Eduardo Molina’s ‘Holy Maze’ Takes Viewers on a Personal Journey

“Sin Fin,” a 2023 piece by Venezuelan artist Eduardo Molina, is part of “Holy Maze,” an exhibition at Arts Connection Foundation in North Miami featuring the artist’s paintings, sculptures, videos, and music. Curated by Cuban-born Félix Suazo, the show opens Saturday, March 15 and runs through Saturday, April 5. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Graffiti and comic books, once considered marginal creative expressions, have evolved into fundamental influences on contemporary art. Artists such as Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Os Gêmeos have brought urban art into museums and auctions, while comics have inspired creators like Roy Lichtenstein and R. Crumb, merging graphic narrative with pictorial aesthetics. At this intersection, Venezuelan artist Eduardo Molina draws references from both worlds, employing a vibrant and expressive visual language that oscillates between the playful and the subversive, reclaiming cult elements as legitimate tools for artistic creation and exploration.

“I grew up in Caracas, where graffiti was always present. In its early days, it mainly consisted of signatures and words on the streets, but by the late 1980s, it became more elaborate, and that’s when I joined the movement,” says Molina, who has been living and working in Miami since 2013. “That experience allowed me to absorb elements of urban art while developing my own visual language. It also sparked my interest in Mexican muralists, particularly Diego Rivera, whose expressiveness, use of color, and dynamic figures deeply impacted me. Street art has always fascinated me.”

Eduardo Molina draws inspiration from graffiti and comics using a vibrant and expressive visual language that balances playfulness and subversion. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Titled “Holy Maze,” Molina embarks on an immersive journey that combines painting, sculpture, video, and music to explore philosophical concerns about spirituality and introspection. Curated by Cuban-born Félix Suazo, the exhibition is at the Arts Connection Foundation (ACF), is a nonprofit organization that supports the development of new proposals from artists and researchers in South Florida. It opens Saturday, March 15 and runs through Saturday, April 5.

The exhibition features work created over a decade that not only reflect Molina’s street art influences but also his practice of Buddhism, meditation, and his personal migration journey from Venezuela to the United States.

“The guiding thread of my work in recent years is the result of both a spiritual and artistic journey. I have been practicing Buddhism for a long time, and that discipline has profoundly influenced my perception of life and art,” explains Molina. The artist began his drawing studies at the Cristóbal Rojas School of Arts in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1983 and 1984 before moving to Spain, where he earned a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Salamanca, specializing in painting, in 1991.

Eduardo Molina describes that the guiding thread of his work in recent years is the result of both a spiritual and artistic journey. Pictured: “Señales” (2023). (Photo courtesy of the artist)

“That’s why I strive to highlight contrasts in my work: the present self and its inner dialogue, breathing, the here and now. Essentially, it is a balance between the impulsive act of painting and introspection,” he adds.

For the artist—who also adapted Zen Buddhist stories to create a comic titled “Historias de la nada” (Stories of nothingness)—the exhibition’s “symbolic labyrinth” invites reflection on the journey of the soul and personal transformation. “Life is a labyrinth we begin navigating from birth to death. Along the way, we go through different stages, and with each one, we are reborn. For me, that constant cycle of change is fundamental in my imagery—closures and new beginnings. For many Venezuelans who have emigrated, each stage is like a death and rebirth, an opportunity to rebuild ourselves and keep moving forward,” explains Molina.

Suazo, who earned a master’s degree in Museology from the University of Valladolid, Spain, and works as an art advisor in Miami, asserts that the selected works provide a comprehensive representation of Molina’s artistic trajectory.

“I strive to highlight contrasts in my work—the present self and its inner dialogue, breathing, the here and now. Essentially, it is a balance between the impulsive act of painting and introspection,” says Eduardo Molina. Pictured: “Perla” (2025), by Molina. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

“Eduardo Molina is, essentially, a multimedia artist who has worked with various platforms throughout his career. For this exhibition, he has anchored his work in pictorial discourse—75 percent of the pieces are paintings—while integrating installation, video, and sound. The video, in particular, functions as a device that mirrors the logic of thought, while the sound accompanies the exhibition not merely as music but as an extension of the sensory experience.”

According to Suazo, the exhibition serves as a metaphor for a spiritual journey. “Together with the artist, we selected key moments that suggest a beginning, a development, and a climax without resorting to a literal narrative.”

The curator says that the format allows the viewer to explore the exhibition in a personal way.

“We aimed for it to be a reflection of the artist’s temporal and artistic evolution in a distinct time and space. Our challenge was to structure this transition in the best way possible, creating a marked yet flexible path where the pieces communicate with each other without being constrained by a linear structure.”

For this reason, the works are not arranged in chronological order but according to their impact within the exhibition space. “We sought to ensure that each piece enhanced the exhibition’s central idea and that its placement maximized the viewer’s experience,” adds Suazo.

Sound also plays a fundamental role in the exhibition. Molina and Suazo collaborated with the sound collective Primal Ensemble—composed of Beto Molina, Francisco Cabrujas, and Andrés Michelena—whose work is based on a spiritual exploration of sound. Primal Ensembles’ “soundscapes” are created through improvisation with flutes, ceremonial drums, keyboards, and percussion, aiming to induce heightened states of consciousness. “Their music will be integrated into the exhibition, both as part of the artworks and through live performances, including a special concert during the show,” says the curator.

According to the exhibition curator, Félix Suazo, the exhibition serves as a metaphor for a spiritual journey. Pictured: “Aliado” (2024) by Eduardo Molina. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Molina’s studio is located in a quiet, almost rural area in southwest Miami, far from the noise of the city. The peaceful environment influences both his artistic process and the atmosphere of the exhibition. “The show aims to translate his studio—his private ‘chapel’—into the public gallery space. It condenses over 15 years of artistic evolution into an experience that, in just over an hour, allows viewers to journey alongside the artist through his creative and spiritual process,” says Suazo.

Viewers will immerse themselves in a symbolic and mythological universe filled with creatures, signs, writings, mentors, archangels, and the artist’s personal references, says the curator. “All of this blends into an iconography that, while urban in aesthetic, is imbued with the chromatic exuberance of his rural surroundings,” says Suazo.

Suazo emphasizes the significance of an essential element in the exhibition – a labyrinth.

“The labyrinth is both physical and symbolic. It reminds us that the path from one point to another is never a straight line but a series of challenges, doors to open, and corridors to navigate. Molina’s work invites us to embrace this journey as one of self-discovery.”

 WHAT: “Holy Maze” by Eduardo Molina

WHEN: 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Opens Saturday, March 15 through Saturday, April 5.

WHERE: Arts Connection Foundation, 676 NW 23rd St., North Miami

COST: Free

INFORMATION: 305-546-7304 and https://artsconnectionfoundation.org/

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