to live in the building the gallery is located in, The Cosmopolitan.  It was a great building located South of 5th, across the street from Joe's stone crabs.  I had a lot of fun living in that condo on Miami Beach and sure miss Joe's! GL