WoNdErLAND @ 17 Frost Art Space, N.Y.

17 Frost Art Space presents WONDERLAND new paintings and assemblages by Lopez Ramos

 

17 Frost Art Space is proud to present the exhibition WONDERLAND, taking place at 17 Frost St., Brooklyn, NY, 11211 on Saturday July 7th, from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm, featuring the recent works of artist Rafael Lopez-Ramos and a musical presentation by Lenna Pierce at 8:00 pm, and Roberto Poveda at 9:00 pm. All this is part of the symposium Havana, Miami, Brooklyn: A Convergence of Art and Music.

Lopez Ramos artworks are usually structured on multiple visual and semantic layers of contrasting iconographies from which a concept emerges. For his Wonderland series, Lopez Ramos has resorted to found objects, mostly containers/labels of consumer goods, and pornographic images, all of which morphs into a sort of palimpsest when superimposed on abstract expressionist backgrounds. The series comprises several paintings on canvas, 9 assemblages on plywood which are part of The POLIsexyGONS Suite, and a number of works made on a cheesy wallpaper pattern stamped vinyl that compose The Wonder Banners.

Following his cogitative penchant, in this new series Lopez Ramos analyzes the recurrence of sex in commercial advertising, and women in their double roll as a target and a commodified “object of desire” for those ad campaigns. As Marshall McLuhan noted, “the ad men are constantly breaking through into the Alice in Wonderland territory behind the looking glass, which is the world of sub-rational impulses and appetites.” This sex narrative carries a dark metaphor of our zeitgeist, while emulating the obscenity level of certain social, economic and political events we are currently witnessing in Europe and North America. Sex served as a side dish for finances and politics or a naughty collateral for toxic mortgages.

The symposium Havana, Miami, Brooklyn: A Convergence of Art and Music will be held at 17 Frost from July 6th to July 8th, 2012 with the support of a Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs Artist Access grant administered by Tigertail Productions. The symposium will be an exchange of knowledge in a cross discipline and multi-cultural framework between Cuban-Canadian visual artist Lopez Ramos, Cuban singer Roberto Poveda, American musician Lenna Pierce and several Brooklyn based street artists. Located in the heart of Williamsburg, BK, 17 Frost has fast become one of the most exciting and experimental art spaces in New York today. Established by Steven Pacia and Javier Hernandez-Miyares, 17 Frost encourages people from all walks to create and congregate. With a dynamic array of facilities and services, it is able to support all form of art and expression. Unlike most galleries, 17 Frost is in the business of providing an exhibition space to artists who want to show their work in an environment of freedom and cooperation.

Rafael Lopez-Ramos is a visual artist, critic and curator, born in Cuba, 1962. Graduated from Academia San Alejandro, in Havana. His art has been recently exhibited in It's not the Economy but the Epistemology, Collage Gallery, Coral Gables, FL; Base Paint -The Auction, IDEOBOX Artspace, Miami, FL; CAFE XII, Sangre de Cristo Arts Center, Pueblo, CO, 2011; and his previous show Mirroring Nature at Nina Torres Fine Art, Miami, FL, 2010. His work is discussed in the book Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora: Setting the Tent Against the House by Andrea O'Reilly Herrera, University of Texas Press, 2011, and has participated in curated group exhibitions like DUODECAD, Edge Zones Art Center, Miami, FL., 2010, Contemporary Cuban Art in New York (CANY), Dactyl Foundation, NY, 2009; Miami: Ciudad Metáfora, Centro Cultural Español, Miami, FL., 2008, and Killing Time, Exit Art, N.Y., 2007. Between 1997-2006, Lopez Ramos resided in Canada, currently lives and works in Miami. www.lopezramos.info

 

Original from Lincoln, Nebraska, Lenna Pierce is a Brooklyn based musician who has been singing weird, sad, funny, loving songs ever since she was an annoying little girl on the city bus. http://www.reverbnation.com/meanerpencil

 

Roberto Poveda is planning to release a new album in mid- 2012 titled Brooklyn Nights, which is a twelve songs performance that showcases not only his classic laid-back vocal style, but also his ability to write emphatic lyrics in a discourse about life, love and existence rooted on the Cuban Trova style, something he have experimented all this years. http://www.robertopoveda.com

 

This event is free of charge

Where: 17 Frost St., Brooklyn, NY, 11211

When: Saturday, July 7th, from 7:00 pm to 11:00

Exhibition runs from July 7^th through August 25^th, 2012 –to visit during this time please make an appointment by contacting Javier Hernandez-Miyares.

Ph. 718 902 5714 / email 17frost@gmail.com / website http://17frost.com