Juan Negroni: Midsummer's Night Dream at West Gallery -Texas Woman's University, Texas

Midsummer's Night Dream at 18.2208º N, 66.5901º W focuses on the sketch as a commentary on different ideas about Puerto Rico's physical and political state, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane María which destroyed the island on September 20th 2017. 

Since the múcara (vase) was a symbol fertility for many indigenous Latin-American civilizations, I use it as a recurrent element to emphasize the land's (Mother Earth / Mother Land) capacity for giving and nurturing. The múcara, together with the image of the fish, serves as a metaphor for people coming together and sharing the little they have left in order to survive in new hostile social and economical environments, which result not only from the hurricane but from an accumulation of mistakes and abuse from past and preset government administrations. With the addition of the floral element I also celebrate and look optimistically into Puerto Rico’s future.

Juan Alberto Negroni, PR 1979.
Based in Dallas TX. 

Drawing installation, Photo courtesy Magaly Cintron Facebook

Negroni has an MFA in Studio Arts from Southern Methodist University in Dallas TX, an MA Ed in Art History and Museum Studies from Caribbean University PR and a BFA from Puerto Rico School of Fine Arts with a Major in Printmaking. Counts with three solo shows, The Defect Effect, 2005, If it weren’t for my horse, 2008 and Not About Beauty (Religion, Politics and other failures) all in San Juan, PR.

 Photo courtesy Magaly Cintron Facebook

Has participated in multiple group shows such as Detroit: A Brooklyn Case Study, SUPERFRONT LA, Los Angeles CA 2010, Dialectic City, curated by Carla Acevedo-Yates (w/Francis Alys, David Lamelas, among others), Retro at Caguas Museum of Art, in 2013, In Response, curated by Justin H. Long at Audrey Love Gallery at Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami, Muestra Nacional 2015, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan PR 2015, Art in America, (Curated by Julie Torres) at The Satellite Show in Miami FL 2015 & Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Harper Center for the Arts SC in 2016, Kinds of Monuments, (w/Christian Boltanski, Luis Camnitzer, Cai-Guo-Qiang, Robert Morrison, Alberto Burri, amongst others), Zattere Cultural Flow Zone, Dorsoduro, Venice IT, 2da Gran Bienal Tropical (curated by Pablo León de la Barra, Loiza, PR, Home & Visitor at Le Consortium, Dijon FR, among many others. His practice has been documented in printed press and magazines like, ArtPulse, El Nuevo Dia and PATRON Magazine.

Photo courtesy Magaly Cintron Facebook

Recipient of the Meadows Artistic Scholarship Award 2015 and the 2017 Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'art Dijon Residency Fellowship.

His work is part of public and private art collections in Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, Argentina, United States, Canada, Australia and Greece.

Juan Alberto Negroni, Midsummer's Night Dream at 18.2208° N, 66.5901° W throughout Thursday, October 4 at West Gallery, Hours Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Location Visual Arts Building 302 Pioneer Circle Denton, TX 76204

For more information regarding exhibition please contact: Blake Weld / Technical Director / bweld@twu.edu / 940-898-2533