Loriel Beltrán makes his innovative abstract paintings by affixing slabs of layered pigment, sliced from blocks hardened in boxlike molds, to panels. The results seem paradoxical, both heavily material and optically dazzling. Beltrán's exhibition inaugurates MOAD Projects, a new series of exhibitions that features works by Miami-based artists, including distinguished MDC and New World School of the Arts alumni and faculty. MOAD Projects provides a platform for local artists to realize new projects or exhibit recent bodies of work, as well as for investigations of Miami's cultural past. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, the artist moved at age 15 to Miami and earned his BFA from the New World School of the Arts at MDC. He was a co-founder and co-director of the Miami artist-run gallery Noguchi Breton (formerly GUCCIVUITTON).