FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 19, 2009
THE CISNEROS FONTANALS ART FOUNDATION
PRESENTS NEW WORK BY RECIPIENTS OF THE
2009 GRANTS AND COMMISSIONS AWARDS
Shifting Constructs: cifo 2009 Grants and Commissions
Program Exhibition
Miami, Florida - This fall, the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) will present Shifting Constructs, its 2009 Grants and Commissions Program exhibition on view from September 13 to November 8 at CIFO Art Space. CIFO will present newly commissioned works by the award recipients of both programs in one single exhibition. The six emerging artists who were awarded grants are: Miguel Amat (Venezuela), Gabriel Antolínez (Colombia), Suwon Lee (Venezuela), Juan León (Ecuador), Ricardo Réndon (Mexico) and José Ruiz (Peru). The two mid career artists selected as recipients of the Commissions Award are Dora Longo Bahia (Brazil) and Oscar Muñoz (Colombia).
As in the previous grant cycles, the artists for this exhibition were not selected based on a specific curatorial structure. This exhibition is a culmination of a year-long process during which the Foundation's international Advisory Committee (consisting of leading artists, curators and art professionals) and the Board of the Directors identified the grant and commissions recipients (from over 250 projects proposals), and where the artists developed new highly innovative work to share with audiences in Miami. Only after this chance happening of sorts is created does a common link between the pieces in the exhibition become evident and the striking dialogue between works surfaces.
CIFO founder Ella Fontanals-Cisneros noted, "These artists each communicate a unique vision of contemporary, cutting-edge art and are themselves becoming a part of the larger global art context. Our goal at CIFO is to offer these artists a platform in Miami to increase their exposure, and offer opportunities for others to witness their groundbreaking work."
Works that deal with themes such as maps, identity, memory, archives, among others are explored through exciting forms of videos, installations, photography and drawings. The works come together in an attempt to re-make, manipulate, deconstruct or re-approach the paradigms of history, ideas and images. As Elvis Fuentes articulates in his essay, The Art of Suspicion, found in the extended exhibition brochure, the artists in this exhibition confront these themes "from a point of view that is both diaphanous and searching."
José Ruiz's work, The Progression of Influence, follows the path of ideas through others by creating an interactive installation of unrealized concepts and offering them to the public to manifest in whatever context they wish. While Ruiz generates images based on ideas, Oscar Muñoz creates and extracts ideas from images in the tradition of portraiture. Muñoz uses the genre of portraiture to re-visit and re-examine events, memories, lost recollections and the line between reality and fiction to re-enact a moment in time.
Miguel Amat, Juan León and Dora Longo Bahia use "re-make" tactics/procedures to produce work which re-establish or update original content. In Vinil, for example, Longo Bahia creates a re-make of Andy Warhol's 1965 film Vinyl to bring to question notions of value and authenticity in a work of art. In Technologies of Archive, Miguel Amat produces "landscape-archives" which combine traditional and digital photography, as well as paintings. His images stage and satirize diverse strategies of the History Paintings, Flemish School's 'bird-eye-view' , and certain aspects of the German Romantic tradition.
Identity and the relationship between public and private life is addressed by Suwon Lee. Through THE CLASH, Lee reflects upon the disparity that exists between the physical and idealogical world by documenting the day-to-day cultural shock and rich complexity experienced by the Korean community in Venezuela.
In the works by Gabriel Antolínez and Ricardo Rendón materials become the protagonists of the pieces. These works propose an examination of materials and systems of construction to create new and independent universes or reflect upon urban settlements.
Now in their sixth year, CIFO's Grants and Commissions programs provide critical funding and visibility for contemporary artists from Latin America, helping to broaden global appreciation of their work while challenging stereotypical notions of Latin American art. These programs and related exhibitions give artists from Latin America a new platform to show their work, and present them in the context of the international contemporary art community.
Related Exhibition Programming
Saturday, September 12, 2009
6-7pm, Gallery Walk with the Artists for Cultural Friend Members and Press
7-10pm, Cocktail Reception (by invitation only)
RSVP: rsvp@cifo.org
Each invitation admits two
Throughout the Exhibition
Films, lectures and education programs inspired by themes explored in this exhibition
Extended Exhibition Brochure
Visitors to the show are provided with a variety of educational materials, including a free, illustrated publication designed to provide information concerning the exhibition. This extended exhibition brochure, including an essay by Elvis Fuentes, is available at the admissions desk.
BECOME A MEMBER ON THE SPOT!
In six years CIFO has become a dynamic institution promoting cultural exchange through its exhibitions and events. We invite you to support the ongoing success of one of South Florida's most vibrant art foundations. Sign up in person at CIFO Art Space or online at www.cifo.org/store. You can also contact us by phone at 305-455-3380 and via email at member@cifo.org. CIFO has planned many exciting events for this coming year so do join us and become "a cultural spot member"!
About CIFO
CIFO, the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, is a non-profit organization established in 2002 by Ella Fontanals-Cisneros and her family to foster cultural and educational exchange within the visual arts.
CIFO has three primary initiatives:
- CIFO Art Space - a permanent venue for the presentation of engaging and provocative contemporary art exhibitions highlighting works from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, works by CIFO grantees and commissioned artists, and experimental, challenging art programs;
- Grants and Commissions Programs supporting emerging and mid-career contemporary artists from Latin America; and
- Foundation-initiated support for other arts and culture projects.
CIFO Art Space
1018 North Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33136
Thursday - Sunday 10:00am - 4:00pm
http://www.cifo.org// 305.455.3380
Media contact: Andrea Navarro, anavarro@cifo.org
The presentation of Shifting Constructs, CIFO's 2009 Grants and Commission Program exhibition, in Miami and its 2010 tour in Latin America is made possible through the generous support of EFG International and its members worldwide. EFG International is represented in the Americas by EFG Capital, headquartered in Miami, and its regional affiliates.
Special thanks to TAM Airlines.
