Sunday, March 06, 2016
Saturday, March 05, 2016
Know Yourself at The Luminary
Know Yourself is a ghostwritten group exhibition exploring unstable circulations among authenticity and ownership.
Understand yourself, accept yourself, but don't be yourself. When one idea runs out, buy another one. When an object is exhausted, let it rest. When one's labor is performed, applaud a flawless performance.
Know Yourself features Conrad Bakker, Chris Bradley, Marianne Laury, Eva and Franco Mattes, Edra Soto, Julia Weist and other uncredited authors presenting borrowed multiples, recontextualized readymades,
gouache paintings of empty stages, karaoke overtures and an attempted takeover of an artist's search results.
gouache paintings of empty stages, karaoke overtures and an attempted takeover of an artist's search results.
The Luminary's exhibitions are supported in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Missouri Arts Council - a state agency, Regional Arts Commission, the Arts and Education Council and our
generous members and supporters.
generous members and supporters.
The Luminary:
http://dailyserving.com/2016/02/know-yourself-at-the-luminary/ALSO:
TROPICALAMERICAN at UIS
The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present TROPICALAMERICAN, an exhibition from Chicago-based
artist and Puerto Rican native Edra Soto. TROPICALAMERICAN will open on Tuesday, January 19, and run through Thursday, February 25.
A reception for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, February 4,
from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.
artist and Puerto Rican native Edra Soto. TROPICALAMERICAN will open on Tuesday, January 19, and run through Thursday, February 25.
A reception for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, February 4,
from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 06, 2015
I In The Sky at PEDESTRIAN PROJECT
EDRA SOTO
I IN THE SKY
December 2, 2015 - February 12, 2016
Opening Performances and Public Receptions
Wednesday, December 2, 2015 from 12:00 - 1:00 pm & 5:00 - 6:00 pm
The President’s Gallery at Harold Washington College presents I IN THE SKY, a solo exhibition by Chicago-based artist Edra Soto.
Edra Soto's exhibition I IN THE SKY is an experimental installation that challenges the structural procedures presumed for gallery display. Complementary visual and sonorous experiences will unfold in front of the audience during the opening receptions as the show's installation arrives via performative gestures. Soto will create all new work that picks up and riffs on projects from her artistic oeuvre - for example, depicting a timeline that features mainstream cultural characters influential to her upbringing in Puerto Rico; creating overlapping sounds of laughter, instrumental sounds, and live actions; or covering the existing institutional furniture in colorfully patterned and adorned textiles. The artist's goal for this show is to create a clashing, cacophonous space that embodies her I while distancing itself into the Sky.
More info:
http://www.pedestrianproject.org
Press:
Nicole Lane for Newcity: http://art.newcity.com/2016/01/10/in-profile-edra-soto/
Melissa Potter for Gender Assignment: http://genderassignment.tumblr.com/post/138032441925/i-in-the-sky-an-interview-with-edra-soto
http://www.pedestrianproject.org
Press:
Nicole Lane for Newcity: http://art.newcity.com/2016/01/10/in-profile-edra-soto/
Melissa Potter for Gender Assignment: http://genderassignment.tumblr.com/post/138032441925/i-in-the-sky-an-interview-with-edra-soto
ELMHURST ART MUSEUM BIENNIAL
DECEMBER 12, 2015 - FEBRUARY 21, 2016
ELMHURST ART MUSEUM BIENNIAL curated by Staci Boris
Chicago artists have something to say. Taking on the role of cultural commentator, facilitator, advocate or activist, many artists in Chicago are actively engaged with their communities and the pressing and often highly-charged social issues of our day. Celebrating this artistic approach, Elmhurst Art Museum’s inaugural Biennial, Chicago Statements, provides nineteen artists with a wide-reaching public platform for their messages, their voices and their revelations that address imbalances of power, access and resources. Through drawings, sculpture, video, photography, text and documentation of public projects, the Biennial intends to raise awareness, encourage discussion and promote the power of individual and collective expression and healing.
Participants include Lise Haller Baggesen, Tom Burtonwood and Holly Holmes, Doug Fogelson, Maria Gaspar, Matthew Hoffman, Jesse Howard, Jenny Kendler, Kirsten Leenaars, Faheem Majeed, Billy McGuinness, Christopher Meerdo, Matt Morris, Cheryl Pope, John Preus, Alison Ruttan, Aram Han Sifuentes, Edra Soto and Amanda Williams. Topics explored by these artists include feminism and motherhood, new technologies, community building, race and power, gun violence, gentrification, poverty, war, environmentalism and immigration, among others.
VISIBILITY AWARD BENEFIT / OX-BOW
We've teamed up with 2015 Summer faculty members J. Soto and Anthony Romero to create the Latinx Artist Visibility Award (LAVA), a fully funded opportunity for Latina/o students to experience Ox-Bow's renowned educational programs and historic artist community. LAVA represents a bridge between Ox-Bow and the future of Latina/o arts, a platform for social advancement, and an opportunity to demonstrate the power of art and nature to change lives.
The evening will feature a silent auction, DJ CQQCHIFRUIT from Chances Dances, and performances. The auction will include work from acclaimed regional and national artists including Maria Gaspar, Edra Soto, and Alberto Aguilar.
Tickets are just $15! Get yours today at ox-bow.org/
Chicago Architecture Biennial
The Chicago Architecture Biennial is proud to present:
Building Blocks: Home, the Impossible Subject--Configuring and Contesting Notions of Home
Thursday, December 3, 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater,
2nd Floor North
Charles Dickens once wrote "home is always the impossible subject". This edition of the Building Blocks series looks at competing notions of home through art and the built environment. Presenters include Camille Brewer, whose fiber art references her family's 19th century weaving business; Faheem Majeed whose work looks to the material makeup of his South Shore neighborhood as an entry point into questions of race and civic engagement; Edra Soto and Dan Sullivan, co-directors of THE FRANKLIN an artist-run project space in their home's backyard named one of the city’s top art galleries; and Tricia Van Eck, former MCA curator, whose art and culture venue 6018North is housed in a formerly dilapidated mansion in Edgewater.
More info: http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/public-program/calendar/building-blocks-home-the-impossible-subject-configuring-and-contesting-notions-of-home/
DOMINODOMINO at Threewalls
The Great Good Place, an artist project by Brandon Alvendia, is a multi-layered set of collaborative exhibitions which considers the poetic, political, and aesthetic potential of curatorial practice within the setting of everyday life. Tasking artists,independent curators, and collectives based in Chicago with the challenge of outfitting Threewalls’ gallery spaces, the exhibitions within the exhibition will take inspiration from Chicago’s make-do and artist-run culture and reconsider a range of contexts from the one-car garage workshop, the living room sleepover, the backyard bbq blowout, the networking dinner party potluck, the closet office conference, the second bedroom studio visit, to the illegal basement nightclub, all as sites of artistic inquiry.
Participants include (to be continually updated):TRUNK SHOW with Scott WolniakMichelle GrabnerADDS DONNA THE FRANKLIN with Alberto Aguilar, Erik Brown, Michelle Anne Harris, Marc Fischer, Jeremy J. Foy, Josh Ippel, Jaclyn Jacunski, James Jankowiak, Anna Kunz, Melissa Leandro, Ivan Lozano, Matt Nichols, Catie Olson, Josue Pellot, Cole Pierce, Ryan Richey, Christopher Smith, and Alex Tam
D Gallery with Holly Cahill, Greg Cook, Jacob C. Hammes, Kevin Jennings, Andy Moore, Will Staples, Shannon Stratton, Brian Taylor, Olivia Swider, and Erik Wenzel
NEW CAPITALRoots & Culture with Super SubKitchen Space with Spears art space curating Ashley Cook, Elizabeth Weiss, Danny Giles, Caleb Yono, and Jacob Goudreault)
Inside/WithinI Don’t Hate This podcastfilmfrontAnthony StepterLillerne TapesCaitlin Ryan
Ron Ewert
D Gallery with Holly Cahill, Greg Cook, Jacob C. Hammes, Kevin Jennings, Andy Moore, Will Staples, Shannon Stratton, Brian Taylor, Olivia Swider, and Erik Wenzel
NEW CAPITALRoots & Culture with Super SubKitchen Space with Spears art space curating Ashley Cook, Elizabeth Weiss, Danny Giles, Caleb Yono, and Jacob Goudreault)
Inside/WithinI Don’t Hate This podcastfilmfrontAnthony StepterLillerne TapesCaitlin Ryan
Ron Ewert
Lubeznik Center for the Arts
Bernard Williams: Hard Driving & Edra Soto:Tropicalamerican
October 3rd - January 9th
Hyndman Gallery
Opening Reception Oct 2nd 5-8pm (CDT)
October 3rd - January 9th
Hyndman Gallery
Opening Reception Oct 2nd 5-8pm (CDT)
Bernard Williams: Hard Driving features an installation that focuses on a life-size car sculpture, constructed from plywood. The car, titled: Scott Car is a tribute to NASCAR’s first Black driver, Wendell Scott. The 1977 movie Greased Lightning, was loosely based on the life of Wendell Scott. The sculpture and related objects frame American culture in relation to the automobile, unequal competition, and excessive consumption.
Edra Soto: Tropicalamerican features a series of flags and chairs made by applying traditional crafting techniques to untraditional formats. Tropicalamerican (flags) were made with a variety of tropical leaves collaged and translated into a digital format. This series approaches the patriotic art tradition that for centuries artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and David Hammons, among others, have followed with the intent of canonize events, aesthetics and American Culture. Tropicalamerican (chairs) are plastic Monobloc chairs upholstered with beach towels. The tiger image on the towels animates the four-legged piece of furniture. Stalking them challenges their function and adds to their excess. Soto (b. Puerto Rico 1971) is a Chicago based artist. She attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she obtained her Masters in Fine Arts in 2OOO. Immediately after, she attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has exhibited nationally and internationally. Recent presentations include: Hyde Park Art Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, Galeria Agustina Ferreyra in Puerto Rico and Field Projects in New York City.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Tropicalamerican at the Triennial Poli/Grafica inaugural site
Un evento cultural internacional auspiciado por el
Gobierno de Puerto Rico dirigido por el Instituto de
Cultura Puertorriqueña y coordinado
por el Programa de Artes Plásticas.
Gobierno de Puerto Rico dirigido por el Instituto de
Cultura Puertorriqueña y coordinado
por el Programa de Artes Plásticas.
Equipo curatorial: Gerardo Mosquera (Curador en Jefe),
Vanessa Hernández Gracia y Alexia Tala.
24 de octubre
7:00 pm | Sede Oficial | Inauguración
Actos oficiales de Inauguración de la 4ta Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan y Apertura de la Sede Principal Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española
Muestra personal
Carlos Garaicoa: Historias, como lÃneas, dibujadas sobre mÃ
Actos oficiales de Inauguración de la 4ta Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan y Apertura de la Sede Principal Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española
Muestra personal
Carlos Garaicoa: Historias, como lÃneas, dibujadas sobre mÃ
Artistas
HernaÃn Bravo, Waltercio Caldas, Elena Damiani, Annalee Davis, Paula Dittborn, Frances Gallardo, MarÃa Elena González, Karlo Andrei Ibarra, Voluspa Jarpa, Lucia Koch, Ricardo Lanzarini, Nicola López, Mônica Nador, José OrtÃz Pagán, Amalia Pica, Sandra Ramos, Verónica Rivera, Nicolás Robbio, Graciela Sacco, Rosemberg Sandoval, SEMEFO, Edra Soto, Alicea Villareal
HernaÃn Bravo, Waltercio Caldas, Elena Damiani, Annalee Davis, Paula Dittborn, Frances Gallardo, MarÃa Elena González, Karlo Andrei Ibarra, Voluspa Jarpa, Lucia Koch, Ricardo Lanzarini, Nicola López, Mônica Nador, José OrtÃz Pagán, Amalia Pica, Sandra Ramos, Verónica Rivera, Nicolás Robbio, Graciela Sacco, Rosemberg Sandoval, SEMEFO, Edra Soto, Alicea Villareal
Edra Soto (Puerto Rico, 1971)Vive y trabaja en Chicago
Obtuvo su maestrÃa en Bellas Artes en el Chicago Art Institute (2000) y asistió a la Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture en Maine. Su trabajo hace un paralelo entre los materiales básicos que utiliza, la fusión de sus raÃces caribeñas, africanas y españolas, y la influencia angloamericana. Ha expuesto su obra en la UNO St. Claude Gallery (University of New Orleans), el Hyde Park Art Center, el Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, la GalerÃa Agustina Ferreyra en Puerto Rico y la Morgan Lehman Gallery en Nueva York. Fue reconocida como 3Arts Fellow y ganó el ArtSlant Prize (2014). Ha realizado residencias con la Fundación Ragdale (2010) y la Fundación Robert Rauschenberg (2014). Es directora del espacio de proyectos The Franklin, situado en el patio de su casa en Chicago. Este proyecto ha sido apoyado por el fondo 3Arts, el Propeller Fund y Notheastern Illinois University.
Teaching at the Hyde Park Art Center
Fall Session: October 6 - December 8
http://www.hydeparkart.org/support-for-artists/the-bridge-program
Happy to report that I am teaching a professional development class for professional artists!!
The Bridge Program fosters generative dialogue among a select group of artists in a seminar-style course designed to push your art practice to the next level. Led by Edra Soto, independent artist and owner of the alternative exhibition space The Franklin, and Jen Tremblay, School and Studio Manager at the Art Center, you'll work in an intensive, small-group setting to refine project ideas, better articulate the central concerns of your practice, deepen the conceptual grounding of your work, and situate your practice within a wider art world context. You'll participate in critiques, writing sessions, essay discussions, and a public artist talk at the culminating program showcase in the Art Center's Muller Meeting Room and 4833 Project Space. Advanced artists in all media are encouraged to apply.
Monday, September 07, 2015
DOMINODOMINO at EXPO CHGO
Dan Sullivan and Edra Soto
DOMINODOMINO
Morgan Lehman Gallery
DOMINODOMINO
Morgan Lehman Gallery
DOMINODOMINO is a meticulously crafted jatoba wood table with corian inlay, inspired by the cement domino table common to Puerto Rico. The immersive installation is evocative of a game room where playing dominoes invites and challenges connections amongst friends and strangers. All are invited to sit at the table and play.
Field For Play
http://www.dom.edu/departments/art/gallery
September 9 – October 23, 2015
The O’Connor Art Gallery is pleased to present Field for play, an exhibition featuring the work Alberto Aguilar, Jorge Lucero, Victoria Martinez, and Edra Soto, curated by Marcela Andrade. The exhibition will have an opening reception on Wednesday, September 9, 2015, from 5-8 p.m., and will run through Friday, October 23, 2015.
Rather than bringing pre-existing works into the gallery and hanging them on the walls, the artists in Field for play will transform the space into interactive works that will rely on the participation of the community at Dominican University to continue with their momentum and possibly lead us in unexpected directions. Artists Alberto Aguilar, Jorge Lucero, Victoria Martinez, and Edra Soto will set the stage for the O’Connor Art Gallery to become a hub for interactions and experiments to take place, which may involve storytelling, music, games, theatre, building and science. In addition to being visually dynamic, these interactive works seek to foster curiosity and help us see things new ways, building on the community of the University and its commitment to the creative arts.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Barack Obama Presidential Library curated by Jorge Lucero
Jorge Lucero, a University of Illinois art professor, created a Barack Obama Presidential Library art exhibit in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago.
Imagine THE BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY made up of objects and artifacts contributed and made by everyday people. Imagine that the educational content related to those objects was written, not by anonymous museum staff, but by You!
Participation is EASY and open to everyone interested in the idea of a presidential history composed and presented by as many people as possible. ARTISTS, STUDENTS, TEACHERS, NEIGHBORS and GROUPS are all welcome to participate.
THE BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY is open from June 1st to August 31st, with an opening reception June 5th from 5pm to 9pm, 2015 at Hyde Park Free Theater 1448 E 57th Street, Chicago, Il, 60615.
Here's a look at my contributions:
Imagine THE BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY made up of objects and artifacts contributed and made by everyday people. Imagine that the educational content related to those objects was written, not by anonymous museum staff, but by You!
Participation is EASY and open to everyone interested in the idea of a presidential history composed and presented by as many people as possible. ARTISTS, STUDENTS, TEACHERS, NEIGHBORS and GROUPS are all welcome to participate.
THE BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY is open from June 1st to August 31st, with an opening reception June 5th from 5pm to 9pm, 2015 at Hyde Park Free Theater 1448 E 57th Street, Chicago, Il, 60615.
Here's a look at my contributions:
Uploaded on Oct 1, 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, your President is a robot. Or a wax sculpture. Maybe a cardboard cutout. All I know is no human being has a photo smile this amazingly consistent.
- Anonymous YouTube entry
May 13, 2015
Obama’s Gulf Meeting Protocol: Shake Hands, Smile, Ignore Repression, Repeat
- Medea Benjamin and Nalini Ramachandran fro antiwar.blog
Saturday, May 23, 2015, 4:17 AM
Presidential hissy fit! Obama smiles as toddler unleashes White House tantrum
- Jason Molinet for nydaily.com
Happy Hours at the Antiquarian
Hyde Park Free Theater
Edra Soto will host Happy Hours on the 29th from 5 to 7 pm at the Hyde Park Free Theater and is exited and looking forward to bringing some of her traditions to the Antiquarian, (HPFT bar)
Edra Soto will create a tasting comprised of appetizers that she used to find at social gatherings or parties while growing up in Puerto Rico during the 80's era.
These items form part of the hybridized diet strongly influenced by mainstream American culture.
Politically incorrect, genetically engineered, unpronounceable, romanticized processed foods that became paramount of the cultural patrimony of the island.
Simultaneously, a hit-parade selection of mainstream American music, highly influential to the generation of this era.
Adventurous eaters and listeners welcomed!
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