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
Enright, What 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.
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 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.
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.
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
