Today we’d like to introduce you to Ariel Toledano.
Hi Ariel, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Where does a person’s story begin? For some readers, this story begins the day a person is born, while for others, it begins the day a person meets his destiny. I’ll tell you both so nobody misses anything.
I was born in Tangier, Morocco, in 1949. Tangier was at that time an International Zone. A city in African territory ruled by the English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Belgians, Italians and Americans.
By the way, Morocco was the first country to recognize the US as an independent state when it was still fighting in 1777 as a colony against the British to achieve it.
This was a fantastic cultural influence during my first years of life.
Finding my destiny was another story. My education included stints in Italy, Spain, England, Venezuela, and the United States.
Before coming of age, I was already studying and working in areas related to Art and Design. Late 60s and mid-70s, I graduated first from the Cristóbal Rojas School of Arts with a major in “Painting” and later from the Hans Neumann School of Design with a major in “Visual Communication”, both schools in Caracas, Venezuela. During this period of time and being still a student, I was awarded by the National Library in Caracas with a National Photography Award.
After graduation, my first job was as an entrepreneur in the design of educational toys from industrial waste materials, a very appropriate initiative for Latin America, perpetually with scarce resources to educate its population. By the mid 80’s, the global industrial and advertising market needed the services of specialized designers, so I organized and opened a Design Agency called PRISMA. If it was not the first in all of Latin America, it was one of the first in the region. Many corporate images, urban signage for cities and services, corporate buildings signage, government and corporate publications were created and designed at PRISMA.
Beginning of the 90’s, my interest in film production started. Being closely connected with advertising agencies and film production houses during meetings with common clients, I was proposed as Art Director for high-budget projects for advertising spot commercials. I obtained great success with very aesthetic proposals. Some operators began to ask me for the total production and direction of these projects. To better prepare myself, I attended the Maine Workshops to study screenwriting. I then developed a career as a Commercial Film Director that led me to have three film, video and post-production companies. Producciones Ariel Toledano, Cinematográfica Ariel Toledano and Etnia Multimedia Corporation.
I produced and directed hundreds of commercials. Some won important awards: the United Nations Awards, The New York Festivals, The London International Advertising Awards and the ANDA Awards.
I was trusted by many multinational corporations to produce and direct their productions for film and television. Admiral, Burger King, Belmont, Colgate, General Electric, Heinz, Illinois Bell, Kellogg’s, Kraft, Unilever, Nabisco, Pirelli, Philip Morris, Procter & Gamble and Xerox among others. J Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett, Grey Advertising, McCann Erickson and many other advertising agencies hired me.
Details can be seen on the website https://arieltoledano.com/curricular and some commercials and reels on Ariel Toledano’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/arieltoledano
By the end of the aughts? This market began to change. The digital world has individualized the way advertising reaches its target. Companies like Facebook and Google have changed the face of marketing, and TV commercials are no longer paramount for products that invested in sophisticated filming. Those that continued to do so greatly reduced their budgets in commercial spots. Bad deal for so many job-hungry production-houses in a falling market. So I sold the companies and dedicated myself to rethinking my life.
I went back to painting thinking that reengaging the life I had left behind 30 years ago was possible, but it wasn’t. My age and interests were no longer the same. I was a different person, the pictorial language I had left behind no longer motivated me, although abstract language is still among my preferences. I experienced a few years of confusion, doubts, meditation, travel and reading. The political situation in Venezuela started to become complicated and the quality of life in freedom for its citizens deteriorated day by day. The idea of moving to another country began to spin.
I bought a professional photography camera with the idea of making a collection of human faces during my travels. Personally, I like those from Vietnam and Peru. In www.arieltoledano.com, you can find them under Places & People, “Cuzco” or “Vietnam”. I also began to experiment with abstract photography, as I mentioned before, this is a language I speak like a native. As soon as I put together a portfolio with interesting abstract images, I met with curators and art galleries.
This led me to win several recognitions in international online abstract photography competitions and I managed to attract attention in the art business in Miami.
After participating in several group exhibitions, ALMA FINE ARTS gallery in Wynwood Miami was encouraged to present my work in a solo exhibition for several months.
Images can be seen at https://arieltoledano.com clicking Koncerto at Alma Fine Arts.
These exhibitions brought many press and magazine publications, interviews on local TV and some recognition from public and private institutions, so encouraged by the naïveté? Of the city of Miami, I decided to move to this sunny city.
Miami is a burgeoning city with a hugely booming construction market. Construction companies have invited me to do some serious architectural photography work for them. To highlight a few, you can see my work for the American Airlines Lounge or the American Express Lounge at Miami International Airport at the following link https://arieltoledanophotography.myportfolio.com/copy-of-fashion-advertising
I developed my latest product during the pandemic. The year of confinement allowed me to discover the fauna that inhabits and transits my backyard. With no commercial or social activity during 2020 and much of 2021, I spent my time interacting and photographing birds, squirrels, dragons, iguanas, raccoons, etc. I am in the final stages of printing a book that tells the story of the little spot my wife Carolina and I bought to live in and the impressive fauna that surrounds the backyard. The book is titled “Winged Neighbors” and it will soon be for sale nationwide.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being an artist always means being very lonely, working on your own and that requires developing an iron discipline with your time and work. Fortunately, my years in boarding school in England gave me some tools but anyway, it was always a struggle between emotions, ego, human relationships and bringing food to the table. It got better over the years. I am now extremely disciplined and cautious.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have a Renaissance spirit meaning I’m interested in all areas related to visual arts. That is why I have worked as a designer, photographer, painter, art director, film director-producer, and writer. Cyclically and in different decades, I have been recognized in one area or in a different one. At this moment, I’m dedicated exclusively as a photographer.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
None in particular. Having a mentor has always been a dream but not a reality. I have worked very hard, doing a good job and competing aggressively. I do owe recognition to my family who endured my absence while I worked day and night.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.arieltoledano.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/papayiii
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/tPRl8lZrydk
- Other: https://arieltoledanophotography.myportfolio.com/
Image Credits
Leo Reinfeld
