Exhibitions

Photo by Alejandro Cartagena

Beyond War
Guest Curator Whitney Johnson,
Director of Photography at The New Yorker

Featuring: Eunice Adorno (Mexico City, Mexico), Dominic Bracco II (Texas, US), Alejandro Cartagena (Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic), and Katie Orlinsky (New York, US). View Artist's Bios

Description: In “Beyond War” four young photographers share their perspectives on drug violence in Mexico. Each looks beyond the drug war to examine its effect on society: Eunice Adorno explores Mexico's most troubled cities; Dominic Bracco II spends time with “Los Ninis,” the young men and women in Juarez who earn their name from the phrase “ni estudian, ni trabajan”; Alejandro Cartagena shows how a rural community in northern Mexico persists in the face of drug trafficking; and Katie Orlinsky looks at the war's effect on women and girls. Though this exhibition is haunted by violence, there are no bodies, no blood on display. Instead, these four photographers share a long-term commitment to visualizing the lasting human consequences of the conflict.

Location: Casa Aboy, 900 Ave. Juan Ponce de León, San Juan, 00907, Puerto Rico

Sponsored by: Jorge Colón-Gerena & Wendco Of Puerto Rico Inc.

About The Curator: Whitney Johnson is the Director of Photography at The New Yorker where she oversees the photographic vision for the print magazine, digital editions, and website. She contributes regularly to the magazine’s photography blog, Photo Booth, and is an adjunct professor at New York University. Previously, she worked at the Open Society Foundations, coordinating a grant competition for photographers and the Moving Walls exhibition.

Falling Eyelids: A Fotonovela

Written, Directed and Photographed (1979) by ADÁL (Puerto Rico)

Description: Falling Eyelids tells the story of a photographer who dissatisfied with his surrounding reality begins to create his own. In time, the photographer is unable to distinguish the reality he invented from the one that was real. The day arrives when he awakens inside one of his photographs and discovers that his world is a dream that he dreamed and that its dreamers are dreaming in each others dreams.

Location: The Gutiérrez-Bermúdez Collection (by appointment only)

Sponsored by: Architect Luis Gutiérrez & FotoVisura Inc.

Artists' Bio: Born in Utuado, Puerto Rico, Adál Maldonado—baptized as ADÁL by legendary photographer Lisette Model—was trained as a photographer and master printer at the San Francisco Art Institute in the early 1970s. Along with Alex Coleman, Adál was the co-founder and co-director of Foto Gallery in Soho, New York City. During his vast experience, he has collaborated with numerous artists including the late poet, Rev. Pedro Pietri, Grammy winner and musician Tito Puentes, playwright/poet, Ntozake Shange and photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe. Adál has exhibited worldwide. In addition, his photographs are part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and El Museo del Barrio in New York City; The San Francisco Museum of Fine Art, The Houston Museum of Fine Arts; as well as, Le Museé Modern de la Ville in Paris, France, Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Belgium; Lehigh University Art Galleries in Philadelphia; the Smithsonian Latino Collections at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and The Ponce Art Museum and The Art Museum of Puerto Rico. In 2014, a retrospective of Adál’s work will be presented at the Contemporary Museum of Art in Puerto Rico.

Photo by Myritza Castillo

Selections from The Gutiérrez-Bermúdez Collection

Featuring: RES (Argentina), Ana Mendieta (Cuba), Milagros de la Torre (Peru), Jose Fors (Cuba), Tatiana Parcero (México), Cecilia Paredes (Costa Rica), Anthony Goicolea (NY), Albert Chog (Jamaica), Rogelio López Marín "Gory" (Cuba), Flor Garduño (México), Liliana Porter (Argentina), Myritza Castillo (Puerto Rico), Priscila Monje (Costa Rica)

Curated by: Architect Luis Gutiérrez

Description: This exhibition presents a selection of images from the Gutiérrez-Bermúdez Collection, predominantly focusing on Latin American Photography.

Location: The Gutiérrez-Bermúdez Collection (by appointment only)

Sponsored by: Architect Luis Gutiérrez

Photo by Christopher Gregory

Cuarto Oscuro

Featuring: Salvi Colom, Herminio Rodríguez, Pablo Cambó, Nina Méndez-Martí, Alex Díaz, Mariela Alvarez, Alicia Kidd, Mónica Félix, Adrian Villeta and Christopher Gregory

Curated by: Ahmed Echevarría Rosas

Description: A curator’s choice group exhibition featuring Puerto Rican photographers.

Location: ArtLab 753, 753 Avenida Fernández Juncos San Juan, 00907

Sponsored by: ArtLab 753 & FotoVisura Inc.

Selected Portfolio (Travel Size)

Featuring: Jesús ‘Bubu’ Negrón (Puerto Rico)

Curated by: Jesús ‘Bubu’ Negrón & Roberto Paradise

Description: Selected Portfolio (Travel Size) by Jesús ‘Bubu’ Negrón is composed of 14 photographs laminated on wood that offer a breathtaking journey into the artist’s practice for the past 10 years. Each photograph documents key projects by Negrón, revealing his very particular brand of romantic conceptualism. This piece is ongoing; thus, the artist reserves the right to remove or add projects at any given time.

Location: Roberto Paradise, 610-614 Calle Hipódromo San Juan, 00909, Puerto Rico

Sponsored by: Jesús ‘Bubu’ Negrón & Roberto Paradise

Artist's Bio: Born in 1975 in Puerto Rico, Jesús ‘Bubu’ Negrón work is characterized by minimal interventions, the re-contextualization of everyday objects and a relational approximation to artistic production as a revealing act of historical, social and economic proportions. Negrón has participated in numerous international exhibitions such as the Sharjah Biennial (United Arab Emirates, 2007), Whitney Biennial (New York, 2006); Day for Night curated by Chrissie Iles and Philippe Vergne (New York, 2006), and the Torino Triennale Tremusei curated by Franceso Bonami and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Torino, 2005), among others. His work has been reviewed in major publications such as Flash Art, New York Times, Journal des Arts, LA Times, The Art Newspaper, Art Nexus and Frieze, among others.

Interpolations

Featuring: Migdalia Luz Barens-Vera

Description: Interpolations is a conceptual photographic series about physical absence and oblivion, and the nostalgia that results from these. The viewer is presented with a collection of portraits composed of a single naked human body with colored masking tape covering the head and digitally erased physical details—placed against a white background. A metaphor of the act of erasure of identity—these blurred and digitally manipulated subjects are faced with the possibility of being erased and forgotten. As a result, they are confronted with the desperate need to redefine one's sense of self.

Location: Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino, 200 Convention Boulevard, San Juan, 00907, Puero Rico

Sponsored by: Puerto Rico Sheraton Hotel & Casino and FotoVisura Inc.

Artist Bio: Migdalia Luz Barens-Vera is a multidisciplinary artist, born in Puerto Rico; whose work combines photography, installation, video and performance art. Has an MFA in New Media from Transart Institute (Berlin/New York) and is a certified Alexander Technique Teacher. Her solo shows include four multimedia installation exhibitions at Taller Boricua (New York), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, El Antiguo Cuartel de Ballajá (PR) and Metro: Plataforma organizada (PR)–exhibited as well in the IX International Biennial of Cuenca (Ecuador) and the Bronx Museum of the Arts Biennial (NY). She has extensively shown her artwork in different museums and art venues such as at Trampolim: Galeria Homero Massena (Brazil), Museo del Barrio (NY), MMX Open Venue (Berlin), Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (Chicago), AREA (PR), Low Lives 2 (NY), Warwick Arts Festival (NY), International Caribbean Art Fair (NY) and Scope Art Fair (Miami) among others. She has collaborated as a photographer, videographer, graphic designer, costume designer and actress with theater companies such as Quality Meats (NY), Caborca Theater (NY), Nueva Escena (NY/PR), NewWorks Lab Production (NY) and Teatro Iré (PR); working in various theaters and festivals like Chashama Theater (NY), Pregones Theater (NY), Teatro Victoria Espinosa (PR), Centro de Bellas Artes (PR), Teatro Tapia (PR), the Latin American Theater Festival (El Salvador and Nicaragua), the IV Theater Festival (Dominican Republic), Festival de Artes Escénicas (PR), Festival Internacional de Cine (Cuba) among others. Her work forms part of public and private art collections.