A Celebration of Mischief, Memory, and Imagination During Miami Art Week / Art Basel 2025
In a year defined by political chaos, war, and fright, Private Gallery in Wynwood will close 2025 by presenting an exhibition that offers a space to reconnect with naive wonder, playfulness, and imagination — helping us navigate uncertainty with creativity and resilience. Las Bandidas is a major new exhibition by Cuban-American artist Gabriela Noelle, a visionary whose work dissolves the borders between art, design, and play. Opening during Miami Art Week / Art Basel 2025, the exhibition is an invitation to reimagine rebellion not as destruction, but as care; not as resistance, but as repair.
For the first time in her ten-year career, Noelle introduces the protagonists of her celebrated Imaginary Friends universe, Las Bandidas: a troupe of mischievous heroines who move through the world with curiosity, tenderness, and defiant joy. These “altruistic bandits” stitch the world back together in quiet acts of creativity, mending, recycling, and healing both materials and memories.
Rendered in her signature language of lucite, textiles, and saturated color, Las Bandidas unfolds as a living comic book: a realm where myth, memory, and futuristic folklore converge. Visitors are invited to step inside this imaginative world, where the playfulness of childhood meets the sense of responsibility that comes with growing up.
Las Bandidas is about the joy of making things better—about small repairs, inside and out,” says Noelle. “I wanted to honor that mischievous voice that says, ‘let’s see what happens if we try.’”
The show features Noelle’s signature hand-dyed textile sculptures, new crocheted works created in collaboration with artist Caitlin Farradas, and a series of works on Amate, a bark paper honoring a sacred form of documentation dating back to Mayan times. The Amate, which will first be custom printed by Miami Paper and Printing Museum, is then layered by the artist with her signature style, evoking both the magical properties of the paper and the energy of street art. Lastly, towering Porteros stand guard like folkloric sentinels, while Weebees and Imaginary Friends return as recurring companions.
“We chose Gabriela for our big week because we have been watching her break the status quo by making elite fine art cute,” says Allison Freidin, co-curator of the gallery. “She’s been doing this long before this year’s Labubu craze, which further solidified the sophisticated collector’s desire to feed their inner child.”
IMMERSIVE INSTALLATIONS Several interactive moments extend Noelle’s ideas into daily life:
The Frame Shop (Art Week Edition): Based on the artist’s great-grandmother’s frame store in Cuba, this installation encourages visitors to select one of Gabriela Noelle’s works on paper and then choose from an array of upcycled frames reminiscent of old family heirlooms, allowing the visitor to become engaged in the design process.
La Bodeguita: A playful pop-up within the exhibition stocked with small treasures—Bandida hats, Weebee charms, and collectible objects that remind visitors that art can be generous, affordable, and fun. Mix, match, and play!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Gabriela Noelle (b. 1990) is a Cuban-American artist and designer based in Miami. Her practice operates at the intersection of material and memory, infusing lucite, textile, and found objects with childlike wonder and philosophical depth. Viewing her work as “a form of preservation,” Noelle constructs souvenirs of youth—vibrant relics for future generations that document both the innocence and complexity of the human condition.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, with commissions and collaborations for Louis Vuitton Foundation, ICA Miami, Larroudé, Champion, Disney Create 100, and Joopiter at Perrotin Gallery. She has been featured in Vogue World, ELLE Décor, Frame, and Interior Design magazines.
EXHIBITION DETAILS
Title: Las Bandidas by Gabriela Noelle
Presented by: Private Gallery
Location: 2521 NW 3rd Ave., Miami, FL 33127
Hours: Daily, 11 AM – 6 PM, or by appointment
Website: wynwoodartgallery.com Opening during Miami Art Week / Art Basel 2025, Las Bandidas stands as a vivid example of Miami’s next wave of artists, transforming individual imagination into collective hope and reminding us that playfulness can still challenge the status quo.
