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A Complete Look at Raphael Ferrer
El Museo del Barrio’s exhibition
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An artist known for his collaborations makes his solo debut at El Museo del Barrio. Raphael Ferrer is somewhat of a renaissance man. His work spans 55 years and encompasses a multitude of artistic expressions such as paintings, collages, photography, sculptures, room installations and drawings. Never bound by his previous work, Ferrer constantly experiments with different mediums and themes. The exhibition is part of the Focus series at El Museo del Barrio, which puts the spotlight on under-recognized artists. On display will be a collection of 100 works created from the 1950’s to present day.
Ferrer’s diverse and rich background has enabled him to create a body of work that cannot fit into any one classification, but is able to simultaneously be mainstream and avant-garde. From a young age, he was exposed to artists at home in Santurce, Puerto Rico and in New York City and Los Angeles. He studied jazz timbales at Syracuse University and then painting at the Universidad de Puerto Rico with exiled Spanish surrealist Eugenio Fernández Granell. Ferrer’s relationship with critics is rocky; his collages, environments, and welded steel combines created in Puerto Rico are criticized, while his contributions to the “post-minimalist” exhibitions in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s are extolled. Curator Deborah Cullen works to incorporate his newly created large-scale paintings into a unified collection of Ferrer’s work that shows his range as well as emphasize his continuing themes.
The exhibition runs from June 8 to August 22 2010 at El Museo del Barrio, located at 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th St. The museum is open Tuesdays — Sundays 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission prices and more information can be found on their website by visiting www.elmuseo.org.