NYC - "Complicated Stories" (05.17.08 - 07.12.08)

Charles Juhasz-Alvarado: Complicated Stories
Sculptures and Written Testimonies, 1998-2008

May 17 – July 12, 2008
Opening: Saturday May 17, 2008 7-10pm

Charles Juhasz-Alvarado: Complicated Stories will present the artist’s past and present bodies of works as an ongoing dialogue on social consciousness and cultural identity. Charles Juhasz-Alvarado’s elaborate site-specific installations engage the viewer through narrative, performance, audio, and sculpture to introduce a fantasy world that serves as an acute and humorous allegory of today’s multicultural society and the artist’s own background.

The artist was born in 1965 on Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines to a Hungarian father and a Puerto Rican mother. He grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, attended Yale University in Connecticut, and now resides in Puerto Rico. These socio-cultural influences are addressed in his works, which often allude to his varied background and the historical and political conditions of those places.

Juhasz-Alvarado’s works are playful monoliths, combining monumental size with biting satire and political humor. In I-Scream (resist!), 2004, the artist complicates the history of Puerto Rican-American relations through the depiction of the 1983 robbery of a Wells Fargo van by the Macheteros (a pro-independence Puerto Rican organization) with an ice cream truck complete with a Mount Rushmore-shaped Popsicle. The Garden of Forbidden Fruit / Zona Franca is a complex installation exploring how the merging of divergent cultures creates desires and consequent limitations through a hilarious depiction of a Puerto Rican airport. The airport becomes the ultimate allegory for the opposition of the Puerto Rican and American experiences. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a new, commissioned work titled Winged Termite. This massive installation, made rather ironically from wood, references Leonardo daVinci’s idea to build a flying mac hine modeled on the shape, proportions and mechanics of flying animals such as birds, bats or, in this case, a winged termite. Hanging from the ceiling of Exit Art, the work invites the viewer to climb inside the machine and act as the ‘conductor’.

In this age, where many artists work with assistants or even hire out their work for other people to produce, Charles Juhasz-Alvarado has mastered the literal crafting involved in constructing his visions. He works hands-on, asserting his complete control over all aspects of his imagination. The artist himself is not only seen in the concept, but manifests himself in the shaping of steel, in the shaving of wood, so that when the viewer enters the installation, the works involve the viewer in one coherent thought.

This major project, Charles Juhasz-Alvarado: Complicated Stories, will be a vital opportunity to survey the work of this important contemporary artist and to introduce him to American audiences, where he has had limited exposure.

Curated by Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo.

PUBLIC PROGRAM
Charles Juhasz-Alvarado talks with
Deborah Cullen, Director of Curatorial Programs at El Museo del Barrio, New York
Wednesday, May 21, 7pm

Join us for an artist talk with Charles Juhasz-Alvarado and curator Deborah Cullen. The talk will cover themes and political implications in Mr. Juhasz-Alvarado’s work, investigate his process and discuss the coordination of the exhibition Complicated Stories. Deborah Cullen has served as the Curator of El Museo del Barrio since 1999. Most recently, she curated the exhibition Arte ≠ Vida: Actions by Artists of the Americas, 1960-2000, on view at El Museo del Barrio through May 18, 2008.

SOLO
Charles Juhasz-Alvarado: Complicated Stories follows Exit Art’s tradition of presenting mid-career solo retrospectives, bringing public attention to now firmly established artists such as Jimmie Durham, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Willie Birch, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Tehching Hsieh, Martin Wong, David Wojnarowicz, `and David Hammons. This exhibition is the first in Exit Art’s newly initiated SOLO program, aimed at providing public visibility for under-represented, mid-career artists through annual solo exhibitions at Exit Art.

EXIT ART is an independent vision of contemporary culture. We are prepared to react immediately to important issues that affect our lives. We do experimental, historical and unique presentations of aesthetic, social, political and environmental issues. We absorb cultural differences that become prototype exhibitions. We are a center for multiple disciplines. Exit Art is a 25 year old cultural center in New York City founded by Directors Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo, that has grown from a pioneering alternative art space, into a model artistic center for the 21st century committed to supporting artists whose quality of work reflects the transformations of our culture. Exit Art is internationally recognized for its unmatched spirit of inventiveness and consistent ability to anticipate the newest trends in the culture. With a substantial reputation for curatorial innovation and depth of programming in diverse media, Exit Art is always changing.

CREDITS
All audio in collaboration with Fabian Vélez. Additional collaborations with visual artists Carol Cordero, Elizam Escobar, Carlos Fajardo, Teo Freytes, Juana Gallo, and Ana Rosa Rivera. The studio team for this exhibition includes Ing. Yorvani Arzuaga, Verónica Cabrera, Marcela Castro, Marielis Castro, Adelino González, Elsie Miranda, Ivonne Pratts, Frances Rivera, Leonardo Rivera, Manuel Rodríguez and Abdiel Segarra.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT
This exhibition is supported by the Dedalus Foundation, Inc., Carnegie Corporation, Jerome Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Starry Night Fund at The Tides Foundation, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña/National Endowment for the Arts, Ursula Von Rydingsvard, Diana and Manolo Berezdivin, Exit Art’s Board of Trustees and our members. Public programs support provided by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support provided by Marimar Benítez, Maud Duquella, Marketing Media, and Ana Rosa Rivera.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Exit Art is located at 475 Tenth Avenue, corner of 36th Street. Exit Art is open each Tuesday through Thursday, 10 am – 6 pm; Friday, 10 am – 8 pm; Saturday, noon – 8 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday. There is a suggested donation of $5.

For more information please call 212-966-7745 or visit www.exitart.org.