Crescent Heights Unveils Largest Mural In Edgewater By Renowned Hispanic Artist

Crescent Heights, one of the nation's premier urban multifamily developers, has announced the commencement of an extraordinary art project in the heart of Edgewater neighborhood. Renowned artist Arturo Herrera was commissioned to create a monumental mural, titled Track & Field, which will grace the east podium façade of Forma, a residential rental tower directly facing Biscayne Boulevard and spanning nearly a full city block.

Over the course of the following few weeks, the Track & Field mural will be meticulously hand-painted by We Are Nice‘n Easy, a celebrated local art collective comprised of the artists Allison Matherly and Jeffrey Noble.

Scheduled to open later this year, Forma is a 39-story, 588-unit tower designed by the award-winning Miami-based architectural firm Arquitectonica and is anchored by the neighborhood's highly anticipated Whole Foods Market. Featuring interiors by world-renowned Rockwell Group, Forma boasts 85,000 square feet of amenities, panoramic water and city views, and a bespoke collection of art. Formerly known as NEMA Miami, the tower has been rebranded to connect with the striking “form” of Arquitectonica's impressive architecture.

Certain to become a defining art statement for the city, Track & Field offers an expansive palette of vibrant colors conveying the lively energy of Miami. The broad range of shapes suggest a multitude of narratives subject to the eye of the beholder. Within this fluidity of interpretation, a repetitive figuration suggestive of a band procession stands out. Promenading southward towards the tower's entrance, the mural heralds the rise of Forma's architecturally significant tower above.

Arturo Herrera is celebrated globally for his exploration of abstraction through various mediums, including wall paintings, collages, and mixed media objects. His vibrant compositions, characterized by fragmentation and repetition, invite viewers to engage with layers of meaning and interpretation. Herrera's site-responsive approach ensures that his artworks seamlessly integrate with their surroundings, activating the environment in dynamic ways.

“The monumental outdoor painting is a tribute to the movement and exciting energy of the city and the people that make it great,” says Arturo. “The vertical ends of the design recall the soaring architecture of the building while providing a pleasant polychromatic rhythm above street level. The wall painting welcomes the residents and visitors to the building with a multicolored, panoramic vista while providing a spectacular visual showcase for pedestrians and drivers alike to be enjoyed at all times of the day.”

In addition to the exterior mural, Arturo Herrera's artistry will be showcased in the lobby of Forma Miami through a captivating wall-to-wall mural titled Mirror. Moderating the prismatic vibrancy of his exterior work, Herrera's hand-painted Mirror employs just two colors to warmly welcome residents and visitors. The rich red color in the mural evokes Miami's stunning sunsets. Mirror's monumental scale and complex abstract shapes inspire amazement and awe in the viewer.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Arturo Herrera on this landmark project,” said Jason Galbut at Crescent Heights. “Track & Field will be an immense contribution to the increasing landscape of extraordinary public artworks throughout Miami.”

As the painting of Herrera's Track & Field progresses, Crescent Heights invites the community to witness and celebrate the evolution of this iconic mural.

For more information about Forma Miami and its art program, please visit www.rentformamiami.com.

About Arturo Herrera:

Arturo Herrera's practice explores abstraction through a diverse body work including wall paintings, collages, felt sculptures, glass, and mixed media objects. His vibrant compositions employ formal strategies of fragmentation, repetition, and reconfiguration to obscure and reveal areas of opaque and negative space. This generative interplay provokes a multiplicity of readings and encounters, particularly when presented on a large-public scale. Herrera's site-responsive paintings embrace the monumentality of a site's dimensions to activate the surrounding environment. Sequences of color, line, and shape gesture towards familiar figures while resisting any full commitment to a specific reference subject. Herrera is interested in the pictorial and conceptual possibilities of this defamiliarization, and how specific locational contexts of image-making and perception can be reframed and redefined.

Arturo Herrera (b. 1959, Caracas, Venezuela) received a BFA from the University of Tulsa and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Two site-specific wall installations Together (2020), and Band (2011), are on permanent display at The Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach and NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, respectively. His monumental, expressionistic wall painting When Alone Again III (2001) is part of the permanent collection of the Pérez Art Museum Miami. Other long-term, site-specific projects have been presented at Officina Grandi Riparazioni, Turin; ArtPace, San Antonio, TX (2016); and Bloomberg European Headquarters, London. His work is included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; De La Cruz Collection, Miami; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin; Tate Modern, London, and many others. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious fellowships, including those awarded by the Guggenheim Foundation (2005); DAAD-Artists-in-Berlin Program (2003); The Pollock-Krasner Foundation (1998); ArtPace San Antonio (1998); and The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation (1997). Herrera lives and works in Berlin.

About Forma Miami:

Setting a new standard for elevated living in Miami's vibrant Edgewater neighborhood, Forma brings together signature architecture by Arquitectonica, world-class design by Rockwell Group, and the wellness-focused convenience of Whole Foods Market. Brought to you by Crescent Heights, Forma represents three decades of the firm's luxury real estate development and management experience. The tower features mega amenities comprising 85,000 square feet, leading-edge technology, lifestyle activations, and a bespoke collection of art. At Forma, every design detail is thoughtfully considered, and every comfort elevated to maximize effortless convenience inspired by Miami's celebrated lifestyle.

About Crescent Heights:

Crescent Heights is one the nation's leading urban real estate firms, specializing in the development, ownership, and operation of architecturally distinctive mixed-use high-rises in major cities across the United States. The company's 34-year history demonstrates its commitment to creatively designed and fully serviced residential and hotel projects. The architecture and interiors of each Crescent Heights Residence are infused with the history, climate, and character of the building's neighborhood. With a focus on locally inspired amenities, both public and interior art, and extensive lifestyle programming, Crescent Heights manages its projects to create authentic, positive experiences.

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