Since moving to Miami year-round in 2012, I have been making large-scale, mixed-media portraits of people in the Miami arts communities. An exhibition of 9 of my 40 x 60 inch, mixed-media portraits of patrons and performers at the Historic Hampton House during the era of Segregation opened on February 1, 2022. “First Person Portraits: Hampton House Performers & Patrons” was funded by an Ellies Award from Oolite Arts. The exhibition opened on February 1, with people in the portraits telling stories about their experiences at the Hampton House during the Jim Crow era.
From October 22, 2023 to April 1, 2024, the Jewish Museum of Florida in Miami Beach exhibited 27 of my large-scale, mixed-media portraits + 27 video portraits.
We are currently organizing my next exhibition at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, which will open in February, 2026.
COMMISSIONS
RECENT MUSEUM EXHIBTIIONS
Installation iPhone Video View, 2016
ELMAN + HOLT
THE OUTER CAPE ART COLONY
PROVINCETOWN ART ASSOCIATION & MUSEUM
JUNE 17 TO AUGUST 7, 2016
"In this exhibition we celebrate the work of two Cape Cod artists: Raymond Elman and Norma Holt. For decades they recorded the intellectual and cultural life of our unique art colony at the tip of Cape Cod by making portraits of the creative talent that embraces the special nature of this seaside community.
This place is the hidden character of the story, and perhaps the most influential one. It breathes a historic significance into the images of Elman and Holt. To understand why, one only needs to look at the Outer Cape as a historic center of creative achievement. The people that live or lived here gave it a kind of star power. They came for inspiration and were rewarded by the nature of this place. The Outer Cape is isolated enough for one’s thoughts to gain clarity. However, the Outer Cape’s geography is also compact enough so one does not need to go too far to reach a social center of town to find a willing collaborator. In this way, recognized and less recognized artists rubbed shoulders with each other so that everybody, including the subjects of these portraits, became part of the cultural stew and birthed remarkable artwork."
ETHAN COHEN, curator
ABOVE: One-minute iPhone video walkthrough. October 2023. Music: Carmen Cicero
RAYMOND ELMAN: THE PORTRAITS
JEWISH MUSEUM OF FLORIDA, FIU
MIAMI BEACH, FL
OCTOBER 22, 2023 to MARCH 31, 2024
CURATOR: JACQUELINE GOLDSTEIN
LINK TO DESCRIPTION: https://jmof.fiu.edu/exhibitions-events/exhibitions/raymond-elman-the-portraits/index.html
