Puerto Rico: Defying Darkness a group exhibition of Puerto Rican artists at 516 ARTS, Albuquerque, NM
Laser cut board, dressmaker pins, 6.5 feet diameter
Puerto
Rico: Defying Darkness presents the works of several artists living and working
on the island and in the diaspora. Through various media including painting,
sculpture, photography and installation, the artists engage with issues of
climate justice and disaster, continued colonialism and economic crisis. They
also represent and celebrate the strong artistic traditions that have made
Puerto Rico one of the most creatively vibrant places in the world. There is a
sense of urgency in many of the new works included as artists negotiate their
role in facing the challenges of recovery in the aftermath of hurricane Maria.
Héctor Arce-Espasas
Dancers
(Derrieres)
2017, Porcelain and fruit
16 in 14 x 10 inches each
16 in 14 x 10 inches each
According to participating artist Elsa Maria Melendez, who lives and works on the island, “Puerto Rico needs us artists to confront images, engage, resist and agitate, strengthen the questioning of power systems, and explore unfamiliar lines of thought. Puerto Rico’s current cultural crisis and art institutions face hardships worsened by hurricane Maria. Surviving the phenomenon and becoming active agents of solidarity and selflessness has led us toward an ideological shift, in which audiences can internalize social issues and revalue educational alternatives. Culture and the arts are tools for human beings to reconstruct themselves.”
Puerto
Rico: Defying Darkness features artists who continue to be beacons of hope and
resilience. As a ‘non-incorporated’ territory of the United States, the island
is struggling to recover from punishing debt and energy crises that expose the
legacies of colonialism and the impacts of flawed U.S. policies. In the
aftermath of the devastation of Hurricane Maria, many on the island are still
without basic necessities including electricity and water. In addition to the
struggle against literal darkness, the island faces looming budget cuts in
response to a $72 billion debt. The large-scale exodus of thousands of Puerto
Ricans to the U.S. mainland highlights both the inept government response to
the current disaster as well as the ongoing implications of past legislation.
The Jones Act of 1917 which granted citizenship to Puerto Ricans, restricted
its ports to U.S. ships only, and barred the territory from statehood. Despite
these challenges and the limited U.S response to aid its own citizens, many
Puerto Ricans are committed to recovery. Artists are playing a unique role in
organizing relief efforts on the ground and by utilizing the arts to build hope
and promote the resourcefulness that has always existed on the island.
Patrick
McGrath, Alba's Dream, oil and gold leaf on canvas, 30 x 24 inches
Artists
include: Adál whose photography series Puerto Ricans Underwater explores
multiple meanings of being “underwater” examining aesthetics and identity as a
collaboration with his subjects. Elsa María Meléndez will create Sprout Again /
Retoñar, a new large-scale installation utilizing materials from a fabric store
that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria. Patrick McGrath Muñiz looks to
Renaissance painting techniques to explore contemporary Puerto Rican identity,
climate change and the economic challenges that many individuals are facing on
the Island. Antonio Martorell’s series of graphic works entitled Loas,
addresses themes of Afro-Latino identity and colonialism. Frances Gallardo’s
graphic works and installations analyze hurricanes and other aspects of the
natural world. She is interested in going beyond the sensationalism of the
disaster to reflect on what underlying social and political fissures are
revealed.
Myritza
Castillo’s photographs examine the Puerto Rican landscape from diverse
perspectives utilizing mirrors to refract her imagery of architectural and
natural spaces. Rafael Trelles’ diptych pays homage to Carlos Raquel Rivera
with a photo-montage displayed alongside the 1950 print documenting Hurricane
Santa Clara. Aby Ruiz’s sculpture and
paintings look to the history of art and Puerto Rico to comment on the present.
His iteration of Ramón Frade’s El pan nuestro (Our Daily Bread) depicts the
iconic image of a campesino - but rather
than carrying crops he is bound by a straitjacket. Nathan Budoff’s urban scenes
juxtaposed with ocean life reflect on issues of dislocation, environmental
degradation, the tenuous situation of the island and the ambiguity of being
neither part of the U.S. nor independent. Hector Arce-Espasas’ vessels are
reminiscent of the overflowing fruit bowls popular in 17th - century Europe and
serving as symbols of wealth and social class. Ripe tropical fruit and the body
coalesce to create an interplay between history and contemporary indulgence and
exoticism. Jo Cosme’s set of Arcana Majora Tarot inspired cards visually
represent the events that occurred right after Hurricane María. Kai
Margarida-Ramirez’s silkscreen collage entitled Fault Lines incorporates floor
tiles from her grandmother’s home in Puerto Rico to explore the fallibility of
memory and the process of connecting to a familial and cultural past.
Influenced by mapping and topography of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, Ramón
Bonilla creates paintings and wall installations re-imagining architectural
spaces as a way of looking to the future.
Myritza Castillo
Territorial
Monuments
2016, Photograph
Dimensions variable
Dimensions variable
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Dr. Josie
Lopez, Curator a 516 ARTS, was born and raised in Albuquerque. She received her
B.A. in History and M.A. in Teaching from Brown University. She completed an
M.A. in Art History at the University of New Mexico and her Ph.D. from the
University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include examining
art as a discursive agent in the political arena, modern and contemporary Latin
American art, 19th century France and Mexico, and the history of New Mexican
art with a focus on printmaking. Lopez recently wrote the book The Carved Line:
Block Printmaking in New Mexico and curated the accompanying exhibition at the
Albuquerque Museum. Lopez has been a Jacob K. Javits Fellow and an Eleanor
Tufts Fellow. She has taught courses on modern Mexico and the prints of
Francisco Goya at SMU, and courses on the history of printmaking and European
art at the University of New Mexico.
Puerto
Rico: Defying Darkness opening the next Saturday, August 11 6-8pm: Public
Reception and continues through October 20, 2018 at 516 ARTS, 516 Central Ave SW,
Albuquerque, NM 87102 open Tue - Sat, 12-5pm
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