The Ros Report 2024

May your 2025 be an incredibly happy, healthy, and productive year! 2024 was a milestone year for my artistic career, and I greatly appreciate all the support I received. I exhibited my artwork in multiple venues. Rewarding activities and accomplishments filled the year.

James Baldwin Welcome Table 2024 Public Sculpture

I created the James Baldwin Welcome Table in 2024, commissioned by Ray Pultinas, director of the James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center. Placed in James Baldwin Plaza on the campus of DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, Baldwin’s alma mater, this sculptural table honors the American writer and civil rights activist on his 100th birthday. The wood to construct the sculpture came from a downed 100-year-old oak tree on the site. The inspiration came from the many gatherings around a table in Baldwin’s home in France while he was in self-imposed exile. This was his way of bringing people together. Inscribed in the table are words and thoughts by the famed author that have inspired people throughout the years.

Photo – school group presentation.

SKYWIDE, a solo multi-mobile sculpture installation

The beginning of 2024 has been a whirlwind of activity, starting off with an invitation to create an art installation at Lehman College Art Gallery in the Bronx, New York. The wonderful curatorial team of Bart Bland, Deborah Yasinsky, and Sarah Alvira made it an amazing experience to put together SKYWIDE in the Gallery Rotonda. SKYWIDE is a collection of mobiles, prints, sculptures, and wall prints. The walls are painted in turquoise, and the center column is salmon, both covered with wall prints. The exhibition ran from February 7 to May 4, 2024.

SKYSOUL, a solo multi-mobile sculpture installation

The Sugar Hill Museum of Art in New York City exhibited SKYSOUL, a solo multi-mobile sculpture installation that fills the skylight gallery of the museum. This artwork consists of original printed mobile sculptures and floor vinyl artwork. The project includes a full-color catalog with an essay by the art historian Tatiana Reinoza. The exhibition originally ran from September 9, 2023, to February 18, 2024, and was extended to August 18, 2024.

Nature’s Echo 2023, a mural at Inwood Hill Park

I received a grant in 2024 from the New York State Council on the Arts that enabled me to create murals in uptown Manhattan in 2025.

Nature’s Echo is a mural at Inwood Park, in Manhattan, near the Isham Avenue entrance to the park. It is part of the of the Shared Dialogue, Shared Space Project with the Korea Art Forum. The concept for this artwork is the human impact on the environment, represented by a colorful abstract background with superimposed silhouettes of animals that are now absent from our world. There was a community engagement component where the public painted stencils of native flowers of New York onto the mural.

IFPDA Print Fair 2024

I participated in the International Fine Print Dealers Associations (IFPDA) Print Fair at the Park Avenue Armory, New York City, from February 15 to 18, 2024, as part of the Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA (DYPG) printmakers collective. This opportunity came to fruition through the herculean efforts of founding DYPG members Luanda Lozano and myself. The print fair was a great success, with many visitors and sales.

Art On Paper

I had a great showing of my mobiles and sculptures at the Art On Paper fair with the artist collective ArteLatAm at Pier 36 in New York City in September 2024.

Freedom’s Realm 2024

Over the summer, I participated in The Golden Colonel, an exhibition by the Flux Factory, on Governor’s Island, NY. The show, on the theme of exploring growth and creativity, was curated by Heather Kapplow and Itala Aguilera.

Flying Angels 2023

I was part of the members exhibition of the Society of American Graphic Artists on Governor’s Island, NY

Enter the Dragon 2024

Enter the Dragon (2024), a Repróllage artwork celebrating the Chinese New Year, is composed of prints made by community printmaking workshops held in New York City parks as part of the Shared Dialogue, Shared Space Project with the Korea Art Forum. The artwork was featured in the ultimate exhibition at the Storefront for Ideas in Chinatown, New York City, from February 7 to April 5, 2024.

Libre Mente, 2022, screen print, 12 x 18 inches

The inspiration for the print Libre Mente comes from the key word “freedom” in Agatha Jamine Brooks’ poem “The Woman I Am”. I thought about a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, “the Vitruvian Man,” based on an earlier drawing by the Roman architect Vitruvius, which illustrates a divine connection between the human form and the universe. Leonardo da Vinci's drawing shows a male figure perfectly inscribed within a circle and a square, with arms and legs drawn in two positions. The circle represents the infinite, the divine, and the square represents the material world.

To this idea I have added an expanded inverse triangle, symbolizing the dimension of the mind, the imagination, and the ability to transcend. Within the triangle, the figure now has outstretched wings, with additional legs and uplifted arms holding wands. One hand holds the X, and the other holds the Y, representing human chromosomes. A spark in between them forms a mysterious Z.

Libre Mente was displayed in 2024 as part of the Body + Identity exhibition that was mounted by NYLAAT at Governor’s Island, NY, at the Cultura Dominicana del Exterior, NY, and the Centro Cultural Banreservas, Santo Domingo, DR. This exhibition will travel on to the IDB Staff Association Art Gallery in Washington, DC, in 2025.

Golden Spark 2024

The print, Golden Spark, is part of the Greenward! portfolio at the Manhattan Graphics Center.

Homeboy, 2023. Printed Sculpture

Contributed to the Artistry in Service exhibition at the Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, NY

She Angel, 2018, Printed Sculpture

I participated in the annual Caribbean Fine Art Fair (CaFA), Grand Salle Gallery, in Barbados with several of my printed sculptures in March 2023 and 2024. The art fair is curated by Anderson Pilgrim.

Nation of Graffiti Artists (NOGA) Book, 2nd Edition, 2023

The second edition of Nation of Graffiti Artists (NOGA) was published in 2023 with added photographs and text. The book was written by Chris Pape, with photographs by Michael Lawrence, and published by Beyond the Streets. Some of my photographs are included as well. I started out as a graffiti artist, writing as SAL 161. I eventually joined NOGA, the Nation of Graffiti Artists, an artist's workshop located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It was the vision of Jack Pelsinger, who wanted an art studio where teens could develop their interests in the arts. I created some of my first artworks on canvas there. The book was reviewed by Brooklyn Street Art.

SAL-161 piece on the Broadway Line 1973

One of my old subway pieces is in the new book Gordon Matta-Clark: NYC Graffiti Archive 1972/73 (published in 2024), written by Carlo McCormick, Caleb Neelon, and Chris Pape, published by Beyond the Streets, a Roger Gastman Production. The SAL-161 piece was composed of alternating green and white letters with a chrome cloud.

These two books are available at https://beyondthestreets.com/

Metropolitan Museum of Art sales of DYPG portfolios

In fantastic news for 2024, an initiative by founding DYPG members Luanda Lozano and I made the sale of the Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA (DYPG) print portfolios to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum acquired the complete collection of the portfolios Manifestaciones, Here & There, Comunidad/Community, and Uptown Print Project.

Deriva/Adrift, a print portfolio by the artist collective ArteLatAm, composed of six artists from Latin America and the Caribbean, was collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This portfolio of black and white prints addresses the immigrant experience in the U.S. It consists of three prints by each of the six artists, a total of 18 prints in the portfolio.

New York Artists & Their Art, A Moses Ros film

My film New York Artists & Their Art was featured in the exhibition Hip Hop 101, at Wallworks New York, Bronx, NY, from July 8 to August 26, 2024.

This film was created in the Autumn of 1981. I conducted a series of interviews with six visual writers in the green room of the Winter Garden Theater in New York. The artists were interviewed before going on stage to paint the background wall as the Twyla Tharp Dancers performed Deuce Coupe. These artists were Crash, Daze, Dondi, Haze, Lady Pink, and Zephyr. The scenes are interlaced with subway trains, a mural by LEE, and the creation of a spray paint piece by SAL 161.

“El Reggaeton Del Bachatero”, Etching aquatint print with Chine Colle

Manifestaciones, the DYPG print portfolio that is part of the traveling exhibition ¡Printing the Revolution! was shown at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 28 to September 29, 2024.

Since its inception in 2020 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC., the exhibition went on to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, in 2022 and the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, NH, in 2023.

I had an interesting interview by Nicolas Dumit of The Interior Beauty Salon on view at https://www.interiorbeautysalon.com/voices

Black Power Fist for Carlos Cooks, 2013, 13”x9”, Silk screen print on wood

¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States is the first exhibition for the American Latino Museum. It is presented at the National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C. Included in this groundbreaking exhibition is the artwork Black Power Fist for Carlos Cooks, a homage to the black activist of Dominican descent. This exhibition has been extended, and the artwork is part of the museum’s collection.

2025 Preview

In the Spring of 2025, the exhibition, Impresiones Dinámicas / Dynamic Impressions will be on display at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas, as part of the Southern Graphics Council International Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This exhibition will feature three-dimensional prints encompassing both the cut-out and sculptural elements by the artist printmakers Luanda Lozano and me.

I was awarded an Artist-In-Residency at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. I will have a studio to work in and conduct workshops and lectures this spring and summer. The residency will culminate with an exhibition of my artwork in the Autumn of 2025.