| Jennie Santos: Project Room Offers Opportunity to Witness Large Canvases Become Artwork at Queens College Art Center, Through June 27, 2013-- The Dominican-American Artist
Works in a Replica of Her New Jersey Studio --
FLUSHING,
NY, June 10, 2013 – Working in a reproduction of her home studio at the Queens
College Art Center’s project room since early February, Dominican-American
artist Jennie Santos has developed and installed two series. Mixed-Media Oil
Portraits features paintings on partially primed unstretched canvases sewn
together with different fabrics, with the stitches symbolizing drawing. I Dream
of Vacation is a group of paintings accompanied by drawings and a sketch
booklet. Both series refer to the Dominican Republic, either by the landscape
or by the personalities Santos includes in her scenes. Her residency, during
which she has worked in full sight of the public, has been a one-of-a-kind
experience for her and for the visitors who have the opportunity to witness
large canvases in mixed media become artwork.
Santos, a Dominican-born emerging
artist who grew up drawing and painting, began taking classes when she was 11
years old. After earning BAs in Communication Design (graphic design and
advertising) from Iberoamerican University in 1993, and in Fine Arts and
Illustration from Altos de Chavon School of Art in 1997, she left her homeland
to complete her studies at Parsons School of Design on a full scholarship
(1999). Having fallen in love with New York City, she is now pursuing a fine
arts career in the metropolitan area. Her painting in the installation is very
personal, including large-scale portraits of live models and figure studies of
a hybrid man-rooster, and another tackling ‘la Ciguapa,’ a mythological
Dominican creature with backward-facing feet.
JENNIE SANTOS: PROJECT ROOM is
curated by Graciela Kartofel. An art historian, art critic, and curator
focusing on contemporary and Latin American art, Kartofel has taught at
universities in the United States and abroad. Author of numerous catalogues and
books, she also writes for ArtNexus
and is an international correspondent for Radio Cultura. At Hunter College of
CUNY, she is Art Critic in Residence and co-curator for the Thomas Hunter
Project Room. At Queens College, she most recently curated an exhibition of
Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art, presented by the Latin American
& Latino Studies Program in fall 2012.
This exhibition is sponsored by Queens College’s
Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious
Understanding, Latin American and Latino Studies Program, and the Libraries.
JENNIE SANTOS: PROJECT ROOM is free and open to
the public. Images, as well as biographical and sales information, are available
upon request. For additional information, please visit
http://www.queenscollegeartcenter.org/exhibitions.html.
Where:Queens College Art Center (part of
the Selma and Max Kupferberg Center for the Arts) Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, Level SixQueens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing
Gallery Hours:
June 2013: Monday through Friday, 9 AM–5 PM; closed
weekends and holidays. Free and open to the public.
Gallery Contacts: For more info: (718) 997-3770 http://www.queenscollegeartcenter.org/exhibitions.html
or http://kupferbergcenterarts.org
artcenter@qc.cuny.edu
For directions
to Queens College, please visit http://www.qc.cuny.edu/ABOUT/DIRECTIONS/Pages/default.aspx. For a campus
map, go to http://www.qc.cuny.edu/about/directions/2d/Pages/default.aspx (Rosenthal Library/Art Center).
The
Queens College Art Center, founded in 1987, succeeds the Queens College Art
Library Gallery established in 1960. In more than 200 exhibitions to date, the
Art Center has shown masters like Alice Neel, Joseph Cornell, and Elizabeth
Catlett, and introduced scores of artists from around the globe. Focusing on
modern and contemporary programming expressive of the best art
of our time, this display space presents the works of emerging and established artists in diverse media. Art Center exhibitions support the educational and
cultural objectives of Queens College. The shared goal of the Queens College
Art Center and of the Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College is to provide
the means for participating in and upholding a democratic society through
learning, adaptation, and critical thinking.
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