April 27 – August 6, 2017
Firelei Báez, To see beyond it and to access the places that we know lie outside its walls, 2015. Collection of San Jose Museum of Art
Firelei Báez, Vessel of Genealogies, 2016. Courtesty of the Artist and Gallery Wendi Norris
Firelei Báez, Can I Pass? Introducing the Paper Bag to the Fan Test for the Month of July, 2011. Courtesy of the artist
Firelei Báez installation, 2017
Firelei Báez installation, 2017
Firelei Báez installation, 2017
Firelei Báez installation, 2017
Firelei Báez installation, 2017
Firelei Báez is a Dominican-American artist whose large-scale paintings, drawings, and textiles evoke the beauty and political implications of hairstyles, textiles, and tattoos for those whose cultural identities have remained traditionally absent from dominant culture.
Báez explores her own divine being signifying a wide range of imagery that attests to the artist’s own hybrid racial background. The artist developed a style in her large-scale works that challenges a traditional linear art history; these works were influenced by a wide range of images from different cultures, including techniques from Persian miniature painting, studies on the female body and subjectivities, and science fiction. She is interested in reimagining her own origins, creating labor-intensive works that explore specific issues of landscape, womanhood, and race.
This solo exhibition is organized by the Tarble Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University and curated by María Elena Ortiz, Associate Curator Pérez Art Museum Miami.
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