Upcoming Exhibition
Firelei Báez
Firelei Báez (Dominican, born 1981), “A Drexcyen chronocommons (To win the war you fought it sideways),” 2019
“My works are propositions, meant to create alternate pasts and potential futures, questioning history and culture in order to provide a space for reassessing the present.” — Firelei Báez
This exhibition is the first North American survey dedicated to the richly layered work of Firelei Báez (b. 1981, Dominican Republic). One of the most exciting painters of her generation, Báez delves into the historical narratives of the Atlantic basin. Over the past 20 years, she has made work that explores the multilayered legacy of colonial histories and the African diaspora in the Caribbean and beyond. She draws on the disciplines of anthropology, geography, folklore, fantasy, science fiction, and social history to unsettle categories of race, gender, and nationality in her paintings, drawings, and installations. Her exuberant paintings feature finely wrought, complex, and layered uses of pattern, decoration, and saturated color, often overlaid on maps made during colonial rule in the Americas.
Báez’s investment in the medium of painting and its capacity for storytelling and mythmaking informs all her work, including her sculptural installations, which bring this quality into three dimensions. This exhibition offers a timely opportunity to gain a holistic understanding of Báez’s complex and profoundly moving body of work, cementing her as one of the most important artists of the early 21st century.
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue.
“Firelei Báez” is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and Eva Respini, Deputy Director and Director of Curatorial Programs, Vancouver Art Gallery (former Barbara Lee Chief Curator, ICA/Boston), with Tessa Bachi Haas, Assistant Curator.
Major support for “Firelei Báez” is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Karen and Brian Conway, David and Jocelyne DeNunzio, Mathieu O. Gaulin, The Kotzubei-Beckmann Family Philanthropic Fund, and Lise and Jeffrey Wilks, and an anonymous donor.
Additional support for the presentation of this exhibition at the Des Moines Art Center is provided by
Firelei Báez (Dominican, born 1981)
A Drexcyen chronocommons (To win the war you fought it sideways), 2019
Two paintings, hand-painted wooden frame, perforated tarp, printed mesh, handmade paper over found objects, plants, and books
Courtesy the Joyner/Giuffrida Collection, San Francisco
Image courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth, New York. Photo by Phoebe d’Heurle. © Firelei Báez
Firelei Báez (Dominican, born 1981)
Sans-Souci (This threshold between a dematerialized and a historicized body), 2015
Acrylic and ink on linen
Pérez Art Museum Miami, museum purchase with funds provided by Lesie and Greg Ferrero and Rose Ellen Meyerhoff Greene
Photo by Oriol Tarridas. © Firelei Báez
