Maluma X Federico Uribe

Apart from sharing Colombia as a native country, Maluma and Federico Uribe have core beliefs in common and a profound love and respect for nature. Over the course of the past year, Maluma and Uribe have developed a relationship, and they have discussed their travels and personal experiences of seeing man-made trash spread through our beautiful planet. Both artists grew up in mountainous towns in the Zona Cafetera – a region of Colombia known for its lush, fertile farmland, where animals and people rely on each other, and there is a profound respect for the ecosystem. Uribe and Maluma continue to find solace when visiting their native land, and they have developed an urgent desire to protect it.

Uribe has made a name for himself over the past 20 years as a master of utilizing objects, often
recycled materials, to create life-like sculptures. When Maluma saw these works for the first time, he instantly connected with them, and knew that Uribe’s message aligned with his principles. They have a shared desire to bring awareness to the discarded plastic and artificial materials scattered throughout the world’s landscapes and oceans and want to work together to contribute towards the solution.

Recently, during Maluma’s trip to Jamaica to create his sixth album, it became more obvious to Maluma that garbage and litter everywhere is a global threat and destroys our plants, animals, and the communities that raise and represent different cultures. For the release of Maluma’s sixth studio album, “#7DJ” (Siete Dias en Jamaica - Seven Days in Jamaica), he felt it would be a perfect opportunity to collaborate with Uribe to bring his vision of infusing music and art with Uribe’s mastered artistry of utilizing recycled materials to create life-like sculptures and art pieces. With the concept of executing a sustainable art exhibition in Miami for the release of his surprise album to his fans (on his birthday - January 28th), Uribe immediately began working on a portrait of Maluma. As with most of his work, Uribe became obsessed with its creation – working tirelessly day and night for months. The result is a masterpiece of Maluma’s image, one of Uribe’s finest portraits to date. The incredibly accurate representation of Maluma’s face looks like a photograph from a distance, but up close, one can see the portrait is created from plastic pieces. The portrait will serve as the album cover for “#7DJ”, and the art piece will be auctioned off with 100% of the proceeds going to environmental non-profits presented by Maluma’s foundation El Arte De Los Suenos.

In addition, Maluma has chosen seven other artworks made of recycled materials by Uribe for each individual song featured on the album. Descriptions of these works and their respective songs presented by Maluma can be listened to on your phone via QR codes in the exhibition. The show will be open to the public for a month and streamed virtually for everyone around-the- world, with a portion of the proceeds from any sale benefitting non-profits based in Colombia, including Fundacion Amigos del Mar, Jardín Botánico de Cartagena and Stand Up Providencia.

Maluma X Federico Uribe, with Lot 1, Maluma Portrait

Both artists believe that intention and goodwill are contagious, and everything we put out into the world has an effect. The money that they raise will be instrumental in reviving bionetworks, but the work will not end with the exhibition or promotion of the album. The intention of these artists is to contribute to the movement of environmental reconstruction by refocusing the attention towards loving the world rather than fighting against it. As a byproduct, they hope to replace the fear generated by COVID-19 with the hope of solving larger environmental issues.

View Exhibition and auction online available on Bidsquare.