#Raquel Paiewonsky

[supportblackart]

Via @printbyprint 🙌🏾 TONIGHT at @BricArtsMedia || OPENING RECEPTION: Wednesday, March 14, 2018 | 7-9PM EXHIBITION ON VIEW THROUGH April 29, 2018 Sponsored by GOYA CURATED BY: Abigail Lapin Dardashti, Franco-Dominican Ph.D. candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center and specialist in postwar Latin American art. Bordering the Imaginary: Art from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and their Diasporas investigates the complicated relationship between the Dominican Republic and Haiti—two nations that share a single island. The exhibition features work in a wide array of media by 19 Dominican and Haitian artists, based in both their native countries and in the United States. The artists draw on their experiences of difference, movement, and immigration to create a collective visual narrative that exposes inequalities and stereotypes of race, gender, and sexuality, which have plagued the island since the 15th century. Their work also displays the vitality of the visual arts in their communities. Through the exhibition, exhibition catalogue, and public programs, Bordering the Imaginary will reveal the complexities of a historically shifting transnational border space and the formation of distinct but intertwined nations. ARTISTS: Vladimir Cybil Charlier, Edouard Duval-Carrié, Patrick Eugène, iliana emilia garcia, Scherezade Garcia, Leah Gordon with André Eugène & Evel Romain from atis rezistans, Fabiola Jean-Louis, Tessa Mars, Pascal Meccariello, Groana Melendez, Alex Morel, Raquel Paiewonsky, Raúl Recio, Freddy Rodríguez, Julia Santos Solomon, Nyugen E. Smith, Roberto Stephenson @bricartsmedia @bundlehouse @fabiolajeanlouis . . #SupportBlackArt #BorderingTheImaginary #BRIC #BricArtsMedia #artexhibition #artopening #Caribbean #art #artist #diaspora

[contemporarykiskeya]

Raquel Paiewonsky, Collage.

http://raquelpaiewonsky.com/index.html

[tropicalfete]

New Post has been published on http://tropicalfete.com/2018/02/27/bordering-the-imaginary-art-from-dominican-republic-haiti-and-their-diasporas-at-bric-march-15-april-9/

"Bordering the Imaginary: Art from Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Their Diasporas" at BRIC, March 15 - April 9

Exhibition Brings Together Dominican and Haitian Artists Who Investigate the Complicated Relationship Between the Two Nations

an exhibition of contemporary artworks using an array of media tomine the interrelated histories of two Caribbean countries that share a single island, their tradition of cultural and social exchange, and the racism and social injustices that have long impacted the people of both nations. The exhibition, sponsored by Goya, brings together Dominican and Haitian artists based in both the island and in the U.S., creating a vivid visual narrative and opportunities for discourse that reconsider differences and commonalities between the distinct but intertwined communities of these countries. Through the exhibition, accompanying catalogue, and public programs, Bordering the Imaginary investigates definitions of nationhood as it relates to these two adjacent countries whose shared border bears a brutally racialized history, yet has also managed to persist as a space of cultural fluidity and collaboration.

“We’re very excited to present a rich cross-cultural dialogue that underscores the possibility of exchange, interaction, and open borders,” said Elizabeth Ferrer, BRIC’s Vice President of Contemporary Art. “Focusing on the vital artistic contributions of artists of Haitian and Dominican descent, this exhibition amply reflects BRIC’s mission to reflect the creativity and diversity of Brooklyn as well as to make cultural programming genuinely accessible and relevant to a broad public.”

Bordering the Imaginary features artwork by Edouard Duval-Carrié, Vladimir Cybil Charlier, Patrick Eugène, iliana emilia garcia, Scherezade Garcia, Leah Gordon with André Eugène & Evel Romain from atis rezistans, Fabiola Jean-Louis, Tessa Mars, Pascal Meccariello, Groana Meléndez, Alex Morel, Raquel Paiewonsky, Raúl Recio, Freddy Rodríguez, Julia Santos Solomon, Nyugen E. Smith, and Roberto Stephenson.

The exhibit, curated by Abigail Lapin Dardashti, a Franco-Dominican American Ph.D. candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center and specialist in postwar Latin American art, is organized into four parts. The first, Revolutions and Unifications: The Contemporary Resonance of 19th Century History,explores how both Dominican and Haitian contemporary artists repurpose images and ideas from the 19th century in order to recover the history of cultural and socio-political exchange during this period, up until the murderous anti-Haitian reign of Dominican Dictator Rafael Trujillo. In the works here, artists like Freddy Rodríguez and Vladimir Cybil Charlier take up subjects such as the Maroons—Africans who escaped slavery and lived in hiding in the island’s mountainous regions, who managed to organize and insurrect. Other artists explore the 1791 slave revolt that evolved into the Haitian Revolution. The latter is illustrated in work by Tessa Mars, whose self-portraits see her envisioning herself as various Haitian revolutionary leaders.

The 1800s saw moments of unity on Hispaniola, and the embrace of blackness in the Dominican Republic, prior to Trujillo’s tyrannically “whitening” rule. Works in this section also look into the religious impositions of colonialism, the sexual economy of slavery, the exploitation of black bodies in the creation of white wealth, and the Dominican Republic’s independence.

The second part of the exhibit, Borders, Fragmentations, and Intertwinings, explores the border itself, a political demarcation that has been both the site of violence and porous exchange between Dominicans and Haitians. Dominican artist Pascal Meccariello’s installation Mapping on Broken History, for instance, uses fragmented maps and pages from Dominican and Haitian history textbooks; he covers his fluid rendering of the island with images of Trujillo, at once demonstrating the remnants of colonialism and the endurance of fluidity despite it. Edourd Duval-Carrié’s acrylic work, El tigere y el congo, pictured above, depicts, on either side of the river that runs along the border, concepts of masculinity and power in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Another work, the film Ti tonton bat tanbou (Little Uncle Plays the Drums), made by Haitian artists André Eugène and Evel Romain and British artist Leah Gordon, is an artistic gesture towards the transcendence of the borderline, and a transnational Hispaniolan sensibility, documenting wooden figurines made in the artists’ studio crossing the border and being sold to tourists in the Dominican Republic. The works in this section depict how the identities of residents in Hispaniola and the diaspora intertwine and crystallize, forming new characteristics that go beyond those assigned by the nation-states.

Bodies Transformed, the third section, features works that reject traditional portraiture while representing identity through commonplace objects specific to Hispaniola in order to challenge race-based definitions of identity. Responding to this idea, Dominican-American artist iliana emilia garcía contributes a major, site-specific installation, The Sage and the Dreamer, composed of handmade wood and straw chairs sold throughout the countryside in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Wrapped around a pillar in BRIC’s gallery and approximately 20 feet tall, the chairs resemble a tree and act as a symbol of individuality, domesticity and communal exchange between Haitians and Dominicans. Also drawing on objects’ ability to elicit the complexities of a place, in his Made in Haiti series, photographer Roberto Stephenson collects handmade objects from the streets of Port-au-Prince, and sheds new light on their intricate detail and the creative ingenuity of people who make due with so little.

The final section of the exhibition, Memories of a Utopian Island and the Future, is a collaboration between Haitian-American artist Vladimir Cybil Charlier and Dominican-American artist Scherezade Garcia to be presented in BRIC’s Project Room. It features animated videos and an installation, and addresses various contemporary issues related to the diaspora. One such video is Conversation Thread, which sees the artists speaking French, English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole as their silhouettes intertwine. Lapin Dardashti writes, “Memories of a Utopian Island does not claim a sameness between the two countries. Indeed, numerous works in Bordering the Imaginary express distinct aspects of each nation … The countries maintain different cultures and modes of self-definition, but also share many cultural, economic, and historical notions that complicate the kinds of identities constructed by political powers.” Bordering the Imaginary aims to challenge these historically embedded categories, wrought as they often are by racist ideologies, through creativity and collaboration.

Related BRIC Artist Residency (Dominican Republic)

In conjunction with Goya’s lead sponsorship of the exhibition and as part of the company’s Goya Gives initiative, BRIC will facilitate an artist residency at the Orfanato Niños de Cristo orphanage in La Romana, located on the Dominican / Haitian border, and founded by Henry Cardenas and Marc Anthony of the Maestro Cares Foundation.  “We are honored to be the lead sponsor of the new BRIC exhibition and value organizations like BRIC who share the same mission in bringing communities together,” said Rafael Toro, Director of Public Relations of Goya Foods.

Exhibiting artist iliana emilia garcía will travel to the Dominican Republic to spend time with the children and deliver hands-on art workshops over a number of days, with the sessions culminating in a group project for public installation. BRIC’s community investment begins in Brooklyn through our Arts for All approach but extends far beyond.

[the-body-catalogue]

Raquel Paiewonsky

[ilovedominicanrepublic]

Last day of summer

Art…and all that jazz!

by Waldo Tejada

I welcomed the summer with a trip to Governor’s Island, riding the free ferry with my bike in tow. I just realized, that I took the same trip, coincidentally, on the last day of summer, bike and all! Life in New York is full of magical coincidences like this and I get a kick out of realizing stuff like that. I met my friends Lizzie and Carlos and rode around the now partially under construction ghost town in search of Dominican artist Raquel Paiewonsky’s show with Yellow Peril Gallery at the Governors Island Art Fair. The fair itself was a big disappointment as we rode our bikes and walked around looking for Raquel’s work, most of the fair's shows were very naïve and I felt a déjà vu from a summer art program exhibition right on the same island 20 something years ago. I was so relieved and happily surprise when we found her show. I’ve only seem the installation of the wall of nylon stuffed tits on pictures posted on the Internet and was dying to see it live. Walking into the room made me sigh, a powerful feeling took over; I was able to experience that intimate space between the spectator and an art piece in a way sculptures and installations facilitate. For me that personal moment between one, the piece and the artist is the most precious part of going to see any art exhibition. At a risk of sounding too corny or sentimental it is this split second of awe that brings me close to the divine. The show included some of the best conceptual photography I’ve seen in a while, a video and more tits in a form of a great cluster of felt and nylon stuffed soft sculptures which dominated the second room. I’m so happy I went to see Raquel’s work and very proud to know her. 

Fall could not have entered in a better way! I was invited to the launch of the Dominican Republic’s Jazz Festival at Taina Café sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic. I’ve been a loyal fan of this Cabarete music event for the last decade and have featured it at iLoveDominicanRepublic.com for the last three years. My fan loyalty comes from seeing the festival grow from an informal event at the beach to a multi city event all made with a labor of love unmatched in DR. I had a chance to meet famous jazz musician Rufus Reid enjoy some Dominican rum and listened to a great music preview with Ramon Vazquez (director of the festival), Ivan Renta and Edsel Gomez. I went to the festival last year and loved every minute of it. Benefiting music education through FEDUJAZZ and DREAM Project, this year’s festival will have a great line-up including artist such as former New York Yankee and critically acclaimed jazz musician Bernie Williams, along with jazz legends Abraham Laboriel, Sr. (Mexico), Marco Pignataro (Italy), Ramón Vázquez (Puerto Rico), Grammy Award winner Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez (Cuba), Rufus Reid (USA), George Garzone (USA), Billy Drummond (USA), Alex Acuña (Peru), Richie Flores (Puerto Rico), and the Latin Grammy Award winners Johnny Ventura (Dominican Republic) and Milly Quezada (Dominican Republic).

The first week of fall was a perfect combination of tits and jazz leaving me wanting more art in all its manifestations. Summer have left me reconnecting with old-time artist friends and their work, inspiring my search for that special relationship I had and have with art. Like a very dysfunctional couple (art and I), our love has gone through rough times and it is at that period of rekindling where the relationship is at. I hope things workout for us this time and we could be friends and maybe a little more, friends with benefits? Who knows.

For more info and tickets to the DR Jazz Festival visit iLoveDominicanRepublic.

Additional photo credits: GalaNora

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[sexypinkon]

Sexypink/2014 review - Deborah Jack (ST.MARTIN) Books- Sheena Rose (cover) (BARBADOS) Roberta Stoddart (JAMAICA)* her work was flagged by Tumblr.... Firelee Baez (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC) Marlon Darbeau (T&T) Group Show/CCA:Glasgow- Remi Jungerman (SURINAME) Adele Todd (T&T) Tony Cruz (PUERTO RICO) Gabrielle Civil (HAITI) )* her work was flagged by Tumblr.... Raquel Paiewonsky (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC) Shalini Seereeram, Marlon Griffith (T&T)

[theartofsculpture]

Raquel Paiewonsky

Mutantes, 2003. 10 puppets: mixed media including hand sawn dolls, plastic, clay, rubber, fake fur, nails, silicon, fabric, pins, latex, felt, artificial hair, sponge, pantyhose and sand. Dimensions variable.

Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zürich

[hibiscusandmistletoe]

I feel like some of Raquel Paiewonsky's art, especially the soft sculpture + body parts works, is like grabbing Ernesto Neto by the shoulders and shaking him yelling "THIS IS WHAT YOU ACTUALLY MEAN" over and over again. I'm sorry. It's just sometimes the replies he gives in interviews like "oh this could represent these thousands of things" sound kind of vague and indecisive for me. Even though his interactive work is some of my favourite ever.

[dominicanartblog]

Yellow Peril Gallery has just announced that they will present the photography and installation exhibition “im propia” by Dominican born artist, Raquel Paiewonsky, at the Fifth Annual Governor’s Island Art Fair in September.

The fair is scheduled for every weekend in September (September 7 – 29, 2013), from 11am to 6pm. Admission is free to all.

[artandsciencejournal]

Raquel Paiewonsky

Born in the Dominican Republic, Raquel Paiewonsky is a mixed media artist interested in the ways that our "primal" selves respond to and develop within constantly evolving urban environments. The abject is a large theme in Paiewonsky's installations, which often display mutilated or 'mutated' familiar objects such as dolls, fake nails and articles of clothing. Reified body parts are symbolic of  failure to adhere to social standards of 'normalcy' as well as the difficulties of identity building, due in part to residual attitudes of cultural inferiority in post-colonial regions as well as the oppressive nature of stereotypes.

As a result of this frustration, violence is also a prevalent theme. Severed limbs, such as the many beeswax feet hanging from pantyhose in Levitando a Solo un Pie (2003), dangle from the ceiling. Gravity plays an integral part in many of Paiwonsky’s works; it acts as punisher, rendering its objects immobile, unable to move forward (or backward for that matter).

Another installation, Muro (2009), features a wall covered in hundreds of breast-like sacks of different types of material. The sacks stretch toward the ground, reminding us of the effect of gravity on the body as we age. There is a component of horror to all of Paiewonsky's works; removed from the context of the body, the sheer volume of 'breasts' heaped atop each other produces the same mix of attraction and revulsion that one gets when looking at, say, a photograph of the thousands of skulls stacked atop each other in the Paris catacombs.

Paiewonsky infuses ambivalence into all of her projects; the viewer is constantly caught between fascination and repulsion, wanting to identify the ‘parts’ that make up the assembled bodies yet perhaps unwilling to get too close. The mutilated bodies are rendered vulnerable, and they use this very mutilation to hide the secrets of their experiences from the prying gaze of the spectator. To visit the artist's website, click here

-Stephanie Read

[the-body-catalogue]

Raquel Paiewonsky

[the-body-catalogue]

Raquel Paiewonsky

[the-body-catalogue]

Raquel Paiewonsky

[the-body-catalogue]

Raquel Paiewonsky