AIRIE Roundtable Discussion Featuring Wild Billboard Artist Franky Cruz

Saturday, November 12th from 6-7pm join Artists in Residence in Everglades (AIRIE) for their Wild Billboard finale with a Roundtable Discussion featuring Franky Cruz at Rojas + Rubensteen Projects. Cruz created a site-specific installation in the new exhibition space, on view through November 16th. Please join us after the discussion for a drink at Churchill’s Pub, which is located less than a mile away, directly under the Wild Billboard at 5501 NE 2nd Avenue in Miami, FL, 33137.

During his May 2015 AIRIE residency, Miami-based artist Franky Cruz developed a series of photographs taken in an Everglades cypress dome. Cruz states that this concept started with questions of human identity and behavior, especially relating to the creatures of this planet. “Embodying this white bird created an empathic connection between the human and our majestic natural environment. A connection that seems to have been severed by our modern day methods. Wearing the metaphorical skin of the creature, stepping out of our shoes and into their claws, paws and hopefully not bellies. Searching for some kind of heron who seems to be an alien in its own environment.” The Wild Billboard Project, sponsored in part by the Knight Foundation, brings a bit of the Everglades into the city by creating billboards emblazoned with large scale, artful images reflecting the South Florida environment.

Image: ‘A heron whose plumes weigh more than gold’, Franky Cruz, 2015.