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Joseph Renda Jr. juxtaposes painstakingly realistic images against audacious surrealistic flourishes to illuminate the interconnectedness of all living things.

The Chicago-born painter and muralist — one of 13 artists exhibiting with Vertical Gallery at Aqua Art Miami 2025 — has been a mainstay of our programming for close to a decade, appearing in a series of group shows before making his solo debut with 2020’s ‘Biophilia.’ ‘Larger Than Life,’ which explored humankind’s outsized impact on nature, followed two years later, and this past September, Joe co-headlined ‘The Scenic Route’ opposite Laura Catherwood and Jerome Tiunayan. Discover what’s next in the latest installment of our web-exclusive Artist Spotlight series. 

Vertical Gallery: What do you have in store for Aqua Art Miami?

Joseph Renda Jr.: The work I’m exhibiting is about escapism, to an extent. I’ve done work in the past where I've [depicted] little people painting a cloud or some aspect of the landscape, but this new series is about creating your own perfect world when the real world is not so great. That's what I feel we do as artists: we try to create perfection, even though we're never going to achieve it.

The work that I create is always going to have some type of serious undertone, but there's so much going on in our world that I wanted to create something a little bit brighter and more colorful. I’m doing a lot with crayon texture, which ties into childhood and how children think. They’re very optimistic — they don't really see the bad things, and when they draw, it's to create something happy, or something that makes them happy. Whereas adults draw to express something that doesn't make us happy or that we don't understand, or to learn about something. I’m trying to combine those two perspectives. 

The crayon textures bring to mind “Through Innocent Eyes” [from 2022’s ‘Larger Than Life’]. That was a collaboration with your younger brother, correct?

He never drew on the actual painting. He did the drawing of the house that I painted. But yes, that piece was also about escaping into how a kid draws, and how they create versus how we create. 

The funny part is that I'm painting how a child draws, which is how an adult would do it. I should just use crayon and be done with it, but no — I'm spending hours painting how a kid draws. 

It’s also funny because I never drew as a kid, or went through the process of being creative, which is why no one ever thought that I would become an artist. My mom said I drew for a couple months, and then my dog ate my sketchbook, and I never drew again. 

“My dog ate my sketchbook” is comedic perfection. Before we move on, let’s go further into the crayon textures. This kind of painstaking attention to tactile detail recurs throughout your work. Why is that so important to you? Why do you always refuse to take the easy route in favor of doing the thing that is so arduous? What is the fulfillment that you get from that?

There are two sides to it. The fulfillment I get is that I love technique. I love mimicking texture. If I didn't have to worry about money or worry about selling things, I would create still lifes, because I love figuring out metallics and dirt and all of these things. It's a puzzle for me, and solving it brings me fulfillment.  

On the opposite end, it gives value to the work when the viewer knows it's not just a crayon. It’s the whole trompe-l'œil, “tricking the mind” type of thing — spending hours making this thing look like it took a second. 

What kind of trial-and-error process goes into perfectly capturing the textures you’re emulating?

It depends on the texture. Because I've painted crayon before, I've already figured out that process. I also know that certain colors don't show up as crayon as much as other colors. Yellow really looks like crayon, and green looks like crayon, too, but not as much as yellow. It's just a matter of how much pigment's in it, if it's more transparent, if it's more opaque… things like that. 

With new textures, I used to do studies. I'd have a sketchbook where I would gesso the pages and just try to figure it out. But now, I don't really have time for that, so I'm just going for it. I've been doing it long enough that I can stare at something and figure it out. You're basically deconstructing how things are made, and determining what layering process you need to do to get it to look like that. 

Do you take notes, or maintain any kind of resource you can refer back to?

I should take notes. There are things that I've painted, like bronze, where I always forget what colors I used before and what process I used. That's why I liked using sketchbooks, because I would take notes in the sketchbook. I'd love to get back to doing that at some point. We'll see.

What response are you hoping to get from the Aqua Art Miami audience?

I definitely want people to appreciate the technical aspects, like realizing that the crayon is painted and things like that. But I hope they look deeper, too. When I showed in Brussels earlier this year, people were telling me stories about my paintings that were philosophical, sociological, psychological — just deep. It wasn't just one or two people, either. Every single person looking at my paintings was pulling out something that I intended, and then expanding upon it. I've never experienced something like that at any other show I've been in, so for Miami, I tried to create work that was more visually appealing as kind of an experiment to see how the audience responds.

I’ve been to [Miami Art Week] five or six times, and the best thing about working and showing there is watching people interact with the work. When you see all the people just walking by your paintings, it almost hurts. You’re like “Why is no one coming and looking at my paintings? I suck.” And then you get the random people that walk down the aisle, turn their heads and do double takes, then come in to experience the work. That's who you're making it for. 

Vertical Gallery will feature six new paintings from Joseph Renda Jr. (@j.renda_artist) at Aqua Art Miami, running December 3-7. Email sales@verticalgallery.com for the collector preview. 

Sergio Farfán’s cubistic-pop paintings hang on walls all over the world. Now his name hangs on a plaque adorning his alma mater’s wall of fame. 

Back in September, Sergio was one of four new additions to the Leyden High School Alumni Wall of Fame, where he joins the ranks of notables including two-time Super Bowl-winning NFL head coach Mike Shanahan and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jonathan Cain, the longtime keyboardist with "Don't Stop Believin'" hitmakers Journey. 

“It means a lot,” says Sergio, one of 13 artists exhibiting with Vertical Gallery at next month’s Aqua Art Miami. “I'm not making this up, but I remember walking into the school, seeing the wall of fame and thinking ‘I don't know how I’m gonna do it, but I'm gonna make it to that wall someday.’ And I did it.”

West Leyden High School, located roughly 15 miles west of downtown Chicago in suburban Northlake, Ill., played a transformative role in Sergio’s life and career. When long-simmering mental health issues dramatically intensified during his freshman year, West Leyden officials steered Sergio towards art therapy, which utilizes creative expression as a means to address negative thoughts, emotions and behaviors. The impact was seismic.

“I always had anxiety, but I never really had depression before my freshman year,” Sergio recalls. “Art was how I learned to cope. It gave me confidence, and eventually, it took over. I dropped everything else to dedicate my life to art.”

Sergio’s talents flourished under the tutelage of West Leyden art teachers Steve Lappe and Carolne Felix, and in his junior year he claimed first-place honors in the 2013 Congressional Art Competition, traveling to Washington, D.C. to view his work on display inside the Capitol Building. 

“Mr. Lappe and Ms. Felix are the ones that really pushed me to become an artist,” Sergio says. “I remember Mr. Lappe once purposely splashed paint on something I was painting, and said ‘Work with it.’ He wanted me to be creative, you know? As long as I did my assignments, they never forced me to follow the rules. They always let me do my own thing.” 

Eleven years after graduating from West Leyden, Sergio continues to do his own thing. In addition to solo exhibitions in Chicago, Miami, Tampa and New York City, he’s collaborated with brands including Delta Airlines, Four Loko and the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. The latter partnership caught the attention of West Leyden English teacher and basketball junkie Victor Giordano, who along with Lappe and Felix led the charge to immortalize Sergio via the school’s wall of fame, which recognizes outstanding graduates and offers role models for the next generation. 

West Leyden and its Franklin Park, Ill.-based counterpart East Leyden High School feted Sergio and his fellow Alumni Wall of Fame inductees with a ceremony and reception commemorating their achievements. All four honorees also spoke to students at both schools.   

“The most important thing I told them — and I tell this to a lot of people — is to be patient. Stick in your own lane, and don’t focus on others. Because when you compare yourself to other people, it drives you down,” Sergio says. “When I was in high school, people were always comparing me to other artists that were quote-unquote better than me, and I never paid attention to that. I only ever cared about what I truly want to do, and I feel like that's what got me to where I am today.” 

Vertical Gallery will feature 12 new paintings from Sergio Farfán (@farfanart) at Aqua Art Miami, which runs December 3-7. Email sales@verticalgallery.com for the collector preview. 

Shop artwork from Blake Jones here.

Blake Jones’ whimsical, wide-eyed characters are woven into the fabric of Chicago life, multiplying like rabbits in galleries and public spaces across the city and beyond. 

The Texas-born painter and designer is a Vertical Gallery mainstay, headlining showcases including ‘Doublespeak,’ ‘Life Sketchbook,’ ‘Love Notes’ and, most recently, 2024’s ‘B-Sides,’ an interactive celebration of his lifelong passion for music. Now Blake’s one of 13 artists exhibiting with us at Aqua Art Miami 2025, running December 3-7. The latest installment of our web-exclusive Artist Spotlight series has all the scoop.

Vertical Gallery: Aqua Art Miami is coming up fast. How are you feeling?

Blake Jones: I’m excited. I've been to [Miami Art Week] a few times, and I know the work people present there is bright, fun and poppy. A lot of my work is done in pastel blues and pinks, but for this show, I tried to avoid that as much as possible, and focused on brighter, pop-aesthetic colors. 

I’m showing 12 pieces [at Aqua]. Originally I was going to do all these life and leisure scenarios, like groups of characters going to the zoo or visiting museums. I sat down and drew a few of them, but they were just fragments of ideas. I realized “This isn't gonna work for Miami. I need to do something bolder to stand out.” 

Nothing held strong enough until I sat down and did these 12 pieces. Conceptually, they are the same — I’m still going off the whole idea of life and leisure. Only now the compositions are uniform, and they’re all directly inspired by my own experiences, like this bar in Amsterdam that we went to, or sitting on the beach in Mexico. They're all over the place, but everything feels cohesive. 

Does your bunny character feature in all 12 pieces?

No, there are six dogs and six bunnies. You know it's not just one bunny character, right?

No, I did not know that.

A lot of people think there's just a pink bunny and a blue one, but in my head, every single one of them is completely different. That's how I've always approached it. The bunny in the library in this new series is not the same one at the movies. Those are two different memories — two different stories. 

Is each individual character’s story semi-autobiographical?

Not always. I have a piece that I sent to Australia a few years ago, with a little dog character who’s in detention. He's wearing a shirt that I had when I was in middle school, when I was getting detention. The piece is specifically based on that memory. The dog’s a stand-in for me. 

But one of the pieces I’m doing for Miami is inspired by a movie I saw a few weeks ago, [writer/director Shih-Ching Tsou’s] ‘Left-Handed Girl.’ There's a character that rides a moped around, and I'm drawing one of my bunnies riding that moped, in the same helmet and everything. It’s not a parody — it’s an homage to that character. So it's not really me specifically the way the other [piece] is, but it still is an inspiration to me, because that movie was amazing. I loved it so much.

Where did the bunny come from, anyway?

When I first started, my work was very stream-of-conscious. There'd be, like, 100 characters on a page. People might like one character, but not the others, and it was really hard to please anybody, including myself. Eventually, people started telling me “The bunny’s cool.” At first it was just a blob with two ears — no body, or anything like that. But I kept drawing it, and it just naturally evolved. 

The bunny looks a lot different now than it did two or three years ago. I might draw it one way 50 times, and then with number 51, I might make the eyes bigger or the little tuft of fur smaller. When I get tired of drawing the bunny, I start drawing other characters, which is how the dog snuck up on me. I’ve tried doing a cat, but it hasn't come to fruition yet. I've drawn maybe 100 different versions of a cat, and none of them have resonated with me.

What do you hope the Miami audience takes away from this work?

I just hope it catches their eye, because it’s really bright and bold. A lot of it's very warm. I hope people see that it's different from what they've seen from me before. It’s a little more vibrant… there's more detail in it than what I had in the ‘B-Sides’ stuff, and more texture. But it's not so far away from that work, either. It still connects with people.

Shop artwork from Blake Jones here.

CABNOV’s sublimely surreal paintings and sculptures transport viewers to a playfully stylized realm somewhere beyond the scope of human experience. The self-taught artist, based in both the Philippines and New Zealand, made her U.S. gallery debut this past April as part of Vertical Gallery’s 12-Year Anniversary international group show, and now she’s one of 13 talents exhibiting with us at Aqua Art Miami 2025, running December 3-7. The latest installment of our web-exclusive Artist Spotlight series surveys the landscape of CABNOV’s universe. 

Vertical Gallery: All four pieces you created for our 12-year anniversary show sold out on pre-sale. What can collectors expect from the work you’re showing at Aqua Art Miami?

CABNOV: I will be showcasing a total of six artworks, each reflecting the theme of cherishing relationships with individuals who hold significance in our lives. This collection emphasizes the beauty of being present in shared moments with loved ones.

Collectors can expect a more varied exploration of my artistic style, particularly within my flower series, which includes works such as "Live in the Moment" and "In Your Presence" (featured below), as well as my portrait series, exemplified by "Dear Mama" and "Dear Papa."

You’ve told us your art is influenced by emotions and the energy around you. Which emotions and what kind of energy shaped the pieces you’re presenting in Miami?

My artistic approach primarily draws upon positive and inspiring energies, utilizing vibrant colors to animate the biomorphic shapes and abstract forms present in each piece. This interplay of emotion and color invites viewers to engage with the uplifting energy encapsulated within my work.

Is the world depicted in your paintings our world, a world that exists solely in your imagination, or some combination of the two? 

My artistic expression often combines elements of both landscape and abstract imagery. The landscapes I depict frequently feature landforms, flowers and surreal representations of temples or houses as human body forms, while my imaginative world presents biomorphic life forms that embody emotions, surrounding the character known as LYFE.

You’ve cited the ‘Where’s Waldo?’ books as a foundational creative inspiration. What about the series struck such a profound chord, and how does this inspiration manifest itself in your work?

I draw immense inspiration from the playful challenge of finding Waldo within intricately designed pages. I incorporate this idea and transform it into my own creation, prompting viewers to dive deep into the details and search for hidden words, with the title of the artwork serving as the clue. These words are thoughtfully highlighted by the expressive gazes of the biomorphic forms that populate my pieces. 

This interactive element encourages individuals to explore the vibrant visual landscapes I create, enabling them to uncover letters that are subtly woven or embossed throughout the artwork and enriching their overall connection.

The last time we spoke, you said you hope to someday create a public sculpture that stands 20 to 50 feet tall. Please tell us more about this project.

I am truly inspired by the monumental sculptures of Kaws that I’ve seen online, and I aspire to create a piece that leaves a lasting impression. My envisioned work, titled "The Act of Manifestation," aims to serve as a guiding light, motivating viewers to pursue their most ambitious dreams. I see it as a powerful emblem of unwavering belief, bridging our earthly experience with the divine, and drawing us closer to a transcendent moment, much like reaching out to touch the face of God.

What message or feeling do you hope the Aqua Art Miami audience takes away from your work? 

I hope that each artwork resonates with the joy of acknowledging life’s simplest pleasures and the profound connections that hold true significance. It is my intention to encourage viewers to appreciate those fleeting moments that often go unnoticed, reminding them of the inherent beauty found in being present.

Don’t miss your chance to add work by CABNOV (@cab_nov) to your collection! Email sales@verticalgallery.com to receive our Aqua Art Miami collector preview. 

When Maastricht, Netherlands’ Bonnefanten Museum approached Collin van der Sluijs to participate in October’s kids-focused installment of its Free Fridays series, the painter and muralist suggested keeping things simple. 

The Bonnefanten had other ideas.

“I volunteered to do a watercolor painting workshop, but [the Bonnefanten team] said ‘We want you to paint a wall,’” explains Collin, the Maastricht local who’s one of 13 artists exhibiting with Vertical Gallery at this year’s Aqua Art Miami. “I said ‘Well, I have to get acrylics and brushes. How many kids can I expect — about 60 or 70?’ And they said ‘Last time, it was close to 900, and this time, we expect more.’ Riding my bike back home, I thought ‘What did I get myself into?’”  

In fact, roughly 3,000 visitors turned out for the Free Fridays event, which coincided with the launch of the Kinderkunstuitleen, a new children’s library allowing Bonnefanten patrons between the ages of four and 12 to borrow works of art (including some of Collin’s) to hang at home. “It opened at 5:00 p.m., and within five minutes, there were 25 kids — and then it doubled. One family waited more than an hour in line,” Collin says. “It was hectic, man. I was totally dead when I finished.” 

Collin’s professional relationship with the rocket-shaped Bonnefanten stretches back to 2006, when he was commissioned to paint all the pillars on the building’s ground floor. He’s also a regular visitor to the museum, which showcases historic, modern and contemporary works from across the globe. 

Collin painted his contributions to the Free Fridays mural in the hours before the Bonnefanten opened to the public. His subject: the grey heron, the long-legged wading bird commonly sighted on museum grounds thanks to the neighboring Maas, the 575-mile-long river that gives Maastricht its name. “I’ve painted many herons before,” he says. “I didn’t want to make it too hard on myself.”

Collin brought with him 80 acrylic markers to distribute among the Free Fridays attendees. “You can’t have that many kids working with brushes and buckets of water, because too much stuff drops on the floor,” he says. “We did it like a theme park — five kids in and five kids out, every few minutes. The biggest fear was that some kid might take one of the markers into the museum and draw mustaches on all the portraits, so we placed a big cardboard box near the exit, and when the kids were done, they put the caps back on and dropped everything in, so the next five could come in. That went on for four hours straight.” 

Collin imposed few restrictions on his young collaborators — a fitting modus operandi for an artist whose work emerges spontaneously, from the deepest reaches of his subconscious.

“They asked me ‘What do we have to draw?’ and I said ‘Whatever you want to draw.’ I wasn’t going to tell them ‘You have to paint around the heron,’” Collin says. “After 30 minutes, it was completely out of my hands, and by the time we were done, the heron had a mustache, and there was shit written all over its beak. The tallest kid wrote ‘I really like fish’ at the very top, with an arrow pointing down to the heron. One even added the 6-7 meme from TikTok. Whatever they wanted to do, they did. Some of the kids blacked out the heron’s eye, though, and when they went away, I fixed it. I really wanted to keep the eye — it’s the only thing on the wall that looks at you. You need that visual connection.”  

Don’t go looking for the heron the next time you visit the Bonnefanten, however. The mural was painted on a temporary wall, and painted over less than 72 hours later. But the memories are permanent. 

“By the time I got home, I had 30 or 40 Instagram messages from people thanking me,” Collin says. “I had a big smile on my face. What a day.” 

Vertical Gallery will feature 12 new works on paper from Collin van der Sluijs (@collinvandersluijs) at Aqua Art Miami, which runs December 3-7. Email sales@verticalgallery.com for the collector preview.