Balance in Times of Crisis
His work clearly calls attention, but more so it creates tension. Colombian artist Jose Olano uses everyday life spaces in the way a painter uses their canvas to make art with whatever objects he finds. He either sings to equilibrium or screams to instability. By Jairo Dueñas “Balance in Times of Crisis”. Video performance of the artist siting on an [...]
The Art of Memory
Memories are fleeting, they change over time. Sometimes they are unreliable, often they form part of what we call history. The notion of memory as something ephemeral which can be constantly influenced, reshaped and redefined by circumstances is the subject of Nigerian artist Victor Ekpuk’s artwork titled “Meditation on Memory”. Born a few years before the civil war between [...]
Cities or puffs of smoke
Just by looking at her paintings, you’d know who Ana Maria Velasquez is… A woman who cannot help being sensitive and meticulous. According to her, three words define her: paper, scissors and receipts. Her hands work with the same materials that she uses and discards in her travels and at home in Colombia. By Jairo Dueñas Those big birds on [...]
Don’t Ever Give Up Beauty
“History Keeps Me Awake at Night”, David Wojnarowicz’s large and impressive retrospective exhibition evokes strong feelings of injustice, rage and beauty. It also brings sadness, for it reminds us of a desperate time in American history when AIDS took the lives of friends, lovers, strangers. Wojnarowicz lived a short life. He had a difficult childhood in New Jersey that included [...]
Labor of Art
by Christina Chow The other day a nice college art student approached me at a gym in Miami. He heard I was a professional artist so he shared with me his passion to draw on a computer. As a member of the X generation, he did not feel confident to draw with his hands. “I wish I could learn [...]
A Tough Universe
by Jairo Dueñas The Colombian artist Male Correa wadded into the dark God-forsaken recesses of the city of Medellin, determined to paint them. She opened the doors to the slums and surprised their seemingly spectral inhabitants, illuminated their run-down spaces, spelled out their messages, painted their objects, and showed the aura that exhaled from their wounds. Male Strolling Down [...]