Dora Espinoza Collection: Jose Melendez Contreras

Dora Espinoza Fine Art

DEFA, specialize in Latin-American Contemporary Art. It was created in 1988, as a privated art dealling company based in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. We represent the most important artist from Peru, as well as other artist from Latin-America.

DEFA's intention is to donate part of the art work to a museums or Institutions dedicated to study and research of Contemporary Art of Latin-America.

In 1993 Ms. Espinoza the CEO of DEFA, found Tribes Gallery. Tribes Gallery is part of A Gathering of the Tribes, an arts and cultural organization dedicated to excellence in the arts from a diverse perspective. Located on the Lower East Side of New York City. www.tribes.org.

We began collecting this body of work in 1985. The collection include: Paintings, Sculptures, Printmaking, Photography, Mixed Media. Part of the Collection includethe works of emerging artist, who have exhibit their work at Tribes Gallery.

DEFA, is also dedicated to assist emerging artists, exchange ideas, create peer relationships and find mentorship.

If you are interested in learning more about DEFA's collection, contact us to the phone number below and make an appointment.

We are open from Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm

DEFA

141 East 62nd Street

New York, NY 10065

212-826-3534

Engelwood, New Jersey

646-823-1104

Lima, Peru

011+511-4519167

http://doraespinozartcollection.blogspot.com

doraespinozart@aol.com

By Appointment Only

LATIN-AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS

Consuelo Amat y Leon

Pablo Amaringo

Lucy Angulo

Milner Cajahuaringa

Eduardo Cochachin

Victor Delfin

Maritza Danos

Dora Espinoza

Juan Raul Hoyos

Silvia Huerta

Claudio Juares

Laura Krapacher

German Londono

Jose Melendez Contreras

Fernando Pomalaza

Pablo Seminario

Rafael Tufiño

Wieslawa Tomasevich

Ricardo Wiesse

EMERGING ARTISTS

Hugh Bell

Jeff Bretsnider

Gulsen Calik

Mica D'Orleans

Julio Gonzalez

David Hewson

Jerald Jackson

Nikki Johson

Bodo Korsig

Laura Krapacher

Brian Leo

Hilari Maslon

Roy Rainhard

John Renard

Ming Smith

Cidem Tantuck

Angela Valeria

Tadashi Watanabe

Maritza Danós

Creo que el grabado es el paradigma de libertad y progreso, en el contexto de su evolución que experimentó a través su presencia histórica

Mi inclinación por el grabado se define alrededor del año 1980 después de deambular por diversas expresiones plásticas. Tal vez sus variadas facetas me guiaron, de forma rotunda, a esta elección. Se trata de un medio que me permite una doble experiencia

Por un lado, la táctil, sensorial, de elaborar un objeto -la matriz- y la procesal,

para obtener una imagen impresa sobre el soporte, permitiéndome innumerables posibilidades de expresar mi obra. Me encanta explorar la vitalidad e intensidad que me brindan sus variadas técnicas como el agua fuerte, la xilografía, la colagrafía, y otras que voy experimentando y hallando en el camino en ese proceso de revelaciones técnicas que cada artista lo vive. Con el grabado encuentro el propósito de hallar un destino y no solo un medio.

En mi obra tomo como referencia, elementos prehispánicos y también urbanos tradicionales elementos que se fueron definitivamente o están partiendo para no regresar, y que en algunos casos subsiste en la memoria colectiva. Tal vez sea mi quimera del reencuentro con realidades perdidas y olvidadas.

Gulsen Çalik

Gulsen Calik is a Turkish artist who claims
anyone can move anywhere in the world and make it her home. Though she was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, one day, on a spontaneous note, she decided to pack most of her belongings and move to California.

She has lived in Bhutan, of all places, and claims that the spirit of Asian people claimed a cadmium yellow spot in her soul.

She divides her time between writing, painting and taking care of her three lovely children, (the eldest of whom has already move out on
her own) and her garden, her cat Eskimo and her imaginary dog Snu.

Ms. Calik believes in the afterlife but appreciates life on earth rather deeply and with tremendous laughter in her heart.

John Ranard

John Ranard first recognized the potential HIV epidemic in Russia during the summer of 1995 when he photographed Moscow university students home-cook and then inject their own chemistry. At the time there were less than 1,000 people registered with HIV inside Russia. With financial support from Open Society Institute - New York he was able to continue this photographic documentary. Today 90% of new infections are drug related. This is the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the world according to UN-AIDS.

His photographic essays on this subject emphasize and encourage humane solutions to help stem the problem. "Inside a High-Risk Community" won First Place - Issue Reporting Photo Story by the University of Missouri School of Journalism 55th Pictures of Year award after being published in the New York Times Week in Review, November 1997.

Medecins Sans Frontieres published "The Fire Within" in collaboration with AIDS Foundation East / West as a policy statement explaining the rational for harm reduction inside Eastern Europe. The photographs have been exhibited at the Andrei Sakharov Museum in Moscow; the Center for Contemporary Art in Kiev; the Old Church in Amsterdam; The Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville - Kentucky; OK Harris Gallery, New York; The New York Camera Club; and the International Harm Reduction Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Ranard's photo-documentary "The Brutal Aesthetic" won the Kentucky State Arts Grant - Al Smith Fellowship. Doubleday published a selection of these photographs in "ON BOXING" by Joyce Carol Oates with photographs by John Ranard. The photographs were exhibited at the International Center for Photography - New York exhibition "Best Photogahy Books - 1987."

Ranard is collected by the University of Louisville Photographic Archives - Fine Print Collection, the Andrei Sakharov Museum, and Open Society Institute and the Graham Nash Photography Collection.

http://www.johnranard.com/john-netscape/index_netscape.htm

Mica D'Orleans

MICA D’ORLÉANS
Born 1960, Brooklyn, NY - Based in NYC

BIO

Mica D’Orléans studied journalism at Friends World College and Long Island University's Brooklyn Center. She later transferred to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she received A BFA for film production. Turning her attention to photography and mixed media, in 1988 Ms. D’Orléans began exhibiting her works. She has shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and France, and is a co-founder of Tribes Gallery in New York City’s Lower East Side. Ms. D’Orléans also writes short stories.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I see my images as an idealism of the mundane. That is why I like photojournalism, and why I tend to deconstruct everything else. I nd it hard to take a classic picture because I have no intention of repeating what I've seen or love. For instance, if I photograph a scene that I didn’t fall upon, I
automatically rearrange the original to make it slightly o, or blatantly work it over, or seek out my "bad” images to give them a painterly finish. It’s a pattern I’ve noticed in my work, which may be my subconscious desire to have people do a double take and review what they see in a different light. Also, I strongly believe that art can capture a person’s interest and peak their curiosity to learn about other cultures, races and beliefs, and hopefully break down the ridiculous barriers created by politicians and our news media.

Mica D'Orleans
212.877.0107
917.575.2198
micadorleans@gmail.com

Claudio Juarez

1938-2001

Claudio Juarez was born in 1938 in Ayacucho, Peru. He studied painting and printmaking at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes de Lima, Peru, and in 1960 he was granted a fellowship to continue his studies at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro. A year later he received another scholarship which allowed him go to Paris where he taught and worked with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17.

Juarez moved to New York in 1969. During his forty years as a master printer he created over 7,000 prints. His work has been exhibited worldwide and is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Bibliotheque Nationale, National Museum of Art Toronto, New York Public Library, Trenton National Museum, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and El Museo del Barrio in New York.

Jose Melendez Contreras

Jose Melendez Contreras was born in Naguabo, Puerto Rico on December 1921. From an impoverished family during the depression era, they were so poor that they didn't had money to buy pencils or paper. At the age of 11, Contreras was sent to live with an uncle, a man of some financial means. He noticed that young Jose had a natural talent for drawing so he enroll Jose in some drawing lessons with a local teacher. Those lessons continue to prove that Jose had talent and he studied art until he had to serve in the Army, during World War II, for two years. After his Army discharged Contreras enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico, and resumed his art studies with a teacher Cristobal Ruiz.

In a short period of time Ruiz advised Contreras to apply for a scholarship to further advance his art education. This scholarship enabled to Jose to enroll in the Cincinnati Academy of Arts, where he studied with Joseph Albers and Louis Bouche, among other European masters who also attend the faculty in the academy.

Contreras graduated with honors and received a Master's degree. He return to Puerto Rico where he dedicated his life to work in the field of printmaking among other techniques until his death in 1998.

Rafael Tufiño

Recognized as one of the best Puerto Rican painters of the 1950s, Rafael Tufiño was born in NY City in 1922. When he was 10, he moved with his family to Puerto Rico. An excellent painter, engraver, and printmaker, he studied with Alejandro Sánchez Felipe. In the 1930s, Tufiño established an atelier with artists Tony Maldonado, Juan A. Rosado, Luis Burgos, and Luis García. Tufiño's first exhibition was in 1942 at Ateneo Puertorriqueño, and consisted of paintings and drawings with an expressionist character. After serving in the US Army in World War II, he moved to Mexico in 1947, where he enrolled in Academia San Carlos. There, he discovered his love for linotypes, which he uses to create art that has a social character. Upon his return to Puerto Rico, Tufiño founded Centro de Arte Puertorriqueño along with with fellow artists Lorenzo Homar, Julio Rosado del Valle, Félix Rodríguez Baéz, and José Antonio Torres Martinó.

The center was created to promote works by Puerto Rican artists, and to serve as an artistic educational center. Tufiño held graphics workshops at División de Educación para la Comunidad, which was founded in 1950.

The theme of his work is related to Puerto Rico, its people, and customs. But more importantly, his love for Puerto Rico. In 1957 he paints Goyita, pictured above. Goyita is a portrait of his mother, while also symbolizing the Puerto Rican woman, full of determination, strength, and dignity. He is considered an urban artist because a large portion of his work is about the city of San Juan, depicting its living reality, battered condition, and sadness. The real life of the town, with its gloominess and misery, passes through Tufiño's hand, becoming an artistic theme and an advocate for a new social and political conscience. In 1954, he was awarded a Guggenheim scholarship, and created a portfolio called "El café."

In 1955, Tufiño created the portfolio "La Plena" with Lorenzo Homar and newcomer Tomás Blanco.

From 1960-63, he continued working at División de Educación para la Comunidad and at graphic workshops at Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueño. In 1967, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña's Escuela de Artes Plásticas was founded and Tufiño became part of the faculty.

His work is recognized in Puerto Rico and abroad and is part of public and private collections. He has been a resident artist of the city of San Juan, and the Bienal de San Juan del grabado latinoamericano y del caribe dedicated its third exhibit to him.

The work of Rafael Tufiño, had a retrospective at El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem from March 14th through August 24th, 2003.

Tufiño left us in 2008 along with leaving us behind a legacy.

Milner Cajahuaringa

Milner Cajahuaringa was born in Huarochirí, Lima, February 29, 1932. The Peruvian painter, graduated from the Escuela Nacional Superior de Bellas Artes, in Lima in 1959, winning a gold medal, for his dedication and talent. He became a professor in the same institution in 1972. Cajahuaringa in his paintings played with the complementary colours, trapezoidal images and geometrical forms that resemble the architecture of the ancient tahuantinsuyu civilization. He maintained a steady balance in his work between abstraction and figurative, although the Geometric Abstraction became more dominant in his later years.

Victor Delfin

Victor Delfin, 82 years old, lives in Lima, in la Casa Taller Delfin, where continues his work. He is recognized as one of the most important contemporary artist of Peru. His extensive work is clearly influenced by Pre-Columbian art.

Delfin received his art education at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes of Lima during the late 1940s. His first solo exhibition in Lima was held in 1966 with a series of "Retablos", made with lead, ceramics and wood. During the following years Delfin initiates escultóricos works using mechanical metal pieces in disuse, with them it produces the titled series the "Bestiario", representing the Signs of the Zodiac.

Delfin's work became universal in his exhibit "Birds of America" in the early 1970s. During the entirety of his artistic life Delfin paints but during the 1980s and 1990s he focuses on portraits, still lives, and landscape.

In his most recent work, Delfin has developed an interest in human rights and social consciousness. During this period Delfin becomes acquainted with print making . He enrolled in the Print Making Work Shop in New York City. Under the supervision of Bob Black Burn, and Claudio Juares, he create a series of work linocut, representing human rights abuses by the Peruvian military.

Lucy Angulo Lafosse

Lucy Angulo Lafosse, was born in Lima, Peru. She enrolled in the Escuela Nacional Autónoma de Bellas Arte in Lima, during its most conflictive period, the Class of 1980. During those years she start making the research about the Andean Culture for more than 15 years.

In 1982, she received her master's degree at Mexico's Universidad Nacional Autónoma, the same year she travels to Germany to study in the Berlin School of Art's, where she met Joseph Beuys and his photographer, Uttte Kaplaus.

"I'd describe my art through the thread that leads me through my research on this culture. Through our myths, I look for a sign that gives me the freedom to express myself. At first, this was by way of dreams, later through an incident or another. Now things just flow. I interpret the inner nature of things with an almost abstract language. In this way I feel free to initiate a pictorial dialogue. If I paint, I feel that I exist, that life is beautiful. I enjoy feeling like a witness to my time. I transmit the concept that ethics are everywhere, especially in the image. My works are concentrated energy.

"For me, art is the most noble form of expression the human being has, where spirit, intuition, science and reason come together in transformation.

The artist has exhibited her work in many individual shows throughout Peru as well as in Cuba, Sao Paulo, Germany, New York and Miami.

Consuelo Amat y Leon

The forms and colors of Consuelo Amat y Leon’s paintings are the influence of the ancestral cultures of Peru. Even though her work abbeys the symbolic order of ancient Peru, Mrs. Amat y Leon introduces her own rules of color and texture by yuxtaposing the formal balance of the past against the impulsive language of modern art. This inherent tension is the center of Mrs. Amat y Leon’work.

She concentrates traditional color to communicate, most gently, a severe message: the life of death need to learn the lesson of our past. Her paintings merge the essential elements of modern art with pre-inca cultural form. It is as if her work has past thought the arch of ancient Peru to capture within their forms the delicate light of times long gone but still vital to our society.

The paintings of Consuelo Amat y Leon eloquently express modern experience through the pictural language of her cultural past.

Jorge Bernuy, Art Critic.

Dora Espinoza

I have to be kissed by the muse, and when I am kissed, I am in loved with my new project. The project can be of any kind, not necessarily art, Photography, Painting, Jewelry, Drawing, Video or Curating it can be renovating a house or work in the garde, for me is the same, as longest I enjoy what I am doing is art for me.

I like to do to many things at he same time. I feel life is to short to dedicated my self to do one thing. I love music, and dancing, Meditating is the best.

I also love stones and crystals that's why my last body of work is jewelry.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Jose Melendez Contreras

About Me