ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries is presenting its first one-person exhibition of paintings by Renato Meziat, a Brazilian realist whose still lifes are so realistic viewers reach out to touch their fruit and other objects.

“Meziat shares the ability of the best hyperrealists to render ordinary objects in such exquisite detail as to make each so precious that we look at it in a different, more appreciative manner, transcending actuality,” notes Virginia Miller, owner and director of greater Miami’s longest-established contemporary fine art gallery.

Largely self-taught, the artist paints in the tradition of such leading Latin American realists as Claudio Bravo of Chile, Miller says. “His paintings have a magical quality that defy description.”

According to Carol Damian, former director of the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, “Meziat creates a successful illusion without compromising the aesthetic qualities associated with artistic innovation.”

Along with still lifes, the artist’s favorite subjects include “windows” with thin curtains framing scenes of beaches and the ocean. His figurative works often feature female models in outdoor attire. “I am looking for colors and shapes and how they work together,” he states, adding:

I want to make paintings so beautiful that when people see them they just can’t think of anything else.

Meziat first came to the United States in the 1970s to study music at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Back home in Brazil, where his father painted on weekends as a hobby, Meziat began to experiment with his father’s brushes and paints and realized he had a natural aptitude as a visual artist.

Shifting his focus from music to painting, Meziat began years of self-study, reaching back to such great Spanish realists as Diego Velázquez. Eventually his study and painting resulted in his mastery of the medium. Among other prestigious venues, his work has been auctioned at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York City.

Meziat has exhibited in such other leading venues as the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Hammer Galleries in New York City, and art fairs in Chicago, Houston, and Palm Beach.