Artists Manuel Pérez at Miami Dade College West Campus

Miami Dade College's (MDC) West Campus presents Manuel Perez's exhibition, Different for Good, in collaboration with Contemporary Art Projects USA, opening Tuesday, April 18, at 11:30 a.m., free and open to the public, on display through Thursday, June 20, 2019. Manuel Pérez, born in Cuba, resides in Miami, FL. He discovered his artistic talent early in life and became a self-made ceramic sculptor. Attracted by nature, geography, history, landscapes and architecture, he conceived his own new vision to create soft or colorful ceramics, some as full-bodied three-dimensional sculptures, others as flat elements. Mariavelia Savino, curator, considered three key points about Manuel Pérez's mastership in ceramic sculpture: His ability to control the permanence of time by creating something in his own 'unique forever' artistic dimension; his versatility to manage and merge any theme in his art, such as varied subjects, diverse shapes, created colors, that by his hands become unique artworks; and third, his technical ability in the use of his ceramic media to reach the highest results visually and intellectually. The MDC exhibition, Different for Good, includes: five installations, one artwork entitled The Four Elements, two self-standing sculptures, a Roman Warrior Guardian and a Chinese Warrior Guardian, both masterly made as dark brown ceramic pieces. The display symbolizes Human Kind with its beauty and drama, from love to war, from destruction to redemption, declaring art as a path to illuminate and teach humanity towards peace and positive action. The exhibit addresses as a concept the idea to think positive to creatively build Art and uplift Life in every sense and field, from feelings to concrete action.