For Shey Rivera Ríos and Huáscar Robles, Hurricane María is an atmospheric manifestation compounded by the fiscal crisis troubling Puerto Rico’s urban landscape. The installation and performance Fantasy Island is an experience that explores how tourism and consumer culture sell a "fantastical" luxury lifestyle, a tropical paradise twisting crisis into “opportunity".
Juan Bautista Climent first Solo Show in NYC
The exhibition contains oil painting, watercolors, and sculptural installation with traditional papier Maché Mexican technique.
Exhibition closes October 7th, 2017
Juan Bautista is a Mexican artist from Xochimilco, Mexico City, a place with a millennial history that has influenced his work with a particular convergence of Christian and indigenous symbols.
For Fantasy Island, Rivera transformed Loisaida’s space into a real estate office surrounded by a black and white grid that envelops visitors while monitors flash GIFs that borrow aesthetics from the vaporwave movement. In one image, a hand waves a wad of cash to a “Puerto Rico” neon sign while icons of the Virgin Mary and a ram, both cultural symbols of Puerto Rico’s syncretism and colonial history, spin in an enticing, dizzying spell. Viewers are also inspired to reflect on how natural disasters such as the path of hurricanes affecting not only Puerto Rico but also our Caribbean neighbors maybe twisted into “opportunity” after the crisis subsides.
Five years after Sandy, we remember the storm and how our neighbors came together to support one another. Given the hoard of recent hurricanes impacting the Caribbean and other parts of the United States, we recognize the need to rise in solidarity for our siblings abroad, while also continuing to prepare to get through future storms together.
Puerto Rico’s economic spiral has spread uncertainty on the island. A 120 billion debt in bonds and pension responsibilities has been deemed un-payable while a U.S. Fiscal Supervision Board suggests further austerity measures. About 170 schools have closed and a third of the island’s real estate is unoccupied. Puerto Ricans keep fleeing en masse while foreigners move in, altering the urban and cultural landscape.
Featuring Victor Hernandez Cruz Urayoan Noel and Edwin Torres This event is a reading, performance, and discussion among three Puerto Rican luminaries, celebrating the publication of Hernandez' new book, "Beneath The Spanish" (Coffee House Press). It will take place at our Center on Wednesday, October 25th at 6:30pm ABOUT THE BOOK Beneath the Spanish is history, the [...]