Ros Report 2018
Highlighted Artworks
May your 2019 be an incredibly happy, healthy, and productive year! 2018 was a cornerstone year for my artistic career. Appreciate all the support I received. I was able to have exhibited my art in multiple venues. The year was filled with rewarding activity and accomplishments.
The Bronx Museum hosted a solo sculpture exhibition for five months. The title was Landing/Aterrizaje, inspired by recent migrations to the United States caused by environmental and man-made disasters and catastrophes that have wrenched people away from their homelands. In this new body of works, I focused on the Caribbean experience, creating large, freestanding sculptures based on a main staple and export of the
islands, the platano (plantain banana).
Using cut-out, plywood sheets to form a type of DIY “assembly kit” of the work, the large-scale, painted winged forms, along with the post-cut template panels that once held them are juxtaposed within the space. Set against the terrace walls and surrounding the composited sculptures, the now empty forms of the template panels are reclassified and labelled with the underlying socio-political reasons behind the mass migrations.
I was selected for several public art commissions. The first of which was Unity Bridge. Unity Bridge is an original public sculpture created for Starlight Park, commemorating the Bronx International Exposition of Arts and Science that took place in 1918. Bridge 2 Unity is inspired by the idea of bringing the members of the surrounding community together to celebrate their cultural and artistic expression. I used the base support structure of the East 174th Street bridge as a catalyst for this work of art. This bridge, which crosses the Bronx River, is a main element in Starlight Park.
The sculpture is composed of a painted 9 foot tall archway with ceramic artworks on display inside. The ceramics displayed are from the Bronx River Art Center community workshops. Viewed from afar, the sculpture has majestic presence and attracts community interaction and contemplation.
The second commission was Paradise Trail. Paradise Trail is a site-specific artwork using colorful flags, set on flagpoles, to guide the public through Concrete Plant Park and to serve as emblems of community identity.
The colorful flags are designed with input from the community and created using stencils and spray paint. The images are a combination of nature and activities in the park.
Paradise Trail promotes walking as a healthy activity between the entrances at Westchester Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard in the Bronx. The flags reinforce the visual attractiveness of the park, celebrate the river and the Foodway, and highlight the community’s diversity and historical heritage.
This was a commission to celebrate hispanic heritage month at the Queens atrium. It was mobiles of three figures based pre-columbian culture. These three figures danced around in the atrium space, in a joyful fashion.
In November I was invited to participate in several group exhibitions in Cuenca, Ecuador in three separate events: an installation for the Biennial Nomade at the former Hospital Antiguo, a performance for the XIV Bienal de Cuenca at the Museo de Arte Moderno and I also participated with mobiles at the “Sdcphmrm” exhibition at the Galeria Larrazabal in San Sebastian.
I also participated with public art in Sidewalk of the Americas Inter-American Bank, at both Washington, DC and Mendoza, Argentina.
Other group exhibitions I participated in were the Bronx Now! With three mobiles and River Rising/Sube el Rio, with the model for Unity Bridge at the Bronx River Art Center Bronx, New York.
I was also invited to contribute to a print portfolio by master printer Rene Arceo in Water/Agua: collective portfolio print publication in Chicago, Illinois. I participate with the chine-collé Supernaturalmente.
I was participating with DYPG as a co-founder in two exhibitions: one titled “Intersecting Trajectories” at Rush Art Gallery and “Uptown Prints 2” at Manhattan Graphic Center, both in New York City. I was also involved with the organization Urban Arts Cooperative to promote underserved artists in New York City.
If you are interested, you can check out my most recent press mentions in the following links:
Reviews:
Diario El Mercurio, ‘Nueve artistas latinoamericanos en ARTELATAM’ 25 Octubre, 2018. Retrieved from https://ww2.elmercurio.com.ec/2018/10/25/nueve-artistas-latinoamericanos-en-artelatam/
Tatiana Reinoza, ‘The Island Within The Island: Remapping Dominican York.’ Archives of American Art Journal, Smithsonian, Fall 2018
Websites:
Listings:
Daily News, Artists say it’s ‘Bronx Now’, July 11, 2018
Gothamist, BRONX NOW, A Biennial Showcase Of Bronx Artists, July 13, 2018
Pratt New, Pratt Outdoors: A Summer Celebration of Outdoor Works, June 29, 2018
Editor’s pick, Norwood News, Moses Ros: Landing/Aterrizaje, May 24, 2018
Your interest in my work is greatly appreciated, and, as always, best wishes for the year ahead!
Moses Ros
mosesros.com
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