DV Grand Opening Reception
Saturday, February 4, 6—10 pm
Vice Versa
Over the last few years, Leyla Cárdenas has developed a series of works that investigate the layers that compose architectural spaces and directly relate to the physicality of a space as a point of departure. Using the materials and detritus extracted from the spaces she works in and dissecting the accumulated layers of history, she explores the profound trail of experiences left within each space. Her work is sculptural without making objects, it uses destruction as a way to build new narratives—allowing a new engagement with the same place.
For DV, Leyla will use remnants from the demolition of several walls from the renovation to examine the history of the space. The new DV is located in what was the Centre Gallery in the Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus in Downtown Miami. This gallery hosted exhibitions for thirty plus years with many important artists passing through. Leyla’s project will pay homage to this rich history and bring attention to Miami’s art and cultural history. With a city interested in the latest and the new, where we struggle to preserve the historical spaces we have left, we hope Leyla’s work invigorates a passion for peeling back the layers and understanding where we come from.
Leyla Cárdenas
Leyla Cárdenas was born in 1975 in Bogotá, Colombia where she still lives and works. She received her MFA in sculpture from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. She has exhibited internationally in selected venues including the Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, Netherlands; MAMM Museo de Arte Moderno, Medellín, Colombia; ICASJ Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose, CA, USA; Casas Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia; Art Basel Miami Beach, Casas Riegner, Miami Beach, FL, USA; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; Josee Bienvenu Gallery, New York, NY, USA. Her work is included in the public collections of Museum of Latin American Art, MOLAA, Long Beach, CA, USA; Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño, Bogotá, Colombia; Asiacity Trust Proyecto LARA LLP, Singapore; West Collection Philadelphia, PA, USA. She has been written about in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Wallpaper Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, and Art Nexus.
