PATTERNS OF RESISTANCE

Country:

United States

City:

Categories:

Exhibition

Date:

Friday, 25 September 2015 to Saturday, 16 January 2016

Opening:

Friday, 25 September 2015 - 6:00pm to 8:00pm

UMOCA Presents 2015 Doctorow Prizewinner, Firelei Báez

STREET GALLERY: SEP 25 - JAN 16

OPENING RECEPTION: SEP 25 | 7-9 PM
ART TALK: SEP 24 | 7 PM

Salt Lake City, UT -The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) is thrilled to present the winner of the 2015 Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting, Firelei Báez, for her solo exhibition, Patterns of Resistance.

Tracing the history of social movements in the United States and the Caribbean, Patterns of Resistance presents a series of new works by Báez that are inspired by lineages of black resistance.

Best known for her intricate, large-scale works on paper, Báez makes connections that further our understandings of the African diaspora, the global communities, identities, and experiences that have developed from the movement of peoples from Africa to other parts of the world. Here, Báez interweaves the lives of 18^th-century black women in Louisiana and the Cuban roots of the Latin Americanazabache with symbols used in the U.S. during the tumultuous 1960s, such as the panther or the raised fist.

In Patterns of Resistance, Báez's paintings and drawings will fill the walls of UMOCA's Street Gallery with depictions of textiles, hair designs, and body ornaments, linking traditionally loaded symbols with individual human gestures. Báez's works are labor intensive, as her compositions reveal primarily female figures and their subjectivities through intricate layers of rich and mesmerizing colors.

Báez's act of merging past and potential histories illuminates obscured narratives of identity and presents counter-narratives to mainstream dialogues. By creating new emblems of power, Báez invokes disparate patterns of resistance within the African diaspora.

Join us for the opening reception on SEP 25 | 7 PM

Join us for light refreshments and a cash bar at the opening reception of Patterns of Resistance, as well as a chance to meet the artist.

In addition, Báez will present an art talk on SEP 24 | 7 PM

The artist will discuss the exhibition, which comprises a series of all new works, as well as her artistic process in UMOCA's Creer Auditorium.

Artist ( Description ):

Born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, Firelei Báez received a B.F.A. from The Cooper Union's School of Art in 2004, participated in The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2008, and later received an M.F.A. from Hunter College in 2010. She has held residencies at The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace, The Lower East Side Print Shop and The Bronx Museum's Artist in the Marketplace. Her recent exhibitions include Bloodlines at the Pérez Art Museum, Miami (forthcoming 2015); A Curious Blindness at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University (2015); and Concealed: Selections from The Permanent Collection, Studio Museum in Harlem, NY (2015). Baez's work has been written about in The New York Times,The LA Times, Artforum, Art in America, New American Paintings, The Huffington Post and Studio Museum Magazine. In addition, she was a recipient of the prestigious Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Award as well as the Jacque and Natasha Gelman Award in Painting.

Other Info:

About the Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting

UMOCA and the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation give out this prize every two years to an emerging or mid-career painter whose work expresses a great range of talent and forward thinking within a contemporary idiom. The prize is named in honor of Catherine Doctorow, a prolific painter in the 1950s and 1960s.

The prize includes a cash award of $15,000 and a solo exhibition at UMOCA. The winner is selected by a jury of art experts, who looked at nominations submitted by leading curators, critics, gallerists, historians and teachers from all over the country.

About the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art

The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art has been an award-winning aesthetic force and community leader since it was established in 1931. Located in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, UMOCA encourages exploration into what it means to exist in today's world through art that inspires imagination, stimulates thought, and transforms society. The Museum connects people around the contemporary art practice of Utah and beyond to shape an engaged and thoughtful global citizenry. UMOCA strives to be a place where all points of view, experiences, and ages feel welcome to explore the pressing issues of our time through socially relevant art exhibitions and programming.

UMOCA is a four-time recipient of funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation and is a 2015 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts' Art Works grant award.

UMOCA is a 501c3 institution that is supported by public, foundation, and corporate gifts. Please consider a gift to UMOCA today.

Venue ( Address ):

Utah Museum of Contemporary Art | 20 South West Temple | Salt Lake City | UT | 84101

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