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(Long Island City, New York,
December 3, 1999) - RICANSTRUCTIONS, an exhibition of works
by Juan Sánchez, will be on view at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and on
line at www.ps1.org through February 13, 2000 with a reception Sunday,
December 19, 1999. RICANSTRUCTIONS was curated by students from The
Robert F. Wagner Jr. Secondary School for Arts and Technology, as a part
of P.S.1’s "Teen Curator Series." Over the past 2 years, Sánchez has been
working with this group of teen curators at P.S.1 in a dialogue exploring
his work. These discussions spurred personal reactions to the paintings in
the form of written and visual responses from the students on P.S.1’s
website, culminating in RICANSTRUCTIONS.
Salsa jazz musician Ray Barretto
first coined the term "ricanstructions" in reference to his social
commitment as an artist. Here the term refers to Sánchez’s reconstructed
history and the history of other Puerto Rican people, each of whom
confronts a layered experience of identity with personal and political
implications. Sánchez’s work pulls
its vocabulary of symbols from a multitude of cultural sources. As Marysol
Nieves of the Bronx Museum of the Arts observed, these influences include:
"Taino symbols, Afro Caribbean religious practices, Catholicism, Puerto
Rican popular culture and folk art traditions, and American and European
painting, all of which reflect the complexities of Puerto Rican culture
and its colonial identity."
Sánchez’s paintings are often
arched in the form of shrines paying homage to the people and the symbols
of Puerto Rico’s past. These paintings point toward a future devoid of
cultural marginalization as theyconstruct a new identity for the artist
and the viewer. They revere Puerto Rico’s historical identity while making
room for new interpretations of old symbols. Frenetic overall patterns
spliced with poignant documentary images and poetry convey generous
revelry: a celebration of future possibilities.
Sánchez found that the students
had insight into his work. They accessed ideas not picked up by critics
and historians. "The students for the most part are African American and
Latino," he states. "Issues they are confronting in their lives are often
subjects in the work. Grafitti art and culture are designs of symbols and
identity on streets. Religious iconography is similar to imagery found in
their homes. One student in particular didn’t realize how much he had
learned from his father until seeing my work. This is the inspiration
behind making the work: to connect with people in a very direct and
personal way, transcending formal barriers to find the emotive
experience."
This unique opportunity was
created by Teacher Michelle Kim, Technical Advisor Paul Johnson, P.S.1
Education Director Bill Beirne, Juan Sánchez and student curators: Delroy
Binger, Tricia McCall, Ismaris Molina, Hasir Gonzalez, Perrin Wright,
Anthony Vellos, and Liang Yang.
Timeline and Out-Of-Site student
curatorial projects are funded in part by the NEA through an Education and
Access Grant with additional support for Out Of Site from Bell Atlantic’s
Community/Technology Grant program, Citibank, and Con Edison.
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