Art Of Black Aims To Showcase Diversity In The Arts During Art Week

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Le Art Noir: Diversity of Color, on at The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, is one of the many and arguably the most eye-catching exhibits in the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau's program called Art of Black.

It is aimed at showcasing diversity in the arts during Art Week.

Former Miami Dolphin's player Louis Oliver is the managing partner.

"We have 21 artists here in three different galleries," said Oliver.

"We've got some great talent and we had a great showing last night for the VIP event," he added.

Johnathan Schultz is the headliner of the exhibit with his collection called 'Out of the Darkness.'

He is a South African artist who has dedicated his work to the life of the late Nelson Mandela.

This piece called 'Refraction of a Legacy' is a diamond chandelier.

It is constructed from metal fencing recovered from Robben Island, the maximum-security prison used in the Apartheid years.

"There's a lot of history and meaning behind the fence," said Shultz.

"As you can see there are diamonds on here and what I've done with the diamonds is because of Nelson and all those prisoners back then, never gave up hope. I wanted to bring that into the piece."

It took him a full year to make the 10-foot tall piece. 

All the diamonds are from the United States with the help of investors.

It's priced at $32 million

Around the corner is Nelson Mandela's fingerprint. 

Shultz used  9,225 real diamonds to create this reflective piece.

"I wanted to make a piece that we can relate to the fingerprint to show Nelson's legacy and something that we can create our own legacies as well," Shultz said.

"This one is valued at 40,000,000,"  said Schultz.

"40 million. Let me write you a check!, said CBS4's Lisa Petrillo, laughing.

Andrew Chabers is a new artist exhibiting 12 paintings.

He is also an educator and is inspired by mentors, as with his piece called "More Than Just An Athlete". It features LeBron James,  Mohammed  Ali, and a child.

He said he is just honored to be here.

"I think it's a beautiful thing culturally just to highlight black artists and see the talents from all over the world. I'm just blessed to be here." Chabers said.

The Le Art Noir is in on now through Sunday at The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center.