April 6-8, 2017 from 6-9 pm at ICP Bard MFA Studio in LIC
“Art is the means by which I can break through the gates of my own history to perceive my culture in a different way. I would like to undertake this task, particularly today, when the demand to reflect on the present, as we gaze at the possibility of a different future, also requires that we revise the construction of our past”.
Over the last two years, Cristina Velásquez has developed a body of work that stems from observations of everyday life in Colombia. In her first solo exhibition, montañera, the artist studies different ways of experiencing a place where the absurd viscerally presents itself everyday and reality is exaggerated through contradictions that evade the artist who tries to describe them. Through examinations of the Colombian culture, history and geography, Velásquez reinterprets reality, using elements of fiction and artifice to undermine assumptions and confound the sensation of truth.
Through photography, weaving and text, Velasquez’s work explores the power —and limitations— of representation and translation, between individuals and cultures of resistance. It attends to the ways in which shared notions of value are shaped—and governed—by images, social conventions, and political relationships between different cultures. The artist uses her own experience as a Colombian artist and her transition into the US, as a point of reference to investigate notions of civilization, beauty and race, in relationship to other culture’s. In particular, many of Velásquez’s pieces consider how Colombian history and national identity have been constructed against a backdrop of colonialism and political dependence.
BIO
Cristina Velásquez (b. 1985 – Colombia) is a visual artist working mainly with photography and two-dimensional objects on paper. She holds a B.A. in Industrial Design from Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia, and is currently enrolled in the ICP-Bard MFA Program, in Advanced Photography Studies at New York City, U.S. where she was awarded the ICP Director’s Scholarship (Colombia 2016-2017). Cristina was part of the School of Visual Arts Photo Residency in 2014 and has been part of several group exhibitions in New York City since 2012. Her artist-books -Rear Door, /100 and One way of letting go- are part of the permanent collection of the ICP Library.
EYE TO EYE 