NEW YORK: Caribbean: Crossroads of the World

Arrnaldo Roche Rabell, We Have to Dream in Blue, 1986 , 84 x 60 inches ,Oil on canvas. Collection of John Belk & Margarita Serapion Photo courtesy of Walter Otero Gallery

Caribbean: Crossroads of the World is the culmination of nearly a decade of collaborative research and scholarship organized by El Museo del Barrio in collaboration with the Queens Museum of Art and The Studio Museum in Harlem. The exhibition, comprised of more than 500 works of art spanning four centuries, emphasizes the relationship between the Caribbean and the United States and the artists from both locales who contribute to ongoing conversations about national and regional identity and belonging.

Presenting work at the three museums and accompanied by an ambitious range of programs and events, Caribbean: Crossroads illuminates changing aesthetics and ideologies and provokes meaningful conversations about topics ranging from commerce and cultural hybridity to politics and popular culture. A single “Passport to the Caribbean” purchased at any institution will allow admission to all three venues for the duration of the exhibition. 

El Museo del Barrio: June 12, 2012 to January 6, 2013 

Queens Museum of Art: June 17, 2012 to January 6, 2013 

The Studio Museum in Harlem: June 14, 2012 to October 21, 2012 

Margarita Aguilar, Director of El Museo del Barrio, notes: “El Museo del Barrio is very proud to be leading groundbreaking research into the artistic heritage of a region that scholars have too often overlooked. With our visionary collaborators, we are expanding our understanding of the region. The rich history of the Caribbean and its global impact is astonishing, and we look forward to celebrating this with our communities through the arts.” 

Taking the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) as its starting point, Caribbean: Crossroads engages the rich history of the Caribbean and its transatlantic cultures. The broad range of themes examined in the multi-venue project draws attention to diverse views of the contemporary Caribbean and sheds new light on the encounters and exchanges among the countries and territories comprising the New World. 

The works on view, culled from collections around the world, represent Caribbean perspectives and external perceptions of the region through a wide range of subjects and artistic practices that include portraiture, spiritual and religious themes, depictions of labor and historical events, abstraction, and contemporary video and installation work. This selection provides a visual history of the Caribbean as a pivotal crossroads between Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. 

“Caribbean: Crossroads is a vital extension of the Studio Museum’s commitment to exhibiting a broad and diverse range of artistic practices,” declares Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem. “We are thrilled to partner with our peer institutions, El Museo and the Queens Museum, to present this exceptional opportunity to explore the art, culture and history of a region that has influenced and inspired artists of African descent for centuries.” 

Among the 379 featured artists are Janine Antoni, John James Audubon, David Bade, Myrna Báez, Alvaro Barrios, Jean Michel Basquiat, José Bedia, Isaac Mendes Belisario, Ernest Breleur, Agostino Brunias, José Campeche, Tony Capellán, Esteban Chartrand, Jaime Colson, Renée Cox, Winifred Dania, Edouard Duval-Carrié, Sandra Eleta, Paul Gauguin, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Enrique Grau, May Henriquez, Winslow Homer, Hector Hyppolite, Yubi Kirindongo, Wifredo Lam, Hugo Larson, Mark Latamie, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Elvis Lopez, Edna Manley, Leo Matiz, Ana Mendieta, Rachelle Mozman, Jesús “Bubu” Negrón, Ebony G. Patterson, Amelia Peláez, Marcel Pinas, Camille Pissarro, Ryan Oduber, Francisco Oller, Arnaldo Roche Rabell, Armando Reveron, Ernesto Salmerón and Hank Willis Thomas. 

Tom Finkelpearl, Executive Director of the Queens Museum of Art, states: “The wonderful vibrancy of Queens stems from the myriad cross-cultural conversations that take place on a daily basis in the country’s most diverse locale, and Caribbean voices contribute in meaningful ways to the ongoing discourse shaping our borough, and our city. With Caribbean: Crossroads, three visionary institutions have come together to explore those voices, artistic traditions, historical events and poignant themes that speak as much to the Caribbean of the past centuries, as they do to the ever-changing Diaspora that we experience everyday in Queens.” 

Caribbean: Crossroads explores six distinct themes split amongst the three venues: Counterpoints, Patriot Acts, Fluid Motions, Kingdoms of this World, Shades of History, and Land of the Outlaw. 

“We’ve employed a polyphonic perspective to deal with a huge archipelago that it is as diverse and complex as New York City, which is, to many, the largest Caribbean city,” reflects Project Director Elvis Fuentes. “For the first time ever, this project will examine the impact of Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe on the visual culture of the Caribbean, including painters that were part of the Impressionists and Surrealists in France, to homegrown schools recovering popular traditions and developing original styles…the public will realize how intertwined the Caribbean and American experiences truly are.”