EVEY Gallery Owner Carla Groh and contemporary Cuban artist Antonio Guerrero come to the aid of Ukrainian refugees
Founder and owner of EVEY Fine Art in Palm Beach, Florida, Carla Berenice Groh is a citizen of the world who has developed a human rights element to who and what she is—personally as well as professionally. Along with countless millions around the world, she is deeply troubled by the senseless bloodshed and humanitarian horrors inflicted by the merciless assault on the Ukraine by Putin’s Russia.
Carla Berenice Groh is a German-born art scholar who holds two master’s degrees and a PhD, and it is her intensive education that established the foundation of her career in the art trade. Since 2005, she worked in Switzerland, Austria, and Chicago before opening her internationally acclaimed, 3,500 square-foot gallery, EVEY Fine Art, in Palm Beach in 2019. The first chapters of Carla’s life, having been spent in proximity to that part of Europe, will not allow her to look on helplessly at the ongoing human suffering. And so, she is determined to make a difference where she can—in a corner of EVEY Gallery. Carla has dedicated that corner to the work of Antonio Guerrero, one of the world’s greatest living artists, to exhibit his new series, HEARTS FOR UKRAINE. Each unique canvas portrays a heart in which the artist has inscribed a message of peace, love, and faith.
On March 5, in anticipation of the launch that evening of ELYSIAN’S spectacular Spring 2022 issue, Carla announced she will be committing half of the proceeds from the sale of Guerrero’s ten magnificent canvases to assist the more than one million Ukrainian refugees—predominantly mothers and children who have been forced to leave their husbands, homes, and homeland behind—never, perhaps to see their loved ones or return home again—since Russia’s horrific invasion commenced February 26.
“This selfless gesture by EVEY Fine Art to assist in the humanitarian effort to aid Ukrainian refuges is a timely tie-in to our Special Edition Newsletter this week, in which we celebrate the women of Ukraine,” says ELYSIAN founder and publisher Karen Floyd.
About the Artist Antonio Guerrero
Contemporary Cuban artist Antonio Guerrero personally knows the grief and loss of being a refuge from a humanitarian disaster. Considered one of the world’s greatest living artists, he was born in 1968 in Mantanzas, Cuba under the Castro regime. In 1986, he was drafted into the Cuban Army and immediately transported to Africa to fight in the Ethiopian War. When he returned to Cuba in 1988 and, with the support of his close family, embraced his God-given talents and seized the inspiration he absorbed from his time amongst the African people. He began to experiment with modern expressionism across several mediums beyond painting, including engraving, wood carving, sculpting and metal work.
Unable to survive the oppression by Cuba’s government, Antonio, along with two other men, secretly designed and built a raft and in 1995, set off from the coast of Matanzas for Florida. For five days they risked their lives at sea until they were sighted and rescued and brought to the United States.
“Apart from all the trouble we cause ourselves, I believe we are immersed in a powerful and beautiful mystery. The fact of our existence is a great riddle to me,” ponders Guerrero.