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Antonio Cortez is a multimedia artist and designer known for developing Mathematical Formulations in the Service of Art, a series of digital renderings and prints that explores the connection between geometries from abstract mathematical functions and their intersection with art. Presently, Mr. Cortez is exploring conceptual installation art through collaborations in photography, media arts and para-design.

Mr. Cortez was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He holds a BS in Materials Science Engineering. During his college years, he studied photography at The Newman Foundation, a design school that followed Bauhaus principles.

In 1995, Mr. Cortez earned a Graduate Certificate in Administration and Management from Harvard University. Continuing his interest in the visual arts, he pursued course work at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Emerson College, and New England School of Photography. In the 90’s Antonio traveled through Europe and pursued landscape architectural photography.

In 2001, he founded the firm Antonio Cortez Design in Cambridge, MA. The firm created advertising campaigns for several art organizations. His work has been published in several photo-editorials.

In 2007, Mr. Cortez explored digital cinematography as Assistant Director and VFX Supervisor for a short film shot in Boston. The film explored the integration of live action capture with CGI & classical animation techniques.

In 2008, Mr. Cortez relocated his practice to Beverly Hills and later to San Francisco. Since then he organizes exhibitions for Bay Area Artists at ArtZone 461 Gallery and provides production services to artists and curators.

Most recently, Cortez provided logistic support to four installments of the acclaimed exhibition The Seduction of Duchamp and collaborates to the YBCA:YOU pilot program at Yerba buena Center for the Arts.

INSTALLATION ART

BIOGRAPHY

2011 Keeping An Eye On Surveillance (Group Show)

Performance Art Institute, San Francisco, California

2011 Art For Aids Auction (Juried Show)

SF Design Center, San Francisco, California

2011 Scrambled (Group Show)

Jerry Adams Gallery, Berkeley, California

2010 Mathematical Formulations in the Service of Art (Solo Exhibition)

Sagan Piechota Architecture, San Francisco, California

2010 Art For Aids Auction (Juried Show)

SF Design Center, San Francisco, California

2010 Photographic Currents (Group Show)

Berkeley City College, Berkeley, California

2010 Prints Byte (Group Show)

SOMARTS, San Francisco, California

Special Projects in Photography & Printing (Continuing Education)

Berkeley City College, Berkeley, California

Experimental Color & Digital Photography (Continuing Education)

New England School of Photography, Boston, Massachusetts

Creative Studies in Advertising (Continuing Education)

Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts

Video Production (Continuing Education)

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

Graduate Certificate in Administration & Management

Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

BS in Materials Science, Minors in Polymer Science & Technology

Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela

Black & White Photography (Undergraduate)

School of the Newman Foundation, Caracas, Venezuela

Most of us have an innate desire to fly. I believe this stems from our collective wish to view the world from an omniscient vantage point.

I’ve been taking photographs and flying kites for much of my life. Several years ago, I discovered that I could combine these interests and learned to fly a kite with a digital camera attached to the kite line. This enables me to take aerial photographs, satisfying an intense urge to view things from above. Earlier this year I started using Helium Balloons on days with no wind.

I have lived in Berkeley for more than 30 years and continue to draw inspiration from everyday life here. I take aerial photographs of a wide range of subjects including landscapes, cityscapes and architectural subjects, as well as agricultural, industrial, and nautical subjects.

Though the vast majority of my aerial photographs have been taken in the Bay Area, I have also had the good fortune to have flown my kite and camera in the skies above several Asian and European countries.

My primary interest is to continue capturing images from the bird’s-eye perspective. I find it a compelling vantage point from which to view the world, at the same time familiar and exotic.

MICHAEL LAYEFSKY

BIOGRAPHY

2011 Keeping An Eye On Surveillance (Group Show)

Performance Art Institute, San Francisco, California

2010-11 Berkeley Civic Center Arts Exhibition (Group Show)

Berkeley, California

2009 From Above: Kite Aerial Photographs of the Bay Area and Beyond

(Solo Exhibition) Actual Cafe, Oakland, California

2008-09 Berkeley Civic Center Arts Exhibition (Group Show)

Berkeley, California

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

EDUCATION