Papo Colo

Papo Colo is Puerto Rican performance artist, painter, writer, and curator. He was born in Puerta de Tierra, Puerto Rico. He lives and works in New York City and in El Yunque rainforest in Puerto Rico. Papo Colo is an interdisciplinary artist, whose work ranges from performance, theater and installation art to painting, writing, and graphic design.

His father, Francisco Colon Garcia,[1][2] was a boxing champion and his exposure to the glorification of the body through boxing was influential to his work. In 1982 Papo Colo, with Jeanette Ingberman, founded Exit Art,[3][4] an internationally known cultural center in New York City. Jeanette Ingberman died August 24, 2011 from complications of leukemia.[5]

Besides being the curator and cultural producer of Exit Art, Papo Colo has organized over 100 shows in which he was also the exhibition and graphic designer. His work has been exhibited at numerous venues, including The Clocktower (2013), Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco and MoMA PS1, New York (both 2009), El Museo del Barrio (2008), National Gallery of Puerto Rico (2007), Grey Art Gallery (2006), Art in General (2006), RISD Museum, Providence (2005), and the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach (2001).[6] He has won numerous awards including The New York Times Best Inaugural Show by an Alternative Art Space for his exhibition Exit Biennial: Reconstruction[7] Additionally, REACTIONS, an international response to 9/11 conceived by Papo Colo, was acquired by The Library of Congress for its permanent collection[8]

In 1992 he founded the Trickster Theater, a collection of dramatic vignettes that utilizes YouTube as a portal for theatrical presentation.[9][10] In 2005 he wrote and directed Mplay, a theater piece created solely for the web. From May 22 through August 29, 2016, MoMA PS1 presented Colo’s early works in the museum’s lobby. The presentation at MoMA PS1 coincided with The Cleaner, a new work the artist performed in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, and culminated in a festival in Puerto Rico in January, 2017, with the purpose of drawing attention to the island’s ongoing economic crisis.[6]

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2009 Jumping the Fences Galería de la Raza: San Francisco, CA[11]

Selected Group Exhibitions

2005 Island Nations Rhode Island School of Design Museum: Providence, RI[12]

2006 The Downtown Show Grey Art Gallery: New York, NY[13]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.puertadetierra.info/figuras/gente/coloncito/coloncito.htm Puerta de Tierra Article
  2. ↑ http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Francisco_Colon_Garcia Boxing Encyclopedia Entry
  3. ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E4D8153EF935A25757C0A9669C8B63 New York Times article
  4. ↑ http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-03-11/news/every-exit-is-an-entrance/ Village Voice article
  5. ↑ NY Times Obituary
  6. 1 2 http://momaps1.org/exhibitions/view/409
  7. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/arts/art-the-highs-the-art-and-artists-of-the-year-687251.html?scp=6&sq=Exit%20Biennial:%20Reconstruction&st=cse New York Times article
  8. ↑ http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/356_exit.html The Library of Congress Reading Room
  9. ↑ http://trickstertheater.org/ Trickster Theater Website
  10. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/trickstertheater#p/u/8/YbietImr_ik YouTube Channel
  11. ↑ http://www.galeriadelaraza.org/eng/events/index.php?op=view&id=1276 Galeria de la Raza
  12. ↑ http://www.undo.net/cgi-bin/undo/pressrelease/pressrelease.pl?id=1098957737&day=1099000800 RISD Museum
  13. ↑ http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/downtown/copy/DowntownArtist.htm Grey Art Gallery
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