Sensei Gallery -UNTITLED ART FAIR
January 5, 2014
In this new series of ceramic pieces, I chose to work with bone china for its history of trade between Europe – Asia and its value as a commodity. Bone China is separate from all the other porcelain for its whiteness and translucency. In altering the clay “body” through inserting pigment directly to the clay I’m changing its chemical composition (DNA). By adding color and taking away its pureness “whiteness” it challenges the historical expectation placed on the medium traditionally and market value. The clay body becomes a substitute for the female body to question skin color, tones, aging, and gender bias. The “Colored China Rags” emulates the subtle skin tones of a “Mulata, Irish lass, the pale alabaster of victorian heroines ” and formally explore space, light, and the darkness hidden in a complexity of folds. Hidden in the fold are the politic of skin tones “Colorism.”
Juana Valdes’ artwork is a multi-disciplinary practice that combines the process of printmaking, photography, sculpture and ceramic. It integrates the social-political discourse within the art object: to analyze relationships between contemporary and historical imagery, their connection to the social, political, and economical dominance of the cultures that produce them, and their impact on cultural memory. She addresses this from a Caribbean diasporic immigrant’s perspective and places it within the current post-racial American politics.
UNTITLED the international art fair hosting 97 exhibitors from 19 countries and presenting a dynamic program of performances, talks, conversations and artist projects and f or its second year under the direction of Artistic Director and Curator Omar Lopez-Chahoud, previewed its second edition Dec. 3-7, 2013 on South Beach,FL.