(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)January 19, 2018

MAHWAH, N.J. — On Wednesday, January 31, in the Kresge Gallery of the Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts, the exhibition amillionlittlepieces by David Antonio Cruz opens to the public. There will be an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. with an artist’s talk at 6 p.m. The exhibition continues through March 2.

David Antonio Cruz is an interdisciplinary New York-based artist who is receiving increasing critical acclaim for his painting, video, and performance work. The exhibition at Ramapo features striking psychological figure paintings, as well as other media including performance-related objects.

Cruz offers the following statement about his work:

“I explore the nuances of genderqueerness, race, and public and private spaces, and the invisibility of the brown/black body through the use of portraiture and opera-like performances. I draw from queer discourse and texts, and the politicization of the brown/black male body.

I’m interested in interjecting the portraiture canon with brown and black bodies to further complicate heteronormative perception of male identity, the male to male gaze, and the intersectionality of gender fluid and queer bodies that are not often discussed or represented in history, and marginalized in our society.”

David Antonio Cruz was born in Philadelphia, and received a BFA in Painting at Pratt Institute and an MFA from Yale University. He attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and completed the AIM Program at the Bronx Museum in 2006. Recent residencies include the LMCC Workspace and Project for an Empty Space’s Social Impact Residency. Notable group exhibitions include Museo del Barrio, BRIC, Performa 13, and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. He was awarded fellowships with the Franklin Furnace Fund Award and the Urban Artist Initiative Award. Recently he produced and performed How to Order a Chocolate Cake at BRIC and on The High Line Park, and his operatic performance Greenhowiwantyougreen at the Whim Plantation and Estate in St. Croix, and the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico in San Juan. Recent press includes The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bomb magazine, and El Centro Journal.

Currently Cruz is participating in the Queer Arts Mentorship/Fellowship Program.

On Wednesday, February 21, at 7 p.m. in the York Room of the Birch Mansion, Cruz and other performers will present Green,howiwantyougreen, a performance work based on the last eleven poems, Sonnets of Dark Love, by the Spanish poet Garcia Lorca. The poems are fused with personal narratives and text from Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour and Oscar Wilde by Leslie and Sewell Stokes, both written around the time of Lorca’s assassination. The multilingual performance clashes high art against queer slang, playing with language, music and double entendres particular to Latino and black underground gay culture. The music is composed by Daniel de Jesus based on the last poems.  To RSVP for this free performance, call the Berrie Center Box Office at 201-684-7844.

This project is supported in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Pascal Gallery is located in the Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts on the Ramapo College campus.  Gallery hours are Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from 1 to 7 p.m.

For more information, please contact Sydney Jenkins at 201-684-7147.

 

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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