Rafael Abreu-Canedo: BIO
Born 1984, Brasil.
Rafael Abreu-Canedo follows in the wake of artists who, particularly since the seventies, have questioned the formalism of established languages, renewed an awareness of art’s political role (in a broad sense), and had their actions pervade the whole social space.
-Rafael: "It’s far too academic for me to try to speak about or for the world. That’s too much noun and not enough verb."
As an artist, instead, Rafael cultivates the ability to sculpt and curate the world’s elusive complexities into focus… within arm’s reach. In this sort of existential approach, feelings are the only facts. Consequently, Rafael's work taps into these "facts" through a seemingly ready-made complex of personal/collective memories and mythologies, the residues of which are fossilized into materials and practices.
While language is often a point of departure in his work, metaphors and subjective symbolism take a back-seat to that elusive yet very real je ne sais quoi that shrouds viewers into moments of inspiring emotions, thoughts and behaviors. While it's tempting to speak about Rafael's body of work in terms of Arte Povera, Minimalism, Street Art, Brasilian Concretism and/or 70's performance art, experienceing it renders explanations, reproductions and even this website, mischeviously superfluous.
Through sculpture, performance, photography, and a wide array of non-traditional media, Rafael Abreu-Canedo explore issues of language, behavior and identity, with focus on systems, the body, and space. He has exhibited and taught throughout the US, having his first exhibition in 2001 at the age of 16. Since then, Rafael has worked with organizations such as Oakland Unified School District, New York Department of Education, Sprout Fund, Root Division, the New New Yorkers Program at the Queens Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Franklin Furnace, developing a commitment to communication through the arts; changing the future by working for a better today.
