APAA and ArtTable Partner for Curatorial and Artist Walk-through at Bronx Museum
PAST EVENT
APAA members gathered with ArtTable at the Bronx Museum of the Arts on February 28, 2018 for a walk-through of exhibits including Elegies by Angel Otero; and Anarchitect, with work by Gordon Matta-Clark, led by Antonio Sergio Bessa, Bronx Museum Director of Curatorial and Education Programs.
Angel Otero (b. 1981, Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a visual artist best known for his process-based paintings. While much of his work has been influenced by memories based in photographs and other family memorabilia combined with the gestures of 20th century painting, his latest works highlight the artist's unique process as a form of narrative in itself.
Through his innovative process of oil paint scraping, Otero venerates historical oil painting while confronting it head-on. Otero's 'deformation' approach to painting his works, first across glass and then once dry, flaying the dried paint and reconstructing the composition anew across large canvasses, is representative of how the artist perceives the process of reconfiguring both personal and historical narratives.
Otero’s work sometimes uses process as a way of confronting deep, personal memories, and highlights Otero’s commitment to making paintings and sculptures that mine and celebrate key examples of the art of the past. Instead of representing his life through art, he archives moments within it by creating opportunities of surprise and discovery. His work is a constant negotiation between the individual and art history.
Organized by guest curator Christian Viveros-Fauné, Angel Otero: Elegies is on view through April 29, 2018. For more information on Otero’s practice, please see here for an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Anarchitect is a retrospective highlight of works by Matta-Clark (b. 1943 New York City), whose short but highly influential career was a fusion of “art and anarchy.” Matta-Clark (1943-1978) navigated a groundbreaking use of New York City as his medium. Including over 100 works by the artist, rarely seen materials from his archive, and immersive film projections, Anarchiect is organized by Sergio Bessa and Jessamyn Fiore, independent curator and co-director of the Matta-Clark Estate. Following the Bronx Museum presentation, the exhibition will travel to the Jeu de Paume in Paris, France, the Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia and the Rose Art Museum, in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Sergio Bessa was appointed in 2003. He has over 20 years of experience as an educator and has created a variety of initiatives targeting Bronx youth, such as Teen Council. He has designed programs and curricula and taught art and design, art criticism, and art history at such institutions as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The School of Visual Arts, Scandinavia House, and New York City Board of Education. Also a distinguished curator, he has organized several critically acclaimed exhibitions throughout Europe, in New York, and at the Bronx Museum. His essays and articles appear in such publications as, “Öyvind Fahlström: The Art of Writing,” 2008; “Architectures of Poetry,” 2005; and “Zingmagazine”1998-2000. Mr. Bessa completed his PhD in Art Education from New York University and earned an MFA from Pratt Institute.
These exhibitions were the final curatorial projects of Holly Block (1958-2017), former Director of the Bronx Museum.Thank you to ArtTable for a collaborative partnership, and to Carol Morgan, Carole Server and APAA member Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz for organizing this program.
