Albinos, 2006,
Puma shoes, 72 X 36 X 12 inches. Courtesy of Now Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida

Mule, 2008,
Wood and shoes, 78 x 60 x 30 inches.
Courtesy of Now Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida

Colombian conceptual artist Federico Uribe is known for his fascinating transformation of everyday objects into art. Uribe creates sculptures which are not sculpted but constructed and woven in all kinds of ways, curious and unpredictable, intricate and compulsive. Individual works and whole-room installations are made entirely out of common everyday objects like thousands of shoes, colored pencils and shoe laces. Born in Bogota, Colombia 1962, he lives and works in Miami. Uribe studied art at the University of Los Andes in Bogota and in 1988 left for New York to study under Luis Camnitzer, before moving to Miami. He has received international recognition with exhibits in New York City, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Germany. For the Museum, he will create a site specific walk-in environment filling its entire 5,000-square-foot main gallery.

Included in the exhibition will be works from Uribe's 2008 Animal Farm, a huge installation containing a life-sized farmer family made of colored pencils, with flies hovering above, framed images on the walls, and a flocks of birds (fashioned with pliers) in flight across the "sky". Several farm animals – creatures created from an assortment of objects, from clothes hangers to corks, pencils, sneaker soles, screwed-in pieces of wood and mop heads will also be included. Additionally, the exhibition will debut Uribe's new work – several life-sized palm trees made from the spines and fanned pages of books, and gardens constructed of gardening tools.

Uribe's art-making is a labor-intensive, repetitive and compulsive process which re-envisions how the world around us is perceived. Uribe introduces irony, humor, childhood memories and fantasy in his work, with a fresh association of materials and ideas. He transforms the objects of daily life into new objects that have different significance, appearance and texture. Once the viewer gets past the "wow" factor of the work, Federico Uribe's world entices the viewer to physically experience and complete the work by interacting with it in a personal way. Federico Uribe is represented by Now Contemporary Gallery, Wynwood, Miami, Florida.