Merging street art and sailing into a visual display of expressive art on the water, the Street Art Regatta (StAR), features original artworks painted on both sides of sail canvas by local and national artists and an award-winning youth sailing team resulting in an interactive art installation on the Fort Lauderdale Intra-coastal Waterway. The performance occurred February 9, 2022 behind the Lauderdale Yacht Club followed by an inaugural auction of five of the original sails. 

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Quantum Sails and the City of Fort Lauderdale sponsored the reproduction of the original artwork painted on repurposed sails no longer suitable for competitive sailing. The printed imagery on new sails can be used both for sailing and installations on land such as the new program with the Fort Lauderdale Parks and Recreation Department to exhibit the sails on the site of the South Side School Cultural Center.

 

Each year a new series of commissions will be offered to complement previous years of sails including 'dancing on the water' (2020), Hollywood beach glamour and sailing nostalgia (2021) and 2022's theme of leaping sea creatures. Original sails will be auctioned each year to support the StAR program and charitable causes. 

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Future plans for StAR include an exhibition of original and printed sails during the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and an expansion of the auction that raises funds for art and sailing scholarships.

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Another community project envisions new artist commissions for larger sails to be installed overhead with special rigging as 'sail shade' activating distressed areas through the arts. The first grant for this project was awarded by AARP as part of their 'live-able communities' for a historic neighborhood and commercial district in Fort Lauderdale which will be activated for three weeks in November 2022.   

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Regatta Artists with * by their name were featured in the 2022 auction. Scroll to bottom for sail images with the paint splash denoting the participating auction artist.

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Stefano Alcantara*

 

Stefano is of Peruvian descent from a family of artists and based in Fort Lauderdale creating stunning hyper-realistic body art and mural installations; he opened a thriving New York studio in 2019 and completed a high visibility mural on the west side of NE 4th Avenue just south of Fort Lauderdale's 13th Street Art District.

 

Auction Sail #1 Artist

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https://www.instagram.com/stefanoalcantara

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Jay Bellicchi ‘Remote’

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Remote is based in Fort Lauderdale inspired by Boston’s hip hop and graffiti culture with client installations at multiples sports and corporate South Florida locations and numerous gallery exhibits.

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https://www.instagram.com/remoteroc

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‘Buns’

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Buns is based in Palm Beach County and the first female artist inducted into the MSG crew, a historic Miami graffiti artist collective, who paints fun and powerful female anime characters.

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https://www.instagram.com/zoegen

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Ruth Burotte

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Ruth is from the Fort Lauderdale area and the youngest artist to receive a commission from the Broward Public Art & Design Program designing coverings for eight traffic signal cabinets county-wide. With a Fine Arts degree from New World School of the arts in 2021, she created a footwear campaign for Adidas and works as a professional artist.

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https://www.instagram.com/rutamfi

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‘El Cekis’

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Nelson Rivas is a native of Chile and residing in New York inspired by the graffiti culture, Latin American mural movements and a generation of young street artists in South America; his work features neon colored plant life that envelopes spaces with 3-d compositions including stunning murals in MASS FTL in 2018 that was home to several artist studios.

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https://www.instagram.com/el_cekis

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Andrew Cotton *

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Andrew is a native of London and now resides in Fort Lauderdale. In England he learned to incorporate collage and large-scale photographs (including Xerox reproductions) into his work; inspired by UK graffiti scene he immigrated to New York City and embraced a DIY aesthetic of the street art market and his work is represented by New River Fine Art Gallery.

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Auction Sail # 5 Artist

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https://www.instagram.com/andrewcottonartist

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‘Hiero‘

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Hiero is an African American artist based in Sarasota known for portraiture and realistic style influenced by post-graffiti, the duck symbolizes clarity, family, love, vigilance, intuition, nurturing, protection, feelings, self-expression, balance, adaptation, grace, and strength; he's completed one of the first street art murals along Fort Lauderdale's Sistrunk Corridor at NW 9 Avenue in 2021.

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https://www.instagram.com/hieroveiga

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‘Hoxxoh’

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Douglas Hoekzema is based in Palm Beach County creating work through a unique oscillating pendulum distributing paint based on gravity’s natural pull with art installations across the globe. His sail for StAR is a collaboration with Hiero feat. the iconic yellow 'rubber duckie.'

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https://www.instagram.com/hoxxoh

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‘Orla’ *

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Orla Ananda is a Russian American graduating from Parsons School of Design, influenced by New York’s street art, her work features graphic contemplative color blocking and black and white photography; her clients include Carnegie Hall, Soho House NYC and published in Architectural Digest and other major design art publications. She and Practico collaborated on the StAR sail and numerous downtown Fort Lauderdale murals.

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Part of Auction Sail #2 Artist Collaboration

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https://www.instagram.com/orla_ananda

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Lori Pratico *

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Lori is a painter based in Broward County and is a resident artist of Art Serve. Her work features bright color, figurative, representational and pop elements depending on the client; she’s also founded a non-profit to empower young women to excel.

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Part of Auction Sail #2 Artist Collaboration

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https://www.instagram.com/girlnoticed

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‘Lady Pink’  

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Lady Pink is from Ecuador currently residing north of New York City and writing graffiti since 1979 competing as the only female in a male graffiti subculture; she's made significant contributions to street art genre and is a cult figure in the hip-hop community with artworks included in numerous museum collections and part of the global art market for street art.

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https://www.instagram.com/ladypinknyc

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‘Ripes’

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Ripes is based in West Palm Beach and part of Galera Collective; he’s self-taught graffiti artist influenced by cartoons whose work features graphic high intensity contrasts and architectural beveled 3-d shapes.

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https://www.instagram.com/ripe143/?hl=en

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Isanusi Garcia Rodriguez *

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Isa is a native of Cuba and based in Miami, recruited by the Miami City Ballet Founder, Edward Villella, to dance as a company soloist before experiencing a debilitating injury in 2013 and recovering through painting therapy exploring visceral joy and pain of dance and his Afro-Cuban culture through vibrant color and raw figurative representations.

 

Part of Artist Collaboration for Auction Sail #3

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https://amp.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article99488247.html

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Tom Rossetti *

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Tom Rossetti is a native Floridian based in Fort Lauderdale whose work features brilliant abstract impressionistic imagery; he's a longtime gallerist and art community celebrity painter whose work is now represented by New River Fine Art.

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Auction Sail # 4 Artist

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https://tomrossetti.com/links.html

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Suzanne Scherer

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Suzanne is based in Palm Beach County with a MFA from Brooklyn College; she's the recipient of International Research & Exchange Board Award as first American visual artist accepted into the Russian Academy of Arts during the Soviet period; she co-founded Scherer & Ouporov Gallery receiving national and international awards and is a full time artist and art educator at Boca Raton Museum of Art.

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https://www.instagram.com/suzanne.scherer/

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‘Surge’

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Surge is from Los Angeles raised in Miami and based in Fort Lauderdale, influenced by Post-graffiti and hip hop culture his work features cartoons and brilliant color with numerous corporate clients and charitable causes.

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https://www.instagram.com/illsurge

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Laura Tan *

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Laura is based in Miami whose body of work includes self-portraits featuring unfiltered, emotional responses to specific moments in life and recipient of numerous awards for decades as an art educator in the Miami Dade Public School system.

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Part of Artist Collaboration for Auction Sail #3

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https://www.instagram.com/ltart

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