Life Is Art River Of Art

A Showcase and Celebration of Art and Culture Featuring Several South Florida Artists at Bar 721

February 23, 6:30-9:30pm
Bar 721
721 Lincoln Ln
Miami Beach, FL
Short link: http://bit.ly/liaror

2 for 1 Drinks You Call It! $5 Wine
Complimentary Appetizers Courtesy of Tacontento
Showcase, Networker, Party & Fundraiser

Participating Artists
Clara Ruiz
Jaime Ferreyros
Lorie Setton
Monique Lassooij
Nathan Gnip
Stian Roenning
Vanessa Velez
Vince Herrera

Music by DJ Soozin

RSVP now to enter to win a FREE bottle from Bar 721. (You must be present to win.)
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Supported by:
CANDO Arts Co-Op
Artcenter/South Florida
Soul Of Miami

Join Life Is Art and many artists and art lovers for a fun evening of networking, art and music. We are featuring several outstanding south Florida artists, so come check out their work. This is a great opportunity to meet and socialize with other artists and art lovers; make new connections, set up potential collaborations; and find new fans.

Bar 721 is offering 2 for 1 drinks (full bar!) and $5 wine to lubricate your gears. Tacontento is providing complimentary appetizers to charge your engines. DJ Soozin is supplying musical accompaniment to keep you rolling. AND, if you RSVP now, you will be entered to win a free bottle-service from Bar 721!

www.bar721.com
www.tacontento.com
lifeisartfest.org

Clara Ruiz

I was born in Caracas, Venezuela. In 2002, I moved to Miramar, FL with my family, where we have lived ever since.
I have been interested in art since I was a child. I got my Interior Designer degree in 1985, a career that I only practiced for a short amount of time. Due to reasons that I am still trying to explain, I always have worked in the Administration and Accounting field. At the same time, I have taken Graphic and Advertising Design, art crafts—such as artisanal paper making, pottery, jewelry, origami, watercolor, fabric painting, and papier mache amongst others.
I met photography holding my beloved grandfather’s hand; but it wasn’t until 2008 when it became my hobby, and now has become my passion, which allows me to escape from the numbers.
In this field, I am self taught and my favorite subjects are nature and those things that we usually leave forgotten due to the fast pace of our lives.
What I love the most about photography is that it allows me to see the world from many different perspectives while searching for beauty. When I walk by, tip toeing, kneeling or crawling or simply watching from weird holes, I don’t know if it is me looking at my subjects or if they are staring at me, smiling, winking.
Individual exhibit: Miramar Library. December 2010

Jaime Ferreyros

I’m an EMMY Award winning TV Producer from Miami/iPhoneographer madman.
*All pictures taken and processed with iPhone 3GS

Lorie Setton

Lorie Setton is a creative painter from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with formal artistic training from Florence University of the Arts and the University of Florida. Her large-scale compositions place realistically painted objects in abstract and atmospheric environments, treading the line between real and imaginative. Her work focuses on different manners of color, transparency, and light reflection and alludes to objects that are recognized not by what they look like, but what they do, such as reflecting glass and undulating fabrics. Her most recent works are inspired by American landscapes from her travels, and their surreal and expansive qualities. Lorie Setton currently exhibits her work at GAB Studio in the Wynwood Arts District.

Monique Lassooij

Monique Lassooij was born and raised in The Netherlands and moved three years ago to Miami, Florida. Her paintings hang in numerous private collections in the US and abroad.
In The Netherlands Ms. Lassooij started out as an abstract painter but over the years she developed a passion for figurative painting. After having studied with Dutch artists such as Pien Hazenberg and Henk Hubenet, she went to the Royal Academy for Fine Arts in The Hague, The Netherlands. Monique received since then several commissions and her work can also be found in public places such as the Town Hall of Scheveningen in The Netherlands.
In 2008 she attended several workshops by Darwin Leon – founder of The Figure Network – in Miami.
In most of her work, Monique combines the figurative with abstract, but with the emphasis on the figurative. She finds her inspiration in colors and what those colors do with the subject on the canvas. She don’t always have to place her subject in a context-giving background, as a single color or even a combination of colors and geometric shapes will make the subject stand out.
“The painting “Change your Words…” is one of hope. I try to translate that hope not only in the text but in my use of colors.”

Nathan Gnip

I believe that art speaks for itself.
Whatever effect it has on you is something personal that you have found within yourself. My paintings serve their purpose when you view them and some part of you relates, thinks, feels and absorbs the image. The thoughts and feelings that you have
are the most important part of my art.
Texture, movement, and energy are regarded as hallmarks of contemporary art. These are the elements that form the nucleus and soul of the imagery of internationally renowned artist, Nathan Gnip.
Nathan Gnip studied art in Moscow University of Arts, and continue his education in Stony Brook and Hofstra University, New York. Using a mixture of contemporary realism and personal expression, he has developed a distinctive style that is reflecting in his unique technique. Nathan’s exposure to the European art, which have a technical and spiritual motivation, is strongly reflected in his works. Nathan’s works has been included in numerous private collections internationally and across the United States.

Stian Roenning

Stian Roenning is an accomplished multi media Norwegian artist residing in Miami. He has studied Film at Miami International University of Art & Design, and graduated from Florida International University with a BFA in Visual Art in 2006. For the last nine years he has been working with the art of video installation and fine art and commercial photography. His work has been showcased in galleries like Galerie Bertin-Toublanc, Nomad Gallery in Miami, FL with his “Voyeur” and “Quadruped” series and Toronto International Art Fair (TIAF), the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Dorsch Gallery, NUE Studio in Miami, FL, and Lincoln Road Art Center on South Beach, F, and being represented by ZADOK Gallery in Miami Wynwood district. Stian has been published in magazines like RollingStone, Ocean Drive, Playboy 944, The Lead, Sessions Magazine and Fraser Yachts. He has also co-directed and produced commercials and music videos for the Catalina Hotel, LIV Nightclub, Latin Grammy Winner
Javier Garcia (Universal Record), Latin Grammy Winner Jorge Moreno (Maverick) and Alejandra Alberti (SONY/BMG), Steve Aoki, ATRAK, MSTRKRFT, ADAM 12 from She Wants Revenge, just to name a few. Stian Roenning has also co-produced the “Black Sunday” short films with Alexis Mincolla. Recently he has also worked with internationally acclaimed author Irvine Welsh and John hood on a docudrama about their lives as writers. He is currently producing freelance video for Playboy Enterprises, The Overthrow and Beach Pictures on multiple reality shows in and out of Miami, FL.

Vanessa Velez

Vanessa Velez was born and raised in New York. At a young age, she began to collage her journals. She soon realized how this form of art can speak to us on a subconscious level. Since then, she has researched metaphysics and healing traditions for over ten years. In 2009, Vanessa founded The Hidden Knowing with the intention of inspiring and illuminating the creative power within each of us. She coaches both men and women, one-on-one and in groups, with phenomenal results.

Vince Herrera

My paintings, my rambling, my marks are just me documenting HI(S)TORY (his story). There is no filter when I paint. My artwork is my raw emotion in its purest form. It tells you exactly how I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. You may not always get it, but that’s ok, sometimes I don’t either. I do have a goal as far as the impact of my artwork. I want it to inspire and bring upon change. I want it to be a slap in the face and wake people up to the reality of the world beyond their self. My artwork may be confusing, it may have humor, it may look like shit, but it will always be honest.