Archive for the 'Reviews' Category

ARCO 2010: VIP Program in Murcia

Monday, March 1st, 2010

On a chartered flight above the shade, clouds filter a sunny sky above the region of Murcia in Southern Spain. As part of the ARCO Madrid 2010 Contemporary Art Fair VIP program, a group of collectors, curators and a handful of artists spent 24 hours visiting this emerging contemporary art mecca on a chilly weekend in late February 2010.[...]

CIRCA ‘10 brings it home

Monday, February 8th, 2010

A variety of artists and galleries from major cities from across the world came together at this years CIRCA 10 art fair in Puerto Rico.[...]

Playing it Safe: Remote Controlled Curators and Packaged Exhibitions

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Last year, I went to a couple of exhibitions that still linger in the back of my head, and it’s not because of the works that were on display. It was more of a sense of déjà vu… but hey, haven’t I said this before?[...]

Expanding Art Scene Sparks New Life into Santurce

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

The urban area of Santurce is fast evolving again into the center of the contemporary art scene in Puerto Rico, prefering the shabby streets of the urban core of this town. Just when the local art institutions are crumbling from lack of funding, private initiatives in Santurce emerge as the only alternative for the arts. Right now, the area is buzzing with opportunities, cheap rents and creative energy.[...]

National Art Exhibit, A Mediocre Nation?

Monday, December 14th, 2009

On the second week of December, at the Arsenal de la Puntilla in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the awaited Muestra Nacional opened its doors to the public. Curated by Marilú Purcell, María Arlette de la Serna and Juan Carlos López Quintero, the show included established as well as emerging Puerto Rican artists such as Jorge Díaz and Elsa Meléndez. And although many noteworthy artists were definitely missing, this year the show presented a well organized and carefully chosen body of work that succeeded in displaying the forte of Puerto Rican artists working with contemporary themes.[...]

Death, Transition and Celebration of Life at La Respuesta

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Altar at the entrance of Death: Transition and Celebration of Life

For those who love art, music and good vibes, all paths lead to opening night of the most recent BlackboxArt Foundation event titled Death: Transition and Celebration of Life, a group show organized in conjunction with the General Consulate of Mexico in San Juan at La Respuesta’s exhibition space in Santurce. The organizers presented works that spanned from painting, installation, video and sculpture from forty-four contemporary Puerto Rican artists celebrating one of Mexico’s most important traditions.[...]

Tracking the Lower East Side

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

Talia-Chetrit_Primary-#469B49

For the last four years, the Lower East Side has been emerging as the place where young galleries have started to thrive. And as happening as Chelsea is on the first couple of weeks of September, the Lower East Side galleries have been consistently presenting contemporary artists with a cutting edge practice. So, during my last trip to New York, I ventured downtown to the Lower East Side for a couple of nights of gallery hopping.[...]

TENDENCIA at the MUAC

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Tendencia - Installation View - Museum Of Art of Caguas (MUAC)

Currently on view until October 14th 2009 at the Museum of Art in Caguas (MUAC), TENDENCIA is a multidisciplinary event that brings together a group of contemporary artists whose practice ranges from video, installation and urban art. Organized by Victor Alex Reyes and Norma Vila Rivero, the event boasts of presenting a curated sample of emerging artists that reflect prevailing global trends in contemporary art.[...]

Michael Smith & Mike Kelley at Sculpture Center

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Mike Kellys - Junk Sculpture at SculptureCenter

Who in the world goes to a sweltering Nevada desert for seven days to an event that boasts of an anything goes mentality? Well, approximately 50,000 thousand people. You can catch a glimpse of the Burning Man festival at the SculptureCenter in Long Island City, with Michael Smith and Mike Kelley’s first collaborative project, A Voyage of Growth and Discovery.[...]

Human Geography at the MAPR

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

Edra Soto - One Vision - Hollywood Soldiers (film stills and digital photographs 2003 - 2007)

I could not help but think déjà vu on opening night of the group show Puerto Rico: Human Geography, Images of the 21st Century at the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico (MAPR). Curated by Juan Carlos López Quintero, the exhibition attempts to be “a thematically organized selection that brings together works by a number of artists whose aesthetic and conceptual explorations are in many cases different from one another…but portray the human diversity and richness of a society.”[...]