Present Standard Present Standard On behalf of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), En nombre de DCASE, me gustaría expresar nuestro entusiasmo por este I wish to express my enthusiasm for this bilingual catalogue which documents catálogo bilingüe que documenta a través de imágenes y textos de la compleji- through images and texts the complexity and richness of the work of 25 artists dad y la riqueza de la obra de veinticinco artistas seleccionados para participar selected to participate in Present Standard. The exhibition runs concurrently en la presente Norma. La exposición, que se ejecuta al mismo tiempo que Pablo with Pablo Helguera’s “Librería Donceles” and “Carlos Rolon: I Tell You this Helguera de "Librería Donceles" y "Carlos Rolón: Te lo digo sinceramente" Sincerely” opening on April 7, 2016. apertura el 7 de abril de 2016. These exhibitions coincide with the Spring of Latino Art (SOLA), an ancillary Estas exposiciones coinciden con la primavera de Arte Latino (SOLA), un project of Latino Art Now! a biennial conference co-sponsored by the Inter- proyecto complementario de Arte Latino Ahora! una bienal co-conferencia University Program for Latino Research headquartered at the University of patrocinada por el Programa Interuniversitario de Investigación Latina con Illinois at Chicago and the Smithsonian Latino Center in April 2016. sede en la Universidad de Illinois en Chicago y el Centro Latino Smithsonian en abril 2016. I would like to thank Edra Soto and Josue Pellot for their work curating Present Standard, the five essayists, Stephanie Cristello, Alison Fraunhaur, Me gustaría dar las gracias a Edra Soto y Josué Pellot por su trabajo comisari- Kristin Korolowicz, Teresa Silva and JGV.WAR; Ed Marzewski and Lumpen ado actual norma, los cinco ensayistas, Stephanie cristello, Alison Fraunhaur, for the design and production of this publication; and Greg Lunceford, Kristin Korolowicz, Teresa Silva, y JGV.WAR; Ed Marzewski y Lumpen para el Nathan Mason and Susan Friel in the department of Visual Arts at DCASE diseño y la producción de esta publicación; y Greg Lunceford, Nathan Mason y for their work on behalf of the exhibition and its related programming. Susan Friel en la división de Artes Visuales en DCASE por su trabajo en nombre de la exposición y su programación relacionada. daniel schulman Director of Visual Art daniel schulman Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events Director de Artes Visuales Departamento de Asuntos Culturales y Eventos Especiales de Chicago Cover Design: Cándida Alvarez, Present Standard installation A Man Waved, 2004, Acrylic view, left to right: José Lerma, on wood panel, photo by Tom Van Dianna Frid, Harold Mendez, Juan Eynde Chavez, Mariano Chavez. Photo by Jon Miller Hedrich Blessing 6 7 ARTISTS: CATALOGUE ESSAYS Inroduction 4 CONTRIBUTORS: Present Standard Alberto Aguilar Contents Daniel Schulman Candida Alvarez Stephanie Cristello Curated by Edra Soto & Josue Pellot Luis Miguel Bendaña Alison Fraunhar Present Standard 8 January 30–April 24, 2016 Paola Cabal Kristin Korolowicz Edra Soto and Josue Pellot Chicago Cultural Center Juan Angel Chavez Teresa Silva Mariano Chavez JGV.WAR What’s Latino About Latino Art Now? 10 Alejandro Figueredo Díaz-Perera Alison Fraunhar Dianna Frid Diana Gabriel Purposeful Pluralism 14 Teresa Silva Maria Gaspar Melissa Leandro Soft Monument 18 José Lerma Kristin Korolowicz Ivan Lozano Jorge Lucero Here and Now: Navigating the Present Standard 22 Victoria Martinez Stephanie Cristello Harold Mendez Sofia Moreno Latino Art Now 26 Nora Nieves JGV/WAR Josue Pellot Maddie Reyna The Artists 30 Luis Romero Luis Sahagun The Exhibition 44 Chris Silva Edra Soto Librería Donceles 53 Rafael E. Vera Pablo Helguera 8 9 the decision of move from one’s homeland is A rich collection of five experts in Chicago’s art and culture Edra Soto (b. Puerto Rico, 1971) la decisión de abandonar la patria propia nunca experiencia de artistas latinos inmigrantes, las tradiciones Josue Pellot (b. Aguadilla, Puerto never simple and immigrating, or any act of moving to a new spheres has been invited to contribute descriptive essays is a Chicago-based artist, educa- resulta sencilla, y el proceso de inmigrar, o todo acto que contemporáneas de confección de banderas adoptan nuevas Rico) currently resides in Chicago. country, can both produce moments of settling and endless of five artists with whom they share stylistic or conceptual tor, curator, and gallery director. suponga establecerse en un nuevo país, puede generar por el facetas, ya que simultáneamente homogenizan y revelan el He received his Masters of Fine questioning for the rest of an individual’s life. Present Stan- commonalities. Critical writer, curator, and editor Stephanie She obtained her Master of Fine resto de la vida de una persona tanto momentos de arraigo rango espectral de la interpretación artística de la migración, Arts from Northwestern University dard gathers a group of twenty-five contemporary, US-based Cristello explores the work of Candida Alvarez, Melissa Lean- Arts degree at The School of the como un incesante cuestionamiento. Present Standard reúne la patria y el patriotismo. and his Bachelors of Fine Arts Latino artists who are in one way or another identified as dro, Nora Nieves, Luis Romero and Edra Soto, which gestures Art Institute of Chicago in 2000, a un grupo de veinticinco artistas latinos contemporáneos Se ha invitado a un sustantivo grupo de cinco expertos from the University of Illinois native, linguistic, or geographic immigrants. They are also to modern and contemporary decorative arts and abstraction. as well as attending Skowhegan radicados en los EE.UU. que de una u otra manera se identi- involucrados en las esferas artísticas y culturales de Chicago in Chicago. He attended the artists with rich connections to Chicago who carry the impact Dr. Allison Fraunhar’s work as a professor of Latin American School of Painting and Sculpture fican como inmigrantes nativos, lingüísticos o geográficos. a contribuir con ensayos descriptivos sobre cinco artistas con prestigious residency Fundament (2000), Beta-Local in Puerto Foundation in the Netherlands and of mainstream and cosmopolitan influences in their work art and cinema speaks well to the work of Alejandro Figueredo Asimismo, se trata de artistas que poseen vínculos profundos quienes comparten inquietudes estilísticas o conceptuales. Rico (2011), and the Robert Raus- has been awarded the Northwest- that converses at a global level. Present Standard subsequently Diaz-Perera, Diana Gabriel, Ivan LOZANO, Sofia Moreno, and con Chicago y que llevan el impacto de influencias main- La crítica, curadora y editora Stephanie Cristello explora la chenberg Residency Program in ern University Research Grant, a focuses on how these artists work within the centuries-old Luis Sahagun, who variously interrogate body politics and the stream y cosmopolitas en una obra que conversa a nivel global. obra de Candida Alvarez, Melissa Leandro, Nora Nieves, Luis Captiva, Florida though a 3Arts Puffin Foundation Grant and the patriotic art tradition of flag-making to convey the wide physicality in their work. The researcher and curator Kristin Present Standard se centra ulteriormente en cómo estos Romero y Edra Soto, que apunta hacia las artes decorativas Fellowship (2013), among others. Illinois Art Council Assistant Grant range of experiences of moving in, out, and away—and their Korolowicz discusses the conceptual based works of Luis artistas se enmarcan en la centenaria tradición patriótica de modernas y contemporáneas y la abstracción. La labor de la With her husband Dan Sullivan, among others. Pellot has received limitless tangents. Miguel Bendaña, Jose Lerma, Victoria Martinez, Josue Pellot, la confección de banderas para transmitir la extensa gama Dra. Allison Fraunhar, catedrática de arte y cine latinoameri- she designed and fabricated THE attention through numerous Present, meaning today or contemporary, Standard— and Maddie Reyna, whereas collaborators, researchers, and de experiencias inherentes al acto de instalarse, mudarse y cano, dialoga bien con las creaciones de Alejandro Figueredo FRANKLIN, an outdoor project exhibitions, including: Museo de meaning a pennant, measuring tactic, or guiding princi- curators J. Gibran Villalobos and William A. Ruggiero (JGV/ alejarse —así como su infinidad de tangentes. Díaz-Perera, Diana Gabriel, Ivan LOZANO, Sofia Moreno space that they co-direct. THE Arte Contemporaneo, Museo de ple—queries the symbolic registers of flags as both intimate WAR) elaborate on Alberto Aguilar, Juan Angel Chavez, Maria FRANKLIN has received support Present, en su significado de actual o contemporáneo, y Luis Sahagún, cuya obra interroga de distintas maneras Arte de Caguas and Galeria de and personal reflections, and as the official embodiment of Gaspar, Chris Silva, and Rafael E. Vera—artists whose work from various institutions, including Standard —que en inglés puede significar un estandarte, las políticas del cuerpo y la fisicalidad. La investigadora y cura- la Universidad Catolica in Puerto a nation. The artists gathered in this exhibition surely reflect is impacted by collaborative and social practices. Finally, the Propeller Fund. Soto has una táctica de medición o un principio guía— indaga en los dora Kristin Korolowicz analiza la obra de carácter conceptual Rico; Chicago Cultural Center and the contemporary art world’s growing interest in the idyllic the curator and Director of Exhibitions & Residencies with received