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KAVI Art Basel & Miami Art Week By Bennett Marcus
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pectrum Kavi is headed to Miami Art Week after being invited to show her new work. Born in Bombay and raised in California, she reflects her roots in a new collection to be shown at the Spectrum Miami show in December. “I really wanted to tie in my background because it’s been such a journey trying to merge two cultures and growing up in this country where, of course, I look Indian, but I feel more American.” The autobiographical mixed-media images are paintings layered with resin. “From California, I moved to a really small city in Virginia and I just didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere, and I wanted to bring that out in the pieces. Each layer is kind of my continuous growth into the woman I am today.”
name is the Hindi word for poet, posted pieces on Facebook, and people in her community took note. Word soon spread throughout the South and in the Daytona Beach, FL, area where she lives. “I was really
Unicorns & Murals She made unicorns out of resin, ink, and acrylic paint, and added some Indian currency and Hindi newspaper clippings that her motherin-law brought. “The unicorn to me symbolized the American dream, that you can work hard to achieve your goals, and once you’re there you can keep growing.” Kavi has a 6-foot mural on a building wall in Daytona Beach, and will soon be doing another one, a unicorn, in the city.
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She always had an artistic bent, and received her first commissions (Abstract cityscapes) while in college, but as the daughter of immigrants, she considered it more of a hobby, and took a more practical route for her career. After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University, she worked in public relations and eventually in real estate. With her commissions growing, her husband suggested that she pursue art full-time. “Now, I am focusing on getting my work shown in more galleries, and applying to international shows like Spectrum,” the artist says. “I have completely different goals this year. Last year I left real estate, I’m learning to balance my work and my family.”
Commissioned by Renaissance Marriott This year Kavi has been commissioned to create artwork for the lobby of the new Renaissance Marriott opening in Daytona Beach in 2019. “I’m really excited about this project.” She’s also flown to New York, where she created a mural for a new restaurant opening in Union Square. “They want a high-glam Indian-inspired piece,” she says. “They found me on Instagram.”
Kavi on her Multimedia Works This young mother of two had the best reason for becoming a full-time, professional artist – she was selling so much artwork that she barely had enough time for her job in real estate. Kavi, whose
busy with both commissions (all private commissions, pop portraits and mixed-media pieces) and creating my other work.”
busy just by word-of-mouth,” she says. “I put my website up and then I made an Instagram page for my art, and since then I’ve been
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