South Bronx Contemporary
dal 6/12/2006 al 9/3/2007
Segnalato da
6/12/2006
South Bronx Contemporary
Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, New York
Longwood Arts Project's 25th Anniversary: 4 new curatorial projects. An artist’s observations about the contemporary meaning of the word "black". Hertz's exhibition Street Disturbance with artists who work in the public sphere, Iconoclasmic with works by artists who employ visual forms found in mass culture, Everyday Is Like Sunday breaks down the professional/amateur binary.
Longwood Arts Project’s 25th Anniversary
Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) is pleased to announce that Fred Wilson, Betti-Sue Hertz and Eddie Torres - all past
directors of Longwood Art Gallery - will join current director Edwin Ramoran in curating a major exhibition to commemorate
Longwood Arts Project’s 25th Anniversary this fall 2006. The exhibition South Bronx Contemporary opens at Longwood Art
Gallery @ Hostos. To mark this anniversary, a limited edition print by Fred Wilson will be produced. A catalogue will accompany the exhibition.
Coming Back to Look forward
In the spirit of Longwood Art Gallery’s innovative programming, South Bronx Contemporary will present four new, distinct
curatorial projects at one time. Fred Wilson’s project Black Now will present the artist’s observations about the
contemporary meaning of the word "black" and the color black with items he has collected—and continues to collect—from
ebay.com merchandise to popular culture. Artists include: Francisco Alvarado-Jua'rez, Jorge Julia'n Aristza'bal, Candida
Alvarez, Chakaia Booker, Rashawn Griffin, Heather Hart, Jason Irwin, Kalup Linzy, Carl Pope, Jose A. Ruiz, Will Villalongo,
and Kara Walker. Betti-Sue Hertz’s exhibition Street Disturbance will include artists Etce'tera, William Pope.L, and
Surveillance Camera Players who work in the public sphere and share a penchant for humor and agitprop to address
political issues. Eddie Torres’ exhibition Iconoclasmic will feature works by artists Negar Ahkami, Teresa Ascencao, and
Dylan Mortimer who employ visual forms found in mass culture—such as comics and advertising imagery—to engage the
tension between freedom of speech and religious imagery. Edwin Ramoran’s project Everyday Is Like Sunday breaks
down the professional/amateur binary by introducing works in various media by a select, intergenerational group of
underrecognized Bronx artists identified through a call for artists, recommendations, and studio visits. Artists include:
Xiomara Amelia, Hilary Blackman, Kim Brown, Amylee Casanova, Darcy Dahl, Diane Davis, Domingo DeJesus, Sally
DeJesus, Melanie Diaz, Don Jones, Isaac Garci'a-Lanzo', Wilda Gonza'lez, Lady K-Fever, Olga Kitt, Jander F. Lacerda, Jose
Lamonica, Andreina Marti'nez-Hiraldo, Tim McDonnell, Ira Merritt, Lynn Muzsik, Laura Napier, Joann New, Louis Nieves,
Vi'ttori'o Ottavi'ani', Ronny Quevedo, J.C. Rice, Helene Ruiz, Scarlet, Ray Serrano, Eilis Soto, Ben Stock, Sumathy
Sundarababu, Betty Thomas, Robert Velez, Chester Urban, Francisco Vallejo, Luis Vega, Ivan Velez, Willamerika, Dan K.
Williams, Ernie Woo, and Princess Xtravaganza.
Longwood, Longevity
Longwood was a South Bronx neighborhood in economic decline when BCA opened Longwood Arts Project in the
abandoned P.S. 39 in 1981. Longwood Arts Project provided low-rent artist studios and other arts services—including
Longwood Art Gallery, which opened in 1986—that contributed to the neighborhood’s renaissance. A fortunate result of this
revitalization was that P.S. 39 once again became an active public school in 2002, after which Longwood Arts Project
relocated to Hostos Community College in Mott Haven. Today, Longwood Arts Project remains one of the longest running
alternative spaces in New York City and continues to participate in community development as a main site on the emerging
South Bronx Cultural Corridor and BCA’s monthly Bronx Culture Trolley.
Many artists and arts leaders who received their start at Longwood Arts Project have risen to prominence on the international
arts scene, including Fred Wilson, who was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1999 and represented the United States at the
Venice Biennale in 2003. Betti-Sue Hertz is currently curator of contemporary art at the San Diego Museum of Art in
California and has organized major exhibitions including Transmission: The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark. Eddie
Torres is on the curatorial team for Jamaica Flux, a major public art exhibition organized by the Jamaica Center for Arts &
Learning in Queens, which will be on view in 2007. Edwin Ramoran has organized major group exhibitions including DL: The
“Down Low" in Contemporary Art.
South Bronx Contemporary will be accompanied by a catalogue with interviews of and essays by the curators and by
additional contributors. Public programs are planned for the run of the exhibition through March 10, 2007.
South Bronx Contemporary is funded, in part, by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, The
Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Charina Foundation, Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Carnegie Corporation, Scherman
Foundation, Krasdale Foods, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs.
For more information, contact Noel Shaw, Publications and Public Relations Coordinator,
Longwood Arts Project, at (718) 518-6728 or longwood@bronxarts.org.
Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos
450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street Bronx, NY 10451