2021
2021 was a turning point for Y.ES Contemporary. As the world experienced many changes, YES has been changing and adapting to the needs of the Salvadoran arts community. The addition of the experienced curator Omar Lopez-Chahoud to Y.ES team as International Director has brought a fresh perspective to the program. One of the most important changes is the reconstitution and improvement of the Y.ES Artist Academy, which will change its name and approach, becoming a more in-depth and extensive program to support projects by Salvadoran art professionals and connect them with international professionals and institutions.
Amidst all the changes that Y.ES is experiencing, we continue developing our now established programs and reaching important milestones. For instance, Y.ES contributed to the recent “Madrid Take Over” of Salvadoran contemporary artists exhibiting simultaneously in 4 venues. The Reina Sofia Museum and Casa América Museum presented works from the Reina Sofía Museum permanent collection, acquired in 2020 after their Directors visited El Salvador. Espacio Mínimo Gallery, and Arniches 26 Gallery presented two Exhibitions co-curated by YES Team.
At the same time YES continues to grow, so does the Salvadoran art scene. Looking at all the achievements by so many Salvadoran artists it is a great motivation for us to continue our efforts and keep advocating for Salvadoran artists.
Just Say Y.ES
MARIO CADER-FRECH Y.ES Contemporary Founder
MADRID TAKEOVER
Y.ES CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
8611 ARNICHES 21
Alejandra Josefina Paz, Aria XYX, Studio Lenca, Víctor Hugo Portillo
Curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud and Patricio Majano
November 20-December 5, 2021
Sin Frionteras / No Borders
ESPACIO MÍNIMO
Abigail Reyes, Crack Rodríguez, Guadalupe Maravilla, Karlos
Carcamo, Verónica Vides
Curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud and Patricio Majano
November 20, 2021-January 29, 2022
4 ARTISTS
12 ARTWORKS
5 ARTISTS
14 ARTWORKS
ONCE UPON A TIME
Sistema Studio
OTHER EXHIBITIONS
MUSEO REINA SOFÍA
Promesas del Porvenir
Permanent exhibition of Reina Sofía Museum
Featured artists from El Salvador Abigail Reyes, Ernesto Bautista, Karlos Carcamo, Walterio Iraheta
CASA AMÉRICA
El Pasado Adelante
November 19, 2021 - February 5, 2022
Curated by Tamara Díaz Bringas and Ricardo Ramón Jarne
Featured artists from El Salvador Guadalupe Maravilla, Natalia
Domínguez, Simón Vega
Promesas del Porvenir and El Pasado Adelante were made possible thanks to Mario Cader- Frech’s generous donation of Salvadoran artworks to the Reina Sofía Museum Collection
See yescontemporary.org/museums
Y.ES CONTEMPORARY IN UNTITLED ART FAIR, MIAMI
Artist Academy
Promoted Y.ES Contemporary’s Art Loan Program and the Augmented Reality Platform. Presented an installation by Ernesto Bautista from The Mario Cader-Frech Collection , and digital and augmented reality artworks by Antonio Romero, Beatriz Cortez, Natalia Domínguez, Lucy Tomasino, Ricardo Flores and Orlando Villatoro. See yescontemporary.org/loan yescontemporary.org/nft
The artist Karlos Carcamo was featured in the tote bagas handed at Chase Bank Private Client lounge in the Art Fair.
Y.ES CONTEMPORARY AUGMENTED REALITY PORTAL
6
artists participated in 2 symposiums and created 5 digital and augmented reality artworks.
Experience the artworks:
BEATRIZ CORTEZ
Glacial Pothole
Digital sculpture geolocated at “El Playón” in El Salvador
ANTONIO ROMERO
Eróstrato
Augmented Reality character that interacts with the viewer by thaking them a picture
RICARDO FLORES
ERIAL-EarthS.XXII
Digital kinetic clay sculpture
NATALIA DOMÍNGUEZ AND LUCY TOMASINO
Aipotu
Augmented reality immersive portal
ORLANDO VILLATORO
The two faces of the wall
Digital sculpture and 3D drawings
Grants
ART WRITERS GRANT
ALEJANDRO CÓRDOVA will write about a selection of performances by 3 female and one LGBTI+ artists, Melissa Guevara, Carmen Elena Trigueros, Verónica Vides and NadiA . These works consider Salvadoran identity in many heterogeneous ways, proposing particular ways of putting the body and intervening space.
ALEXANDRA ORTIZ WALLNER was will write about the artistic work of Verónica Vides from the question of what it is to be human today,deriving an urgent reflection on our future as a species and our current condition.
Y.ES thanks our 2021 Art Writers Grant partner, Terremoto magazine
Y.ES Contemporary Art Writers Grant is made possible through the generous support of Susane Meline and Gabriela Poma
CURATORS GRANT
NATALIA DOMÍNGUEZ
Her project “Volcanas de Carne y Piel” focuses on Salvadoran performance, and will consist in a series of workshops that will aim to present critical perspectives regarding the use of the body as expression, and will finish in a multinational exhibition.
Y.ES Contemporary Curators Grant is made possible through the generous support of Solita Cohen
Online Studio Visits
ONLINE STUDIO VISITS
INÉS KATZENSTEIN AND ABIGAIL REYES, BEATRIZ
CORTEZ, EDDIE APARICIO
Director of the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America, and Curator of Latin American Art
JOHN RIVAS AND DANI LEVINAS
collector and Chaiperson of the Board of Trustees of the Phillips Collection
MELISSA GUEVARA AND MAYA JURACÁN
Head Curator of Bienal en Resistencia, co-curator of 21 Paiz Biennial
Art Loan Program
ELSEWHERE(S)
Curated by Estrellita Brodsky and José Falconi, the exhibition features works by over 25 Latin American artists, including the recent addition to the loan program, a spacesuit by Simón Vega . The show was presented in Untitled Art Fair and in Another Space in New York and featured works from multiple periods and regions, grouped around themes of cosmology, magic, and non-Western forms of knowledge.
ARTV
Abigail Reyes ’ video “Sí señor” was transmitted regularly over the course of two months in the Chilean tv channel ARTV. This video series is curated by Carolina Martínez Sánchez.
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
YES Contemporary’s exhibition “Borders of Freedom”, was presented in collaboration with Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, in Transborder Temporalities and Imaginaries of the Future Symposium, organized by California State University, Northridge. Featured artists include Abigail Reyes, Alexia Miranda, Crack Rodríguez, Guadalupe Maravilla, Fredy Solan, and Sayre Quevedo
Y.ES talks
FEBRAURY 12
Felipe Durán and Beto Resano from the creative technology group UXART presented an introduction to their virtual museum project and expanded on the different possibillities that digital art offers today.
MARCH 12
Felipe Durán and Beto Resano from the creative technology group UXART exchanged ideas with Salvadoran artsits about possible collaborative projects to be developed in the Y.ES Artist Academy Program.
TALK COLLABORATIONS
0CTOBER 13
Patricio Majano participated in the online talk to celebrate the exhibition “Cubo Negro” at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Costa Rica. The talk included panelists from Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panamá.
FEBRUARY 9
YES Founder Mario Cader-Frech participated in an online talk about collecting, art and democracy hosted by Art-Focus Latinoamérica, in the context of the online exhibition “Democracy”
Y.ES Contemporary Art Trips
SEPTEMBER 6-10, 2019
2 GUESTS
SOHRAB MOHEBBI
Head Curator of the 58th Carnegie International
Visited:
Member of the Carnegie International Curatorial Council and Adjunct Curator of First Nations and Indigenous Art at Tate Modern
20+ ARTISTS 9 CULTURAL VENUES AND STUDIOS
2021 Partners
The impact of Y.ES Contemporary in 2021 is made possible with the support of these partners:
PABLO JOSÉ RAMÍREZ
POINT
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL
MUSEUM OF ART OF EL SALVADOR
LOS ÁNGELES CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
UNTITLED ART FAIR
MUSEO REINA SOFÍA
MEMORIA GALLERY
RESIDENCIA PLANTA ALTA
ARNICHES 26 GALLERY
ESPACIO MÍNIMO GALLERY
ANOTHER SPACE
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY
LA ÚNICA GALLERY
LFBK
MoMA
2021 Artist Highlights
MAURICIO KABISTAN AND MAURICIO ESQUIVEL FROM THE FIRE THEORY presented the works from Salvadoran artsits Gabriela Novoa, Melissa Guevara, Óscar Moises Díaz and Meme Flores at the Spanish Academy in Rome as part of Videografías Project.
GUADALUPE MARAVILLA opened the solo exhibition titled “Luz y Fuerza” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, featuring recently acquired artworks.
RONALD MORÁN opened a solo exhibition “Por Encima del Jardín” at the Museum of Art of El Salvador, presenting his most recent work.
WALTERIO IRAHETA curated the exhibition “El Pasado Adelante” for the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador, a multinational collaborative exhibition presented in collaboration with Casa América and the network of the Cultural Centers of Spain in Central America.
RONALD MORÁN presented the solo exhibition “Dulce Hogar” at the Musuem of Conteporary Art and Design in Costa Rica.
BEATRIZ CORTEZ, EDDIE APARICIO and JULIE TOLENTINO were featured in Commonwealth and Council booth in Art Basel Miami Beach, while GUADALUPE MARAVILLA was included in P.P.O.W. Gallery’s booth.
VÍCTOR HUGO PORTILLO participated at Parallel Viena, presenting an installation part of his series exploring locality and migration.
LA ÚNICA GALLERY presented USAbased Salvadoran artists ERICK ANTONIO BENÍTEZ at Swab Art Fair in Barcelona.
ABIGAIL REYES participated in the Clarice O. Tavares /SI Residency at the Swiss Institute in New York, and presented “QUESTIONS”, an Art Display Case installation by Abigail Reyes in Astor Place
EDDIE RODOLFO APARICIO presented his interactive sculpture “Pansa del Publico” at LA State Historic Park
BEATRIZ CORTEZ’S piece “Glacial Erratic” was acquired by the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Diego
MURIEL HASBUN’S works were aquired by the Whitney Museum Collection and the InterAmerican Development Bank Collection
ARIA XYX Included in the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection
ANTONIO MENA participated in Art Omni residency program
MELISSA GUEVARA, CRACK RODRÍGUEZ and JAVIER RAMÍREZ participated in the project Art X Puzzles in the section “Curator’s Choice” selected by YES’ International Director OMAR LOPEZ-CHAHOUD
CRACK RODRÍGUEZ participated in a residency at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions LACE, as part of the show Intergalacticxs: Against Isolation / Contra el Aislamiento. During the residency, Rodríguez created the works for “Dream Team”, an exhibition to be presented in 2022 at LACE.
MARIO LOPEZ VEGA, HERBERT DE PAZ
BEATRIZ CORTEZ, THE FIRE THEORY, MELISSA GUEVARA were featured in issue 21 of Terremoto Magazine, “A Burning Song”, co-edited by Guatemalan curator Maya Juracán and Diego del Valle
GUADALUPE MARAVILLA presented his public project “Planeta Abuelx”, at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York.
Y.ES IS AN INITIATIVE OF THE ROBERT S. WENNETT AND MARIO CADER-FRECH FOUNDATION
yescontemporary.org
@yescontemporary
Y.ES Council
Mario Cader-Frech
Robert S. Wennett
Adriana Cisneros de Griffin
Simón Vega
Carolina Alvarez-Mathies
Gabriela Poma
Solita Cohen
Beatriz Cortez
Claire Breukel
Y.ES Team
Omar Lopez-Chahoud
Patricio Majano