Circular Reflections

David Anasagasti, working as “Ahol Sniffs Glue,” bridges fine art, graffiti, and conceptual performance. His practice centers on a universally recognized motif: dense, repetitive patterns of drowsy, heavy-lidded eyeballs spray-painted across urban landscapes. This imagery critiques the monotony of modern labor and the exhausting routine of city survival. Moving fluidly between massive murals and transient installations, his work captures the subcultural pulse of post-industrial Miami, redefining how public art interacts with communities.

• Academic Foundations: Born in 1982 within the Miami Metropolitan Area, Florida, to Cuban immigrant parents, he bypasses traditional academic fine arts degrees, developing his foundational training organically through South Florida’s punk rock subcultures, independent drawing, and raw DIY graffiti networks throughout his youth.
• Institutional Service & Parallel Disciplines: He bridges grassroots street interventions with formal cultural infrastructure, working alongside regional art advocacy groups while dedicating his parallel disciplines to site-specific urban design commissions, commercial illustration, and community-based public mural collaborations.
• Exile, Translocation & Relocations: Remaining a lifelong resident of South Florida, his professional translocations track a steady movement from marginal, illicit spaces to mainstream institutional spheres, defined by an operational pivot into the early Wynwood Arts District and a landmark federal copyright lawsuit that established legal protections for public street art.
• Current Status: He maintains a full-time conceptual studio practice in Miami, Florida, executing community-centered environmental art installations and public creative interventions.

• 2021–Present: Entrepreneurial Resident and Master Fine Arts Consultant, Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator, Florida International University (FIU), Miami, FL.

• The Drowsy Eye Motif: A foundational visual vernacular consisting of dense, modular grids of heavy-lidded, somnolent eyes spray-painted across urban infrastructure. The repetitive technical execution mimics industrialized assembly lines, operating as a psychological commentary on post-industrial labor fatigue, systemic monotony, and the exhausting survival patterns of working-class communities within the modern cityscape.
• Biscayne World: A multidisciplinary series spanning independent publications, video art, and large-format ink illustrations documenting the marginalized casting of characters encountered along Miami’s transit corridors. The series captures the raw reality of the city's underbelly, translating the gritty, non-idealized components of urban life into structured, highly stylized narrative profiles.
• Geographies of Trash: An ongoing, performance-driven conceptual project combining street cycling, fine arts, and digital space. The artist transforms municipal waste and discarded consumer detritus into site-specific public treasures by tagging found objects with his signature eye icon, documenting the objects through calculated mobile photography, and executing real-time social media art drops that subvert traditional commercial galleries.

This artist’s artwork is spread out throughout Miami’s urban core, but he has participated in 5 solo exhibitions:

• 2026: Art Cycling & Claw Interventions, Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator, Miami, FL.
• 2022: Geographies of Trash, The Wolfsonian–FIU Museum, Miami Beach, FL.
• 2021: On Location, Museum of Graffiti Beachside @ The Confidante, Miami Beach, FL.
• 2020: Biscayne World, Museum of Graffiti, Wynwood, Miami, FL.
• 2018: Ahol Sniffs Glue: New Works, FTI Gallery, Miami, FL.

This artist has participated in 4 collective exhibitions:

• 2026: Circular Reflections, Westchester Regional Library, Miami, FL.
• 2025: Circular Reflections, St. Thomas University, Miami, FL.
• 2019: Swatch x You City, The Citadel, Miami, FL.
• 2005–Present: Ongoing Site-Specific Mural Interventions, Wynwood Arts District, Miami, FL.

• 2023: Official Proclamation: Geographies of Trash Day, Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners, Miami, FL.
• 2023: Official Proclamation: Geographies of Trash Day, City of North Miami Beach, North Miami Beach, FL.
• 2023: Critical Feature Profile Focus, PBS ArtLoft (South Florida PBS, Season 11, Episode 10), Miami, FL.

• 2026: Catálogo: Reflexiones Circulares [Curaduría: Miguel Rodez]. InCUBAdora, March 24, 2026. https://www.in-cubadora.com/2026/03/24/catalogo-reflexiones-circulares-curaduria-miguel-rodez/. This article (written in Spanish) provides a concise description of the Cuban contemporary art documentation project Circular Reflections and includes the full participating artist list.
• 2025: Rodez, Miguel. Circular Reflections: Cuban Art Documentation Project. Miami Gardens, FL: St. Thomas University Press, 2025. Permanent collection, Miami-Dade Public Library System, Fine Arts Archive. (A comprehensive catalog featuring information about the 63 initial participants in Circular Reflections, including an analysis of the artist’s work, biographical information and curriculum highlights).
• 2023: Rosa, Amanda. “How to Find Ahol Sniffs Glue Artwork in Miami.” Miami Herald, July 28, 2023. A critical review tracking the institutional transition of his community-driven scavenger hunt and evaluating the transformation of found municipal waste into high-utility public treasures.
• 2021: Flores, Edwin. “An 'Eye' for Trash? This Latino Artist is a Hit During Art Basel.” NBC News, December 3, 2021. A national feature analyzing his subversion of global art markets during Miami's premier art week, tracking how his real-time digital drops democratize fine arts access.
• 2017: Flores, Oscar. “Insanely Turnt Drug Collages by Miami Artist Ahol Sniffs Glue.” Vice, June 16, 2017. An analytical media critique exploring his early analog material production and documenting the socio-political undercurrents defining South Florida's post-industrial subcultures.
• 2015: Suárez, Carlos. “Biscayne World's Busiest Ahol.” World Red Eye, March 16, 2015. An analytical studio profile investigating the development of the drowsy eyeball motif and exploring how his early subcultural practices disrupted mainstream South Florida fine arts spaces.

The original creations, large-format canvases, and technical portfolios of the artist are permanently preserved within the following public, academic, and private registries:

• The Wolfsonian–FIU (Miami Beach, FL).
• The Museum of Graffiti (Miami, FL).
• Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas (Miami, FL).
• Florida International University Permanent Art Collection (Miami, FL).