Wilfredo Chiesa WHITE

cover:

White No. 1 (La Serenissima) (detail)

2014

oil on canvas

96 x 72 inches

Wilfredo Chiesa White

December 2, 2014 – January 3, 2015

Alpha Gallery

37 Newbury Street

Boston, Ma 02116

617.536.4465

info@alphagallery.com

www.alphagallery.com

It is with great pleasure that Alpha Gallery presents our first exhibition

of paintings by Wilfredo Chiesa, the internationally recognized artist

who has made Boston his home since 1980. Known as a painter as

well as a printmaker and creator of artist books and public artworks,

Chiesa continues in his newest body of work a life-long interest in the

language of abstraction and, more recently, the hidden power of the

color white.

Paul Tucker’s statement reflects the ambiguities and contradictions

embodied by the color white. Many artists have said that white is the

most difficult color—unforgiving and reluctant to cooperate when it is

pulled out from the background and placed at the front of the stage.

Chiesa has deliberately placed white at the forefront, drawing out

subtle modulations as well as dramatic contrasts. There are passages

of vaporous brushwork as well as clearly defined geometric forms.

Other colors such as black or grey attempt to intrude, but the white

fights back. In White No. 4 (Halcyon), for example, a series of vertical,

horizontal and diagonal lines create an interplay between a grey shape

on the left and a predominantly white area on the right. The diagonal

edge of the grey shape – a trapezoid of sorts – while echoing a similar

White. What appears to be solid is ethereal. What inspires awe

engenders fear. What offers comfort also disturbs. Approach it

carefully.

– Paul Hayes Tucker

White

edge in the white area, is also in the process of being swallowed up by

white. Or is it the other way around? I am betting on the white.

White is sometimes considered to be the absence of color, just as

abstraction is the absence of objective form. Robert Ryman, an artist

well-known for his white paintings, has said “I never thought of white

as a color…White has a tendency to make other things visible.” Chiesa

adopts a similar attitude. In his paintings white makes us more aware

of elements such as texture, structure, light and yes, color.

Born in Puerto Rico, and classically trained at the Beaux-Arts style

School of the Plastic Arts of Puerto Rico, Chiesa grew increasingly

drawn to the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York. As a

young artist, he gained exposure to various avant-garde artists through

visits to New York (he moved there in 1979) and especially through his

friendship with the influential curator Henry Geldzahler. In 1977, Chiesa

represented Puerto Rico at the Sao Paulo Biennial and has since had

over 30 solo exhibitions throughout Europe, Latin America and the

U.S. His work is represented in the collections of numerous museums,

including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; El Museo del Barrio and

the Metropolitan Museum of Art, both in New York City; the Victo-

ria and Albert Museum, London and the Biblioteque Nationale, Paris,

among many others. Chiesa has been a Professor of Art at the Univer-

sity of Massachusetts Boston since 1980.

Joanna Fink

November 2014

White No. 1 (La Serenissima) 2014

oil on canvas

96 x 72 inches

White No. 3 2014

oil on canvas

66 x 66 inches

White No. 2 (Wanderlust) 2014

oil on canvas

72 x 96 inches

White No. 4 (Halcyon) 2014

oil on canvas

66 x 66 inches

Caesura 2012

oil on canvas

66 x 48 inches

Inscape 12 2014

oil on canvas

66 x 48 inches

Inscape 7 2014

oil on canvas

16 x 12 inches

Inscape 6 2014

oil on canvas

16 x 12 inches

Envoi #1 2014

oil on canvas

12 x 16 inches

Envoi #2 2014

oil on canvas

12 x 16 inches

Envoi #3 2014

oil on canvas

12 x 16 inches

Inscape 8 2014

oil on canvas

16 x 12 inches

Inscape 9 2014

oil on canvas

16 x 12 inches

Inscape 10 2014

oil on canvas

16 x 12 inches

Inscape 11 2014

oil on canvas

66 x 48 inches

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2014 Alpha Gallery, Boston2013 The Art Cabinet, Nantucket2011 Jeffrey Leder Gallery, Long Island City2008 Pierre Menard Gallery, Cambridge2006 Biaggi Faure Fine Arts, San Juan The Art Cabinet. Nantucket2005 Galerie Swanstrom, Boston The Art Cabinet, Nantucket Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Boston2004 Entre Estudio & Galería, Puebla, Mexico2002 Peter Findlay Gallery, New York City Galería Tamara, San Juan2001 Isole Gallery, Boston 1998 Peter Findlay Gallery, New York City Elite Gallery, Miami1997 Andrea Marquit Fine Arts, Boston1995 Elite Gallery, Miami1994 Andrea Marquit Fine Arts, Boston 1993 Elite Gallery, Miami1992 Andrea Marquit Fine Arts, Boston1991 Galería Rojo y Negro, Madrid, Spin Leonora Vega Gallery, San Juan1990 Andrea Marquit Fine Arts, Boston1988 Luigi Marrozzini Gallery, San Juan1986 Luigi Marrozzini Gallery, San Juan 1985 Galería Artconsult, Panama City, Panama1984 Ponce Museum of Art, Puerto Rico Museum of Modern Art, Bogota , Colombia1983 University of Massachusetts, Boston 1982 San Juan Art Student’s League Museo Rayo, Roldanillo, Colombia1979 Thorne’s Gallery, Northampton, Ma1978 Bell Book and Candle Gallery, San Juan Cayman Gallery, New York City1977 La Casa del Libro, San Juan

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2013 Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, PR, “Puerto Rico: Apertura al Paisaje| Feroz/Feraz”

2011 Obra Galería, San Juan, 10th Anniversary Art Cabinet at Sherbourne Hall, Nantucket2010 Museum of Contemporary Art, San Juan, “Careos/ Relevos” Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, “La Mirada del Tiempo” Pierre Menard Gallery, Cambridge, “Imagine it Thick in Your Own Hair” Milk Gallery, New York City, “Stoked on Spring” Jeffrey Leder Gallery, New York, Inaugural Exhibition Art Cabinet at Sherburne Hall, Nantucket, 16 Years of ACN2009 Art Chicago, Peter Findlay Gallery Aqua Art Fair, Miami, Pierre Menard Gallery2008 CIRCA PR, Space Other Gallery Art Chicago, Peter Findlay Gallery2007 Scope Miami, Space Other Gallery Peter Findlay Gallery at Art Chicago Art Cabinet Nantucket Summer Salon 2006 Biaggi & Faure, San Juan, “Maestros de la Abstracción”2005 Obra Galería, San Juan, “Maestros de la Pintura Puertorriqueña” LatinArte Latino, Dallas, Latin American Painters2002 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, “Latin America on Paper” Harbor Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts Boston, “Faculty Show”2000 Galería de Arte La Caja China, “La Música de la Caja”, Seville, Spain Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, “Tesoros de la Pintura Puertorriqueña” Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York, A Walk through the Paper Forest: Latino Prints and Drawings from El Museo del Bario 1997 Museo de Las Américas, San Juan, “Pequeño Formato” Galería Espacio, San Juan, “Portafolio de Dibujos” Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, “The Art of Diversity”

Curriculum Vitæ

1996 Art Museum of the Americas, Washington DC/ Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce/ Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, “Chiesa, Hernández Cruz, Irizarry, Suárez”1995 Galería Espacio, San Juan, “Espacio Cromático”1993 Elite Gallery, Miami, “Latin American Spectrum” Andrea Marquit Fine Arts, Boston, “Gallery Artists” Chase Manhattan Bank, San Juan, “Preferencia de Artistas” Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, “Creaciones en Papel”1992 Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York City, “Wilfredo Chiesa-Oscar Paez” Elite Gallery, Miami, “Latin American Spectrum” Museo de Las Américas, San Juan, “El Portafolio Gráfico en Puerto Rico”1990 Elite Gallery, Miami, “Latin American Spectrum” Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York City, “Latin-Art ‘90” Andrea Marquit Fine Arts, Boston, “The Reductive Image”1989 Norwegian International Print Triennale, Fredrikstad, Norway Boston Center for the Arts, “Above, Beyond and Within”1988 Istituto per la Cultura e l’Arte, Catania, Italia The Space Gallery, Boston Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, New York, “Abstract Visions”1986 International Biennial of Graphic Art, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia Museum of Modern Art of Latin America,, Washington DC/ Squibb Gallery, Princeton/ Museo de Historia, Antropologia y Arte, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, 1986 “Puerto Rican Painting: Between Past and Present” First International Painting Biennial, Cuenca, Ecuador1985 International Print Biennial, Fredrikstad, Noruega

1985 AARON Gallery, Washington DC, “First

Latin American Annual”

Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo,

“Bienal de Pintura”

Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico/

Museo del Barrio, New York City, “25

Años de Pintura Puertorriqueña”

José M. Lázaro Library, University of Puerto

Rico, “El Cartel Abstracto en Puerto Rico”

1984 The St. Paul Insurance Company, Minnesota,

“Latin American Art”

1983 La Caixa, Ibiza, España, “Objetos”

Museo del Arsenal, San Juan, “Congreso

de Artistas Abstractos”

Fourth Biennial of Contemporary Music,

San Juan

1982 The Chase Manhattan Bank, San Juan,

“Arte Actual”

Bank of Boston, Boston, “The Massachusetts

Banking Fine Arts Collection: Water”

Student’s Center Gallery, University of

Puerto Rico

Northeastern University, Boston, “Encuentros”

Bank of Boston, Boston, “Landscapes

Reinterpreted”

Prospect Park, Brooklyn, “Art Across the

Park”

1981 Sutton Gallery, New York City, “Paper

Assemblages”

Fourth Biennial of Art, Medellín, Colombia

Henry Street Settlement, New York City

Sutton Gallery, New York City, “One of Each”

1980 The Children’s Museum, Boston, “The Islands

Project”

Boston Center for the Arts

University of Massachusetts, Boston,

“Faculty Show”

1979 Fourth Biennial of Latin American Prints, San Juan

1979 Sunne Savage Gallery, Boston, “Gallery Artists”

University of Massachusetts, Boston,

“Faculty Show”

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS (cont.)

1978 Center for Inter-American Relations, New

York City

Boston Visual Artists Union, Boston, “Artist Books”1977 Sao Paulo Biennial, Brazil UNESCO, San Juan, Painting Annual 1974 Third Biennial of Latin American Prints, San Juan1973 Museo de Bellas Artes de Puerto Rico, San Juan, “Reyes, Chiesa, Bonilla”1971 Museo de Historia, Antropologia y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan, “Seis Artistas Jóvenes”

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Akus Gallery, Eastern Connecticut State University Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Harvard University Lowe Museum of Art, Miami University of Massachusetts, Boston The Boston Public Library The New York Public Library Princeton University The Library of Congress El Museo del Barrio, New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia Museo Rayo, Roldanillo, Colombia Museo Vial, Roldanillo, Colombia Museo de Arte de Medellín, Colombia Biennial of Medellín Collection, Colombia Museo de Arte Moderno, Sao Paulo, Brazil Victoria and Albert Museum, London Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris International Print Museum, Fredrikstad, Norway Istituto per la Culture e l´Arte, Catania, Italia Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico La Casa del Libro, San Juan Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, University of Puerto Rico

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS (cont.)

Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan Interamerican University, San Juan

PUBLIC ART AND COMMISSIONS

ALBUS. INDIGO. Two Large-scale Painting commissioned by Congress Group ventures for 33 Arch Street, Boston, 2004 RES IPSA LOQUITUR, Mural Painting, School of Law, University of Puerto Rico, 1988 BLANCO ESPAÑA, Large-scale Painting commissioned by The Massachusetts Institute of Spain, Madrid, 1987 LA ROSA NERA, Public Installation with Marcos Irizarry, Campo di Santa Margarita, Venice, Italy, 1984 AURORA, Large Scale Hand-Made Paper commissioned by The Bank of Boston, 1993 PUEBLO VIEJO, Billboard, Museo Vial, Museo Rayo, Roldanillo, Colombia, 1982 SALITRE, Public Installation, Prospect Park, New York City

ARTIST’S BOOKS VISIÓN APARENTE, Nine Intaglio Prints, Boston, 1988 TANGO, Seven Silkscreen Prints with Poems by Anthony Petrosky, Boston, 1982 RELATOS DE UN PAISAJE ASESINADO, Twelve Silkscreen Prints with Poems by Tomás López Ramírez and music of Rafael Aponte-Ledée, San Juan, 1976

DISTINCTIONS Artist In Residence, Boston Center for the Arts, 2003-2004 Member, Academy of Art, Ciencia e Historia de Puerto Rico Artist In Residence, The Artist Foundation, Boston, 1982 Fellow, The McDowell Colony, 1981

DISTINCTIONS (cont.)

Artist in Residence, Massachusetts Council for the Arts, 1980 First Honorary Prize, Painting, UNESCO, San Juan, 1977 Grant, Fondo de Becas para las Artes Plásticas, San Juan, 1976 Grant, Fundación Martínez-Cañas, San Juan, 1975opi First Prize, Print, United Federal Savings, San Juan, 1974 Honorary Prize, Print, Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, 1973 First Prize, 450th Anniversary of San Juan, Casa de España, San Juan, 1973

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Review Board, Drawing, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, 2004 Public Art Commission, Cambridge Arts Council, Massachusetts, 1997-2001 Board of Directors, The Space Gallery, Boston, 1989-1993 Visual Arts Advisor, Dante Alighieri Society of Boston, 1990 Review Board, Painting, Massachusetts College of Art, 1990 Panelist, Symposium, “Latin Americ Awakens”, Massachusetts College of Art, 1989 Guest Artist, Graduate Program, Painting, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1988 Panelist, Symposium, “25 Años de Pintura Puertorriqueña”, Museo del Barrio, New York City, 1986 Review Board, Painting, Massachusetts College of Art, 1986 Guest Artist, Montserrat College of Art, Massachusetts, 1980 Advisory Board, Massachusetts Council for the Arts, 1980 Chief, Division of Painting, Centro Nacional de las Artes, San Juan, 1975

EDUCATION

School of Plastic Arts of Puerto Rico, BFA, 1972

TEACHING Professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston Faculty, Art New England Summer Workshops at Bennington College, Vermont, 1996 and 2000 Adjunct Faculty, Wellesley College, 1987 Instructor, Liga de Arte, San Juan, 1976-1977

©Alpha Gallery 2014