Denise Zubizarreta explores Caribbean artists in Denver, Colorado, for Hyperallergic: “The purposeful consequence of colonialism is to unfold us removed from one another in order that we are able to’t discover each other and we’re remoted … however we’re right here!” says artist Lares Feliciano. [Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.]
For hundreds of years, the folks of the Caribbean have discovered themselves in a precarious place: Can we go away our houses by drive, or can we keep on the islands to await freedom which will by no means come? Following our arrival on the mainland, many people tried to imitate our island communities after residing in predominantly Puerto Rican/Cuban neighborhoods on the East Coast. I discovered myself residing in Denver questioning, the place are the artists of the Caribbean?
By means of phrase of mouth and centered analysis, I linked with Lares Feliciano, Ramón Bonilla, Diego Rodriguez-Warner, and Viktor El-Saieh to discover not solely their work however the risk that they, too, pined for a Caribbean inventive group within the Mile Excessive Metropolis.
Lares Feliciano, a mixed-race Disaporican interdisciplinary artist and cultural employee, makes use of animation, set up, and collage to create worlds the place marginalized experiences are entrance and heart. “The purposeful consequence of colonialism is to unfold us removed from one another in order that we are able to’t discover each other, and we’re remoted,” she says. “So, it’s not shocking that it’s tough, however we’re right here!”
Feliciano is creating a undertaking titled Diasporican — by interviewing Puerto Ricans throughout Colorado she hopes to know the breadth of group that’s accessible for future endeavors and exhibitions. “The character of the connection the USA has with the [Caribbean] islands makes me really feel as if it’s pressing to get our story out. It has all the time been pressing however many on the mainland don’t perceive who we’re, what our historical past is, our tradition, what we’ve gone by way of, and what we proceed to undergo.”
Ramón Bonilla is a Denver-based artist with a BFA from Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de San Juan, Puerto Rico, whose art work examines the idea of place by way of panorama and structure by integrating a seminal method to minimalism, geometry, brutalism, and low-poly artwork.
Bonilla assured me, “Neighborhood constructing amongst Denver-based Caribbean artists can assist with having access to alternatives and sources as a gaggle. Extra importantly, a joint effort also can permit this artistic group to determine a noticeable presence within the space that can be utilized to coach others about id, artwork, historical past, and tradition associated to the Caribbean expertise.”
[. . .] For Latino Americano mixed-media artist Diego Rodriguez-Warner whose work combines printmaking, collage, and portray, leading to compositions of overlapping figurative types (his exhibition Iteratives at Rule Gallery runs from August 4 to September 17), group is extra of a solitary endeavor. “At any time when I attempt to become involved [in the community], it all the time looks like there’s an expectation that I be one thing that I’m not.” Rodriguez-Warner’s work factors to the strain and internal turmoil brought on by deciding between group and private id.
“I really feel, in a way, that there’s a vibrating contradiction inside my work,” he says, “There’s a contentiousness and argument inside myself about which certainly one of this stuff is the ‘true self’ and which one bears leaning into. I’ve change into increasingly comfy with the contradiction.” For a lot of artists, the group of 1 shouldn’t be solely comprehensible, it’s essential. [. . .]
Different artists discover that their work can’t be separated from the signature Caribbean fashion however query if both suits into the Denver market. As an illustration, artist Viktor El-Saieh’s work attracts from the folklore, myths, traditions, and political leaders that form Haitian tradition. “I curated an introduction to modern Haitian artwork at an area gallery as a result of I wasn’t positive if Haitian artwork had context right here. It was a extremely nice expertise general and all people who got here was actually engaged with the work, however Denver has ended up being extra of a quiet place to work for me. Not a lot the place the place I present my work as a result of there simply doesn’t appear to be an viewers for it.” [. . .]
For full article, see https://hyperallergic.com/748442/caribbean-artists-are-making-themselves-seen-in-denver
[Shown above: Lares Feliciano, “Un Hogar de Zemís” (2021), installation including digital animation, reclaimed vintage dresser, found objects, mixed media, and memories, dimensions variable.]