Artist Mateo Blanco sees beauty and potential in everything, even M&Ms, Cheetos and dog hair. He sculpts new forms from ordinary objects, transforming them into vivid portraits and striking shapes.
“I like to make the impossible possible, and that’s what I love. And you know, I see art in everybody, I can see art here, I can see art here,” he said.
His piece “Hopi Girl” is made of rope discovered in the ocean not far from the island of Palm Beach. Now, it will be shown in Gallery Biba on Worth Avenue.
“Hopi Girl” depicts a Native American woman. He considers it a powerful symbol of the strength and resilience of Native American women. Her cultural hairstyle shows two buns on the sides of the woman’s head, popularized by “Star Wars’” Princess Leia character.
“It means how hard woman work in this world to make their dreams. That piece represent part of history of the United States. For most people that piece is Princess Leia, but it is also a Hopi girl. Hopi girl is a tribe from Arizona. And the Hopi girls use that kind of hairstyle,” Blanco explained.
Blanco’s work has been shown in a wide range of spaces, including Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museums, to The Louisville Slugger Museum, and fine museums.
Blanco has admired Gallery Biba since he lived in Boca Raton and was still an art student. It has been his dream to one day display in the gallery along Palm Beach’s historic and fashionable Worth Avenue.
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Biba. She’s very well known in Palm Beach and she always sell the best of the best. When I was a student I know I visited the gallery and I was impressed with the quality of the gallery. It was my dream to have an exhibition at Biba gallery. And now I make my dream come true. It is absolutely beautiful,” he said.