During Miami Art Week while most of the northern hemisphere suffered from the arctic weather, artists, collectors, gallerists, and the art media converged on Miami where the weather was heavenly. This year Sam Dobrow returned to Spectrum Miami to exhibit several works of “surreal photography” including selections from his Oceana series and Mystic Collection. Dobrow’s avant-garde style transforms photographs of people and places into surreal depictions of fantasy drawing inspiration from Salvador Dali and Vincent Van Gogh.
The Mystic Collection
Aphrodite, Psyche, Cleopatra, Delilah, Helen of Troy, Sappho, and Mata Hari come to mind as powerful female characters of history and mythology. These strong women are frequently characterized having hypnotic beauty as the power over their physically stronger, but vulnerable, male counterparts. Sometimes these women are heroes and sometimes villains.
Works from the Mystic Collection depict strong female characters with mystery and beauty in a surreal world. These works transform photographs of our world into other-worldly places. Visual stories are created by blending multiple photographs; including nude models, astronomical images, wildlife, and digital art compositions. The central characters in the Mystic Collection are women of surreal tantalizing beauty.
The Oceana Series
The Oceana series is a body of work depicting the art deco architecture of Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive and surrounding area. Sam has captured the iconic architecture of South Beach on nights when there was no traffic thereby creating a sense of timelessness. The buildings are melted in a dreamlike landscape with human-like creatures inhabiting the altered reality. Sam’s interpretation of South Beach might seem like a drug-induced vision of this popular party destination but it is intended to be much more. Sam’s vision asks us to consider whether there are alternate universes similar to ours but different. Starry skies and seemingly misplaced stars are intended to symbolize alien life living among us.
