On November 5, my friend Anthony Ardavin opens Personae, his new solo show at Space Untitled in Wilton Manors. Before I tell you about the show, I want to tell you about the man behind it.
Before I ever met Anthony Ardavin, I knew his paintings. They hung in a little frame shop in Wilton Manors, and I stopped in front of them every single time I walked in. Later I showed my own work there too, right before the shop closed. Finally I asked the owner who painted them. “Oh, that’s Anthony,” she said. “He lives in Miami.”
After that I kept hearing his name. Everyone seemed to know him, and everyone loved him. I remember wondering how I still hadn’t met him.
“Oh, you’re Anthony”
In 2023 we finally ended up in the same group show, put on by a local art association. He walked up and introduced himself as Anthony Ardavin, and I said, “Oh, you’re Anthony!” We talked for a long time. Later that night, while I was busy talking with people about my work, he came back over and said, “I really think we were meant to meet.”
I’ve never forgotten that. It was so full of feeling, and it turned out to be true.
Today we talk on the phone every other day, usually for an hour at least. We talk about life and art, we laugh a lot, and we plan shows we want to do together someday. I drive down to Miami, sometimes with my partner and sometimes on my own, just to spend time with him. Being around him is a joy.
Real advice, given with love
Anthony is deeply honest. He doesn’t sugarcoat things, but he is never unkind about it. If he thinks something in a painting could change, he tells me. If he doesn’t love a piece, he simply doesn’t say anything. So when he comments on something I’ve made, I know he means it.
He also has a quote for everything. My favorite is the one he gives me when I start heading down a negative road: “Stop looking for clouds on a sunny day.” It always stings a little, and then it changes my whole mood, because he’s right. There is so much to be grateful for.
Everything he says comes from love. He cares about me as a person, he cares about my career, and you can feel that in every conversation.
Why I call him the maestro
Anthony paints mostly in oils, and his technique is flawless. Where I’m loose and a little chaotic, he’s refined. Nothing on his canvas is an accident. And yet it never feels stiff. There’s a playful curiosity in his work, a way of looking at the world that feels light and wise at the same time. Paper boats, deep blues, water. Anthony grew up in Cuba before coming to this country, and I think a lot of those images carry that time with them.
That’s why I started calling him the maestro. It began as a little inside joke between us. Now I hear other people at the gallery calling him that too, and it makes me smile every time.
I’m lucky to have a few of his paintings in my own collection, including one he gave me for my birthday this year. I treasure every one of them. But more than the paintings, I’m lucky to have Anthony in my life. To me, he’s family.
Personae
His new solo show, Personae: Portraiture Suspended Between Reality and Imagination, opens at Space Untitled on November 5, and it’s a big step for him.
Inspired by John Singer Sargent’s intimate portraits of his friends and loved ones, Anthony built the whole series around one person. The same figure appears in every painting, living a different identity, a different emotion, a different imagined world in each one. For years, the figures in Anthony’s work lived inside his surreal worlds. This time the figure is the main event. The canvases are bigger, and the painting moves toward realism, while keeping all the imagination that makes his work his.
Anthony told me this is probably the most profound body of work he has ever made. I believe him. I’ve only seen the few pieces the gallery has shared so far. A man carrying a burning house on his back. A thin branch growing straight out of a sleeping man’s chest. His technique is as precise as ever, but these go deeper. The metaphors stay with you long after you look away.
He likes to save everything for opening night, and I love that about him. So I’ll be seeing the rest right along with you.
Come to opening night
Thursday, November 5, 2026, 6 to 9 pm
Space Untitled Art Gallery
2422 N Dixie Hwy, Wilton Manors, Florida
Dress up, come meet Anthony, and stay for the conversation. Refreshments are on the gallery.
Personae is on view through November 30.
To see more of his work before the opening, follow Anthony on Instagram at @southbeachatelier.
More of Anthony’s work
Two more paintings Anthony shared with me, from outside Personae. You can find much more of his work on his Instagram.
I’ll be there, giving him lots and lots of hugs. Come say hello.
