MANIFESTACIONES / DOMINICAN YORK PROYECTO GRAFICA

MANIFESTACIONES / DOMINICAN YORK PROYECTO GRAFICA
A group portfolio of 12 prints
by Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA
Manifestaciones opened on October 15, 2010 at the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Gallery.
Curatorial essays by:
E. Carmen Ramos, Independent Art Curator
Graciela Kartofel, Art Historian, Art Critic/Curator
Brief descriptions of the pieces by:
Altagracia Diloné Levat, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
This show was conceived and coordinated by the artists of Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA (DYPG).
Design committee members Alex Guerrero, Luanda Lozano, and iliana emilia garcía.
Catalog design by Alex Guerrero
Catalog printing by NugentAlison Fine Offset Printing Co.
Catalog edited by Altagracia Diloné Levat and Pepe Coronado
This catalog was printed with the generous support of CUNY Dominican Studies Institute.
Special thanks to:
Jay Hershenson, Senior Vice Chancellor for University Relations and Secretary of the Board of Trustees, City University of New York
Dr. Ramona Hernández, Director, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute; Sarah Aponte, Head Librarian, CUNY Dominican Studies
Institute; Idilio Gracia Peña, Chief Archivist, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute; Dr. Ina Saltz, Chair, Art Department,
The City College of New York
CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Gallery
North Academic Center, 2nd Floor
The City College of New York
160 Convent Avenue
New York, NY 10031
www.ccny.cuny.edu/dsi
Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA is a printmaking collective of 12 artists
of Dominican descent who live and work in and around New York City.
Headed by Pepe Coronado, the artists of the collective are:
Carlos Almonte, Pepe Coronado, René de los Santos, iliana emilia garcía,
Reynaldo García Pantaleón, Scherezade García, Alex Guerrero,
Luanda Lozano, Miguel Luciano, Yunior Chiqui Mendoza, Moses Ros-Suárez,
and Rider Ureña.
Our first project Manifestaciones is a portfolio of 12 prints, one each by
the Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA member artists, published in a limited edition of 25.
Using a variety of printmaking techniques, the pieces explore the individual artist’s perspective
on the theme of Dominicanidad (Dominican identity). Striking images reveal the continuing
influence of the culture of their country of birth or ancestry, expressing itself in their art through
iconic Dominican symbols such as the bohio, the plátano, and the palm tree;
mythic figures and personages of mythic grandeur; flora and fauna; the politics of U.S.-DR;
and the very landscape of colors and rhythms of a land that never seems that far away from
their new urban/suburban experience in Nueva York.
The mission of the Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA is to:
• Advance the state of contemporary Dominican American graphic arts
through a rich and varied collaboration.
• Engage in research and development of innovative and contemporary
graphic ideas and techniques.
• Create prints using a variety of techniques from the traditional to the newest,
safest and cleanest processes of today.
• Lead in creating new venues for exchange of ideas and culture
• Broaden the public’s knowledge of modern Dominican culture through
exhibitions, lectures, and workshops.
• Document and manifest the graphic tradition of the Dominican Republic
by focusing on its history and development.
Members of the DominicanYork Proyecto GRAFICA at Bullrider Studio, NYC Oct. 2010, Photo: William Vázquez
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3
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11
10
5
12
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4
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1 RIDER UREÑA
7 CARLOS ALMONTE
2 RENE DE LOS SANTOS
8 ALEX GUERRERO
3 SCHEREZADE GARCIA
9 YUNIOR CHIQUI MENDOZA
4 MIGUEL LUCIANO
10 PEPE CORONADO
5 LUANDA LOZANO
11 REYNALDO GARCIA PANTALEON
6 ILIANA EMILIA GARCIA
12 MOSES ROS-SUAREZ
CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
Founded in 1992 and housed at The City College of New York, the Dominican Studies Institute of the City
University of New York (CUNY DSI) is the nation’s first, university-based research institute devoted to the study of people
of Dominican descent in the United States and other parts of the world. CUNY DSI’s mission is to produce and disseminate research and scholarship about Dominicans, and about the Dominican Republic. The Institute houses the Dominican
Archives and the Dominican Library, the first and only institutions in the United States collecting primary and secondary
source material about people of Dominican descent. CUNY DSI is the locus for a community of scholars, including
doctoral fellows, in the field of Dominican Studies and sponsors multidisciplinary research projects. The Institute organizes
lectures, conferences, and exhibitions that are open to the public.
CUNY DSI Gallery
The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Gallery (CUNY DSI Gallery), housed in the multipurpose room of the Institute’s
Archives and Library facility, is the only exhibit space in New York City devoted to works of art by and about people of
Dominican descent. The Gallery mounts exhibitions by artists whose work explore themes of specific concern to people of
Dominican descent wherever they are in the world, and about the Dominican Republic itself. The work must be of intellectual,
educational, or informational value and must contribute to the mission of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute.
We are deligted to open this space to art ehibitions with Domincan York Proyecto GRAFICA’s wonderful print
collection Manifestaciones.
Art Department, The City College of New York
The City College Art Department draws upon the cultural riches of New York City, while offering art students a strong
education in the liberal arts. The department offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in studio art, electronic design
& multimedia, art history, and art education.
The CUNY DSI Gallery does not represent artists and neither does it act as an intermediary between the artists and potential buyers of their
work. CUNY DSI Gallery’s mission is strictly educational and informational. The CUNY DSI Gallery Art Review Committee welcomes submissions
of proposals for exhibition.
The views of third parties expressed in this catalog do not necessarily reflect the views of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, the members of
the Art Review Committee, or the Art Department of the City College of New York.
For more information, see www.ccny.cuny.edu/dsi
Manifestaciones: Expressions of Dominicanidad in Nueva York
Unlike Chicanos and Nuyoricans of the 1960s and 1970s—many of whom were born or raised in the United States
and strongly identified with the social movements of this tumultuous period in American (U.S.) history—Dominicans started
arriving in the United States in large numbers in the early 1960s, and continued thereafter in a steady stream. Given their
“late” arrival, it would take some time before the Dominican-American community would come to be known as such.
Dominican artists based in the United States would come of age without a dedicated visual arts institution of their own.
By the 1990s, they would also mature in a post-multicultural artistic scene less devoted to culturally specific exhibitions.
Dominican-American artists, however, did participate in the artistic scene in New York City and elsewhere, exhibiting their
works at key Latino cultural institutions such as the Cayman Gallery (1974–1984), the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic
Art (1985–1991), and El Museo del Barrio (founded 1969), among many others. Yet, unlike artists from other Latino cultural groups, Dominican artists made inroads as individuals. There was no collective or group-oriented “Dominican-York”
cultural movement, but instead the actions and careers of solitary artists. This is not to say that Dominican-American artists
did not capture, explore, document or reflect upon the new diasporic culture that was sprouting in their midst. Rather, it is
to affirm that Dominican-American artists have plotted a different path that has yet to be coherently documented.
This history makes Manifestaciones: Expressions of Dominicanidad in Nueva York all the more historically and artistically significant. The idea for this project originated with Pepe Coronado, a peripatetic master printer whose life crossed paths
with the Chicano movement. While living in Austin, Texas, Pepe began working with Chicano artist Sam Coronado (no relation), who in 1993 initiated a printmaking workshop—The Serie Project—modeled after the renowned Los Angeles–based
printmaking studio Self-Help Graphics. The collective spirit Pepe witnessed among Chicano and other Latino artists would
leave a strong impression. Simultaneously, Pepe sought to piece together a history of Dominican printmaking—on and off
the island—only to discover a fragmented past. In part, the confluence of these experiences resulted in the current project.
Grounded in a firm belief that printmaking is an accessible medium uniquely suited to capture the immediacy of contemporary culture, Pepe sought out other Dominican-American artists to form a collective that would both advance Dominican
graphic arts and interrogate Dominican diasporic culture. The group of twelve artists that eventually came together worked
in a collegial, workshop atmosphere, exchanging ideas and commenting on each other’s work. Together they determined
the focus of the project: to represent the forms and manifestations of Dominican culture in the United States. Their individual
voices—clearly visible in the diverse graphic approaches and subjects of the prints themselves—speak to their open-minded approach to their collective endeavor. Their goal has always been one of exchange, with each other and ultimately
with the public who will encounter, discuss, and debate their work. They have left us with a valuable document of a vibrant
cultural and artistic community that long ago took root in the heart of New York City.
E. Carmen Ramos
Independent Art Curator
Manifestaciones A Portfolio of 12 Prints by Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA
Manifestaciones marks a pivotal moment. It is one of the few group exhibitions by Dominican York artists, and marks the convergence of several trends that were simmering and maturing among artists who had, until now, made a name for themselves
only as individuals. An enriching collaboration among the Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA artists has produced 12 considerable artworks, each one offering a specific approach to the selected theme: New York City as seen and lived by the artists.
Carlos Almonte created Vale John, a serigraph integrating dreams, memories and reality, with a linear gray drawing as
background and a colorful character in the forefront. Artist and printmaker Pepe Coronado, incorporated text with images to
recall a historic moment involving the USS Intrepid, symbolic colors, and a combination of line and photo documentation. His
artwork includes history, geography, and text in post-conceptual graphics. René de los Santos, in an expressionist linocut and
serigraph, situated the mythical Cigüita Cibaeña bird in New York to look over its bridges and skyscrapers. iliana emilia garcía created the Dreambox, as shoeshine boxes are called in the Dominican Republic. Her serigraph, on reflective Mylar and
chine collé, is a reference to the habits of their native land, and to the dreams of migrating Latinos. Reynaldo García Pantaleón
created Amarrao, a black and white eloquent expressionistic scene of physical and social oppressions. Scherezade García’s
Day Dreaming employs a symbolic-geographic approach through combined mediums. The sacrificed human figure lies down,
supporting civilization. Alex Guerrero reaches an evocative and lively climate in his artwork. He intertwines a black-and-white
photo-based print with a colorful-naive construction and a rainy cloud. Its details are precious. This work is a good example of
the updated use of media.
Luanda Lozano, an accomplished printer at the Manhattan Graphics Center/Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop,
did her piece via a religious-romantic green figure, Sálvame Santo. Miguel Luciano deals with the theme of passports and
the social divisions that society establishes and brings to these documents. Yunior Chiqui Mendoza makes a clear statement
through graphics—the New York subway map in the shape of a banana. He names it Bananhattan, a logical and very original approach referencing the term “banana republics,” derisively used at times when referring to Caribbean countries. Moses
Ros-Suárez piece Reggaeton del Bachatero, is a triptych etching and chine collé. The three sections, headlined by words in
Spanish, have different core colors: brown, yellow, and greenish inks. Moses has a key tool, space, which he allocates to
his narrative through various approaches. Rider Ureña—in whose studio the group held meetings and produced some of the
prints—brings to the project the Dominican mythological figure Cigüapa. Integrating drawing and a painterly approach, the
piece is mysterious and sensual.
The twelve coincide in their figurative mood, but neither the imagery nor the artistic tendencies and styles are the same. This
makes it clear that they are not a group with tight rules, but a “collective.” Through it, they came together to exalt the Dominican
presence in New York in their personal, professional, struggling voices. They have chosen the print medium to bring accessible
artwork to the city, and to be part of one of Latin America’s strongest traditions: the graphic arts.
Prints nourished the cooperative developments and outreach of numerous movements through the years. Printed artwork
and printed words have a parallel capacity: to reach out to the world with specific informative, social, educational, and
community-building intent.
Graciela Kartofel
Art Historian, Art Critic/Curator Copyright 2010
Carlos Almonte
Carlos Almonte was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and immigrated to the United States
in 1992. Although he studied graphic design at APEC University in his native land, it was here in New York
City, in the heart of the Dominican community of Washington Heights, that he developed his talent as an artist,
nourished by his experiences in a new land.
Almonte describes his style as contemporary and eclectic, using a mix of modern and traditional media.
He embraces art as a means of expressing personal emotions rather than as a marker of his personal brand.
His work has been shown in various group exhibitions in Bergen County, New Jersey, where he currently
resides. These include the 2010 Latino Heritage Month celebration; the 2001 and 2006 Bergen County
Department of Parks Art Show, earning First Place in Mix Media in both; and, the 2000 Hudson United Bank
“Taste of the Art Show,” where he won several prizes. His first group exhibition was “Artists of the Caribbean
in New York,” in 1996 at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, in New York.
In addition to his paintings, Carlos has created a number of murals in New York City public schools.
Machete in hand, the Dominican campesino superhero stands defiantly in the middle of the
yellow-lined road to the American Dream, a sliced green plantain at his feet, evoking memories
of that real-life superhero Dominican who planted corn in the middle of Broadway so many years
ago. “Actually,” says Carlos Almonte, “I was inspired this summer by a similar corn-planting
Dominican on St. Nicholas Avenue.”
Soon enough, all that symbolism of the country life left behind blends with that of urban street life,
as do the bohio and the apartment building in this piece.
Carlos Almonte
Vale John
Serigraph
Impresas por/Printed by: Carlos Almonte and Pepe Coronado
Taller/Studio: Coronado Studio and Print Projects
Pepe Coronado
Pepe Coronado was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, and currently resides in New York. A
specialist in printmaking, Coronado was master printer for Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring, Maryland; the
Hand Print Workshop International in Alexandria, Virginia; and the Serie Print Project in Austin, Texas. He has
been a visiting artist at Self Help Graphics in Los Angeles, and more recently at the Hudson River Museum in
New York. Coronado has taught printmaking at the Corcoran College of Art, Georgetown University, and at
the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore where he earned the Master of Fine Arts.
Coronado’s most recent solo exhibitions include “Obstrucciones,” Gallery 101, Georgetown University,
Washington DC, and Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, New York. His group exhibitions include “Reconstruction
Else Where,” as part of the II Bronx Latin American Art Biennial at the Bronx Art Space, New York; “Art &
Social Change/Land, Culture & Memory,” International Center of Bethlehem, Palestine; “Centers and Borders:
Artwork from the United States,” Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China; and, “Directions: DC Contemporary
Latino Art,” Frida Kahlo Gallery, Cultural Institute of Mexico, Washington, DC. Coronado’s current solo exhibition is at the Center for the Digital Arts, Westchester Community College, New York.
He’s work is in many collections including the Rutgers Archives for Printmaking Studios, Georgetown University, Lauinger Memorial Library of Rare Books and Prints Collection, the Library of Congress, the Eugene
and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Art Collection, District of Columbia
Government: Arts and Humanities Commission, El Paso Museum of Art and Mexic-Arte Museum.
Today it sits in all its glory, newly refurbished, a museum anchored on the Hudson that thrills
young and old with a privileged view of the innards of a once-powerful aircraft carrier.
But for Pepe Coronado, who was born precisely in the year of the invasion, the US Intrepid
is a reminder of a pivotal moment in Dominican history, an election usurped, a constitution
subverted. The words of Dominican Poet Laureate Pedro Mir contrast with the official story and
the emigration numbers, the so-called great wave it left in its wake.
Pepe Coronado
Intrépido
Serigraph
Impresas por/Printed by: Pepe Coronado
Taller/Studio: Pepe Coronado Studio and Print Projects
René de los Santos
Born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, René de los Santos is a self-taught artist who comes from a family
of artists. He began to devote himself to art in 1990, establishing his characteristically naive and figurative
style of painting, expressing a somewhat astral composition.
De los Santos has exhibited in several group exhibitions, including “Essence and Colors of Dominican
Artists,” in Providence, Rhode Island; “Uptown Arts Stroll,” “ADAVARTE II & I—The Visual Arts Festival of
Washington Heights & Inwood,” and “Dominicans Breaking Through,” all in New York, and “Transición,
Imágenes y Colores” at Centro Communal Tamboril, Dominican Republic.
“I love New York,” says René de los Santos. “It invades our senses with its rhythm and pace.”
But it’s not a bad idea to step out of it once in a while and view it from a distance.
And why not with the eyes of la cigüita, that little bird from Santiago often taunted by kids with
slingshots. Perched high above and beyond the GW, sporting the face of a woman, it sits
claiming and rejecting the dark and cramped abodes of city denizens. It’s a tribute, René says,
to the city, and to his wise Dominican mother of 14 who set his pace and filled his heart.
René de los Santos
Cigüita Cibaeña en New York
Linocut + serigraph
Impresas por/Printed by:
René de los Santos and Pepe Coronado
Taller/Studio: Pepe Coronado Studio and Print Projects
iliana emilia garcía
iliana emilia garcía was born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She attributes her love of
art to her civil engineer/bridge designer/reader dad, her pianist/thinker/free spirit/writer mom, and her sister
Scherezade.
García describes herself as a child of the ’70s, and cites specific influences from iconic figures of the time—
Charlie’s Angels/Love Boat/Gilligan’s Island/Roadrunner/Archie/Lulu/Mr. Magoo/Menudo/King Kong/Million
Dollar Man (el hombre biónico)/Bionic Woman (la mujer biónica/Wonder Woman (la mujer maravilla) and others.
Her love of the arts blossomed at an early age in the Dominican Republic, under the tutelage of Nidia Sierra, a well-known Dominican artist. She found inspiration in weekly visits to the Museo de Arte Moderno, and
in her vast collection of posters, stamps, cans, books, wrappers, packages and anything else that she found
visually interesting.
García’s formal schooling started at Altos de Chavón, an institution in the Dominican Republic affiliated
with Parsons The New School of Design, where she studied graphic design. Awarded the Ruth Vanderpool
Scholarship, she then moved to New York City to continue her studies at Parsons and graduated in 1991 with a
BFA in communication design.
Since then, she has been actively developing her art with mixed media, drawings, installations, video art, etc.
and exhibiting around the world. Her work has been exhibited at Exit Art, NY; El Museo del Barrio, NY; Aljira
Center of Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ; Mary Anthony Gallery, Leonora Vega Gallery, Howard Scott Gallery,
NY; Joan Guaita, Spain; Belgium and many other venues. Her work is part of El Museo del Barrio’s permanent
collection.Currently she lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Glittering serigraph on reflective Mylar, with the equally exotic chine collé technique, the simple
toolbox of the shoe shiner gets a royal treatment in iliana emilia garcia’s magical piece.
Few in New York City would recognize the humble object, although I’ve seen that same box at
Grand Central Terminal, where getting your shoes shined costs a pretty penny. In the Dominican
Republic, however, it is a portable dream box.
Iliana emilia garcía
Dreambox
Serigraph on reflexive Mylar + chin collé
Impresas por/Printed by: iliana emilia garcía, Alex Guerrero and Pepe Coronado
Taller/Studio: Alex Guerrero + Bullrider Studio
Reynaldo García Pantaleón
Artist, graphic designer, and musician, Reynaldo García Pantaleón was born in the Dominican
Republic and studied art at the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) and at the Art Students
League after moving to New York. He describes his work as “a direct translation of everyday life and the hopes
and fears we confront.” His body of work includes paintings, drawings, music, photography, video, silkscreens
and other prints, and various objects.
Pantaleón has exhibited in group shows in the Dominican Republic and here in New York. His solo shows
include “Mirar Intimo,” “Heroes-una muestra,” “10 Años (years) NYC Paintings,” “Drawings-Latino Urban Life,”
and “( ) Marginal Paintings,” all in New York City.
He currently works as an art instructor and special art projects developer for The Children’s Aid Society,
and has worked as a fine arts instructor for Palenque, a violence prevention program for youth out of John Jay
College of Criminal Justice, and as an art facilitator for children with the Dominican Women’s Development
Center in Northern Manhattan. He was also part of Luis “Terror” Días NYC band “Las Maravillas” from
2000 to 2006.
As Reynaldo García Pantaleón tells it, it’s a scene he saw unfold from his window, time and time
again: mean streets entrapping young immigrants, headfirst, in a web of criminality,
la delincuencia. Dark and foreboding, the streetscape is devoid of hope, the buildings line up
to close off the sky and complete the suffocating scene. But in a time of rising deportations (the
so-called “repatriation”) it also seems as if they were simply rounded up to be shipped back—no
questions asked.
Reynaldo García Pantaleón
Amarrao
Polymer plate etching
Impresas por/Printed by: Reynaldo García Pantaleón and Pepe Coronado
Taller/Studio: Pepe Coronado Studio and Print Projects
Scherezade García
Born in the Dominican Republic, Scherezade has lived in New York since 1986 when she arrived to study
at Parsons The New School of Design on a full scholarship awarded on the basis of the quality of her portfolio.
She began her studies at Altos de Chavón in La Romana, Dominican Republic, and received the BFA from
Parsons and the MFA from The City College of New York. Her work frequently evokes memories of faraway
home and the hopes and dreams that accompany planting roots in a new land.
Her solo exhibitions include “Paradise Redefined,” at Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, New York; “Island of many Gods,” at the Salena Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York; “Souvenir,” at The
Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, New Jersey; and “Stories of Fallen Angels,” at Museo de Arte Moderno,
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She has exhibited as well at the Mary Anthony Gallery and the Leonora
Vega Gallery, both in New York City.
Scherezade’s work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including “This Skin I’m in,” and
“Merengue: Visual Rhythms,” both at El Museo del Barrio in New York, and “The Caribbean Abroad; Contemporary Arts and Latino Migration,” at Newark Museum of Art in New Jersey; the Caribbean Biennial in Santo
Domingo in 2001 and the Havana Biennial in 2000.
Her work was added to the permanent collection of Housatonic Museum of Art, New Haven, Connecticut
in 1992, and to the permanent collection highlights of El Museo del Barrio, New York in 2006.
The large, brown figure outlined at the bottom of Scherezade’s Day Dreaming/Soñando despierta
powerfully evokes the heaviness of a sleep burdened by memory. It is a troubled sleep ensnared
in the unforgiving clarity and straight lines of New York City’s spatial grid map, a startling choice
for a piece about memory. Fanciful blue flying plantains and a palm tree hint at memories of
pleasures left behind.
Scherezade García
Day Dreaming/ Soñando despierta
Archival Inkjet + Serigraph
Impresas por/Printed by: Scherezade García, Alex Guerrero and Pepe Coronado
Taller/Studio: Scherezade García + Pepe Coronado Studio and Print Projects
Alex Guerrero
Alex Guerrero is a visual artist born in the Dominican Republic, member of “La Generación del Ochenta,” a cultural
and artistic movement in the 1980s that produced some of the most important creators of the Dominican Republic today.
For a short period of time, Alex attended the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santo Domingo, but the classical and
traditional teachings of the school were not his calling. Guerrero was in search of aesthetics closer to the Dominican
reality visually and thematically. It is in Alfa y Omega publishing Co., an Avant-garde graphic center in the Dominican Republic, where Guerrero
worked under the tutelage of master graphic designer Jose Mercader, and started to experiment with alternative graphic
processes, becoming one of the most popular poster designers of Santo Domingo. Guerrero won three first places in
national poster competitions in the 1980s. The last award, for a poster promoting peace, earned him a trip to a 1983
international peace conference in Prague. He returned to Prague a year later to study at the School of Applied Arts
(VSUP) on a full scholarship. Alex was the second Latin American, at the times, to study at the prestigious school.
Photography has played a fundamental role in Guerrero’s work from the beginning. His first silk screens, strongly
influenced by pop art, he used photography as a creative resource to generate a different kind of images. Over the past
few years, he has developed a great passion for building pinhole cameras.
Guerrero has shown his work in individual and group exhibitions in Santo Domingo, Havana, Tokyo, Prague and
New York, his most recent solo exhibition at Rio Gallery November 09. Guerrero resides in New York City with his
family, and works as a specialist in digital pre-press in a fine offset printing company.
The source, says Alex Guerrero, is a photograph he took from his window.
In black and white, the silhouette of a building rooftop and what appears to be a little house
quite out of place on that roof. But seen through his eyes, there’s nothing odd about that little
house, even after he paints it Caribbean azure, outlines a cloud right above it, and lets it rain
enough to sprout tall grasses to its left and right. Seen with the heart of an island immigrant, no
vision is too farfetched, no colors too bright, no cloud too magical.
When I ask him about the cloud, he says it’s there to keep the house company.
Alex Guerrero
Vista Psicotrópica
Serigraph
Impresas por/Printed by: Alex Guerrero and Miguel Luciano
Taller/Studio: Alex Guerrero + Bullrider Studio
Luanda Lozano
Luanda Lozano is a Dominican artist born in Humpata, Angola. She was educated in New York at Parsons
The New School of Design, where she earned a BFA in Illustration, and developed her love of prints at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, also in New York. She currently works as a freelance graphic designer.
Her prints are part of several prestigious collections, among them the Kanagawa Print Collection, Japan;
Museo Nacional del Grabado, Argentina; Varna Museum, Bulgaria; Chamalière Museum, Auvergne, France;
Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey; PMW Portfolio 2000, Library of Congress, USA (Robert Blackburn print
collection); National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts; and Florean Museum, Maramures, Romania.
Lozano is currently on the teaching staff of the Bronx River Art Center, and has been a member of the
Scholarship Committee at the Manhattan Graphics Center since 2005. She has taught at the Center for
Contemporary Prints, Connecticut, Pelham Art Center, Museum for African Art, New York, also at Artist Proof
Studio in South Africa.
“When I create,” says Luanda, “I am not guided by a particular theme. In fact, I tend to avoid
structures that require that of me as an artist.” But the theme of this particular group show,
Dominicanidad, provoked her masterful piece about religious iconography.
The adoration of saints, their suffering and sacrifices, their pain as a source of hope, as an
elevation of the human spirit, as a refuge in a world of uncertainty. Sálvame Santo, guide me
through the vicissitudes of life in a new land.
Luanda Lozano
Sálvame Santo
Etching + chine collé
Impresas por/Printed by: Luanda Lozano
Taller/Studio: Manhattan Graphics Center (MGC) + Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (RBPMV)
Miguel Luciano
Miguel Luciano was born in the Dominican Republic and lives and works in New York City since 1994.
He studied art in his native land at Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes and Universidad Autónoma de Santo
Domingo (UASD). In 1990, he was granted a Peace Corps scholarship to pursue studies in Fine Arts and
Illustration at Altos de Chavón, a graphic design school in Dominican Republic affiliated with Parsons The New
School of Design in New York. He was awarded the Bluhdorn Scholarship to study illustration at Parsons.
Since 1994 Luciano’s work has been shown in multiple group exhibitions nationally and internationally.
He has participated several times in the National Biennial at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) in Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic. He has also shown his work at the Essex Art Center, Massachusetts; Oxiel Latin
American Art; and the Fractal Lab in New Jersey.
In his first solo show in 1998, “Urban calligraphy,” at San Lorenzo Fine Arts, Luciano presented a series
of paintings exploring lyric abstractions of the cityscape. He also participated in the 5th Drawing Biennial
organized by the Arawak Foundation at the Drawing Museum. In 2009, the artist created “A Place After
I Die,” an interactive sculpture exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art where the public was invited to write
down their sins, or any traumatic experience, and shred it as a cathartic act.
In 2010 produced “Random Poetry” a collective multimedia installation at Local Project in LIC NY.
One passport, one picture, three skin colors, same government.
It’s a question Miguel Luciano poses in his piece Detrás de la oreja (Black Behind the Ears), and
many Dominicans ask, because it seems to them incongruous that, in a country where more than
90 percent of the people are black, racial identity continues to be defined in these documents
by the amorphous terms claro, oscuro, indio and combinations thereof.
Miguel Luciano
Detrás de la oreja
Serigraph + rubber stamp
Impresas por/Printed by: Miguel Luciano and Alex Guerrero
Taller/Studio: Alex Guerrero + Bullrider Studio
Yunior Chiqui Mendoza
Yunior Chiqui Mendoza was born and educated in Santiago, Dominican Republic. He is a graduate of
Bellas Artes, where he studied painting, and of the Universidad Tecnológica de Santiago, where he studied
architecture. In 1982, he was appointed to the faculty at Bellas Artes as professor of drawing and painting,
and was named the school’s director in 2004, serving until 2006, when he moved to New York.
Before moving permanently to New York, Mendoza frequently visited the city, studying at the Art Students
League of New York and at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop.
Mendoza has had six solo exhibitions, and has participated in numerous group shows in the Dominican
Republic and internationally. His many prizes and awards include: 1990 Third Prize, Pintura XII Concurso Bienal E. León Jimenes; 1992 First Place, II Concurso de Afiches Don Tomás Morel, Plaza de la Cultura Santiago
Apóstol; 1992 Special Prize, BID, XVIII Bienal Nacional de Artes Visuales; 1992 Second Place, Pintura XIII
Concurso Bienal E. León Jimenes; 1994 First Place in Painting, XVI Concurso Bienal E. León Jimenes; 1994
Special Jury Mention, XXVI Festival de la Pintura, Cagnes Sur-Mer, France; 1995 First Place IV Salón Internacional de Dibujo, Fundación Arawak, Santo Domingo; 1996 Second Place in Drawing, XVI Concurso Bienal
E. León Jimenes.
Some people won’t eat guineos unless they’re spotted ripe, and there must be something to that,
because Chiqui Mendoza doesn’t paint them any other way: yellow, ripe, and spotted.
So it isn’t surprising that Chiqui sees one when he looks at the subway map of Manhattan, and
can’t help but note that WaHi/Inwood, the heart of the Dominican community, is located at
precisely one of those juicy, dark spots. As any Dominican will tell you, to be aplatana’o is to be
Dominicanized, and here the ubiquitous guide to the Big Apple is the basis for Bananhattan.
Yunior Chiqui Mendoza
Bananhattan
Archival Inkjet + serigraph
Impresas por/Printed by: Yunior Chiqui Mendoza, Reynaldo García Pantaleón and Pepe Coronado
Taller/Studio: Coronado Studio and Print Projects
Moses Ros-Suárez
Moses Ros-Suárez is best known for his intense paintings and sculptures that transform common objects in
his characteristically expressionist style. His large graphics of figures and objects explore themes such as AIDS
awareness, the global economic crisis, and personal versus national identity and power.
Ros-Suárez has had one-person exhibitions at museums in the United States and the Caribbean, including
the Yeshiva University Museum, New York; the Paterson Museum, New Jersey; and the Instituto de Cultura y
Arte in Santiago, Dominican Republic. The New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the Bronx Council for
the Arts have awarded him commissions for public sculptures, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority for stained
glass windows.
A licensed architect in the state of New York, Ros-Suárez is a graduate of the Pratt Institute.
“Ambivalence,” says Moses Ros-Suárez, “is the underlying sentiment that characterizes the
Dominican experience of migration to the U.S.” Aquí y allá. Here and there, depicted in his
triptych by the beehive and the island paradise, and the psychological split of a figure with two
heads at the center of it all. But the piece also suggests that the bridge may be more than a
metaphor, and the distance not that great, for the panels are united by the absence of the striking
difference in color we might expect, even as Dominicans struggle with the decision about where
to firmly plant their roots.
Moses Ros-Suárez
El Reggaeton del Bachatero
Etching aquatint + chine collé
Impresas por/Printed by: Moses Ros-Suárez and Luanda Lozano
Taller/Studio: Moses Ros-Suárez + Manhattan Graphics Center (MGC) + Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (RBPMW)
Rider Ureña
Rider Ureña was born in the Dominican Republic, where he studied fine arts and illustration at Altos de
Chavón. He is a graduate of Parsons The New School of Design in New York and also attended classes at
the Art Students League of New York and the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop. He currently works with
the Visual Arts Division at Columbia University in New York, and was head of installations at P.S.1 MOMA.
Ureña has exhibited his drawings and sculptures at the Biennial E. León Jimenes in the Dominican Republic
and in many group shows in New York and Santo Domingo. In June 2010, he had a solo exhibition at The
Rio Gallery in Washington Heights, New York.
Rider Ureña describes his piece in a poem, as hauntingly beautiful and sensual as the piece
itself. Inspired by the spellbinding beauty pictured in one of those fliers that litter his street
promoting nights of ecstasy with voluptuous women, he searches for “my girl on the floor.”
But finding the place is easier than finding the woman. Surprised at not finding her there, he
imagines her as la cigüapa, the elusive mythical figure of Dominican folklore with feet that face
backwards and whose footprints, therefore, lead men away from, rather than to her.
Rider Ureña
My girl on the floor
Silk aquatint + archival Inkjet
Impresas por/Printed by: Rider Ureña and Pepe Coronado
Taller/Studio: Bullrider Studio + Pepe Coronado Studio and Print Projects
This project was conceived and coordinated by the artists of Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA (DYPG) in 2010.
Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA Manifestaciones print portfolio
Edition: 25 Studio • proofs: 3 • Images: 7 x 9 inches • Paper: 11 x 15 inches Rives BFK white.
Portfolio box: Handmade 12 x 16 x I in. with wine color Book cloth.
For more information, please visit our website: http://dyproyectografica.com