WILLIAM BRAEMER

William’s artwork is the result of an amazing life experience and a personality that hungers for rich, character-defining adventures. William’s artwork can be defined as abstract expressionism; notably flavored with valiant colors, rich strokes and provocative themes. From the Caribbean flavored abstract paintings to the ornately crafted sculptures, William’s artwork appeals to a wide cross-section of collectors. As a young man, William was educated in New York and upon graduation, apprenticed in Europe during the 1980’s. While living in Florence, Italy, he was inspired by the city’s rich artistic history and its’ deep-rooted culture. It was this moment in time of William’s life which inspired him to pursue his passion for art; thus, beginning a life-long journey steeped in a love for self-expression.

Artist Statement
“My intense passion and extreme love of life is the foundation of my creativity. Elation, contentment and ultimate satisfaction are the feelings I experience when reaching the completion of one of my pieces, thus granting me the drive and ambition to begin creating a new body of work. I like to define my artistic style as abstract in nature coupled with an expressionist quality.
My interpretation of a subject matter is
transformed into rich, vibrant bold colors
– timeless, awakening the soul, uplifting and radiant. My use of color evokes many moods; each piece I create is a moment in my life and therefore reflects that period of time – my art is the reflection of my eyes looking into my soul.”

RACHEL RUFF

Rachel Ruff has worn many hats, including Emmy award-winning CNN producer, ad-agency executive, White House assistant pastry chef, author, and artist. Though she feels most at home when she's in her favorite element: painting.

At CNN, Ruff produced Emmy award winning medical documentaries and created the first-ever “World Aids Day” documentary. Ruff served as a Vice President for Porter Novelli, a worldwide advertising agency, where she used her journalistic insight and extensive CNN experience to oversee digital media and broadcast projects.

She wrote and self-published “Defriending Facebook,” a memoir on the intense pressures and addictions she fell into with social media. Her narrative details how she came dangerously close to taking her own life and how she healed herself by going offline. Ruff says, "My book was written to share my experiences to help others silently suffering online."

She holds a communications degree with a pre-medical concentration from the University of Florida. She also has a Pastry Arts degree with Honors from L’ Academie De Cuisine. After graduating, she worked for White House chefs Anne Amernick and Frank Ruta.

When Ruff was eight years old, she began studying and practicing oil painting in traditional Renaissance style. In her forties, Ruff's work was rebirthed into acrylic painting in the form of vivid abstracts via synesthesia, using her pastry palette knives, her "dancing" fingers, and drip painting onto an array of canvas mediums including linens, plywood and masonite.

My re-awakening of painting vivid abstracts created through synesthesia, in the form of visualizing colors through the vibrations of music and then painting that which I see. I cannot describe a song in words; in a work of art, I can. I also create pieces by channeling a client's musings or my own emotions and bringing them to life on canvas

Andrés Ramírez

Andrés Ramírez (b. Manizales, Colombia) is a self-taught contemporary artist based in Miami,FL. With nearly 30 years of experience in drawing and painting, he has developed his practice outside of formal artistic education, guided and inspired by the mentorship of his father. Although best known for his monochromatic "Fragmented Realism" works, Ramírez’s artistic journey is diverse and experimental. He also explores color painting, watercolor, collage with magazine cutouts, and small-scale sculpture. His work has been exhibited in New York,including Greenpoint Gallery (Brooklyn, 2018) and Southampton (2016). His paintings are also held in private collections in East Hampton, Southampton, and Miami, strengthening his presence within the contemporary art market. Through his practice, Ramírez dissolves and reconstructs the human figure, suggesting memory, identity, and absence. Each canvas becomes a dialogue between presence and erasure, reality and imagination.

Artist Statement: “My work explores the fragile boundary between what is seen and what is hidden. Through a monochromatic palette and fragmented strokes, I reconstruct and dissolve the human figure, suggesting memory, identity, and the subconscious.

Erté

Erté (French, 1892–1990) is a designer and sculptor born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 23, 1892. Erté is a pseudonym for Romain de Tirtoff, and is the French pronunciation of the artist’s initials, R.T. He came from a distinguished Russian family, and his father served as an admiral in the Russian fleet. The artist moved to Paris, France, in 1912, and changed his name from Romain to Erté to avoid embarrassing his family, who wished that he would follow in his father's footsteps.

Erté worked for fashion designer Paul Poiret (French, 1879–1944) from 1913 to 1914. In 1915, he landed a contract with Harper's Bazaar, illustrating and designing covers. Throughout his lifetime, the artist designed over 240 covers for that magazine. He was most famous for his fashion designs and was often called "The Father of Art Deco." He was also a costume and set designer, and some of the most notable silent films he worked on included Paris, Ben Hur, and Dance Madness. His most famous image is Symphony in Black, a serigraph of a woman wearing black holding a black dog. Other works include Lust and Pink Lady. During the 1940s and the 1950s, the artist fell into relative obscurity.

Then, in the 1960s, there was an increased interest in Erté’s work, and, in response, he created a series of sculptures and lithographs that revived the Art Deco movement. In 1970, the French government awarded him the title of Chevalier du Mérite, Artistique et Culturel. In 1976, he was awarded the title of Officer of Arts and Letters by the French government. In 1982, he received the Medaille de Vermeil de la Ville de Paris. His exhibitions include those held at the Knoedler Gallery in New York, NY, in 1920, the Galleria Milano in Milan, Italy, in 1965, and the Shiseido Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, in 1976. His work is included in the collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Museum 1999 in Tokyo, Japan. Erté died on April 21, 1990, in Paris, France, at the age of 97.