{"id":2336,"date":"2019-09-17T18:14:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T18:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsolido.com\/?p=2336"},"modified":"2019-09-17T18:14:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T18:14:05","slug":"contemporary-art-of-the-caribbean-archipelago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/2019\/09\/17\/contemporary-art-of-the-caribbean-archipelago\/","title":{"rendered":"CONTEMPORARY ART OF THE CARIBBEAN ARCHIPELAGO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Landscapes of Beauty and Oppression<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Liz Goldner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years before the Getty\u2019s \u201cPacific Standard Time: LA\/LA\u201d was initiated, the Museum of Latin American Art was exploring Latin and Latino culture. Its previous 2011\u201312 PST, \u201cMex\/L.A. \u2018Mexican\u2019 Modernism(s) in Los Angeles, 1930\u20131985,\u201d explored the relationship between artists and supporters on both sides of the border, and included murals by Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet in the current PST initiative, MOLAA is reaching beyond what is commonly considered Latin or Latino art with its museum-wide \u201cRelational Undercurrents\u201d exhibition. Covering the Caribbean islands, the show displays work from non-Hispanic islands, including Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Haiti and St. Martin, in addition to Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Curated by Tatiana Flores, a Rutgers University professor of Latino and Caribbean Studies, and Art History, the exhibition addresses the so-called boundaries separating Caribbean countries and territories, and then artistically, historically and conceptually connects these entities through nearly 200 art pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Scherezade
Scherezade Garcia, In My Floating World, Landscape of Paradise from the series Theories on Freedom, 2011, courtesy of the artist and the Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The show explores the work of more than 80 artists residing in these islands in today\u2019s post-colonial era, while revealing their frustrations and desires. With many artists drawing on a common legacy of colonialism, issues of history, identity, migration, race and ethnicity pervade their paintings, installations, sculpture, photography and videos. Their work ultimately expresses the underside of Caribbean life\u2014a world that is light years away from the advertised version of the islands as a tropical paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most powerful pieces in the show greets the viewer in the museum lobby. Scherezade Garcia\u2019s\u00a0In My Floating World, Landscape of Paradise<\/em>(2011) consists of numerous large, blue plastic lifesavers, bound together with plastic ties, each with a JFK luggage tag. Expressing the desire for freedom through any means\u2014by boat, plane or lifesavers\u2014this installation epitomizes the exhibition\u2019s recurrent theme of yearning for a better and different world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"13
Juana Valdes, Under View of the World \/ El Mundo desde abajo, 2015, Courtesy of the artist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRelational Undercurrents\u201d is divided into four thematic sections. The \u201cConceptual Mappings\u201d section includes maps and globes that re-imagine the world. Juana Valdes\u2019\u00a0Under View of the World<\/em>\u00a0(2015), a cyanotype print with a deep blue background, appearing like the sea, features superimposed objects including gems, bottles and trinkets, appearing like islands. It evokes colonialism\u2019s dependence on trade at the expense of the islanders. Firelei B\u00e1ez\u2019 gouache, ink and chine-coll\u00e9 on de-accessioned book pages anthropophagist wading in the\u00a0Artibonite River<\/em>\u00a0(2014\u201315), with female body parts superimposed over 19th-century maps, suggests the female islanders\u2019 objectification by the traveling male patriarchy. In Ewan Atkinson\u2019s Starman photos on light boxes (2009), the ephemeral superhero dominates urban scenes, implying the desire of the artist to overtake the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work in the \u201cPerpetual Horizons\u201d section focuses on the horizon, a constant presence in the islands, reminding residents of the borders that have kept them colonized and\/or entrapped. Marianela Orozco\u2019s digital print\u00a0Horizons<\/em>\u00a0(2012) features a stretched out naked female as the horizon line, with a background of clear blue sky and puffy clouds. Yet its dreamy depiction of a female belies the deeper issue of degradation of women on the islands. Yoan Capote\u2019s\u00a0Island (The Night)<\/em>\u00a0(2011\u201312), a recreation of the ocean meeting the sky made out of fishhooks on jute on panel, is a poignant reminder of the islanders\u2019 omnipresent relationship to the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tony
Tony Capell\u00e1n, Mar invadido, 2015, found objects from the Caribbean Sea, courtesy of the artist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLandscape Ecologies\u201d address the environment as a place of shared ecosystems and habitats, referencing history, ecological challenges, and even disease and degeneration. One of the most alarming pieces in this section and in the exhibition is Tony Capell\u00e1n\u2019s Found objects from the\u00a0Caribbean Sea<\/em>\u00a0(2015). This roomful of plastic cast-offs retrieved from the sea, including broken toilet seats, baskets, toys and waste from the medical industry, is organized by colors on the floor, from white to light blue to green to dark blue to black. The artistic arrangement of the detritus further emphasizes our besmirching of the environment, particularly in places bordered by the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRepresentational Acts\u201d features work with political viewpoints in relation to race, gender, colonialism and more. David Bade\u2019s\u00a0My Name is Europe, Hi Europe<\/em>\u00a0(2014) is a large, colorful semi-abstract painting, depicting a jumble of characters; it conveys the foreboding that pervades much of this exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"3
Antonia Wright, Suddenly We Jumped, 2014, photo by Rudy Duboue, courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Antonia Wright\u2019s\u00a0Suddenly We Jumped<\/em>\u00a0(2014), a slow-motion video of the artist smashing her nude body through a sheet of glass, evokes the Futurists\u2019 fearless \u201cmortal leap\u201d\u2014her title quotes Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who penned the Futurist Manifesto. Here, that leap seems expressive of a fervent determination to break through the subjugation of race, sex, nationalism and a centuries-old legacy of oppression. Jumped, then, viscerally embodies the mood of many of the works exhibited in \u201cRelational Undercurrents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published by Artillery <\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/artillerymag.com\/contemporary-art-caribbean-archipelago-molaa\/<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Landscapes of Beauty and Oppression by Liz Goldner Years before the Getty\u2019s \u201cPacific Standard Time: LA\/LA\u201d was initiated, the Museum of Latin American Art was exploring Latin and Latino culture. Its previous 2011\u201312 PST, \u201cMex\/L.A. \u2018Mexican\u2019 Modernism(s) in Los Angeles, 1930\u20131985,\u201d explored the relationship between artists and supporters on both sides of the border, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142254829,"featured_media":2338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28094],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-art"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8lHqs-BG","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsolido.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/artsolido-mag-cover-1.jpg?fit=2550%2C889&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142254829"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2336"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2339,"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions\/2339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}