Yeelen Gallery is proud to present “Black Freedom,” a series of works by Miami-based artist, Jerome Soimaud, on view from February14th to May 2, 2015. Known for his intricately detailed, large-scale works of charcoal and graphite on canvas, this exhibition features the pillars of the Civil Rights Movement in Miami, anchored by a tribute to the last hours of the iconic Jumbo’s Restaurant, a historic symbol of the undoing of American Jim Crow.

“Black Freedom” functions as a critique on the socio-psychological atmosphere of the nation.

“Black Freedom” is a continuation of the centuries old conversation on race in America and will commemorate Black History Month at Yeelen Gallery. Soimaud’s style is a distinctive technique of painting with charcoal and graphite, which is interwoven with light and a delicate yet exacting attention to detail. This simultaneously ephemeral and realistic mien in his work offers a fleeting glimpse with the contrasting feeling of permanence. His subjects pay homage to a bygone era of de jure segregation, while revealing the bastions of the psychological color line still separating the races in the Miami Community. “Black Freedom” reminds the viewer that the fight for equality is not yet at an end, and calls for a new era of activism.

Born in Paris, France, in 1964, French-American artist Jerome Soimaud moved his studio to Miami in 2006 to further document the world’s African Diaspora. Soimaud studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, after working under the instruction of architect Alain Farel at The Ecole Nationale Superieur des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His works are in public and private collections internationally.

Yeelen Gallery is an expansive, 13,000+ square-foot space located in Miami’s storied Little Haiti neighborhood, with an aim to curate a program that is both a reflection of and an international voice for the local and national culture. For more information contact (954) 235-4758 or [email protected].