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Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month 

September 15- October 15, 2020 is Hispanic Heritage Month. This year to celebrate we are looking back at past exhibitions at the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery to highlight Hispanic and Latinx artists who have been  featured at the gallery. The following artists were on view at the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery (then the University Art Gallery) in “New Traditions: Thirteen Hispanic Photographers," November 16-December18, 1991, a traveling exhibition organized by the New York State Museum.

Check back each week for a new featured artist. 

 

Geno Rodriguez

Geno Rodriguez, “ Poseiden/Poseidon, 1984, Cibachrome photograph

Geno Rodriguez, “ Poseiden/Poseidon, 1984, Cibachrome photograph

Geno Rodriguez, “Saint Sebastion/San Sebastián”, 1984. Cibachrome photograph

Geno Rodriguez, “Saint Sebastion/San Sebastián”, 1984. Cibachrome photograph 


"Throughout recorded history, artists have addressed themselves to issues of belief and morality. They have also reflected the innermost hopes and fears of the society in which they lived. In these updated versions of religious allegories and classical myths by Geno Rodriguez, we are presented with images and gods for the late twentieth century. 

However seriously we may be tempted to take these photographs and the emotions they elicit; we must also acknowledge their tragicomic elements. Rodriguez does not ask us to lose ourselves in the power and grandeur of his images and character, but instead asks us to questions and perhaps reassess the values and ideals offered by them, both in an earlier time and today. 

A través de la historia, los artistas han tratado temas relacionados con la fe y la moral. También han reflejado las más íntimas esperanzas y temores de la sociedad en la cual vivieron. En estas nuevas versiones de alegorías religiosas y mitos clásicos de Geno Rodríguez, nos enfrentamos a imágenes y divinidades de las postrimerías del Siglo Veinte. 

A riesgo de estar tentados a no tomar estas estas fotos y las emociones que ellas despiertan demasiado en serio, hay que reconocer también sus elementos tragicómicos. Rodriguez no nos pide que nos perdamos en el poder y gigantismo de sus imágenes y protagonistas; por el contrario, nos estimula a cuestionar-y quizás reevaluar- los valores e ideales que nos ofrecieron, en el pasado como ahora."

Excerpt on Geno Rodriguez’s work from NEW TRADITIONS: Thirteen Hispanic Artists by Robert Phelan.

 

Marga Clark

This week for Hispanic/Latinx Heritage month we’re featuring Marga Clark. 

In the work of Marga Clark we are confronted with a series of triptychs which appear, initially, to address only one formal visual issue. This issue seems to be: What happens to a complex geometric image, in color, when the artist reduces and then removes that element of color?

While this is their appearance on the most superficial level, in fact, these triptychs pose important questions about both time and sequential movement. They focus on that moment of perception when a visual image crystallizes in the mind of the viewer. Motion and time will begin again, but for one brief instant, all movement has stopped and the image is held in suspension. 

En la obra de Marga Clark nos enfrentamos a una serie de trípticos que, en principio, parecen solo enfocar un tema visual formal que parece consistir en ver lo que pasa a una compleja imagen geométrica en color, si el artista primero reduce y luego, elimina el elemento coloristico. 

Mientras esta es su apariencia a su nivel más superficial, de hecho estos tripticos plantean importantes dilemas tanto sobre el tiempo como sobre el movimiento secuencial. Ellos enfocan aquel momento de la percepción en que una imagen visual se cristaliza en la mente del espectador. Movimiento y tiempo se reiniciaran de nuevo, pero por un instante fugaz, todo movimiento se ha detenido y la imagen se mantiene suspendida. 

Excerpt on Marga Clark’s work from NEW TRADITIONS: Thirteen Hispanic Artists by Robert Phelan.

On view at the Zuccaire Gallery during the exhibition “New Traditions: Thirteen Hispanic Photographers’. November 16-December18, 1991

Marga Clark, “Blue Nature Tripyick/Naturaleza Azul Triptico”, 1985. Cibachrome photograph, Color xerox, kodalith

Marga Clark, “Blue Nature Tripyick/Naturaleza Azul Triptico”, 1985. Cibachrome photograph, Color xerox, kodalith

Marga Clark, “Casetas Triptych/Triptico”, 1985, Cibachrome photograph, Color xerox, kodalith

Marga Clark, “Casetas Triptych/Triptico”, 1985, Cibachrome photograph, Color xerox, kodalith



Sebastião Salgado

While this Brazilian born photographer was trained as an economist and worked in this capacity for various international organizations, he gave up this career in the mid-seventies in order to devote his energies to photography. Since that time, he has been on the move almost constantly, covering such stories as the recent famine in Africa, migrant workers in Europe, Portugal after the overthrow of the dictatorship (1974-1975), and the independence of Angola, Mozambique, and Rhodesia. 

The photographs in this exhibition are drawn from a comprehensive essay on peasants in Latin America, a project on which Salgado has been working on for some time and which has recently been published in book form. 

Aunque este fotógrafo brasileno estudió para economista y en tal capacidad trabajo en varias organizaciones internacionales, renunció a esa carrera a mediados de los años 70 a fin de consagrar sus energías a las fotografía. Desde entonces ha estado viajando casi constantamente, documentando acontecimientos tales como la hambruna en el Africa, las migraciones de trabajadores en Europa, Portugal, después del derrocamiento de la dictadura fascista (1974-1975), y la independencia de Angola, Mozambique, y Rhodesia.  

Las fotos de esta muestra están de un estudio panorámico sobre campesinos latinoamericanos, un proyecto en el cual Salgado ha estado ocupado desde hace tiempo y se publicó recientemente como album. 

-Excerpt on Sebastião Salgado’s work from NEW TRADITIONS: Thirteen Hispanic Artists by Robert Phelan.

On view at the Zuccaire Gallery during the exhibition “New Traditions: Thirteen Hispanic Photographers’. November 16-December18, 1991

Sebastião Salgado, “Mother and Child/ Madre y niño”, 1984. Cibachrome photograph

Sebastião Salgado, “Mother and Child/ Madre y niño”, 1984. Cibachrome photograph

Sebastião Salgado, “Monumento a los Mineros”, 1984. Cibachrome photograph

Sebastião Salgado, “Monumento a los Mineros”, 1984. Cibachrome photograph 

 

Becky Mayer

The efforts of this Colombian artist have ranged from video-based imagery printed on mylar, to a photographic hommage á Monet. She describes the works in this exhibition not as landscapes of the sensory world, but as impressions left on the memory, not entirely clear, yet lasting and compelling even so.

It should be understood when viewing these images that we are being offered a sophisticated visual and chromatic contradiction. The visual contradiction stems from the fact that infrared film records, primarily, light beyond the visible range of the spectrum. The chromatic contradiction results from the fact that the dominant color of these prints, blue, is from that end of chromatic scale to which this film is least sensitive. Thus, we are presented here with concrete visual recordings of that which cannot be seen. 

Las obras de esta artista colombiana van desde una imaginería a base de imágenes extraídas del video e impresas en láminas plásticas mylar hasta un hommage á Monet. Sus fotos en esta muestra ella las describe no como paisajes del mundo sensorial, sino como impresiones- no enteramente claras, aunque perdurables e inclusive vigorosas- que se anidan en la memoria. 

Al contemplar sus imágenes es necesario entender que ellas nos ofrecen una refinada contradicción visual y cromática. La contradicción visual deriva del hecho de que, primordialmente, la película infrarroja registra la luz fuera del radio visible del espectro visual. La contradicción cromática reside en el hecho de que el color dominante en estas fotos- el azul- procede del exterior de la escala cromática, donde esta película es menos sensible. De tal manera, se nos presentan aquí registros de lo que es imposible ver. 

-Excerpt on Becky Mayer’s work from NEW TRADITIONS: Thirteen Hispanic Artists by Robert Phelan.

On view at the Zuccaire Gallery during the exhibition “New Traditions: Thirteen Hispanic Photographers’. November 16-December18, 1991

Becky Mayer, “Landscape Diptych /Paisaje Diptico”, 1986. Black and white infrared photograph, toned blue

Becky Mayer, “Landscape Diptych /Paisaje Diptico”, 1986. Black and white infrared photograph, toned blue

Becky Mayer, “Landscape Triptych/Paisaje Triptico”, 1986. Black and white infrared photograph, toned blue

Becky Mayer, “Landscape Triptych/Paisaje Triptico”, 1986. Black and white infrared photograph, toned blue

 

Andres Serrano

This week for Hispanic/Latinx Heritage month we’re featuring Andres Serrano. 

We are faced in these images with shocking depictions of blood, suffering and death, and it is precisely this powerful shock of confrontation which makes these pictures both important and provocative. These are not images of gratuitous violence; this is no cheap trick on the part of the artist to gain attention and notoriety. Instead, they address important and timely issues of religion, morality, and mental process. 

It is exactly because of their presentation and more particularly their subjects- in which such examinations are justified- that we are forced to question the use of these devices in the world of popular entertainment and advertising. 

En estas imágenes enfrentamos chocantes descripciones de sufrimiento, muerte y sangre, y precisamente es este poderoso sobresalto confrontacional lo que hace que estas fotos sean importantes y provoquen. No son imágenes violentas per se; ni tampoco se trata de un truco barato de parte del artista para ganar atención y notoriedad. Por el contrario, sus imágenes enfocan importantes y oportunos comentarios sobre la religión y la moral y los procesos mentales. 

Es exactamente debido a su presentación y más específicamente a sus temas- en los cuales se justifican tales exámenes- que nos vemos obligados a cuestionar el uso de dichos métodos en el mundo del espectáculo y publicidad de masas. 

-Excerpt on Andres Serrano’s work from NEW TRADITIONS: Thirteen Hispanic Artists by Robert Phelan.

On view at the Zuccaire Gallery during the exhibition “New Traditions: Thirteen Hispanic Photographers’. November 16-December18, 1991

Andres Serrano, “Locked Brains/Cerebros Cautivos”, 1985, Cibachome photograph

Andres Serrano, “Locked Brains/Cerebros Cautivos”, 1985, Cibachome photograph 


Andres Serrano, “Memory/Memoria”, 1983, Cibacrhome photograph

Andres Serrano, “Memory/Memoria”, 1983, Cibacrhome photograph 

 

 

  

 

New Traditions: Thirteen Hispanic Photographers

Robert J. Phelan with an essay by Ricardo Pau-Llosa
Published by the New York State Museum Education Department
Albany, New York
Copyright 1986 New York State Museum/State Education Department