Pedro Vélez
April 11, 2015
Project
Ransom Notes and Surrender Flags
New work and collaborations with Robert Davis, L.M. Rodríguez, Maya
Mackrandilal, Vince Dermody and Michael Wynne
Press Realease/Comunicado de Prensa
PEDRO VÉLEZ
El artista presenta pinturas y ensamblajes en colaboración con los artistas L.M. Rodríguez, Robert Davis, Vincent Dermody, Maya Macrandilal y Michael Wynne en los que hablo sobre la deuda nacional. Además presentará una serie de posters y retratos de varios reporteros jóvenes, entre ellos los de Yennifer Álvarez Jaime y Joel Cintrón los cuales presentan una mirada optimista ante la debacle económica. Y un mural de gran formato basado en la primera instalación que realizara en AREA en el año 2005.
Para la segunda parte de la exposición vélez estará presentando una serie de pinturas completadas durante la residencia de dos meses en AREA.
Pedro Vélez’s work merges his interest in art criticism (including his own writing) and journalism into what he calls “visual essays” that take the form of paintings, photographic collages, and limited edition posters and postcards resembling the look and feel of movie posters. Vélez also incorporates text in his work, based on hashtags lifted from Twitter, that are scathingly critical as well as poetically cryptic. Taken together, Vélez’s multi-disciplinary approach creates a vibrant, stream-of-consciousness commentary on a variety of issues, encompassing race, politics, and other aesthetic concerns.
Recent exhibitions include the 2014 Whitney Biennial in New York; Rob Davis Featuring Law Office at Anonymous Gallery in México; Artecho-A Remix of Abundance: Constructing Sustainability, curated by Tam Gryn and Alejandra Esayag in NYC; #DrunkDictators at Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago; Morally Reprehensible at 101 Exhibit in LA; #ProtestSigns at Obra Alegría in San Juan and No Regrets at Oliver Francis in Dallas. Past shows include Contemporary Passions: American, European, and Latin American Art from the Serapión and Belk Collection, Museo de Arte de Ponce, PR; Eraser, curated by Rachel Furnari, at Magnan Metz Gallery in NYC ; Photography Now, curated by Mercedes Trelles, Institute of Puerto Rican Culture; Epilepsy and Pegatina and Adult Porn, Plush Gallery in Dallas; Godfuck at Galeria Comercial, PR. His work as an artist and writer has been discussed in the New York Times, Artforum, LA Times, Chicago Tribune and The Huffington Post among many other publications. For 10 years Pedro Vélez maintained a regular column about the art scenes in San Juan, Chicago and the Midwest for Artnet Magazine and his writing has been published in Newcity, New Art Examiner and Arte al Día.
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