Surovek Gallery at the 2021 Miami Art Fair

We are pleased to announce that Surovek Gallery will be represented at the 31st edition of Art Miami. The exhibit will run from November 30th through December 5th, 2021 at downtown Herald Plaza. Here’s a look at some of the fine art work that will be on exhibit at our gallery:

Hughie Lee-Smith, 1915-1999

Hughie Lee-Smith an African-American artist, born in Eustis, Florida in 1915. In 1938, he graduated with honors from the Cleveland School of Art and worked for the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration, creating paintings that focused on social justice and racial equality.

Lee-Smith did a stint in the Navy during World War ll, where he was one of three African-American artists to paint portraits of the first Black U.S. Naval officers.

He received a Bachelor of Science, in Art Education in 1953, from Wayne State University in Detroit and in 1958 moved to New York, where he taught at the Art Students League for fifteen years.

Lee-Smith’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian, the Met, Howard University, the Detroit Institute of Art and other major museums and galleries.

Alfred Jensen, 1903-1981

Alfred Jensen was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala in 1903. His father was Danish, his mother German-Polish. Jensen was sent to Denmark, to live with an uncle, after his mother’s death in 1910.

Jensen began drawing and painting at an early age, and traveled extensively in his lifetime. In 1926, he studied art in Munich with abstract expressionist painter, Hans Hofmann. It was during that time that he met American art collector Saidie Adler May, who became his patron. For more than thirty years, Jensen and May traveled extensively. He studied and painted and assisted May in finding works to add to her collection.

His works reflect his interest in physics, color theory, astronomy and Chinese history. Jensen’s works are included in the permanent collections of MoMA, the Smithsonian, the Whitney and many others.

Milton Avery 1885–1965

Milton Avery was born in Altmar, New York in 1885. He had to put off his career as an artist in order to support his sisters and mother after the death of his father.

Avery worked blue collar jobs and studied art at night. At age 40, he moved to New York, where he met and married fellow artist Sally Michel. Michel encourage Avery to pursue his career as an artist, while she supported the couple, working as a freelance illustrator.

Young artists, like Mark Rothko, were enamored with Avery, and his Fauve art style. The popularity of Abstract Expressionism left Avery with few galleries willing to represent him, and it wasn’t until after his death, in 1965, that critics acknowledged his genius.

Avery’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Hirshhorn Museum, MoMA, the Tate Modern in London and many other museums and galleries around the world.

Ernie Barnes 1938-2009

Ernest Barnes was born in Durham, North Carolina in 1938. His father was a shipping clerk and his mother a housekeeper for attorney Frank L. Fuller Jr. Fuller was a member of the Durham Board of Education and encouraged young Barnes to read books on art when he accompanied his mother to work at the Fuller home.

Segregation in the 1950s precluded Barnes from attending nearby Duke University, although he had been offered more than two dozen athletic scholarships. Barnes attended the all-Black North Carolina College at Durham. He played professional ball for the Baltimore Colts, the New York Titans, the San Diego Chargers, the Denver Broncos and the Canadian Football League, before an injury ended his football career in 1965. In an unprecedented move, the NFL hired Barnes to paint the game, rather than play it.

In 2004, Barnes was named America’s Best Painter of Sports by the American Sport Art Museum & Archives. Barnes gained national recognition after one of his paintings was used on the Good Times tv show, and then on a Marvin Gaye album cover. His work also appeared on album covers for such great as B.B. King, Curtis Mayfield and The Crusaders. The 2016 film Southside With You, about Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date, features the artwork of Ernie Barnes.

The works of other contemporary artists, like Alex Katz, Derrick Adams, Sam Francis, Kenneth Noland, Wolf Kahn, Norman Lewis and many more will also be on exhibit at the Surovek Gallery at the fair.

Please contact us if you would like more information about the Miami Art Fair or about any of the fine works for sale at Surovek Gallery.