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TWO EXHIBITIONS HIGHLIGHT LATINX ARTISTS’ ABSTRACT APPROACH

Two groundbreaking exhibitions currently on view in New York assert the enduring legacy of abstraction among Latinx artists: “Latinx Abstract” at BRIC, curated by Elizabeth Ferrer, and “XX”, at the Manhattan-based LatchKey Gallery. Both exhibitions emphasize, on the one hand, a desire to push against limitations and stereotypical expectations imposed upon Latinx artists, and on the other, the need to reassess the scope and history of abstract art itself.

GUADALUPE MARAVILLA: SEVEN ANCESTRAL STOMACHS

Reflecting upon his own battle with cancer, which began in his gut, as well as that of members of his family, Maravilla examines how genetic trauma manifests in the body over generations. Throughout the many teachings Maravilla experienced in his healing process, one notion kept returning –if one cleanses properly, they will heal seven generations back and seven generations forward.

Installation view "De por vida" at Company, New York, 2021. Courtesy of the artists and Company gallery

DE POR VIDA

«De Por Vida» [For Life] brings together thirteen artists whose works portray cycles of life, death and legacy. The exhibition at Company (New York) presents Latinx artists Alina Perez, Bony Ramirez, Diana Sofia Lozano, Felipe Baeza, Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, José De Jesus Rodriguez, Oscar Nñ, Raúl de Nieves, Rose Salane, Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, Sanchez Kane, Sergio Miguel, and Troy Michie.

MURIEL HASBUN. RECORD: CULTURAL PULSES

Muriel Hasbun reframes the cultural legacy of El Salvador during the 1980s and 1990s using personal and historical archives. It imprints the rescued archive of the renowned Galería El Laberinto -an epicenter of cultural activity in El Salvador during its civil war, founded by her late mother Janine Janowski- along with her own photographic archive of the time onto the national seismographic record of El Salvador.

Patricia Fernández. L: Rhythmic Moon in January (Cascade Range), 2021, Hand-carved walnut, oil on tin, pine, second hand, quartz clock movement 6.5 x 6.5 x 1.5 in (17 x 17 x 4 cm). R: Lunar Moon in August (Cascade Range), 2020, Hand-carved walnut, oil on tin, pebble, copper, second, minute, and hour hands, quartz clock movement 12.25 x 12.75 x 1.5 in (31 x 32 x 4 cm). Courtesy CWC

PATRICIA FERNÁNDEZ: HEARTBEATS

Commonwealth and Council presents «Heartbeats», an exhibition comprising Patricia Fernández’s explorations of perception and embodiment of temporality, in a year when time felt indeterminate or elastic. Hand-carved clocks and paintings of lunar calendars manifest her continual efforts to mark time amid uncertainty and isolation, pondering systems of timekeeping and a sense of simultaneity.

MARKING TIME: ART IN THE AGE OF MASS INCARCERATION

«Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration» is a survey and analysis of visual art and creative practices among incarcerated artists, as well as art that responds to mass incarceration exploring the work of artists within US prisons and the centrality of incarceration to contemporary art and culture. Curated by Nicole Fleetwood, the exhibition is on view at PS1 MoMA until April 4, 2021.

TEN THESES ON THE ARTIST’S BOOK

An artist’s book has its own temporality. Its reading time is not marked by the number of words per minute that we are able to skim through. It may, for all that matters, even lack text. An artist’s book can be incomprehensible in a first, second and third reading; or it may never be fully deciphered. An artist’s book is the Sphinx without Oedipus.

TALLER BORICUA: A POLITICAL PRINT SHOP IN NEW YORK

In celebration of Taller Boricua’s 50th anniversary, El Museo del Barrio presents «Taller Boricua: A Political Print Shop in New York», the first monograph exhibition in three decades about the East Harlem-based Nuyorican collective workshop and alternative space. Curated by Rodrigo Moura, the exhibition is comprised of more than 200 works and ephemera, including serigraphs, lithographs, linocuts, paintings, assemblages, collages, and drawings by founding and early members.

HULDA GUZMÁN: MY FLORA, MY FAUNA

The works in «Hulda Guzmán: my flora, my fauna» reveal an artist in exuberant introspection and exploration of reality and perspective through her distinct iconography —informed by her imagination and the flora and fauna in her surroundings within the Dominican Republic. Guzmán renders a world in which children, adults, animals, plants, and invented creatures alike come together to dance, lounge, congregate, share secrets, and play —all colored and enriched by embracing nature and celebrated through the act of painting.

RAÚL DE NIEVES: ETERNAL RETURN & THE OBSIDIAN HEART

“Eternal Return and The Obsidian Heart” is, to date, the most comprehensive survey of work by Raúl de Nieves (1983). De Nieves investigates divinity, desire, and decadence across material, emotional, and spiritual realms. The artist draws inspiration from his childhood spent in Michoacán, Mexico, where public religious ceremonies and private rituals incorporate elaborate costuming and theatrical components. Coming of age in DIY scenes in San Diego and San Francisco also energized de Nieves with a theatrical approach to art making.