Beyond the Canvas: Contemporary Art from Puerto Rico

26 April — 9 July 2017

BEYOND THE CANVAS CONTEMPORARY ART FROM PUERTO RICO

Zilia Sánchez, Amazona, 1993 cover: Elsa María Meléndez, Las Flores del Mal, 2017, installation at artist’s studio, Caguas, Puerto Rico

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BEYOND THE CANVAS: CONTEMPORARY ART FROM PUERTO RICO 26 April — 9 July 2017

Spanning several generations, five Puerto Rico-based artists—Zilia Sánchez (b.1926), Julio Suárez (b.1947), Arnaldo Roche Rabell (b.1955), Pedro Vélez (b.1971), and Elsa María Meléndez (b.1974)—have each developed a process-driven approach to painting.

The artists in this exhibition challenge the notion of the canvas as a flat surface, focusing firstly on its materiality as a site for intervention and manipulation, and secondly as a substrate for painted images.

Creating three-dimensionality through the action of pulling, rubbing, folding, slashing, ripping, or warping the canvas, these artists mine tensions, both sensual and sublime, to provide tactile metaphors for this current moment in Puerto Rican history.

Whether psychological, topographical, sociopolitical, or cultural, their provocative treatments of painting critically allude to the island’s “super crisis” in works that suggest rupture, tension, and escape.

Beyond the Canvas coincides with the 100th anniversary of Puerto Ricans’ U.S. citizenship and the impending referendum on statehood.

Abarcando varias generaciones, cinco artistas de Puerto Rico—Zilia Sánchez (1926), Julio Suárez (1947), Arnaldo Roche Rabell (1955), Pedro Vélez (1971) y Elsa María Meléndez (1974)—han desarrollado, con su estilo personal, un acercamiento crítico a la pintura a partir del proceso de producción de la misma.

En esta exhibición, los y las artistas cuestionan la noción del lienzo como una simple superficie plana y se enfrentan al desafío de utilizarlo, enfocándose primero en su materialidad, como sitio de intervención y manipulación para después considerarlo como un sustrato sobre el cual plasmar imágenes.

Creando tridimensionalidad en el lienzo a través de acciones directas como estiramientos, rupturas, dobleces, cortes, desgarres y torsiones, los artistas exploran tensiones, a la vez sensuales y sublimes, que proporcionan metáforas táctiles a la situación histórica actual en Puerto Rico.

Ya sea con propuestas de tipo psicológico, topográfico, sociopolítico o cultural, el tratamiento provocativo de las obras alude, de manera critica, a la “super crisis” que actualmente afecta a la Isla en trabajos que sugieren ruptura, tensión y escape.

Más Allá del Lienzo coincide con el centenario de la ciudadanía estadounidense de los puertorriqueños y puertorriqueñas, y con el anticipado referéndum sobre su integración como estado federal a los Estados Unidos.

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ZILIA SÁNCHEZ 1926— With a career spanning sixty-five years and inclusion in the 2017 Venice Biennale, Zilia Sánchez is known for shaped canvases made of material stretched over handmade wooden frames.

Her reduced color palettes and serial processes connect her to Minimalism, though her curvilinear, volumetric forms alluding to corporal topographies remain distinctive.

Sánchez graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro, later studying at New York’s Pratt Institute. Before her 2013 survey at Artists Space, New York, Sánchez’s work had rarely been seen outside of Puerto Rico. A solo exhibition of her work will be presented at the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., in 2019.

Her pieces are in the collections of the Walker Art Center, Minnesota; the Phillips Collection; and Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Argentina, among others.

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Con una carrera de sesenta y cinco años y su reciente inclusión en la Bienal de Venecia de 2017, Zilia Sánchez es conocida por las formas volumétricas de sus obras de material textil estirado sobre marcos de madera hechos a mano.

La utilización de una reducida paleta de colores y su proceso de producción de series la conectan con la corriente artística del Minimalismo, sin embargo, sus formas curvilíneas y volumétricas y la creación de topografías que aluden a formas del cuerpo humano otorgan gran distinción a su obra.

Graduada de la Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes de San Alejandro en Cuba, realizó estudios posteriores en el Instituto Central de Conservación y Restauración en Madrid del Pratt Institute de Nueva York. Antes del reconocimiento a su obra en el Artists Space de Nueva York en 2013, esta había sido poco vista fuera de Puerto Rico. En el 2019 la Colección Phillips en Washington, D.C. presentará una exposición individual de su trabajo.

Sus obras se encuentran en las colecciones del Walker Art Center, Minnesota; La colección Phillips, Washington; el Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Argentina, entre otros.

Zilia Sรกnchez, Cuerpo, Mujer, 1991

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JULIO SUÁREZ 1947— Julio Suárez folds and pleats the fabric of his geometric-shaped paintings toward achieving a low-relief within the forms. His works are characterized by invisible brushwork and minimal use of color. Most recently, he has created installations that give his paintings physical and spatial dimensions.

Julio Suárez dobla y pliega el lienzo de sus cuadros geométricos para lograr un bajo relieve dentro de estas formas. Sus piezas más recientes se caracterizan por una pincelada invisible y un uso mínimo del color. Últimamente, el artista crea instalaciones que otorgan a sus pinturas dimensiones algo más físicas y espaciales.

Juan and Museo de Arte Moderno in Santo Domingo.

Suárez completó sus estudios universitarios en la Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico y sus estudios de posgrado en la Academia San Carlos de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. El artista ha mostrado su obra en exposiciones individuales en instituciones que incluyen el Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico en San Juan y el Museo de Arte Moderno de Santo Domingo.

Julio Suárez, Piel Roja, 2004

Julio Suárez, Entalle Clásico, 2004

He completed his undergraduate work at the Puerto Rico Escuela de Artes Plásticas and his graduate studies at the Academia San Carlos, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. He has had solo exhibitions at institutions such as Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in San

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Julio Suรกrez, Doble Azul, 2015

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ARNALDO ROCHE RABELL 1955— Arnaldo Roche Rabell creates largescale works using the rubbing technique of frottage. He places persons, objects, and vegetation under the canvas and builds his images through multiple layers of paint.

Arnaldo Roche Rabell crea obras a gran escala utilizando la técnica del frottage.

Coloca personas, objetos y vegetación debajo del lienzo y construye sus imágenes a través de frotar la tela con múltiples capas de pintura.

Roche Rabell studied architecture at the Universidad de Puerto Rico and holds a BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Roche Rabell estudió arquitectura en la Universidad de Puerto Rico y tiene un BFA y MFA de la escuela del Art Institute of Chicago.

His work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, among others.

Su trabajo ha sido expuesto en el Art Institute of Chicago, el Hirshhorn Museum en Washington, D.C., el Metropolitan Museum of Art y el Museum of Modern Art ambos en Nueva York, entre varias otras instituciones.

Arnaldo Roche Rabell, Give Him Wings and He Will Fly (detail), 2013

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Arnaldo Roche Rabell, Liars and Deceivers (detail), 2007

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PEDRO VÉLEZ 1971— Pedro Vélez rips and shreds the canvas to create flags and banners referencing current sociopolitical issues. Most recently, he has merged his interest in art and art criticism into “visual essays” that resemble movie or pop music posters and comment on a variety of issues, including economics, aesthetics, and race in the contemporary art world.

Vélez holds a BA in Communications from Puerto Rico’s Universidad del Sagrado Corazón and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

He has participated in national and international solo and group exhibitions at numerous galleries, art fairs, and museums including the 2014 Whitney Biennial in New York.

Pedro Vélez rasga y despedaza el lienzo de sus obras para hacer referencia banderines y banderas que aluden a temas sociopolíticos actuales. Más recientemente, ha fusionado su interés en el arte y la crítica de arte en “ensayos visuales” que se asemejan a carteles de películas o música pop y comentan una variedad de temas, incluyendo la economía, la estética y cuestiones de raza/racismo en el mundo del arte contemporáneo.

Veléz tiene un BA en comunicaciones de la Universidad del Sagrado Corazón de Puerto Rico y un MFA de la escuela del Art Institute of Chicago.

Veléz ha participado en exposiciones individuales y colectivas nacionales e internacionales en numerosas galerías, ferias de arte, y museos incluyendo la Bienal del 2014 del Whitney Museum de Nueva York.

Pedro Vélez, Surrender Flag with Dollar Skull, or Surrender Flag with Zombie Abstraction, 2015

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Pedro Vélez, I’m Sorry I Made You Cry, 2015, collection of Jerome O’Neill

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ELSA MARÍA MELÉNDEZ 1974— Elsa María Meléndez is a printmaker, painter, and creator of installations. She is known for her labor-intensive works incorporating embroidery, sewing, mending, sorting, and the accumulation of objects, fabrics, and materials. Her unconventional representations of female bodies address issues of women’s identity, sexuality, and eroticism in an open and direct way.

Elsa María Meléndez es grabadora, pintora

She studied at the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, where she earned a BFA in 1997.

Meléndez estudió en la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, donde obtuvo un BFA en 1997.

y creadora de instalaciones. Conocida por su trabajo de labor intensiva que incorpora bordados, costuras, remiendos, arreglos y la acumulación de objetos, telas y materiales.

Sus representaciones poco convencionales del cuerpo femenino exploran cuestiones sobre identidad, la sexualidad y el erotismo de las mujeres de una manera abierta y directa.

Elsa María Meléndez, El Ingenio Colectivo o la Maldición de la Cotorra (detail), 2014, installation at Museo Arsenal de la Marina, La Puntilla, San Juan

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Elsa MarĂ­a MelĂŠndez, Demasiado Civilizados (detail), 2008

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WOMEN, COMMUNITY, AND ART IN LATIN AMERICA: PUERTO RICO Beyond the Canvas is accompanied by a

San Antón that organizes a “theater of the

smaller exhibition envisioned, curated, and

oppressed” to address issues affecting their

designed by Tulane students from “Women,

community; the collective transformation

Community, and Art in Latin America:

of the hillside town of El Cerro, Naranjito

Puerto Rico.” Co-taught by Edith Wolfe,

into a living mural that is socially and

Assistant Director of the Stone Center

artistically charged; intergenerational

for Latin American Studies, and museum

workshops known as Escuelas Oficios (Trade

Director Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, the

Schools) that are recuperating artisanal

class—which traveled to the island in March

traditions threatened by modernization and

2017—asks how Puerto Rican socially

colonialism, such as weaving, lace making,

engaged activists and artists address

and basketry; the revitalization of blighted

problems of gender, food access, blight, loss

properties and neighborhoods through

of traditions, and other issues affecting their

participatory urban design of community

communities.

centers, public parks, urban gardens, and food cooperatives; and the aesthetic and

The student-curated show documents

physical reclaiming of public space through

how community-based projects in San

feminist street art by the student collective

Juan and adjacent areas are changing the

Moriviví and by movement artist Noemí

narrative of place and redefining the nature

Segarra. These projects underscore the

of citizenship. Examples include Patio

critical role of women—as activists, artists,

Taller, a performance space and grass-roots

and community leaders—in the cultural and

educational center in the industrial zone of

political mobilization in response to crisis.

Courtyard of Casa Taft 169, Santurce, Puerto Rico. Photo by Sara Madandar, 2017

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ABOUT THE CURATORS Mónica Ramírez-Montagut received her BA in Architecture from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and her MA and PhD in Architecture from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. Ramírez-Montagut has served as the Director of the Newcomb Art Museum since 2015. Previous positions include Senior Curator, San Jose Museum of Art; Curator at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum; and Assistant Curator of architecture and design at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

The academic institution for which the museum is named was founded in 1886 as the first degree-granting coordinate college for women in America. The H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was distinguished for educating women in the sciences, physical education, and, most importantly, art education. Out of its famed arts program, the Newcomb Pottery was born. In operation from 1895 until 1940, the Newcomb enterprise produced metalwork, fiber arts, and the now internationally renowned Newcomb pottery.

Born in Puerto Rico, Warren James received a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture at Cornell University and a Master’s in Architecture and Building Design at Columbia University. In 1988 he founded Warren A. James Architecture + Planning in New York, a firm specializing in integrating art and architecture with an international practice. His architectural drawings are in the permanent collections of the CooperHewitt Museum in New York, the Centre Canadien d’Architecture in Montreal, Canada, and in the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in San Juan.

The museum today presents original exhibitions and programs that explore socially engaged art, civic dialogue, and community transformation. The museum also pays tribute to its heritage through shows that recognize the contributions of women to the fields of art and design.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM The Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University builds on the Newcomb College legacy of education, social enterprise, and artistic experience. Presenting inspiring exhibitions and programs that engage communities both on and off campus, the museum fosters the creative exchange of ideas and cross-disciplinary collaborations around innovative art and design. The museum preserves and advances scholarship on the Newcomb and Tulane art collections.

As an entity of an academic institution, the Newcomb Art Museum creates exhibitions that utilize the critical frameworks of diverse disciplines in conceptualizing and interpreting art and design. By presenting issues relevant to Tulane and the greater New Orleans region, the museum also serves as a gateway between on and off campus constituencies.

This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Jennifer Wooster (NC ’91), Don Peters (A&S ’81), and the Newcomb College Institute of Tulane University.

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