Installations, board games, and live performances. FLAVAR is a music and art collective in Palm Beach County that has been organizing a gathering of young, eclectic art and music lovers. The pandemic stopped many of their events but now they’re back with SCENE, an immersive contemporary arts festival.
FLAVAR’s mixed-media events aims to unite the tri-county’s young, multidisciplinary artists and entrepreneurs under one roof, many with big social media followings and art pieces that have gone viral.
Miami-based visual artist and author Reyna Noriega is one of the headliners. Noriega is known for her faceless portraits of women of color, illustrating the beauty of womanhood, creativity, and the bright expressions of joy because “as a Black woman, there're a lot of barriers to our happiness.”
Noriega, who is of Cuban, Bahamian and Jamaican descent, said she wants to highlight a world of art that doesn’t just “highlight our trauma” in the Black diaspora, especially in spaces that are surrounded by creatives and people who appreciate art.
“There’s a lot of color. I try to use as little detail as I can to communicate as much as I can, so I don’t use facial features,” Noriega said. “That way people looking at the art can kinda like insert themselves into it, rather than the subject being like a portrait of someone. It’s kind like just embodying us.”
FLAVAR Co. (short for Florida Variety) was co-founded by entrepreneur Denley Murat. The media and art collective is known for Call Collect, an R&B social gathering at Pétanque Kitchen & Bar in Northwood Village, and for their city-sponsored community activations, such as No Shade Block Party in West Palm Beach.
SCENE is set for May 14th at 8pm in the Arts Warehouse in Delray Beach. Tickets are limited.
Arielle Charis is a Jupiter-based artist who works out of the Zero Empty Spaces in Palm Beach Gardens, a creative co-working studio for local artists. And she recently showcased her work at this year's SunFest.
Charis said her work explores spirituality, divine feminine energy, motherhood and women empowerment.
“Art has an ability to generalize things and generally get the point across and generally most people get it,” Charis said. “And community is always worth exploring but then being able to evolve you need conversations to be provoked. You need to be able to challenge and inspire and art does that.”
Charis said she made some significant changes in her life in 2015 and she refers to 2016 “as the year I got my wings." And her two children often make a cameo in her work. “I never knew I could love this much,” Charis said.
Other rising artists and DJs making an appearance include Rob Regis, Digital Whiiite, Allan Creary Studio, and Dope Illos.
The photography exhibit features the likes of Sage Causie, Andy Dicks, @Oli10u, and Oasis Imagery & Film. And what’s a SCENE event without rhythm and vibes by DJ Ddubbz, DJ Jones Drew, and DJ James UNDRWD?
SCENE is one of several mixed-media events to kick off spring.
