This year’s sensation in the Hispanic art world? El Museo’s Biennial. Their sixth biennial, this exhibition is their largest yet, with 75 different artists and seven different venues represented.
The (S) Files 2011, so named for its connection to the Streets, represents Latino, Caribbean, and Latin American artists. The art on display now at El Museo del Barrio (located on Museum Mile at East 104 Street) is a great amalgamation – much like the artists who created that art. From multi-colored plastic bags, to a ghetto blaster and comic book art, to more traditional forms such as oil painting and photography, the (S) Files has it all.
The show is a lesson in recycling and artistic creativity – proving that something as simple as a paper napkin can be re-used to create something intriguing. As soon as visitors walk up to the museum, they are accosted with colors and forms – large inflated stars and other comic-shaped forms extend from an entrance frame, grass seemingly grows from above the admissions desk with spurts of purple glinting in the light, and a silk-like orange, black and white form snakes above the theatre doors. Inside, although the galleries are small, the visitor encounters any number of mediums, artists, and inspirations. Art works portray actual city scenes, portraits of disturbed individuals, a rainbow, grenades, and any number of seemingly random shapes and figures.
The biennial is curated by Elvis Fuentes, Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, and Trinidad Fombella, of El Museo, and by Juanita Bermúdez, of the Biennial of the Central American Isthmus. The goal of the show is to present contemporary art as the multicultural, multi-media genre that it is today.
The other venues taking part in the exhibition include: Chashama at the Donnell, Socrates Sculpture Park, Lehman College Art Gallery, Times Square Alliance, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, and the Bric Rotunda Gallery.
The (S) Files is on display until January 8, 2012. For more information, please visit www.elmuseo.org.
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