“El Museo del Barrio, in collaboration with the School of Visual Arts (SVA) Masters of Fine Arts Department present elmuseo@SVA: May Contain Moving Parts. Curated by El Museo’s Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, and a part of SVA’s winter programming, the exhibition features artists of the Caribbean diaspora, many of them SVA alumni, who explore materiality by transforming objects, familiar sounds and images in unexpected ways. The exhibition brings together artists Graciela Cassel, Willie Cole, Franco Frontera, Jon Gomez, Jonas Lara, Arnaldo Morales, Marilyn Narota, Aya Rodríguez-Izumi and Jenny Santos, for the first time.
elmuseo@SVA: May Contain Moving Parts includes work in a wide variety of mediums. Videos by Graciela Cassel render the urban landscape as a series of symmetrical, geometric forms visible through lights that pierce the hazy darkness of the night sky. Willie Cole’s inventive sculptures repurpose colorful women’s shoes in the guise of oversized masks. Franco Frontera’s video pieces play with prerecorded sounds but also involves the artist’s own drumming, engaging with historic instruments and sounds as they are manipulated electronically. Jon Gomez uses three channels to illustrate varied perspectives on the crossing of the U.S.-Mexico border. The haunting sound works of Jonas Lara combine repetitive clips and collages of chanting, heavy bass, guitar, or keyboard. Arnaldo Morales uses found machine parts, discarded tools and hydraulic systems to put his mechanical works into motion. Marilyn Narota’s performance work explores female silence through the presence of the body and visceral references to beauty. Aya Rodríguez-Izumi’s works on paper use familiar words combined with formal and linear patterns. Jennifer Santos creates installations in which viewers are invited to participate, either through moving the assembled objects or by climbing toward a mirror and taking in their own reflection.” — El Museo del Barrio
Graciela Cassel. Cloud Machine 2, 2016. Metal wire, TV, Video, 5 mini screens, 49x 49 x 78 inches. Courtesy of the artist
Willie Cole. Ashley Bikerton, 2016. Shoes, wire and screws, 18 1/2 x 16 x 9 inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Alexander and Bonin, New York
Jon Gomez. No. 6-I am on my own, 2016. Three channel video. Courtesy of the artist
Arnaldo Morales. Long-liner No.15, 2015. Industrial materials, 37 x 32 x 110 inches. Photo by Gregory R. Staley
Aya Rodríguez-Izumi, Radic Color, 2017. Courtesy of the artist
Images courtesy El Museo del Barrio.