SALVADORAN ART AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
On February 1st, the University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters presents Black Mirror, and other Third World reflections-selections from the Mario Cader-Frech Collection. The exhibition will take place from February 1st to March 16th at the Ritter Art Gallery, and from February 15th to April 6th at the Boca Raton Campus.
Under Claire Breukel’s curatorship, Black Mirror addresses contemporary artworks from artists affected by Salvador's civil war (1979-1991), immigration and social and political inequality. A common element in the works presented by the exhibition is the use of multimedia expressions.
Taking the title of a work by the Salvadoran artist Beatriz Cortez, Black Mirror, and other Third World reflections intends to speak of another world, a reflection of ours. Rather, it offers a distorted (or even more defined) view of what we perceive today in relation to our everyday life. In the university statement, they explained: " This “Third World”, typecast by economic disparity, has the ability to simultaneously absorb and deflect “First World” ideologies, offering a different, arguably unique, yet less publicized way of seeing, much like the reflective surface and unknown depth of a blackened mirror ".
The exhibition is organized within two thematic axes: ‘Third World’ City: identifying difference and Action Reaction: outside is inside and other performances. Within these two themes, artists such as Abigail Reyes, Beatriz Cortez, Guadalupe Maravilla or Walterio Iraheta, among others, experiment with the resources and language of the visual arts characteristic of Salvadoran artists exiled from their country.
Mario Cader-Frech, owner of the collection that made this exhibition possible, said: " I started a collection of work by the most outstanding artists from El Salvador and its diaspora in order to collate a cohesive body of contemporary work, with the idea of making this work accessible to museums and art spaces interested in art from the region. We are thrilled to be working with FAU, and to share this work with their students and the public. "
