In his extensive examination of Miami’s natural habitat, Brazilian native Ernesto Kunde uses contrasting colors and abstract imagery to depict mangroves’ intricate root systems, sea grapes and their canopies, and other native plant life. In his developing “Mangrove Series,” he has created dozens of paintings from small to large scale. The artist hopes to raise awareness of the changing landscapes he depicts. His intricate paintings aim to involve and inspire viewers to realize we are all responsible for the natural surroundings, vital to our survival.

“More than anything, I am inspired by my surroundings,” says Ernesto. “I tend to notice details. The light and changing colors of the day and seasons affect my way of painting. I am also inspired by history, current events and moments in my own life.”

One admirer of Kunde’s work, when it was on display several years ago at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Florida, described his mangrove series this way: “The viewer becomes as lost in nature as Kunde seems to have been when he painted them. Yet it’s an unfamiliar sort of immersion in a familiar land. By draining some of his paintings completely of color and saturating others in bright, artificial hues, he finds subjective abstraction in an objective setting. This bold, striking series prompts you to look again, and anew, at our dying ecosystem”

For more information about Ernesto, visit www.kundeart.com or @kundeart on Instagram.