The World of Pepe Mar

Born and raised in Mexico, this year Pepe Mar celebrates his 20th anniversary living and working in Miami with his current show Tesoro at the Frost Art Museum, a retrospective at the Tampa Museum of Art, and in a special collaboration with Commissioner. Widely exhibited around the world, a certain nostalgia and sense of place consistently shows up in the artist's work—it is reflected in his use of folk art, fashion, queer culture, materials, color and texture. So much of what Pepe creates reminds us of Miami.

When asked about advice for aspiring collectors, he said, "There are many opportunities to support local artists between Commissioner, Oolite Arts, Locust Projects' Smash and Grab and open studios. The cool thing is that if you support a Miami artist, you're part of their journey; and if you're living here in Miami, you're probably going to run into the artist again. It becomes a relationship and that is important." Pepe explains, "When I first arrived, I worked at Miami Art Museum, which is now PAMM, in the store and in visitor services. A lot of the people who I met are still the people that I work with—people who are collecting my work. There's always a beginning to everything, right?"

Learn more about Pepe's artistic practice in our new video and read The New Tropic newsletter (dated June 23, 2021) for the full Q&A.

Video filmed by Jorge Gonzalez Graupera.