JANUARY 26 – MARCH 29, 2008
Opening Reception: January 26, 7-9 pm Free
UCR SweeneyArtGallery
3800 Main Street, Riverside, CA 92501
Information: 951-827-3755
12-5 pm Tuesday – Saturday,
6-9 First Thursday of the month
http://www.sweeney.ucr.edu
http://www.artsblock.ucr.edu
The Signs Pile Up: Paintings by Pedro Alvarez is the first comprehensive exhibition in the U.S. on the artist and his work. Pedro Alvarez (1967-2004) was one of the leading artists who established themselves in Cuba during the 1990s, a period of time that has been called the Special Period, or Periodo Especial, a time of economic crisis after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Alvarez utilized collage and appropriation in his evocative, large-scale paintings as a postmodern technique for examining cultural identity. He often juxtaposed different time periods from Cuba, along with references to U.S. popular culture from the 50s to the 90s. After moving to Spain, his interests broadened into explorations of transnationalism, among other topics. Much of the subject matter in the paintings deals with the cultural interchange between Cuba and the U.S., Afro-Cuban history, U.S. slavery, the effects of the legalization of the U.S. dollar in Cuba in the 90s, and the role of landscape painting within a highly charged socio-political context.
The exhibition is accompanied by a bi-lingual book, co-published by UCR Sweeney Art Gallery and Smart Art Press, with essays by Tyler Stallings, Kevin Power, Antonio Eligio Fernandez (Tonel), Orlando Hernandez, Ry Cooder, and Tom Patchett. To order, contact r.a.m. publications + dist., inc., telephone 310.453.0043, email: [email protected] website: http://www.rampub.com Exhibition organized by University of California, Riverside’s Sweeney Art Gallery, and curated by Sweeney Art Gallery Director, Tyler Stallings.
EVENTS
January 26, 5:30- 6:30PM
Artists and Curator Walkthru
UCR Sweeney Art Gallery director Tyler Stallings leads a discussion of the work of Pedro Alvarez, the work in Incognegro with guest curator Julie Joyce and artist Mark Steven Greenfield, and is joined by guest curator Lee Tusman and artist Dan Duy Nguyen to discuss the work of DEMON SLAYER! UCR/California Museum of Photography From 6:30-7:30, Join Roberto Fumagalli, artist for the exhibition Cuba Va, and John Hesketh, artist of Los Angeles, as they discuss their works and
artistic practice.
March Date TBD
International Symposium
Press Contact: Shane Shukis, 951-827-1467, [email protected]
