Montoya & Ortiz and Milton Avery

Luis Montoya and Leslie Ortiz: Recent Acquisitions

Luis Montoya opened the first fine art foundry in South Florida and was joined by Leslie Ortiz in 1985. In 1994, the two artists began to collaborate on works that have a unique sensibility.

Montoya & Ortiz
Martini Time
7 1/2 x 10 x 39 inches
For sale at Surovek Gallery

They take objects, beautiful in their own right, and sculpt them into larger-than-life works that make the viewer really see their beauty and remarkable qualities. It’s hard to ever look at an olive, sea shell, hazelnut or asparagus spear in the same way again after seeing a bronze rendering of the object by Montoya & Ortiz.

Montoya & Ortiz
All Aboard
16 1/2 x 40 x 19 inches
For sale at Surovek Gallery

The team has expanded their oeuvre with Las Emprendedoras Series of sculptures and paintings that contain the masterful craftsmanship and subtle humor that defines their work.

“Stella and Her Dog”
Patinated Bronze
13.5 x 14 x 7 inches

The surreal, figurative works are some of the finest works done by Montoya & Ortiz.

Their food and figurative works, paintings and sculptures, are beautifully crafted.

Montoya & Ortiz
Root Vegetables
Oil on wood panel
45 x 45 inches
For sale at Surovek Gallery

Both sculptures and paintings by Montoya & Ortiz are available at Surovek Gallery.

Milton Avery 1885-1965

Milton Avery

The life and work of Milton Avery is being celebrated at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, where he attended classes at the Connecticut League of Art Students.

Milton Avery
Man and Sea, 1948
Watercolor
22 x 30 inches
Signed Milton Avery 1948 (l.r.)
For sale at Surovek Gallery

Avery’s story is an incredible saga of hard work, dedication and serendipity. At age 20, his father died, his sister’s husband died, and he had to help support his mother, sisters and nieces for many years. He thought about taking a class in lettering, in hopes of earning some money as a commercial artist, but when he went to sign up for the class at the Connecticut Art Students League, not enough people had signed up for the class and it was canceled. He was talked into staying for a life drawing class. That class changed his life and he focused his energies on becoming a fine artist.

Known as the American Matisse, art critic Hilton Kramer said, “He was, without question, our greatest colorist. … Among his European contemporaries, only Matisse—to whose art he owed much, of course—produced a greater achievement in this respect.”

Avery’s works can be found in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Modern Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Tate Modern and many other fine museums and galleries around the world.

Milton Avery: The Connecticut Years focuses on early works that Avery created during the 1910s and 1920s and rarely seen works from Avery’s summer stay in Collinsville, Connecticut in 1930. The exhibit also includes artwork by Avery’s teachers and colleagues from the Connecticut League of Art Students and the Hartford Art School, along with brochures, reviews, and letters from the museum archives. The show runs through October 17, 2021.

Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Montoya & Ortiz, Milton Avery or any of the other fine artworks available at Surovek Gallery.