Michael Vasquez
Michael Vasquez earned a BFA with Highest Honors in 2005 from New World School of the Arts. His work approaches growing up in a family of two, he and his mother, without a significant male role model. In his teens he found his male role models in his friends, who were his fellow gang members. A part of his work shows a young boy who lacks a father figure. Another part shows his friends' influence on his idea of what is masculine, of what is belonging, and of what is adult. Vasquez has exhibited at Fredric Snitzer Gallery in Miami, FL and New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL. He is part of a cooperative artist group Gorilla Tactiks with whom he exhibited at Bas Fisher Invitational, Miami, FL; W-10 Space, Florida International University, Miami, FL; Locust Projects, Miami, FL; and The House, Miami, FL, among others. Vasquez was featured on the front page of The Miami Herald during Art Basel Miami Beach 2005. His work has also been reviewed in the Miami New Times and Miami Street Weekly. Vasquez was born in St Petersburg, Florida and lives and works in Miami.