Federation Star - January 2017

ARTS & CULTURE
Estero Fine Arts Show
featured artist
Mixed-media artist Robert Bery
is one of the participating
juried artists with the 19 th
bi-annual Estero Fine Art Show,
Saturday and Sunday, January 7 and 8
at Miromar Design Center.
Bery’s work aims to promote positivity
in-the-midst-of the ever-dueling
opposing forces of love and hate.
Toward that end, he employs pop iconography
designed to advance peaceful
Mixed-media artist Robert Bery
globalization, discourage egotistical
hubris, and celebrate life. For example,
in a recent series titled Thou Art My
Subject, Bery re-imagines flags in order
to invoke new concepts about the meaning
of national identity. Through this
body of work, he openly questions the
boundaries these symbols have come to
represent over time, and by overlapping
and entwining traditionally independent
characters, he invokes the concepts of
interdependence and cosmopolitanism
that define contemporary post-nationalistic
culture.
Numerals play an important role in
many of Bery’s mixed media and sculptural
work. When used, they signify the
importance of numbers both as a human
universal and as a representation of
monetary value. Through the use of fiber,
many of his pieces reflect the erotic
underpinnings of everyday male-female
interactions. The pleasure Bery takes in
life’s gift of sensation virtually bursts
from his colorful works, radiating the
energetic essence that the sense of touch
embodies. “My intention is to reflect,
challenge and inspire the viewer through
color and image,” Bery summarizes.
The artist’s vision and underlying
creative philosophy have clearly been
shaped and informed by his experiences
as a post-World War II Hungarian-born
Jew. In the wake of the war, Bery’s family
immigrated to Israel. Robert was six
at the time. When he became an adult,
he served in the military as an electric
technician, applying his accomplished
and highly-refined engineering and technical
skills to aviation communication
systems and the production of Phantom
jets. But it was during an archaeological
excavation in Israel that Bery discovered
his passion for art.
After a period of reflection, Robert
decided to utilize his considerable talents
to foster communication and unity
among diverse peoples. Art would be his
vehicle. “Like a massive jigsaw puzzle,”
Bery concludes, “we fit together to make
a single perfect whole.”
Following the Yom Kippur War,
Bery devoted himself fully to his artistic
pursuits, studying at the Ecole Des
Beaux Arts in Paris and in the studios
of Henry Moore and Jacques Lipshitz
in Italy.
His art has been shown at the
Miami Museum of Art, Soho West in
Santa Monica, Brooklyn Children’s
Museum, Artopia in New York, Gallery
Function Art, Blum Helman Warehouse
and several other notable galleries. His
work can be found in the private collections
of Bill and Hillary Clinton, David
Bowie, Willem Dafoe, Alec Baldwin,
Benjamin Bratt, the Smithsonian Institute
and the Federal Reserve Bank. But
in addition to his artistic legacy, Bery
has advanced the rights of all American
artists to artistic freedom. His
legal challenge of a restrictive
New York City statute in 1993
resulted in a landmark case that
now recognizes artistic expression
as protected speech under
the First Amendment.
Robert Bery is a shining
example of the type of artists
Hot Works brings to Estero
twice a year in its ongoing efforts
to produce a quality art
show that not only intrigues
and entices collectors, but
advances art appreciation and
education in all viewers. Hot
Works Estero Fine Art Show TM
was recently voted one of the
top 100 art fairs in the country
among more than 2,000 surveyed
by Sunshine Artist magazine,
America’s most trusted
publication for independent artists.
Hot Works has gained a national
reputation for quality art. At January’s
show, more than 150 juried artists will
be personally selling original, handmade
art in multiple media. Event hours are
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. both days. Admission
is free (although a $5 donation
supporting Hot Works’ non-profit arm,
Institute for the Arts & Education, is
suggested). There is ample free parking.
For more information, visit www.
hotworks.org.
January 2017 Federation Star
ART CLASSES
WORKSHOPS
& EXIBITIONS
FOREIGN FILMS
MONDAY NIGHTS 7PM
LIVE
MUSIC
THEATER
DANCE
COMEDY
PAINTING
WORKSHOPS
FUSED GLASS
STAINED GLASS
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DANCE
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CLAY
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FILM
RICHARD DOWLING, PIANIST
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RHONDA ROSS
DANA LOUISE AND THE GLORIOUS BIRDS
MUSIC AT THE MOE – CHAMBER CLASSICAL DUO
BEAUSOLEIL AVEC MICHAEL DOUCET
VELVET CARAVAN
JETHRO TULL’S MARTIN BARRE BAND
SHOTGUN WEDDING
PATCHOULI TERRA GUITARRA
IMPROV TONIGHT! & IMPROV CAFÉ!
JAN. 7 / FEB. 4 / MAR.11 / APR.1
FRANKLY FUNNY FRIDAYS
MAR. 17 / APR.14 / MAY 19
ARGENTINE TANGO SHOW
STABILIZED NOT CONTROLLED
SWEENEY TODD (YOUTH)
STAGE IT! 10 MINUTE PLAYS
ART POEMS 2017
BROADWAY’S NEXT HIT MUSICAL
LATER LIFE
JANUARY 14 -15
FEBRUARY 11 - 12
MARCH 4 - 5
5B
JAN.3
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FEB.3
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FEB.25
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MAR.15
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FEB. 10- 12
FEB.18 - 19
FEB.22
FEB. 24
APR. 6 - 9
BONITA SPRINGS
NATIONAL
ART
FESTIVALS
RIVERSIDE PARK - 2017
SATURDAY & SUNDAY
10AM - 5PM
CENTER FOR
VISUAL ARTS
26100 OLD 41 ROAD
BONITA SPRINGS, FL 34135
CENTER FOR
PERFORMING ARTS
10150 BONITA BEACH ROAD
BONITA SPRINGS, FL 34135
TICKETS 239-495-8989
www.artcenterbonita.org