For immediate release: August 10, 1999

PEPÓN OSORIO
LAS TWINES & FEAR AND DENIAL

SEPTEMBER 14 – OCTOBER 9

Pepón Osorio: 1999 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Recipient

Pepón Osorio will exhibit two new works, Las Twines and Fear and Denial, at the Feldman Gallery. Las Twines (Spanish slang for "Twin Girls") confronts the issue of racism within the Latino community. The elaborate video installation resembles a glass house or labyrinth of mirrors. Sculptural figures of two young girls, with different skin color and hair texture, travel recklessly through the space in a lavishly ornamented car, seeking their father. First shown in a South Bronx storefront, where it was created in collaboration with that community, the installation was also exhibited at Hostos Community College Art Gallery in 1998.

Fear and Denial, 1997, consists of two giant stuffed cats, linked by a chain, that occupy the surface of a dining room table - a visual metaphor for the power of that which is not acknowledged.

One of the foremost installation artists working today, Pepón Osorio takes as his subject El Barrio (The Neighborhood) and addresses social issues central to Latino culture. Combining multi-media technology with an overload of surface decoration, Osorio constructs elaborate theatrical environments that are visually and emotionally powerful. Collaborating with the community on many levels, Osorio first exhibits his work in the neighborhood, creating a dynamic dialogue between the disenfranchised community and established art institutions.

Dan Cameron, senior curator of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, identifies Osorio as an artist who transcends all cultural limitations. He writes that his work stems "not from political issues per se but from the rawness of human expression at the heart of all identity-driven debates."

A recipient of the prestigious Alpert Award in the Arts in 1999, Osorio’s recent one-person exhibitions include Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela, and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain. Group exhibitions include To The Rescue: Eight Artists in an Archive, International Center of Photography, NY, 1999, and the Johannesburg and Cuban Biennials in 1997. Major installations include Badge of Honor, based on a video dialogue between a son and his imprisoned father, exhibited at the Feldman Gallery in 1995, and Scene of the Crime (Whose Crime?), an exploration of media stereotypes, exhibited in the 1993 Whitney Museum Biennial.

Transboricua, recently exhibited at Youngworld Children’s Department Store in East Harlem, will be on view concurrently at the Museo del Barrio from September 23, 1999 to January 9, 2000.

There will be an opening reception at the Feldman Gallery on September 14, from 6 – 8. Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 – 6. Monday by appointment. For information, contact Breck Hostetter (212) 266-3232 or breck@feldmangallery.com.

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