BRONX MASQUERADE curated by Yulia Tikhonova








Curators Statement:

BRONX MASQUERADE brings together ten emerging Bronx artists who reveal the true stories of young people in the Bronx. The exhibition Bronx Masquerade borrows its title from the book of the same name by Nikki Grimes. It presents a montage of artistic voices concerned with the uncertain position of youth. Their work focuses on today’s youth and their struggle to define their own identity, and to find a place where they truly belong, as part of a generation confronted by the challenging realities of our economy. Like the high school students/protagonists of the book, the artists in this exhibit express the emotions concealed by fashion and style -  beneath the skin, behind the eyes, beyond the masquerade. The artists communicate what lay hidden by the mask of everyday life, – this generation's sincerity, drive and passion. Like the poetry recitals that tae place in the book during  “Open Mike Friday”, the artwork in the exhibition exemplifies the desire and need to relate individual experience to those things that we share in common.  The artists explore a wide range of energies, dreams and fears; their photographs, paintings, and works on paper convincingly convey the depth of these emotions.





Born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Ruben Natal-San Miguel is an architect, photographer, curator, writer, art collector and consultant who specializes in the art of fine emerging photography. He is involved with non-profit art organizations such as ACRIA, Printed Matter, Aperture Foundation, Humble Arts Foundation, Photolucida and The Center for Photography at Woodstock and is the man behind the popular photography blog, ARTmostfierce. He received The "Most Powerful Person in the Art World" award at the Art Fag City.




Tiana Markova-Gold, is a freelance documentary photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. She was awarded a New York Times Scholarship to attend the full-time Photojournalism Program at the International Center of Photography in 2006-07. She has traveled extensively, documenting social issues with a particular focus on women and girls. She is a 2010 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Photography and was awarded the 2010 Lange-Taylor Prize from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University for If You SmokeCigarettes in Public You Are a Prostitute: Women and Prostitution in Morocco, a collaboration with writer Sarah Dohrmann.

Glendalys Medina BlackGold, Limited Edition Print. Montana Spray Paint on Paper. 24x36 in. 2012
Glendalys Medina, All City Italy, collage, mapping history of hip-hop in Italy,
Glendalys Medina said: As The Shank I am mastering MCing, breakdancing, graffiti and DJing by reproducing the work of prominent figures in Hip Hop culture. After acquiring an arsenal of different styles, I produce original work in order to realize my voice as an MC, my body as a breaker, my name as a Graffiti writer and my rhythm as a DJ. I chose the word shank because of its slang definition as a handmade knife commonly made in prisons. The Shank was conceived as a gift allowing its recipient the opportunity to escape confinement, discover one's true self and recreate one's identity.  
Nicky EnrightWhat One Earth Do You Mean
Nicky Enright (born in Ecuador, lives/works in NYC) is a multimedia artist & educator. He earned a BFA from The Cooper Union and an MFA from Hunter College. His activity as a world-music DJ informs his work, and he has executed numerous public commissions for clients such as the MTA Arts for Transit (NYC), and the Smithsonian Institution, and NASA (Washington D.C.). His work is exhibited internationally and he has received various grants, residencies, & fellowships.


 XavierFigueroa, A FLICKER OF HOPE, 2010, two c-print
A Flicker Of Hope is part 3 of the installation series The Relationship inspired by the final passage from Thornton J. Wilder’s 1927 novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey, which is displayed on the exterior ad space. An homage to one of the city’s commuting hubs and the mystery of where something may lead, the creation of a subway entrance is the beginning and end of a journey. Half red-lit globes allude to a relationship in its near conclusion as seen in the image portrayed in the advertisement.

 
Amy Pryor Mega, 2011, collage on paper
Amy Pryor is a Bronx-based artist who creates dense, landscape-like paintings and collages that reflect on the pervasiveness of commercial culture and underscore her own complicity as a consumer.  Pryor typically incorporates an array of materials such as packaging, advertising circulars, and junk mail into her work.  Many of her pieces feature words and phrases that have been culled from magazines and commercially printed matter.  These visual-verbal fields amplify much-advertised states:  “SAVE” ,“FREE”, “special
Melissa Calderon About My Unemployed Life, 2011 four work
The lovingly embroidered pieces that make up the My Unemployed Life series— Control, Luck, Benefit, and Prone reflect on the nature of work and the life of an artist. Calderon converts a difficult, fallow time of unemployment into a starting place for beauty, thoughtfulness, even humorous works based on the trappings of unemployment.



 
EllePerez Ghetto Punk, 2010-ongoing 20x24
Perez started photographing at punk shows at 14 years old. Photography gave her an excuse to talk to people she found fascinating. She realized that photography could exist outside of the 'real world' and could reverse the socio-economic power dynamics of her Bronx upbringing.




Isabel Figueroa I am not from here, c-ptints, 16x24
Figueroa was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. She received her Certification in Photography from the International Center of Photography in 2011 and is currently attending St. John’s University. Figueroa has exhibited at The International Center of Photography and the St. Johns University, Queens, New York
Edwin Gonzalez  Wack!, 2007 Ink on Rag Paper 11" x 14"

This work is about a boy followiing his natural inclinations.  His feelings are also superimposed onto comic book figures pictured in the composition.  In this drawing Spider-man represents protection, hero-worship, and the boy’s attraction to his friend.  The villian, the Green Gobliin points up accusingly at both of the boys and Spider-man.  He represents the confusion and and castigation the boy is expreiencing.  The Green Goblin is a particularly flamboyant character so it can also be said that in the context of this work he personifies gay stereotypes.  The pointing hand, acts as an acusation. The spider in the top left corner weaves a web that personifies the unconscious and ties all of the varioous scenes together visually and thematically.   This includes the threat of physical harm, as a consequence, of acting on his feeling of attraction for someone of the same gender.  
 The threat of punitive action is depicted as a belt being pulled together to create a menacing sound,“Wack!” The word wack is also used in slang to indicate an undesireable person, object, or situation.


 Norene Leddy and Melissa Gira Grant The Aphrodite Project: Re/working The Map, 2011 (ongoing), The Aphrodite Project: Re/working The Map locates stories of sex and
sex workers in and around the Bronx, inverting the usual power dynamic
of mapping and research strategies. The Bronx section of this project was commissioned by Longwood Arts Gallery/Bronx Council On The Arts as part of "Born Again: A
Lebanese-Dominican Dominican York is Born Again as a Bronxite" a
project conceived by Nicolas Dumit Estevez.



Norene's work examines how technology is used in relationship to marginalized populations. Recent projects have included working with sex workers and inner-city girls to explore ways that high and low technology can be used for protection and self expression, from the latest in GPS and mobile software to simple DIY kits made up of electronics from Radio Shack. In addition to drawing, video, sculpture and installation; related performances and workshops are frequently part of her artistic practice. Her work has been shown internationally, and she has been the recipient of numerous grants, awards and residencies including a Fulbright Fellowship. Norene earned a M.F.A. from Parsons School of Design, and currently teaches at Parsons and Kean University.   
MelissaGira Grant is a writer, an activist, and a former sex worker. Her work explores the connections between prostitution, city life, and technology. Melissa works with Norene on The Aphrodite Project as Community Advisor, and together they created Re/working The Map, locating stories about sex and sex workers lives in the Bronx, inverting the traditional power dynamic of mapping and research strategies. 

JayPaavonpera, Street in the Bronx
24" x 24", oil, rust, household paint, and spackling paste on sheetrock, 2010
Jay Paavonpera Simultaneously explores an abstract and hyper-real representation of the modern urban landscape. Current AIM Artist in Residence at Bronx Museum / New York, NY



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