Aquí y allá
Arnaldo Roche Rabell
An item at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
In Aquí y allá (here and there), a group of figures appear to struggle with one another on a boat within the dark expanse of Lake Michigan. Behind them, Chicago's skyline glimmers with electric light. To paint these figures, Roche applied his innovative technique in which he placed a paint-covered canvas over a model's body and vigorously rubbed the resulting contours. Of his process, Roche said, "my intention is to touch people in an emotional and in a physical way. I put them under the canvas or paper, and I trace them with my hands, just as I find them." Shaped equally by performance and printmaking, this transfer technique might also evoke Roche's experience of moving between Chicago and Puerto Rico, or as the title of the painting suggests, aquí y alla.
entre horizontes: ART AND ACTIVISM BETWEEN CHICAGO AND PUERTO RICO
An exhibit at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
entre horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico examines the artistic and social justice histories that connect Puerto Rico with Chicago. Featuring works by an intergenerational group of artists with ties to Chicago, the exhibition highlights Puerto Rican artists who address social and political issues through their work, including painters who use printmaking techniques and approaches. The exhibition also centers Chicago as a city that for decades. has championed conversations on Puerto Rican self-determination. Accompanying the artwork on view is a selection of archival materials documenting social movements and community organizations that have advocated for the rights of underrepresented Latine communities. Through historic photographs and ephemera, the exhibition documents stories of anticolonial resistance and transcultural solidarities in Puerto Rican Chicago. The title of the exhibition, entre horizontes (between horizons), draws on another point of connection between these two places. While geographically distinct, the horizon lines over the waters of Lake Michigan and the Caribbean appear as sites of memory and longing to many Puerto Rican Chicagoans. By bridging these two horizons, the exhibition traces correspondences across not only visual art and social justice but also place and identity. entre horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico is curated by Carla Acevedo-Yates, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator, with Iris Colburn, Curatorial Associate. The exhibition is designed by SKETCH | Johann Wolfschoon, Panamá.