1st Annual Art Exhibition and Auction for USADOPTION SOLUTIONS
There are 500,000 children in America living in foster care waiting to be a member of a loving family. USADOPTION is commited to placing each of these children with loving homes! Support us in this effort and join us to launch the Miami Branch of USADOPTION SOLUTIONS. Event will be held at;
Purvis Young's Studio
255 NW 23rd Street, Wynwood
October 16th, 2009, 6:30pm
RSVP
Featuring the newest works of Purvis Young, Brett Sauce and Serafima Sokolov.
30% of the sales will benefit USADOPTIONS SOLUTIONS.
Enjoy and participate in a silent art auction with 30 aquisitions donated by artists nationwide. 100% of the silent auction proceeds will benefit the Resource Realizations scholarship fund, creating the leaders of today!
Relish in visual stimulation and tasty treats!
A taste of the town restaurant package, valued at $1000 will be raffled off at the exhibition. Experience the culinary arts of Miami's fantastic chefs!
Be a part of the solution!
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Wow, art and life dont work smoothly togethor! But at the same time that I have not had time on my own artwork in my life, I have taken my artwork to a real life situation of teaching art to kids of all walks of life for a year now through a childrens art museum. I have taught kids as young as 5yrs old how to throw on a wheel to make a plate and taken thousands of kids on a "trip, 5000 years ago", to the beginning of art making in the caves of France and Africa.....and I have also taught to homeless kids the joy of art making in their distressed lives. Have also side tracked on a project for a friend based in a circus theme, so I have worked on backdrops and masks for a photo series project. Will post a few mask photos soon.
But I do also want time to get back to my own paintings...I want to do a few more in the current series about the 30's and then move on to other issues that need to be covered. I found I should focus closer on individual faces again to show my more intense expression through somebody elses face.
Anyway, will try to get back to it soon.

Thank you to all who are waiting paitently for my next few pieces....hope they come out good! LOL!

PS: I need old family photos I can paint from the 1930's era?

Its been awhile since I have updated this thing and many new things have happened since that last one! Which is a good thing of coarse!


New Things:

On March 1st through March 29th, I showed in the Limner Gallery in Hudson NY. It was a show called Emerging Artists 2008, a juried show with fifteen other artists. The one piece that was included was Child Soldier #7. Rather good gallery run by artist Tim Slowinki. You can visit the site for the gallery at [link] Some of the artwork may still be on their site.

Then, on March 15th, I showed my work at the Etra Fine art gallery in the Design District in Miami as part of a show put togethor by the eLements of Art organization. This was an auction show where 50%
of the proceeds went to the Invisible Children organization that then helps children suffering from the war in Northern Uganda. Children that have suffered through becoming orphans, child soldiers, child mothers, suffered in the hands of Joseph Kony!

Then, one of the members of dA, ~farther-on, invited me to show some of my work along with his at Rice University in Houston, TX. I couldn't get my originals there, but print outs were made of my work to show the public. Here is the video of the exhibit with an interview of Mark Levine, the other artist, and my work can be seen randomly in the background.
~Link to video does not copy and paste right into the journal, so sorry, no video! ~

Also, because my tenure as an art assistant to the artist Huong has ended, I have found work with the Young at Art Children's Museum in Fort Lauderdale and am enjoying working there greatly! Great staff and such great facilities! I wanna be a kid again! they have an installation piece by Kenny Scharf thats totally psychedelic! they have a global village with a mayan temple, Kenyan town with drums and two huts, a japanese tea house, The wailing wall in israel and archaeological dig holes, half a cruise ship!.....actually it would have been even more fun to have created the set they have here!

I am pretty much done with painting Child Soldiers, and wish to move on to something closer to home to Americans, my main current public, the subject matter of child abuse in US. And I do need some help figuring out were I can find some good source photos for this, so if anyone has or knows someone who has photographed different child abuses such as beating, malnourishment, slavery, prostitution, rape, so on and so forth, let me know asap!

so there ya go....I think thats all for now, will write something more once something else happens.

thank you much for listening!

yea, its a small local channel, but its still an interview of me and my work on tv and the internet! ......maybe I shouldnt share this! I look and sound awful! I really express myself better in writing than in speech, and my writing isnt so hot either.....but maybe I judge harshly, tell me what you think. It's kinda long, not edited much....and there is supposed to be a part two on my installation pieces later.

follow this link to see interview: (quicktime required to view)
[link]


Tell me what you think!

NEWS
For immediate release. Jan. 8 2008
Contact Serafima (954) 670-3385
Email: flyingbluepiglet@hotmail.com
Art, War & Peace Gallery

ART SPEAKING FOR THE YOUTH!
CHILD SOLDIER SERIES
ON EXHIBIT IN MIAMI BEACH

Miami : --Just around the bend of Lincoln Square & Washington Ave, the artwork of upcoming artist, Serafima Sokolov will be displayed at the front of the Art, War & Peace Gallery along with a 600ft long Peace Mural by the artist Huong.

Serafima approaches a very tender and disturbing subject in her paintings. She writes: "The subject matter of child soldiers is transformed into vibrant paintings to give a stronger reaction than the original image of the child in the field. The haunting image of the child is meant to overpower the viewer into understanding the plight of over 2,500 children in arms around the globe. The idea is explored further in representational installments depicting the enticement of war and the destruction of innocence and life. The ultimate objective is to influence the viewer to support groups such as UNICEF and the Coalition Against the use of Child Soldiers. Painting from real photographs, the work speaks of the suffering of children. Bright, contrasting neon colors reinforce the ideas of the sources, imitating night vision and negative photography. These paintings act as a media source by reaching out to the public to help my subjects.”

Serafima has developed her own unique style, using modern technology only as her base platform; she transforms the real world around her into dreamlike mosaics using her classical training in oils, acrylics and other mediums to critique modern issues. Her work has often been called haunting, the images ghostlike or ethereal. She casts an evocative eye towards modern issues such as war, equal rights and theocracy with a flare for the ironic. Her artwork has been shown in the OTKU Gallery in Jensen Beach FL, the Miami Art Palace, the Frost Art Museum and most recently, at the University of North Florida as a guest artist for Peace Awareness Week.




WHAT: “Child Soldier Series”, public event
WHO: Serafima Sokolov, up and coming human rights artist
WHERE: 1620 Washington Ave. at Lincoln Road, Miami. Florida 33129
OPENING: Sat. January 19th 2008, noon-3pm
FOR INFORMATION: Exhibit: (305) 674-6714. or (954)670-3385
HOURS: Daily 11-8pm