Papo Colo
San Juan, PR, 1947
Biography Details
Painter, draftsman, photographer, video artist, performance artist, theater and installations, writer, curator, cultural producer, actor, musician and graphic designer. Papo Colo is cofounder and codirector of Exit Art since 1982, internationally renowned cultural organization based in New York. In 1998 he founded and has since directed, Trickster Theater. He has twice won the New York State grant CAPS Fellowship, among other awards, and has lived between New York and San Juan. He has curated several collective of contemporary art and has designed numerous catalogs and multimedia materials for exhibitions. He has written poems, prose conceptual and contemporary art. His curatorial model ConceptPlus has promoted several collaborative projects through which artists from around the world are invited to react to a "concept" and submit proposals for projects to Exit Art. His art includes manipulated photographs, paintings, drawings, videos , performance and installations, among other expressions, and is interested in topics like medieval art, travel, biography, references to classical literature and popular culture, and relations between the means of expression. His pictorial method of the outline of his body on the canvas on the floor and then let fall finger painting.
Artist Statement
“Good art is an accident, great art is a miracle."
“Art is not buying or selling it is doing.”
“Every room is the center of the world.”
“The alternative space is where we alter our life to change the world.”
“I want my invisibility to continue… It is the ability that I master.”
Papo Colo
Source: www.papocolo.com
Formation
Professional Experience
1998-present
- Founder and Director. Trickster Theater, New York, United States
1984-2012
- Co-Founder and Artist Director. Exit Art, New York, United States
1991-1993
- Founder and Director. The Cultural Space, New York, United States
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2009
- Jumping the Fences, Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, California, United States
2008
- Salsa Requiem, New York, United States
- Genie in the Bottle, Nyehaus, New York, United States
2007
- Pulpo/Octopus, Galería Nacional de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- The Universe Is Hidden in the Trees, Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2006
- Thers’s No Place Like Home, Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Blood Kisses, The Armory, New York, United States
2004
- Arohead, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1999
- The Diferencia, part of The History of the Future performance series, Franklin Furnace, New York, United States
1998
- The Traveler, Trickster Theater, New York, United States
1997
- Terra Bomba, Exit Art/The First World, New York, United States
- Voyage, Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
- Paintings, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States
1996
- Resonance, Trickster Theater, New York, United States
1995
- Imaginary Beings, First World Theater, New York, United States
1994
- Let the Artist Live!, Exit Art/The First World, New York, United States
1992
- Stolen Kisses, First World Theater, The Cultural Space, New York, United States
- Zygmunt, First World Theater, The Cultural Space, New York, United States
- Sud-acá/ SUDACA, part of the Parallel History performance series: Speaking Tongues, Exit Art, New York, United States
1991
- Zero Identity, The Cultural Space, New York, United States
1990
- Sud-acá / SUDACA, Yellow Springs Institute, Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States
- Holy Wars, The Cultural Space, New York, United States
- Evidences. From the Postcolonial to the Hybrid State, The Cultural Space, New York, United States
1986
- Will, Power and Desire 1976-86, Exit Art, Nueva York; Rosa Esman Gallery, Nueva York; Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, United States
- The Diferencia, Exit Art, New York, United States
1984
- American Enigma, Fisher Art Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States
- Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, United States
1983
- Battle Value, Monogram Products, New York, United States
- De-Colonize Puerto Rico, United Nations, New York, United States
- Visual Memory, Wake Forest Art Gallery, North Carolina, United States
- Against the Current, Bronx River Restoration, New York, United States
- Images of the New World, Intar Gallery, New York, United States
1982
- Language is the Mechanic of Culture, Franklin Furnace, New Yrok, United States
- Octopus, El Museo del Barrio and Exit Art, New York, United States
- Lost and Gained Paradise, Just Above Midtown Gallery, New York, United States
1980
- Untitled/Anonymous, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
1979
- Documentos Falsos, Galería Ciento, Barcelona, Spain
1978
- American Apart Art, Mail Art, New York, United States
- Cimarron, Forma Gallery, Miami, Florida, United States
1977
- Superman 51, Westside Highway, New York, United States
- Artyard, Brooklyn Museum, New York, United States
- Low Clouds, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., United States
- Armas Blancas, Mec-Mec Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
- Contradiction, Spanish Institute, New York, United States
1976
- Walking Sculpture, West Broadway, New York, United States
- Coronation, West Broadway, New York, United States
- Paintings, Casablanca Gallery, New York, United States
Group Shows
2009
- 100 Years (versión #2, ps1, nov 2009), MoMA PS1, Queens, New York, United States
- Voces y visiones, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
- Performance Art, Le Générateur, Paris, France
- Puerto Rico: Geografía Humana: Imágenes del siglo XXI, Museum of Art of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Negritude, Exit Art, New York, United States
2008
- The Labyrinth Wall: From Mythology to Reality, Exit Art, New York, United States
- Arte ≠ Vida, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
- Otra Cara, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- FAS-Feria de Arte Sonoro, La Respuesta, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2007
- Pulpo, Galería Nacional de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Jumping the Fences, Galería Jesús Gallardo, Mexico
- Salsa Requiem, Taller Boricua, New York, United States
2006
- Rewind, Rewind, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Re-Shuffle: Notions of an Itinerant Museum, Art In General, New York, United States
- The Downtown Show, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, United States
2005
- Works from the Permanent Collection, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
- Island Nations, The RISD Museum, Rhode Island, United States
- Scenery 2 (A Reconstruction), Vlaams Cultuurhuis De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2004
- Performance en Vivo, Arohead, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2001
- globe>miami<island, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, Florida, United States
1999
- The 2nd Annual Portrait Show, Jorgenson Gallery, New York, United States
1993
- Quincentenary: Recollections, Resistances, Reconstructions, Hillwood Art Museum, C.W. Post Campus, Long Island University, New York, United States
1992
- Concurrencies, Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, United States
- Will / Power, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, United States
- SLOW ART: Painting in NY Now, MoMA PS1, The Institute for Art and Urban Resources, Queens, New York, United States
1991
- World Disorder, The Cultural Space, New York, United States
- NY: The Next Generation, Carnegie Mellon Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
1990
- Out of Abstraction, Islip Art Museum, Long Island, New York, United States
- Illegal America, Exit Art, New York, United States
1986
- Eclectic, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York, United States
- The Logical Liberation, Fashion Moda, New York, United States
- New Art NY, Harlem School of the Arts, New York, United States
- In the Tropics, Bronx Center for the Arts, New York, United States
1985
- Collaborations, Alternative Museum of Art, New York, United States
1984
- Aqui, Fisher Art Gallery, University of Southern California, United States
1983
- Traditions and Modern Configurations, Monogram Products, New York; Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
- Inside/Out, Bronx River Restoration, New York, United States
- Textos Infernos, Galeria Venezuela, New York, United States
- Latino NY, Gallery 1199, New York, United States
1982
- Dirty Pictures, White Columns, New York, United States
- Illegal America, Franklin Furnace, New York, United States
- Face to Face, Alternative Museum, New York, United States
- Rithual & Rhythm, Kenkeleba House, New York, United States
- The Beauty Show, ABC NO RIO, New York, United States
- Unseen Realities: The Spiritual in Art, Tweed Gallery, New Jersey, United States
1981
- Dark Thoughts: Black Paintings, Pratt Institute New York, United States
- Land/Urban Scapes, Islip Art Museum, Islip, Long Island, New York, United States
- VARS AT JAM, Just Above Midtown Gallery, New York, United States
1980
- Marking Black, Bronx Museum of Art, New York, United States
- Amnesty International, Barcelona, Spain
1979
- Private Icons, Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, United States
1978
- Resurgimiento, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
- Variations on Latin Themes in NY, Center for Inter-American Relations, New York, United States
1977
- Roots and Visions, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Tucson Museum, Tucson, Arizona; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, United States; Palacio del Minerias, Ciudad de México, Mexico
1976
- NAM, Brooklyn Museum, New York, United States
- The Spirit of Independence, Cayman Gallery, New York, United States
- IMAN: NY, Center For Inter-American Relations, New York, United States
1975
- First International Encounter of Video, Centro de Arte y Comunicación, Buenos Aires, Argentina; International Festival of the Arts, New York, United States
Awards, Distinctions and Achievements
2003-2004
- Grant. New York State Council on the Arts, New York, United States
2003
- Best Show of the Year Award for Exit Biennial: Reconstruction. The New York Times, New York, United States
2001
- Award for the exhibition The End. International Association of Art Critics, USA Chapter, New York, United States
1995
- Bessie Award for Let the Artist Live! New York Dance & Performance Awards, New York, United States
1994
- Award for the exhibition Endurance.International Association of Art Critics, USA Chapter, New York, United States
1991
- Fellowship. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, United States
- Fellowship. New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, United States
1987
- Grant. Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art, New York, United States
1983
- Visual Arts Grant. National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC, United States
1982
- Grant. New York State Council on the Arts, New York, United States
1981
- Visual Arts Grant. National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC, United States
Collections
- Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Bibliography
Catalogues
“Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global”, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2007.
Cullen, Deborah. “Here and There”. El Museo del Barrio, New York, USA, 2001, pp. 32.
“Papo Colo: Will, Power & Desire”, Rosa Esman Gallery/Exit Art, New York, United States, 1986.
Newspapers
Alegre Barrios, Mario. “Tentáculos Creativos”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 29 de marzo de 2007, pp.88-89.
__________. “Válido el performance en vivo”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 14 de julio de 2004, p. 27.
Ballvé, Marcelo. “A Question of Race”. New York Daily News (New York, USA), June 11, 2009.
Ferrer, Melba. “Entrelazados arte y baloncesto por Papo Colo”. The San Juan Star (San Juan, PR), 14 de mayo de 2004, p. 24.
Fuentes, Elvis. “Performances ¿en vivo?”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 4 de julio de 2004, p. 29.
Harrison, Helen H. "Blurring Artistic Distinctions". The New York Times (New York, USA), July 8, 1990. p. 12.
“Laura Roulet y Papo Colo en el MAC”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 24 de marzo de 2009.
López Rodríguez, Ana Enid. “Atletas que pintan al óleo”. El Nuevo Día (san Juan, PR), 15 de mayo de 2004, p. 27.
Pérez Rivera, Tatiana. “Yo vivo del idealismo”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 29 de marzo de 2009, pp. 76-77.
Raynor, Vivien. "Where Black is the Primary Color". The New York Times (New York, USA), February 10, 1980.
Rodríguez, Jorge. “Arohead: Las huellas de los campeones”. El Vocero (San Juan, PR), 3 de junio de 2004, pp. E8-9.
__________.”Astros del deporte en performance”. El Vocero (San Juan, PR), 14 de mayo de 2004, p. 64.
__________. “Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico con Arohead: Las huellas de los campeones”. El Vocero (San Juan, PR), 29 de mayo de 2004, p.37.
Smith, Roberta. “When the Conceptual Was Political”. The New York Times (New York, US), February 1, 2008.
Trelles Hernández, Carmen M. “El Arte del Juego”. Primera Hora (San Juan, PR), 27 de mayo de 2004, pp. 82-83.
Magazines
Aranda Alvarado, Rocio. “Arte No Es Vida: Actions by Artists of the Americas.” ArtNexus Magazine (Florida, USA), No. 70 Vol. 7, 2008.
Krstich, Vesna. “Art ≠ Vida: Actions by Artists if the Americas 1960-2000”. Art Papers Magazine (Georgia, USA), July-August 2008.
Parks, Brian. “Games Theaters Play”. The Village Voice (New York, USA), Vol. XLI, No. 21, May 1996.
Raven, Arlene. "Evidences". High Performance Magazine (New York, USA), No.53, volume 14, number 1, Spring 1991.