iliana emilia García

Repurposed wood and velcro, 72” x 85”

“Early Encounters” at Governors Island, The West Harlem Arts Fund, 2018

“Dimension Movil”, Public Art for the Centro L:eon, Santiago, Dominican Republic

Trace of a past.

Deconstructing the present to uncover patterns, behaviors and hidden human treasures.

Reinterpreting facts and consequences.

Pulling myself apart to pull myself together by remembrance and emotional knowledge. Remembering what we were with what we have left. The miracle of human nature. Our basic ability, despite our differences and circumstances, to feel, want, desire, dream, wish and love. We don’t need a past to do, only a present to be. 

It takes a village to be and so many encounters/coincidences/randomness/emotions and complicity have to happen for us to be able to exist.  

The wall installation is made of repurposed wood, shims and discarded wooden pieces. Pieces are shaped and cut as single parts of a chair if undone. Half puzzle-half maze, it creates a visual pattern where you can identify the object by joining random pieces together. As we also identify the right words to tell a story, same events to create a shared memory and recurring patterns to justify behavior and consequences. 

Bordering the Imaginary: Art from thr Dominican Republic, Haiti and their diasporas’ at BRIC House, 2018

Curated by Abigail Lapin Darshati

Photo by Jason Wyche, 2018

40 wooden chairs, rope and wire

When I was first approached about the exhibition, Bordering the Imaginary: Art from the Dominican Republic, Haiti and their diásporas, curated by Abigail Lapin Dasharti, I was already working on the series, then untitled, of the sage and the dreamer.

We spoke of different possibilities and agreed on an installation of 40 handmade chairs. It was merely a sketch of an escalating piece. I definitely took a better form after we identified the column and the space it was going to be in.  One of the things that I have really enjoyed about the show and the piece it’s that it became what it is in situ, at BRIC. Although it has been in my hands and mind for years, not until  the scaffolding moved away and they quietly hanged there, I realized that the vision was real and there. 

In my work, past and present, I have always focus in a romantic way on the subject, La Hispaniola, because it’s so politically charged that I tended to go behind those details and find a “human” factor. To treat them as individuals instead of as a “government” or “political body”. The Hispaniola is an enchanted island. One with one of the richest and more dramatic and diverse history. As the first settlement in this side of the world, as the New World, el Nuevo mundo, is the island of so many firsts; of the good and the bad. One with so much bloodshed but so many achievements! Countless counts of solidarity; of the first slave and the first free man too. A mighty piece of land if you consider its side and the fact that they defeated with no real army two of the biggest empires of their times; Haiti defeated Napoleonic France in 1804 and the Dominican Republic, Spain in 1865, in our second round as a colony after becoming an independent nation. It’s the longest relationship, either political/romantic of the Americas, an interesting sample of convivencia/ cohabitation and interaction. For me a perfect example of resilience and resistance, to exist/ coexist  against all odds and still be triumphant.

I then envisioned Hispaniola as a tree. As a symbol of antiquity and enduring strength. A resilient being that grows upward against gravity and gives and maintains life. A perennial plant with one main stem which develop many branches throughout its life.

There is nothing more resilient than the birth of a tree and more hopeful than the birth of a branch.

May Hispaniola be that tree and we, h and dr, the branches. And if the two nations will be humans, there will make a magic one according to the planets and zodiac signs.

This is where the sage and the dreamer name comes to be.

Haiti is a Capricorn, born on Jan 1, an earth sign. DR is a Pisces, Feb 27, a water sign. Already a beautiful obvious combination for an island.

Capricorn are known as wise, prudent, sagacious, represented by the sage.

Pisces are dreamers, intuitive, selfless, creative. Represented by the flying fish. 

And that’s the sage and the dreamer.

The triumphant tree that keeps rising to new heights while defying laws of society and hate. There is no law for affection; no formulas for love and understanding; no set rules on desires and wishes and no ground to touch if it will only going to divide us.

Galeria Taller Boricua, New York

Galeria ASR Contemporaneo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

I, II and III

Acrylic, ink, charcoal, pencil on canvas

Unstrertched, 109” x 60”

Bronx Latin Biennial at Andrew Freeman House, Bronx, NY

Acrylic, charcoal, ink, silkscreen and pencil on canvas

112" x 85", 2015

These days here is where I am: The new series of work is an immediate consequence/result/outcome of the installation “Story piles/Historias acumuladas”, 2012 and “The Pursuit of happiness/Buscando felicidad”, 2014, and even “Almas transparentes”, from 2001. One, a series of large-scale paintings, in black and white, and mixed media; the other, installations of black slate marionettes printed with white silkscreen, are based on the same concept of accumulated histories that seem to never end.

Installation of Wood, ropes, metal hooks and silkscreen.

This time the chairs are two, like those in Dinámica (2002), only this time they are united by words and memories that seem lost in time. But still, even though they are/were not what they seem: and that is the importance of the union. Especially today, “Memoria” and “Heritage” go hand in hand until the end (wherever that end is for them). Even when the histories do not seem to have an end and the last words spread out to unintentionally close the chapter. The ancestral memory that I have of legacy and the inheritance that nourishes my memory, I owe to the endless words that are born from those dark papers full of clarity. I also owe to them the blank pages waiting for the next history to told.

This time, the chairs, quotidian objects that allude to a presence, a power/vitality and settlement, are converted into organic objects that bend, collapse and depend on other legs to remain intact. They stop being symbols of strength and are instead converted/transformed into what is a necessary support and a structure for sitting. A change of roles has taken place. But the physical incapacity does not define the size; and this time, they are monumental. While we feel more vulnerable, our strength and capacity to be tolerant, compassionate, and supportive are greater. As long as we are conscious of the vulnerability of our condition, it is not weakness but a check-up of our traits, priorities, and feelings. The chairs have always been strong and secure; this time they are actually not one or the other. And they need for me to be able to tell their history and to remember what they (have) already lived.

"If I build it", 2014                                                                                         Ink, acrylic, silkscreen and charcoal on canvas, 56" x 112"

"The pursuit of happiness", 2014                                                                     Wood, rope, metal hooks and silkscreen, apron. 18' x 5'

Shows:

"If you build it", No longer Empty at Sugar Hill, New York, 2014                          “Bring in the Reality”, No longer Empty at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY, 2015                                                        Curated by Rachel Gugelberger

if i build it… and the pursuit of happiness

This is what we are, merely puppets of life living this great concept of survival and community.

A pile of personal stories moving/building the same path in thousand of different directions. a stray of ideas and dreams striving for greatness and aspiring for fullness.

This is what we are, merely a site full of movement, possibilities and a sea of opportunities. 

When the sky is the limit, the road raw and stormy, we build what we want hoping to reach the blue and see the path through.

only that the road never ends…..

I carry on with resilience, kindness, purpose, memory, heritage, community and diversity.

1930, 1949, 1966, 22"x30"

Digital archival print and ink on canvas

Inspired by the metal plate that was required to be hanged in every Dominican house during the Trujillo era, and the stories of my family in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic; the series of photographs came to be.

The failure to show the metal plate in a prominent place of every house was a motif for repression, abuse and prosecution; but it seems that the house of Mercedes Santos de Renville was spared of such physical violence and the three daughters never harassed.

My series of photography shows the house with the tagline"en esta casa ________ es el jefe" and a meaningful date in my family history: 1930 when my grandpa was still alive, 1949 when he died and my grandma took over, 1966 when my great grandma passed away and the new generation was just beginning.

Archival inkjet prints on canvas, 2006

Series of 7 images. Edition of 3.

30"x40"

Collection of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC

Settlements come in many sizes and many forces.
Some are temporary; others more permanent, but both kinds seem to stop time for a moment.
There are those, the geographical ones, that endured a more physical placement/displacement and are specific to the sites. They can be explained as here, there, near and far. 
But there are also the emotional ones; the ones with no geography or body presence. They occur anywhere and without premeditation. As the heart moves as the wind, and the soul travels as far as our breath.
There is misplacement when we try to capture the exact site for tenderness, for hope or for solitude; How well can we exactly remember where we did leave silence and how expansive or narrow its space is?
There, where the distances are unknown to the measurements and everything is a new discovery; where the space between one and another is as far as our desire to be together, and as close as our differences.
It may be almost impossible to tag where exactly our silence resides and where the company begins.
How far our vision goes and how blind we are of our own doings.
Do we really know how far we are? How close we breathe? How much do we need each other to survive?

This is what we are, merely a site, not here not there but in between.

Installation for "Play LABS", a series of public art in restored green spaces in Harlem, New York

Commissioned by The West Harlem Art Fund and NYRP for the Target Garden, East Harlem ,NY

7 wooden chairs with neon ties, 7' x 7' approx.

LIVE/SING/DANCE/JUMP/LOVE/DREAM/PLAY

Installation commissioned by New York Restoration Project and Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NOMAA) at Swindler Cove Park, NY,

Silkscreen on coffee stained paper, 22" x 30"

I am here and there. I am everywhere.

I came yesterday or it was today but here I am; in a here that I don't know where exactly is and in a where that I am not aware of. I came today, or yesterday it was?, from a place I no longer remember where it is to a place I don't know and I don't recognize. But  I am and that's all I know right now.

Featured installation at the Affordable Art Fair, 2012

Commissioned by The West Harlem Art Fund for the Affordable Art Fair, Fall Edition.

Story piles,

I am using one of my signature icons, the chair, piled and packed on a railroad wagon, with some of them suspended on mid air. The chairs (through shape and colors) will represent the many different people and goods who have passed through our own lives, and will be tied together with neon ties to keep on check our awareness. As history fades and gets rewritten, the piece will hang and stay on air as a performance of persistence and constant moving.

We are full of energy and enthusiasm; empty of frustration and vagueness.

Beautify by the overlapping as generations are piled up together to become the piece of now.

We are full of light, not lightness; of depth but no darkness.

We walk in our own red carpet of dreams and possibilities.

We dream of our own walk of fortune and bright lights.

We aspire of flying settlements and never stopping landscapes.

Archival print on canvas, 30" x 40", 24" x 36"

“RE-vivir” esta basada en la posibilidad de perder lo que siempre hemos considerado inmortal e indestructible. Nuestra historia e idiosincracia, el lenguaje y nuestra voz, la memoria y la razón. Nos convertimos en beduinos en nuestro propio espacio y pasajeros en nuestros propios días.

Solo para volver a ser lo que siempre fui y ser lo que siempre crei ser; a pesar del olvido y del descuido. El fuego esta vez es el elemento que reciclara mi papel en la historia, yla oportunidad de reescribir el futuro que pudo ser; y yo, la silla, el protagonistade mi propio renacer.

5 Archival prints on canvas.

Variable sizes: 20" x 24", 22" x 28", 27" x 40"

Shown in  " Loosely coupled", curated by Savona Bailey and The West Harlem Art Fund at Governors Island.

Shoe shine box with mirror mosaic tiles, commissioned by District & Co. Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

12”x12”x8”

YO SUENO CON SER YO MISMO, como realmente soy, no como otros me ven; porque entonces no soy “yo yo”,  pero “yo ellos”.                             Yo sueño con ser “yo”; no tu, no nadie.                                                      Yo sueño poder ser lo que soy, no lo que se ve y lo que pudiera ser en ojos ajenos, pero el “yo” que nació conmigo y vive en mí.

Soy un espejo de mi mismo; porque mientras sea mi “yo-yo” me gusta lo que veo, sobre todo mi “yo” de adentro.

Hoy cuando soy, entre sueños y despierto, soy Yo.

The Labyrith Wall at Exit Art, 2008

Acrylic, charcoal, collage, silkscreen on wood panel, 96" x 96"

There are two sides to the maze (and 2 points to it). The physical one, that suggests some kind of displacement, loss of direction and geographical location; and the other, the emotional one, which can occur in pretty open spaces and ideal sites. This is the one where the body basically becomes an armor of the troubled soul; submerged in moral issues, community awareness, personal reassessments, and changing of values. When we know exactly where we are; but yet, we can't pinpoint where an exit sign may exist, if it exists at all.

All I know is that we may have to sit and backtrack a little bit how we got there. All is about history (personal, world, everyday) and the recognition of our being.

my wall is my manual from point b to point a.                                          my maze is an emotional one.                                                                   my only way out will depend in my ability to find my voice.                   my only tools will have to be my security blanket (my hands) and the return to the basics (my dictionary).

i will only depend on my five senses.                                                            i know that by finding my way i will be able to lead.

my point b may not be your point b, but we will walk together through self discovery.

Archival prints on silk and vinyl, 20"x30" and 8"x60"

Carboard boxes, 24" x 20’

Public Occupied Public Spaces POPS Up Gallery

Ephemeral installations in a Midtown public park during the Occupy Wall Street happenings in New York City.

Series of 2. Edition of 2.

2001, 2005

Neon installation, 36"" x 39" x 2”

Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY

Acquired through "PROARTISTA: Sustaining the Work of Living Contemporary Artists," a fund from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust

Shows:

El Museo del Barrio, NY, “Voices/Voces”, Selections from the permanent collection, 2009

El Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Santurce, The “S-Files”, 2006

El Museo del Barrio, NYC, The “S-Files”, 2005

Children’s book pages, glue and wood

L Factor show at Exit Art, New York

Homage to Eugenio Maria de Hostos, writer and educator.                                                

Archival prints on canvas, 2002

Variable dimensions, 72" x 96", 60" X 96"

Shown at The Museum of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic, 2003

A la orden del dia”, Catalogue essay by Paula Gomez Jorge, curator

Solo show at the Centro Cultural de España, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic,“Centro Docente” in collaboration with Centro de Arte EGO, and Carmen Canton and Paula Gomez as curators.

Archival prints on canvas, video (7:47mins), interactive room, and buttons.

13 plexiglass chairs with letraset, 8" x 96"

Archival print on canvas, 30" x 40", Edition of 3

Shows:

El Museo del Barrio, New York, “Merengue, Visual Rhymths”, 2006

Inspired by the Hispaniola.

The land of two great nations bound by (forever and ever) nature, in the whole extent of the word/meaning/memory.

Solo show Howard Scott Gallery, New York, NY, "Chosen Hearts", 2001

Catalogue with essays by Edward Sullivan and Maria Lluisa Borras.

Solo por esto existo, porque el corazón me ha escogido a mi para encontrar el cariño.

i exist only for this, because the heart has chosen me to find affection.

Stills of video "How February was born", 2002

Shown at the CinemaSlam Festival in BAM, Brooklyn, NY

(See "videos" gallery)

Acrylic, ink, collage and charcoal on canvas, 50" x 60"

Drawing collection, Miscellaneous studies of passion, loneliness, companionship and solitude

22”x30”, Mixed media on paper, made between 1998 and 2008

Shown at “Emerge 8”, 2007 Aljira Contemporary Center of Art, Newark, New Jersey and at "About Change" at the World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012

Series of 8

Mixed media on unprimed canvas, 8" x 10"

"Fresh Produce", 2000

Curated by Yasmin Ramirez at Taller Boricua, New York

Art installations have became a three dimensional creative outlet that i use instead of canvas or paper. This time, as in many others, the chairs are present made from bread and plastic with water and flour. Their sole purpose, to save what is seen and exist as is felt. The content is a direct result of a series of inner reflections about faith, hope, beliefs, emotions and a quest for the relativity of emotions, personal vulnerability, the privacy of what is public, the primitive and the sincere, the blindness of passion and the secretiveness of affection.

Solo show at Hostos Community Center, Bronx, NY, October 2000

Installations and Drawings

Curated by Leonora Vega; catalogue essays by Eneid Routte-Gomez, Leonora Vega, Wallace Edgecombe and Iliana Ubinas de Garcia

Installation.

Water color and ink on paper, wooden frames with gold and silver paint, 50 frames, 4’x6’

Galería Fundación de Arte Nouveau, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

60"x72", 96"x96", 72"x84"

Essay by Sara Hermann