MIAMI – When he signs his paintings, Claudio Picasso avoids using the last name of the legendary Spanish artist, which he inherited from his Chilean dad. His initials are almost invisible on his work at Miami hot spots like the Fillmore and the SLS Hotel.
He wasn't too bashful during Art Basel last year. His "Midtown Conductor" self-portrait --- which took over a block long wall from 36th to 35th Street on Northeast Second Avenue in Midtown -- was part of the Heineken mural project.
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When a gallery owner from London passed by the mural and asked, "Who is that guy?" The answer was: "That is Miami's Picasso. He is known as CP1." The pseudonym was born when he was one of many South Miami-Dade teenage vandals riding the rebellious hip-hop wave of the 90s.
"The number one lets others know that I was painting alone," Picasso, 37, said. "I wasn't running with a graffiti crew."
On Thursday night, the green-eyed artist will be presenting his latest work at the more legitimate GAB Studio Art Gallery in Miami's artistic epicenter. Chef Jeremiah, of the gourmet food truck Gastropod, will help present the multisensory experience titled "Slices."
"We will be doing our best to represent Picasso's idea of 'Slices' in an artful culinary form," Chef Jeremiah said.
Picasso was one of many who benefited from the public-private partnership that turned a crime-ridden area in Miami's Wynwood into flourishing land of opportunity for muralists and art collectors from around the world.
His work has a uniformity of style, as he remains faithful to his Florida International University printmaking roots. His affinity for detailed faces and expressive eyes can be seen at Sweat Records, 5505 NW 2nd Ave., a hipster meeting place in Little Haiti.
As a modern-day librarian for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Picasso found inspiration for his new work in archival monochrome photography.
"I used slices of photography circa 1845 to 1919 from the U.S. Library of Congress," Picasso said. "I picked them randomly, because I wanted to focus on technique."
The 7-11 p.m. event is at GAB Studio Art Gallery, 225 NW 26 St., across the street from the now world famous Wynwood Walls, which features talent from as far as Brazil and Japan.