DATE: May 14, 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: Jody Horne-Leshinsky,
Broward Cultural Division
PHONE: 954-357-7463
EMAIL: jleshinsky@broward.org
BROWARD COUNTY, FL - Earlier this month, the artwork Glory and Defeat was completed at the new library located at Central Broward Regional Park in the City of Lauderhill. Commissioned though Broward Cultural Division's Public Art & Design Program, the artwork of artist Ruben Ubiera enhances the overall concept of the Park, comprised of a Broward County branch library, a Performing Arts Center as well as the first ever cricket stadium in the U. S. "This installation reflects the expanding nature of the County through the strength of collaboration between County and City," says Cultural Division Director Earl Bosworth. "It celebrates learning, art and sports. This makes the location special and the mural special."
Ubiera zeroed right in on the juxtaposition of sports field in the outer areas of the park and readers, knowledge seekers and arts enthusiasts on the inside areas and decided on a theme, "winning over adversaries" with two conceptual female characters, Lady "Glory" and Madame "Defeat," as his muses. "When you are involved in a city, one of the things you want to do is provide those services, those events and amenities that the people you represent, want," says City of Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan."
The artwork, created on three walls of the building that contains the library and the new Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, Glory and Defeat might be considered a combination collage and mural, as it uses objects that he was given by the library, a book with clippings about events in the area through the years, and worked it into the mural, in order to revere and represent the community. Newspaper clippings about a Venus Williams' sighting, a Lauderhill resident running for office and the media story about the bid for the sports park in their community, create a timeline of history and may evoke unified pride. "One of my favorite passions is mural artwork," says Ubiera. "Go big or don't go at all. All of it, a product of blood, sweat, tears and coffee. Lots of Dominican coffee."
Dominican Republic born Ruben Gerardo Ubiera Gonzalez is a neo-figurative artist, known for his strong use of line, graffiti-inspired technique/aesthetic, urban murals, mixed-media pieces and installations, all created with reclaimed-objects and found artifacts. He paints and draws in a style considered as post-graffism, but he prefers to call it urban-pop, since he has lived most of his life in urban, populated areas and most of his inspiration is derived from the interactivity between man and his urban environment. He lives in the City of Weston.
An artist with a vibrant and interactive style, Ubiera has become very well-known for his other murals in the state, including multiple murals for ArtBasel, under the title, Mural Sapien; Knowledge, in Lake Worth, FL; Evernia Towers in West Palm Beach, FL; and 83 and Sunny, an artwork commissioned as part of the Downtown Hollywood Mural Project. Additionally, Ubiera is one of the Broward 100 - Celebrating the Art of Community mural artists who were selected for VisualEYES, to participate in celebrating the County's centennial
About the Broward Cultural Division
Broward Cultural Division is a local arts agency, one of thousands across the U.S. providing financial, technical and marketing assistance to artists and arts organizations. Broward County has more than 1.8 million residents, 13.4 million visitors, 10,000 artists, 6,291 arts-related businesses employing 23,498 people, 823 not-for-profit cultural organizations and 31 cities, some of which operate their own arts councils and public art programs. For more information about the Broward Cultural Division, call 954-357-7457. Visit the website and follow on Twitter @BrowardArts and Facebook.
About Central Broward Regional Park
This approximately 110-acre multipurpose facility is the first Broward County regional park to be acquired and developed through the Broward County Commission's 2000 Safe Parks and Land Preservation Bond Program, a historic measure that passed with 74 percent voter approval. The park is now the largest in the long-underserved central Broward County area and is designed to serve seven of the county's 31 municipalities: along with Lauderhill, Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, Oakland Park, Plantation, Sunrise, and Wilton Manors. The site is the only one in the region capable of hosting major cricket competitions, thanks to its state-of-the-art field house, 5,000 covered seats, and professionally maintained cricket pitch - the only cricket stadium in the United States certified by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
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