Original Art Piece

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Mixed Media on Recycled Canvas

34.50x34.50"

Created in my studio in Toronto, Canada. Located in the Junction Triangle neighborhood.
Part of the MIRA Project.
MIRA is uncertainty, isolation, hope, and new beginnings. This piece is an ode to life and what comes next, whatever that is.

CIFUENTES is a thirty-six-year-old mixed media abstract artist from Medellin, Colombia.

CIFUENTES moved his life and practice to Toronto, Canada, to find inspiration for his current chapter of creation.

Artist since early age, CIFUENTES enrolled in art academies since five years old and did poorly in any subject that did not involve creativity. Moved to the U.S as a teen where he attended Weehawken High School and received the Class Artist Award his Senior year, only to be a proud recipient of a full ride scholarship to study Fine Arts at Bergen Community College in New Jersey. Upon graduation and receiving a citation by the State of New Jersey and an artistic award by Panasonic, CIFUENTES begins his professional art career by having his works featured and exhibited numerous times throughout NJ and NYC.
Due to a complex immigration story, CIFUENTES left the States and moved back to Medellin, Colombia, where, due to a poor art scene at the time, he used his art to start a clothing brand called beFREE Clothing and to his misfortune, their award-winning business enterprise caught the wrong attention and
they suffered extortion and were forced to shut down.
Two years later CIFUENTES decided to move to Canada and start a life in a safe place where he didn't have to fear for his life and his art could flourish.
Since December 2016 actions have spoken louder than words. CIFUENTES is here to contribute to the cultural fabric of Toronto and Canada.
In 2019 he was the proud recipient of the Refugee and Newcomer Mentorship Grant by Toronto Arts Council and had valuable opportunities to exhibit his work at various galleries and venues in Toronto while gaining local and international recognition in the form of features in printed, digital and social media, as well as
commissioned work and collaborations.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Let my work be known for manifesting varied visual representations of freedom, these unexpected paintings are a mixture of thick knife strokes with free-hand illustrations on canvas and recycled surfaces. I collect and portray moods that are in vivid, visceral paint strokes, loose lines, deliberate drips and passionate splatters using a combination of media including acrylics, oils, spray paint, markers and things gathered from all around. All this to the novel end of creating an unconventional marriage of fine and urban art.

Drawing from my experience as an immigrant in the U.S.A, and now Canada, my work expresses the authenticity of artistic freedom and the emotional havoc that surrounds it. To be an immigrant is to struggle in life with instability, but this also means embracing the realities of said struggle to grow bold, fearless and free.

-- Funded by Toronto Arts Council. Proud to be a part of CARFAC Ontario and the TMFA Community (The Most Famous Artist) allegedly responsible for the monolith craze in 2020.