by Jan
Galligan y Lillian Mulero
Santa Olaya, PR
Lillian says, “An artist tried to sell his car, but couldn't find a buyer, because it had 250,000 miles on it.” “What happened?” I ask her. “He told his actor friend who told the artist to call his mechanic friend who could set the mileage back to 25,000 miles.” “Did he sell the car?” I ask Lillian. “No,” she replies, “It only has 25,000 miles now...”
Dreaming is a form of planning
Galeria
Agustina Ferreyra
750 Ave. Fernández Juncos,
Santurce
http://www.agustinaferreyra.com
Ferreyra's new art gallery is reminiscent of Gavin Brown's Enterprise, in New York City, which had a modest beginning before becoming an important force in the artworld. Works in her whip-smart inaugural exhibition include: New Yorker, Michele Abeles' deadpan still life photo of a male nude sitting on a desk being cooled by a small desktop fan; Mexican, Livia Corona's color photo diptych created without a camera; Thai, Pratchaya Phinthong's handmade reproduction of a ready-made pre-stretched canvas panel, complete with a carefully hand-painted label; Spaniard, Irma Alvarez-Laviada's very large, framed sheet of crumpled blue paper; and Puerto Rico native, Julio Suarez's handsome and austere geometric abstraction, painted with three exacting rectangles of red, white and indigo purple. Brazilian, Marcius Galan's work was executed by Ferreyra according to his instructions: paint a black rectangle on the gallery wall, inscribe an arc in the rectangle with white paint. Matt Sheridan Smith traveled to the island from Los Angeles to create two performances: Donde esta el mar caribe, for which he cooked seven pinchos over small fires in seven clay pots, and Sandra Vasquez, Florista, 787-412-8269 for which Smith contracted the florist to create one bouquet to represent each of the artists in the exhibition, to be delivered weekly to the gallery for the duration of the exhibition. Meanwhile, Ferreyra was asked by Smith to take one clay pot to the beach each week and dump the ash residue into the ocean.
Angel Otero: Recent Work, 2012-2013
Walter
Otero Contemporary Art
402
Ave. Constitucion, Puerto Tierra
http://facebook.com/WalterOteroContemporaryArt
This inaugural exhibition presented the work of Puerto Rican artist Angel Otero (no relation) in what could be considered an auspicious homecoming for the young artist who has had considerable success in a surprisingly brief time. In various interviews Otero expresses an affinity for Jackson Pollock. As Pollock laid claim to a unique method of painting in the 1950s, the pour and the drip, Otero drew immediate attention for his layered "skins" of oil paint which are peeled from a flat plastic surface and adhered to canvas attached to the wall. Gravity plays an important part, as the heavy paint layers droop and sag into their ultimate positions. While Pollock disavowed any place for chance in his creations, Otero welcomes all anomalies. After four years of substantial attention, it is too soon to speak of maturity for Otero; yet one looks forward to progress and development in his work. The example of Jackson Pollock should be a caution. Pollock had his first real success at age 31. Locked into a personal style of painting and prodded by commercial prosperity, Pollock could not handle the pressure. Likely, Otero will find his way through this artworld minefield, emerging with his Santurce street smarts intact.
Simplemente Bobby … .
Recinto
Cerra
619.5
calle Cerra, Santurce
http://facebook.com/recinto.cerra
Taking the title for his exhibition from a famous salsero, artist Bobby Cruz has recreated Lalo Rodriguez's record album cover as the poster for his own exhibition. This theme of appropriating cultural icons as art works continues with a set of six tourist souvenir beach towels which hang on the wall, draping down from wooden pegs. Nearby hangs a large acrylic painting of a crushed CoCo Rico soda can. Sitting on the floor below the painting are three metal cube sculptures made from sodas cans that have been crushed together by a commercial garbage compactor. On the opposite wall is mounted a two color neon sign, which says: A LO HECHO PECHO. In the backroom is a tableau consisting of two red beach chairs whose fabric backs are the Puerto Rican flag. They sit on either side of a large blue plastic beach cooler with built-in CD player and speakers, which blasts out salsa music. As a backdrop, hanging on the wall is a large framed collage constructed from six more beach towels, cut and resewn together to give the shape of the Puerto Rican flag.
Muestra
Nacional de Arte 2013
Antiguo
Arsenal, Viejo San Juan
http://www.icp.gobierno.pr
The fifteenth edition of this survey of contemporary art presents 105 works by 84 artists selected from proposals submitted by hundreds of artists from around the island. Works on display include sculpture, painting, photography, video, drawings, prints as well as various combinations of these formats. In most cases the combined formats are the more interesting, representing the most contemporary approaches to making art in the twenty-first century. It should be noted that Omar Obdulio Pena Forty's photographic reproduction of Francisco Oller's famous 1889, oil on canvas, Self Portrait, which belongs to Museo de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, has been updated with los cerquillos (a shaped haircut) which these days in Puerto Rico is popular with younger modern gentlemen.
Cody | Jonathan Torres
Roberto
Paradise
610
calle Hipodromo, Santurce
http://robertoparadise.com
Born in Puerto Rico, educated at Escuela de Artes Plasticas in San Juan, studied at Brooklyn College, now living and working in Brooklyn, Jonathan Torres spent the last four months in residence at Roberto Paradise gallery creating the works for this exhibition which include two very large scale paintings created with heavy impasto oil paint on canvas or fabric material. In addition he created a large sized sculpture,
The Garden using foam, paper-mache, synthetic hair, fabric, fiberglass, artificial flowers, and spray paint. Most sublime is a life-sized sculpture of a small dog which lies on the floor in the middle of the gallery, seemingly asleep. It has been created from the flowering parts of elephant grass, carefully formed to give an astonishingly life-like appearance. At any moment you expect the little dog to stand up and run around. Torres' exhibition is titled in honor of the subject of this sculpture.
ARTICLE AS PUBLISHED IN SPANISH
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR PREVIOUS ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES