About the artists:

Ted Larsen: Gimcrack

'Being a painter who no longer paints leaves me open to many different paths. One of the first choices in my journey is an inquiry into the history of painting. As things, paintings have a tremendous history. It is this meaty ground that I am investigating in my project. I begin by working with pre-painted materials. These began their life as parts of everyday objects. The materials used are generally best described as casual. Using things generally found at hardware stores, I tend towards bricolage. I carefully consider the form of the object. It can take years to develop them, with many revisions. Often the form mandates the materials used and how they will be used. Everything has to be questioned: How should things be joined? What ... should be visible? What needs to be eliminated? The possibilities are endless. My studio practice is about building working systems and strategies. I allow the process to unfold without making cognitive choices while working. I make all of the choices before the work begins and measure the results afterwards. The whole of this process goes through long periods of evaluation, where I strive to reveal hidden truths. There is a lot in the balance. However, truth, like history, can be subjective and relative. This variable nature becomes the content. I invite viewers to bring their own insights to the work. I offer a nothing more than a beginning point, and allow them to complete the piece.'

Ted Larsen's work has been exhibited in several museums including the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, The Albuquerque Museum, The Amarillo Museum of Art, The Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, Missouri, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He has received grants from the Surdna Foundation, the Pollock Krasner Foundation and residencies with the Edward F. Albee Foundation in New York and the Asilah Arts Festival in Morocco, where he was selected to be the USA representative. He has guest lectured at The South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts in Greenville, South Carolina; University of Art and Design in Santa Fe, New Mexico; The Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California; The New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Texas Society of Architects, Dallas, Texas; The Denver Museum of Art, Denver, Colorado. His work is also included in the permanent collections of The New Mexico Museum of Art, The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, The Edward F. Albee Foundation, Proctor & Gamble, The Bolivian Consulate, Reader's Digest, PepsiCo, The University of Miami, Krasel Art Center, Dreyfus Funds, JP Morgan Chase, Forbes and Pioneer Hi-Bred, Inc.

CAROLINA SARDI: Fairy Tales

The pieces I'm presenting for this exhibition are done in a period of two years, between 2010 and 2012. Some of them are a continuation of my previous work but with an experimentation with the process of plating the steel with gold, chrome, copper and silver adding a new dimension in my work with the play of light, shadow and reflection. Now we not only look at a piece and the shadows that it produces but we also look at ourselves reflected in the pieces. This added effect addresses the question of form and essence, what is real and what is imagined and philosophical ideas dealing with Narcissus and Plato. The Sisifo Series started with the idea of Sisifo rolling a rock up the mountain every day, seeing it fall and starting the work all over again the following day. The concept of repetition is a constant throughout my work and the fact the pieces are now stacked, together playing with equilibrium and the limits of the material (steel), is the basis for this new series. As human beings we have become used to repeating the same tasks and routines every day. This work represents our need to escape from these processes. The round, hollow and elongated shapes are now transformed into elements and objects that tell a story, fairy tales of curious relationships. The boundary between the figurative and abstraction are skewed creating an ongoing dialog and tension between the individual elements and the composition as a whole. Falling Hues addresses the relationship of one or more elements or beings connected in time and space. The fact that the shapes used in my Associations Series are now floating, suspended from the ceiling, reinforces the idea of freedom from boundaries and the interconnection between the individual elements in my installations. Organic shapes, lines, space, colors and shadows create a dynamic new dimension that opens more direct interaction within my work.

Carolina Sardi's work has been commissioned and is part of several collections including the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C., Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, Miami Seaport, Related Group of Florida, Icon Building Miami Beach, Oppenheim Architecture the Ilona Condos Miami Beach, Heico Corporation, Neiman Marcus collection in Coral Gables, Boca Raton, Palm Beach, Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale, Hyatt Regency Hotel Atlanta, Georgia, The Slade Palm Beach, The St. Regis Hotel Fort Lauderdale, The Vue Orlando, Florida, Trump Tower I & III, Miami Beach, The Epic Hotel Miami and the Grand Venetian Condos Miami Beach. Pan American Art Projects is located at 2450 NW 2nd Avenue, Miami, Florida.