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Juan Sánchez: Printed Convictions
May 13 to September 17, 2000
Por pedazos, entre huesos, entre aire, un laberinto mágico diluye la distancia y nos une...
In pieces, within bones, through the air, a magical labyrinth dissolves the distance and unites us......Juan Sánchez
Printmaking has a long and illustrious history in Latin America. The work of Mexico's José Guadalupe Posada* and Leopoldo Mendez's famous Taller de Gráfica Popular* greatly influenced Latino graphic arts, including the artistic development of printmakers in Puerto Rico. In fact, Lorenzo Homar (considered the "father" of indigenous Puerto Rican printmaking) studied with Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, and also came into contact with the Taller. Renowned second generation Puerto Rican printmakers, such as Rafael Tufiño and Antonio Maldonado, also studied in Mexico City during the 1950s. It was the civil rights movement in the United States of the late 1960s and 1970s, however, which generated a U.S. Latino artistic renaissance that united Chicano and Nuyorican* printmakers. Resisting their treatment as second-class citizens, Chicanos and Puerto Ricans pressed for social, economic, and political self-determination and cultural affirmation. In both movements, artists were at the forefront of activism.
One of the foremost Nuyorican artists to arise from this seminal period was Juan Sánchez. Born in Brooklyn, Sánchez's interest in art started at a very early age, and was nourished by his Puerto Rican parents. As a high school student he became involved with the Young Lords Party * and began a life-long exploration of Nuyorican identity and commitment to the cause of Puerto Rican independence. Initially focused on photography, Sánchez was also an accomplished painter when he embarked on his career as a printmaker in 1986.
Printed Convictions, organized by the Jersey City Museum, spans Sánchez's fifteen-year printmaking career. Also included in the exhibit is a multimedia site-specific installation entitled Rican/struction: Multi-layered Impressions. Beginning with Sánchez's early etchings and lithographs, the exhibition traces his artistic development as a printmaker, exploring the seamless juncture of artistic techniques and cultural influences that characterize his prints. Utilizing various media, including painting, lithography, and photography, Sánchez's prints reflect a complex and multilayered Puerto Rican heritage filtered through an American-lived experience. In his art, Taino* glyphs, African-derived spirituality, Spanish Catholicism, and American urban popular culture meld into powerful visual statements that are at once personal, political, and culturally affirming.
-- Tere Romo, Curator of Exhibitions
Glossary of terms: * José Guadalupe Posada: Turn of the century Mexican graphic artist renowned for his satirical caricatures and illustrations of current events and catastrophes. Taller de Gráfica Popular: Influential Mexican printmaking workshop organized by Leopoldo Méndez, which operated as an artist collective focused on social issues. Nuyorican: Puerto Ricans living in New York City. Young Lords Party: Counterparts to the Black Panthers and Brown Berets. Taino: Indigenous people of Puerto Rico before Spanish occupation.
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