Just over 100 years after the birth of the surrealist movement, surrealism is still as relevant and vibrant as when the movement was born. On Friday, March 20, 6-9pm, please join curator David Raymond, Bruce Halpryn, and several of the artists, for the opening reception at VISU Contemporary, of “My Silence is Made of Explosions”, a group show of 8 contemporary women surrealist artists, anchored by 2 circa 1935 surrealist photographs by Dora Maar for historical perspective.
Coming soon to @visu.gallery in Miami Beach, FL. This amazing work of Adam Parker Smith will join the two beautiful ones already in the gallery after a little more detail work and polishing. Don’t miss seeing them!
Just arrived from Italy - “Victory” by Adam Parker Smith from the CRUSHED series. Two other pieces in the series are also available; “Neptune and Triton” and “Diana the Huntress” at VISU Contemporary art gallery in Miami Beach.
Congratulations to artist Jen DeNike (DPhil Fine Art), @jen_denike received the St John’s-Clarendon Creative Scholarship Prize for her performance Moon River, a live interdisciplinary work emerging from Venus Time. The piece moved between invocation and dialogue, weaving together musical expression with a compelling meditation on imaginative flight. Come to VISU Contemporary art gallery to see 2 of her photographs, one of her collages, and 2 collages she created in collaboration with Barbara von Portatius @barbara_vonportatius as part of the current exhibition “My Silence is Made of Explosions”, /artists/.
Lara Padilla to be creating a new painting LIVE, in response to the surrealist photographs on exhibit in “My Silence is Made of Explosions” at VISU Contemporary, 2160 Park Ave, Miami Beach, May 23 3-7pm
Congratulation to VISU Contemporary sculptor Barry Ball on his exhibition at the Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice during the Venice biennale. If you would like to get a list of the pieces available in the exhibition, a guided tour of the exhibition, or to see the 2 pieces currently in VISU Contemporary art gallery, please DM. /barry-x-ball-in-venice/
FROM SILENCE TO IMAGE
On May 23, 3–7 PM, Lara Padilla activates VISU Contemporary gallery with a live painting in direct dialogue with “My Silence is Made of Explosions”.
Where the photographers fix the surreal in a single, exacting frame, Padilla reveals the image as it forms—an unfolding of intuition, tension, and transformation.
We encourage collectors to visit twice:
once at the beginning, when the work is still uncertain,
and again toward evening, as it resolves into something fully seen.
The resulting painting—shaped entirely within the duration of the exhibition—will be available for acquisition, as are the photographs in the exhibition.
A rare opportunity to witness the surreal not only as image—but as process, while also enjoying viewing the incredible photographs that are available.
What begins as stone is becoming something far more deliberate. Years spent figuring out how to create a new PolyChroma version of the “Crushed” series. Coming to VISU Contemporary art gallery this fall.
In Adam Parker Smith’s studio, this work is evolving through a series of decisions that blur the line between engineering and intuition. A pivotal shift: Pluto now emerges in Giallo Siena rather than Carrara—not for aesthetics alone, but to follow the intelligence of the material itself. Its tighter grain and more responsive veining allow the sculpture to be carved with the stone, not against it—each form guided along natural pathways, then reassembled into a seamless whole.
The effect is quietly radical. Figures won’t simply sit beside one another—they will interlock, transition, and resolve like a fluid, living system. Almost puzzle-like. Almost inevitable.
The palette has followed suit:
Giallo Siena, Rosa Português, Nero Portoro, Bardiglio, Carrara—each chosen not just for color, but for how it behaves under pressure, under the blade, under vision. Warmer tones now dominate the bodies, lending a subtle sense of life beneath the surface, while Carrara cuts through with clarity and light. A darker Cerberus anchors it all.
Nothing here is arbitrary. Every adjustment tightens the relationship between structure and story.
Still in process. Still revealing itself. Anticipation building….
‘MY SILENCE IS MADE OF EXPLOSIONS’ REFRAMES SURREALISM AT VISU CONTEMPORARY
Written By Olga Garcia-Mayoral
At VISU Contemporary, “My Silence Is Made of Explosions” presents Surrealism not as a historical reference, but as a living, evolving language shaped by contemporary women artists. On view through Sunday, May 31, the exhibition brings together a group of photographers whose works challenge perception, destabilize meaning, and reframe the image as a psychological space rather than a fixed document.
Read more : /blog/visu-contemporary-surrealism-photographers-female
“At VISU Contemporary, “My Silence Is Made of Explosions” presents Surrealism not as a historical reference, but as a living, evolving language shaped by contemporary women artists. On view through Sunday, May 31, the exhibition brings together a group of photographers whose works challenge perception, destabilize meaning, and reframe the image as a psychological space rather than a fixed document.
The premise is ambitious: to position Surrealism as urgently relevant today. But what ultimately gives the exhibition its strength is not the concept alone — it is how that idea materializes through specific works that linger in the viewer’s mind.
Photography, traditionally associated with truth, becomes something far more unstable here. Across the exhibition, images feel constructed yet emotionally precise, suspended somewhere between documentation and imagination. As noted in the exhibition materials, the works reject fixed narratives in favor of ambiguity and psychological depth. But it is in the individual works that this tension becomes fully realized…..”
Read the full ARTBURST review by Olga Garcia-Mayoral at /blog/visu-contemporary-surrealism-photographers-female.
Elena Dorfman ( @dorfmanelena ) provides some back story on the doll series called “Still Lovers”. Six pieces from this series are part of the current exhibition “My Silence is Made of Explosions” on display thru the end of May. DM if you’d like a personal tour of the exhibition. It
