Jerry Powers is an artist. The founder and trailblazing publisher of Ocean Drive magazine is at it again—this time with a paintbrush and canvas. His first exhibition debuts at Art Miami’s CONTEXT with the same creative and entrepreneurial energy that shaped Miami in the 1990s as an international nexus of sophisticated consumerism and cultural aspirations.
Powers’ passion is fully exposed and saturated in primary colors—creating a neo-pop artistic output that’s largely autobiographical and satirical. New to collectors because he has kept his work quiet, Powers has been part of the high-powered world of artists, curators, and commercial galleries for 40+ years. Long before he revolutionized the city-magazine concept that sold for $30 million in 2008, Powers spent decades as collaborator for art world icons Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol.
Nick Korniloff, director of Art Miami (Miami’s original and longest running fair), got a glimpse of Powers’ irreverent acrylic-on-reverse-canvas titled “Art Miami” and secured the piece as Art Miami’s 25th anniversary official limited edition poster. “When I saw the image I liked the work immediately,” he said. “I liked the rawness of the art and thought it captured an energy of the current and past street art movement.”
The original piece will be auctioned off Art Miami’s opening night to benefit PETA.
“Jerry’s passion for animals and art goes back decades with PETA,” said Dan Mathews, Senior VP for PETA, who is known for heading their most attention-grabbing campaigns, including the “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” ads.