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Curtis Talwst Santiago
Frida's Entry into Iguala. Image courtesy of the artist
Installation view: Curtis Talwst Santiago, Infinity Series; Titus Kaphar, Forced out of Frame; and Winter Count, We are in Crisis, Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, Virginia, 2018. Photo: Terry Brown
We Gon' Be Alright. Image courtesy of the artist
The Execution of Unarmed Blacks. Image courtesy of the artist
Curtis Talwst Santiago
INFINITY SERIES
Curtis Talwst Santiago’s ongoing Infinity Series (2008–2018) consists of intricate dioramas within reclaimed jewelry boxes. Each tiny scene combines representations of catastrophic events with references to popular culture and art history. They memorialize contemporary tragedies, asking us to look closely and consider how tragedy can catalyze change, revolt, and tireless demands for justice.
Frida’s Entry into Iguala is based on the 2014 mass kidnapping of Mexican school boys in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. Its references include images from protests designed to draw attention to the missing students, as well as the composition of James Ensor’s painting Christ’s Entry Into Brussels in 1889 (1888), which depicts Christ entering that city in a Mardi Gras parade.
The Execution of Unarmed Blacks references the murder of Michael Brown Jr. (1996–2014) at the hands of officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, and takes its composition from Francisco Goya’s 1808 painting The Third of May. Be Alright and We Gon’ Be Alright are inspired by the mass protests following the death of Freddie Gray (1989–2015) in Baltimore, Maryland. These two events and countless other killings have informed the Black Lives Matter Movement for which Brown’s alleged last words—“hands up, don’t shoot”—and Kendrick Lamar’s song “Alright” (2015) have become iconic symbols of resistance.
The Deluge works memorialize those affected by the Syrian refugee crisis. As of December 2017, roughly 13.1 million Syrian citizens are in need of humanitarian assistance; 5.4 million have been displaced. These three works are Informed by images from the historical canon of shipwreck paintings such as Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of Medusa (1818–19) as well as media images of Syrian refugees trying to reach Europe by sea. The works on view continue Santiago’s exploration of ancestral memory and contemporary diasporic experience.
ON VIEW
Frida’s Entry into Iguala, 2015
Collection of Pamela K. and William A. Royall Jr., Richmond, Virginia
The Execution of Unarmed Blacks, 2015
Collection of Ebony Patterson, Lexington, Kentucky
We Gon’ Be Alright, 2016
Collection of Tracey and Phillip Riese, New York
Be Alright, 2016
Courtesy of the artist and Liz Dimmitt, Brooklyn, New York
Deluge, 2015
Collection of Dr. Kenneth Montague, The Wedge Collection, Toronto
Deluge II, 2015
Collection of Tracey and Phillip Riese, New York
Deluge III, 2015
Collection of Tracey and Phillip Riese, New York
All works: mixed media diorama in reclaimed jewelry boxes
LOCATION
Gallery 3
“This moment will only mean something to me if it’s a true catalyst and commitment to change. A commitment to rethinking how our society and America treats its people, all its people.” —Curtis Talwst Santiago
WHAT MOTIVATES YOU AS AN ARTIST?
The complexity and simplicity of life that we all experience. Finding a way to filter that through my lens and push back into the world a language that I feel reflects my opinions and understandings of the human condition. The journey to make the translation of these feelings as truthful and concise as I can is what motivates me.
Born 1979, Edmonton, Canada; Lives in Brooklyn, New York
Santiago received his BFA in Drawing and Painting from New York Studio School and completed an apprenticeship with Aboriginal artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun in Vancouver. Select solo exhibitions: Rachel Uffner Gallery (2018); Gallery Momo in Johannesburg South Africa (2017); Kenderdine Gallery at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon (2017); Rachel Uffner Gallery in New York (2016); iAPM Exhibition in Shanghai, China (2016); and the Art Gallery of Mississauga in Toronto, Ontario (2015). Select group exhibitions: The University of Connecticut (2016); Savannah College of Art and Design (2016); The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2015); and the Art Gallery of Ontario (2015). Collections include: Studio Museum, Harlem. Select awards: Ontario Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant (2014), Scion Artist Session Grant (2010), and CBC Galaxy Rising Star Grant (2003).