LC Meridian

Issue date: 11/5/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Quisqueya Henriquez Jugando Con la Adversidad [Playing With Adversity]. 2001

Did you know that automobile bumpers are painted in the Dominican Republic? "Bumpers," an abstract contemporary sculpture is among the provocative pieces that were displayed in "Quisqueya Henriquez: The World Outside." The art exhibition is currently on view at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.

"Quisqueya Henriquez's works were chosen as it continues a long line of exhibitions organized by the museum to give attention to important artists during critical junctures in their careers," said Holly Block, executive director of the Bronx Museum of the Arts.

Her first name, Quisqueya, is an indigenous name given to Santo Domingo. Henriquez was born in Havana, Cuba in 1966 and moved to the Dominican Republic at age seven. She attended Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, and currently lives in Santo Domingo. In 1986, she attended Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, graduating in 1992. The recipient of several fellowships and awards, Henriquez's solo and group exhibitions have been shown in several countries such as Spain, Colombia, Mexico and Canada.

Forty-one year old Henriquez uses video presentations, photographs, collages, sculptures, and other art forms that reflect fantasies based on day-to-day realities. Museum visitor Gene Hamond, a 62-year-old semi-retired city worker, said that Henriquez's art exhibition reminded him of Beatrice Coron's "The Secret Life of Cities," which is currently on display at the Lehman Art Gallery. Popular sports items like soccer balls are distorted into interesting sculptures in the piece "Playing with Adversity." While her emphasis is on Caribbean cultures, her themes are universal.

"What I like is she takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary," said Camille Wanliss, spokesperson for the Bronx Museum of the Arts.

In a sculpture called "Pesas Caseras," (Homemade Weights) an iron bar is cemented into flowerpots at both ends of the bar and is being used as weights by her Dominican neighbor. Her sculpture is made of cement, pigments, and iron. In "Caribbean Seawater Ice Cream," there is blue edible ice cream and in "Frozen Clothes" there are photographs of clothes. Both pieces poke fun of the stereotype that hot countries have hot-tempered citizens. Henriquez also videotaped her Dominican neighborhood for three years in a piece titled, "El Mundo de Afuera" (The World Outside). This became the subject of a forty-six minute presentation in which a gutter with water becomes, to our eyes, a creek during a rainfall.

"Quisqueya Henriquez: The World Outside" is a perfect getaway in the Bronx. The exhibition is a journey through Caribbean life and is suitable for all ethnicities and age groups.

"Quisqueya Henriquez: The World Outside," runs through January 27, 2008. For more information, visit: www.bronxmuseum.org or call 718-681-6000.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools