State of the Art: Your Weekly Guide to NYC's Latino Art

Photo: ‘El Guaraguao in the Barrio’ by Alejandro Guzman

Radiance After Hours: Artist’s Talk with Alejandro Guzman

Alejandro Guzman, an exhibiting artist in this year’s Bienal at Museo del Barrio, will be giving an artist’s talk at this Wednesday’s Radiance After Hours event at Museo. Guzman’s work in the exhibit are fancifully-adorned mobile structures big enough to contain a person. And when used in performance, that’s exactly what they do. The structures are plastered with artificial flowers, reflective material, color wheels, textiles, and have wheels attached. The inclusion of this kaleidoscopic array of cosmopolitan materials evokes images of altares de Dia de los Muertos and the concept of a modern rasquachismo. The competing textures, patterns and active performance-quality in Guzman’s work make it vivid, and this is what he will address in Wednesday’s talk. Pattern, texture, and performance in sculpture will be the topic and it will be from 6:30 to 7:15pm at Museo.

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New Exhibits at The Studio Museum in Harlem

Several new exhibitions opened this weekend at the Studio Museum in Harlem. A show titled ‘Women’ contains 20 grandiose drawings of black women by Houston-based artist Robert Pruitt. His work brings science fiction symbolism, political and social commentary, hip hop and comic book imagery together to elucidate the African American experience through aesthetics. Also on view is the video-based work by emerging talents Simone Bailey and Janaye Brown, artists in residence at the Studio Museum and New York high school photography students. The Harlem Postcard project, an endeavor aiming to rally local artists to show the energy and spirit of Harlem in an image, offers complimentary postcards of four different images at the museum.

NEXUSURNEXUS

The Brooklyn International Performance Art Festival continues with NEXUSURNEXUS. NEXUSURNEXUS will deliver two performances involving artists from all over Latin America and the USA that attempt to analyze the feelings of disconnection, disassociation and discomfort between the “North and South.” Today, Monday July 22nd, at the Fitness Center for Arts and Tactics in Bushwick from 7 to 9pm artists from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Puerto Rico and the USA will perform their live action art. Networked performances from an alternative artspace in La Paz, Bolivia called EL BUNKER will be streamed in concordance with the event. Tomorrow, Tuesday July 23rd from 7 to 9pm, the Woods in Ridgewood, will host a second rendition of NEXUSURNEXUS, but this event will include video presentations in addition to performances by a collection of artists from Argentina, The Dominican Republic, and the USA.