Whitney Biennial 2017 Tour by Hyperallergic

"Niño Santo" getting some love on Hyperallergic. 

Read the article here

Whitney Biennial 2017

Puerto Ricans in the Whitney Biennial! 

I will be exhibiting in the Whitney Biennial with 10 other Puerto Rican as part of the Occupy Museums group that launched Debtfair, an exhibition platform that categorizes artists according to their debts and other financial realities. The system reveals the relationships binding individuals to the banks holding their loans—a hidden but highly consequential factor underlying American art.

On View: Floor 5
March 17–June 11, 2017
The 2017 Whitney Biennial, the seventy-eighth installment of the longest-running survey of American art, arrives at a time rife with racial tensions, economic inequities, and polarizing politics. Throughout the exhibition, artists challenge us to consider how these realities affect our senses of self and community. The Biennial features sixty-three individuals and collectives whose work takes a wide variety of forms, from painting and installation to activism and video-game design. 

Click here for information        Buy tickets to Biennial here 

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The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today

Caja De Memoria Viva II: Constancia Colon Clemente will be on display at the Museum of South Texas opening June 1 to September 10, 2017.

Get more information here

Caja De Memoria Viva II: Constancia Colon Clemente at the Smithsonian Museum National Portrait Gallery

This installation was selected in 2015 to be exhibited in the Smithsonian Museum National Portrait Gallery Outwin Boochever 2016 Portrait Competition. Out of over 2,500 entries, 43 artists have their work shown in the exhibition "The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today." 

The People's Choice Competition asked visitors to vote for their favorite work in the collection. With more votes than ever (over 40,000), Adrián Román was voted the winner. 

The most fulfilling part of this entire experience has been the emails, phone calls, and greeting cards I received from visitors of the gallery and the Smithsonian staff sharing the impacts my work has had on them. One of my favorite visitors was Amaia, a first grade student visiting the museum to do an art project on Susan B. Anthony. Upon visiting my installation, she was inspired to create her portrait of Susan B. Anthony in paper. 
(Amaia's artwork below)

Another fulfilling moment was finding an article on the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center || Center for Innovation in Early Learning website, featuring Will Kuehnle and Jessie Miller of the four-year-old Honey Bear classroom. They focussed on the study of curiosity, the students focused on questions, thoughts, and things we were curious about. They used my portrait as their point of study and reference.
Click here for the link to the article.

The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today exhibit opened on March 12, 2016 at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Due to the wonderful response my piece received by visitors and staff of the Smithsonian, on January 8, 2017 I was given the honor of closing the exhibit with an artist talk. In the words of the Public Program Manager, "It will be our closing talk and hence very important to our visitors and to us, that we close with your strong piece."

The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today exhibit will be on National Tour from: 
February 2017 - October 2018.

National Tour Information
Tacoma Art Museum: February 4, 2017 - May 14, 2017
Art Museum of South Texas: June 8 2017 - September 10, 2017
Kempler Museum of Contemporary Art: October 6, 2017 - January 7, 2018
Exhibit extended TBA: Naples Florida
Exhibit extended TBA: North Carolina

Additional Links:
The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today

Adrián Román Wins the Outwin 2016 People’s Choice Award

Every Three Years, Artists Compete to Be On View at the National Portrait Gallery.
Here Are the Winners

Smithsonian Museum: National Portrait Gallery

I'm honored and humbled to have my "Caja De Memoria Viva II: Constancia Clemente-Colon" installation on display at the Smithsonian Museum: National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. The opening to the public will be on Saturday March 12th.

I will be there with a group of close friends and family to celebrate this milestone in my artistic career. If you are in the DC area and would like to join us for a group visit to the museum, we will be gathering there at 1:00pm.

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has selected the finalists for the exhibition resulting from the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The juried exhibition’s 43 pieces include sculptures, mixed-media pieces, photographs, paintings and drawings. The works will be exhibited at the museum from March 12, 2016, through Jan. 8, 2017.

The selected finalists mark a turning point in advancing American contemporary portraiture. The jurors considered this exhibition a synopsis of historical and cultural events that have unfolded in the past three rounds, particularly in terms of race, sexual identity, gender and concerns about protecting childhood in an age of technology and gun violence.

“I was very impressed with the social-impact choices made this year,” said Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery. “This year’s competition finalists are truly remarkable and reflect the rigor with which they were chosen by the judges. Each judge came with a definite and strong point of view about what he or she considered a portrait to be and how today’s artists are part of the national dialogue around issues of race, identity, family and community. I defy anyone coming to the exhibition not to be fundamentally moved by this year’s interpretation of the human condition.”

The competition received more than 2,500 entries in a variety of visual-arts media. Submissions included digital animation and video, large-scale drawings, prints, photographs and textiles, as well as painted and sculpted portraits.

The exhibition reveals that in this media age—where the “selfie” is part of the visual landscape—the art of portraiture is not only universal, it is thriving and evolving. The dazzling variety of media and diverse approaches to the exploration of “self” and “other” challenge the preconceived notions of portraiture and expand the limits of the imagination.

Monument Art Project

I had a wonderful time working on a mural in El Barrio this past week! 

I can't express the gratitude I feel from all the support I received from the community and residents of East Harlem. Getting the community involved in the creation of the mural and seeing them take pride and ownership of the mural was inspirational. From having young local artists from the neighborhood join in, the elders come over and welcome the imagery and message, and even the young kids making paper boats that I hung from the tress in front of it ... all has been an experience of a lifetime. 

Check out the website to see other amazing artists murals that went up along with mine and a map of where they are! http://monumentartproject.blogspot.com/