Every morning before heading off to work, Yazmany Arboleda glances at a small white notecard he keeps in his sock drawer.

Scribbled down is a note he wrote to himself two years ago, when he first moved to New York: I want to be the most influential artist of the 21st Century.

''Art should inspire people, provoke people,'' he said via telephone from his studio apartment in New York City. ``The art world lacks that now. I want to be a part of what brings that back.''

Arboleda, 26, is already a self-employed artist who has shown his mixed-media pieces at respected galleries in New York, London and Washington, D.C.

''He really is changing the way people conceive the arts in society,'' said Shai Rao, former executive editor of Surface Magazine, an arts and design magazine.

Arboleda credits his success to his mother, his work ethic -- and the Silver Knight award he won in 2000.

For 50 years, The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald have presented the awards to high school luminaries in honor of their community service and academic excellence.

Arboleda was so excited when his name was called that night in 2000, he did a back flip on his way to the stage.

''When I got that recognition, I realized that I'm capable of anything,'' he said. ``It was really an important moment in my life.''

A NEW WORLD

Arboleda grew up in his family's native Colombia. But after his father's death, the family relocated to Fort Lauderdale. Arboleda was in the fifth grade and spoke no English.

''My mom told me that this is a country of opportunities,'' he said. ``She cemented in my brain that if you work hard, good things will come to you.''

Work hard he did.

By the time Arboleda started the International Baccalaureate program at Deerfield Beach High School, he was already at the top of his class.

He had taken to art, and used most of his free time to paint, sculpt and craft mixed-media pieces.

Arboleda also joined his school's chapter of the Key Club, an international service organization. In addition to serving as president his senior year, he started an annual school dance-a-thon to raise money for children around the world with iodine deficiency disorders.

As graduation approached, Arboleda wanted nothing more than to win the Silver Knight, he said. He was nominated in the social science category.

ON A DARE

''On the night of the awards, my friend dared me to do a back flip on my way to the stage,'' he recalled. ``I had done gymnastics and I was a little bit crazy.''

When his named was called, a surprised Arboleda leaped into the air. The presenter then joked that Arboleda had won the Silver Knight in gymnastics.

''I still smile when I think about it,'' he said.

ADVANCED STUDIES

Arboleda graduated from high school with two full college scholarships, one from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and another from the national Coca-Cola Scholars program.

At the Catholic University in Washington, he designed his own course of study. It focused on architecture, but gave him the freedom to study fashion and industrial design. The self-designed program also included three semesters abroad: one at Parsons in New York, one at the Istituto Marangoni in Milan, and one at the Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London.

Arboleda graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA and continued on to earn his master's in architecture. That course of study took him on trips to Barcelona and to Brazil. He was able to pay his way through Europe by selling his paintings, which ranged from the abstract to the photo-realistic.

After finishing his master's, Arboleda moved to New York City and took a job as a creative consultant for a design firm. Before long, he was able make a living by selling and displaying his artwork.

GOING SOLO

Arboleda's first solo exhibition, a series of photographs printed on more than 50,000 neon-colored rubber balls, showed at a high-end fashion boutique in New York City last spring. The installation, a social commentary on beauty and aesthetics, was so popular, it traveled to London's Imagination Gallery.

''He can really tap into things that are timeless and sociopolitical issues, and still create works that are easy to digest and fun to look at,'' Rao said.

Last month, Arboleda had two New York City exhibitions. They sought to show how media destroyed Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Many of the mixed media pieces were derived from images that had already appeared in the media.

But the shows closed within a week, after the galleries came under intense pressure from the campaigns and other political heavyweights, Arboleda said. The story was covered in the Village Voice, an alternative weekly newspaper in New York City, and by international media outlets.

Arboleda is now looking for new spaces to house his work.

''The pieces are unapologetic,'' he said. ``They make people uncomfortable. They provoke dialogue about things like racism and sexism, homophobia. That's what I like about them.''