In situ installation
Artist Statement
My work speaks about concreteness and humility. In it, the creative process finds its form through observation. This process makes me see nature and its composing elements as an integral and consequential totality. It is through the experience of this interactive relationships individual/nature that my work finds structure; reducing my explorations as an artist to a tangible and concrete form. There are no meanings only forms to be experienced.
Concept Statement
‘Concrete Art’ term introduced by Van Doesburg in 1930 “Manifesto of Concrete Art” published in the first and only issue of magazine Art Concret. He called for a type of abstract art that would be entirely free of any basis in observed reality and that would have no symbolic implications. He stated that there is nothing more concrete than a line, a color, or a plane. The Swiss artist Max Bill, stated that “the aim of concrete art is to create in a visible and tangible form, things which did not previously exist…to express abstract thoughts in a sensuous and tangible form.”
Using these two ideas about concrete art together with my personal statement as an artist, my explorations in the project “Y..los” find a suitable arena to materialize onto concreteness.
In this installation I play with the preconceived notions of space and form. In the case of this project, the space to consider and refer to is the actual Gallery space, where the photographs are to be displayed. Another space is the one resulting from the reduction of the ‘experience’ (line drawings), which takes the form of pictures in this case. This referential space speaks about time, process and material in a more lyrical way. The objects, a series of photographs, together with the residues of charcoal along the border of the walls, are the only elements left as proof of a previous happening. They become the concrete and tangible form of an abstract idea.
JULY-SEPTEMBER 2007
Y LOS.....
EFREN CANDELARIA
Born 1980 San Juan, Puerto Rico
Currently lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Education
2003 B.F.A. (Painting and Art History), University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
Minors in Literature, Art History and Sculpture
1999 Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico
1998 High School, Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico
Solo Exhibits
2007 "Y-los" , The Storehouse Group / La Casa del Arte. San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2005 “En-Transito”, Galeria Tamara, San Juan, P.R.
2003 Easel Riders Exhibit, The Annex, Coral Gables, FL.
2001 “One Night Stand”, solo exhibit, Sculpture and Ceramics Bldg., Coral Gables, FL
Group Exhibits
2007. SCOPE New York. The International Contemporary Art Fair, New York. USA.
2007. ART LOS ANGELES. The New Los Angeles International Contemporary Art
Fair. Los Angeles, California. USA.
2005 “Omni Art”, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, FL.
2005 -“Hollywood All-Media Juried Biennial”, Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Hollywood, FL
2004 -“Wired 2”, Art Plus Gallery, Coral Gables, FL
-“Omni Art”, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, FL
-“Stay Tuned: Hypnotic videos by Contemporary Artist”, The Studio, Armonk, NY
2003 - B.F.A Exhibit, Wesley Foundation, Coral Gables, FL
2002 - “Group Show”, Alfredo Triff Curator and Critic (New Times), Miami FL,
- Annual Juried Exhibition, Miami Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables FL,
- “Import Miami”, Exhibicion en la Biblioteca Carneggie, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- Galerias Prinardi, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.
2001 - Annual Juried Exhibition, Miami Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, FL
1999 - Annual Juried Exhibition, Miami Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, FL
Selected Collections
2004 Freedman’s Private Collection, Croton-Harmon, N.Y.
2003 Gutierrez-Rovira Private Collection, Rio Grande, P.R.
2002 Stincer Family’s Private Collection, Coral Gables, FL
Schumacker’s Collection, Coral Gables, FL
Dillon-Helleren Family’s Private Collection, Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Publications
2006 Arte Latinoamericano, September 2006.
2004 “Taking In Videos (And Feeling Faint)”, New York Times (23 May 2004)
2000 “En Rojo”, Suplemento Cultural, Periodico Claridad, (June 2001).
Distinctions
2003 Mention, Sixth Annual UM Undergraduate Research Day, Coral Gables FL.
2002 Solo Exhibition, Sculpture and Ceramics Bldg., Coral Gables, FL.
Honorable Mention, Annual Juried Exhibition, Miami Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, FL
Scholarships and Awards
2004 Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, (Rigoberto Quintana), San Juan, PR.
2000-99 Universidad de Puerto Rico, Full Tuition Sport Scholarship
2002-2003 University of Miami Art and Art History Departmental Scholarship