FITS Caps- Sofía Maldonado
In this first installment of the FITS Capsules, “Creating from a distance”, Sofía Maldonado introduces herself and discusses her most prominent themes: nature and women. She expresses how color is both a source of inspiration and a devotion. She finds encouragement in Georgia O’Keefe’s work reflecting the relationship between humanity and nature, which was produced in the isolation of the New Mexico desert. Sofía comments on the importance of collaborating artistically in an honest way and shares her experiences with the Suarez Twins. The artist believes this process can bring life to what has been abandoned. In the following capsules we will hear about her observation exercises and contemplative explorations of decaying Cupey leaves.
On this occasion, Sofía Maldonado invites us into her studio-garden. After a few weeks under quarantine, she discovered the studio and garden were symbiotic. The garden, containing flowering plants and herbs, is home to a cupey tree. This tree is native to the Caribbean region. Its fruit are eaten by bats, its resin is used as an adhesive, and its thick fleshy leaves have been incised, since time immemorial, with messages and drawings. The Taíno, Puerto Rican amerindians, used to make balls out of the resin to play batey.1 The leaves falling from the cupey tree inspired a series of photographs and observation drills that the artist decided to share with her audience, friends, and family on social media during the quarantine.
Sofía begins each day with her Kundalini Yoga practice. This type of yoga combines physical exercises and meditative practices with an emphasis on consciousness.2 It is known as “the yoga of awareness”.3 The observation exercises she conducts with the cupey leaves are aligned with the aim of Kundalini practice: “to awaken the full potential of human awareness in each individual”.4 Artists use observation drills to practice and develop mindful, focused, active observation of a model, human or otherwise. The artist must be fully engaged and concentrated on
the formal qualities of the subject: shape, color, texture, composition. This skill must be cultivated constantly because knowledge of the subject matter and memories will interfere with the faithful reproduction of what is studied. An artist may adjust the parameters of their observation drills to suit their particular stylistic needs or interests. Sofia is particularly interested in the unique shape and color transformations the cupey leaves undergo as they dry. We will see the result of her creative process in the final capsule.
Bibliography
McCrae, James. “Introduction to Kundalini: The Yoga of Awareness.” Huffpost. Published March 26, 2015. Accessed April 27, 2020.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/introduction-to-kundalini-the-yoga-of-awareness_b_6862914 guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHW68FRVSLPXGT75CfLBmvEPsUCphbqtrnaBKjHBJb5CNGGAN-0BiK8TnlQb7vKazjl9eijxU2yvLsOYvsEicVrbPsb0z8H7v-luHlCgPHBfmqL5BGBd7z6zozWBvBEFxzLVTT-oZLr7a3k9QsQ6rHq0xlXMxhqGGvQ0XKw3H0Az.
Tesoro Lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico. “Cupey.” Accessed April 27, 2020.
https://tesoro.pr/lema/cupey.
1 “Cupey,” Tesoro Lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, accessed April 27, 2020,
https://tesoro.pr/ lema/cupey.
2 “Introduction to Kundalini: The Yoga of Awareness,” Huffpost, published March 26, 2015, accessed April 27, 2020,
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/introduction-to-kundalini-the-yoga-of- awareness_b_6862914? guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH W68FRVSLPXGT75CfLBmvEPsUCphbqtrnaBKjHBJb5CNGGAN-0BiK8TnlQb7vKazjl9eijxU2yvLsOYvsEic VrbPsb0z8H7v-luHlCgPHBfmqL5BGBd7z6zozWBvBEFxzLVTT- oZLr7a3k9QsQ6rHq0xlXMxhqGGvQ0XKw3H0Az.
3 “Introduction to Kundalini: The Yoga of Awareness,” Huffpost, published March 26, 2015, accessed April 27, 2020,
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/introduction-to-kundalini-the-yoga-of- awareness_b_6862914? guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH W68FRVSLPXGT75CfLBmvEPsUCphbqtrnaBKjHBJb5CNGGAN-0BiK8TnlQb7vKazjl9eijxU2yvLsOYvsEic VrbPsb0z8H7v-luHlCgPHBfmqL5BGBd7z6zozWBvBEFxzLVTT- oZLr7a3k9QsQ6rHq0xlXMxhqGGvQ0XKw3H0Az.
4 “Introduction to Kundalini: The Yoga of Awareness,” Huffpost, published March 26, 2015, accessed April 27, 2020,
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/introduction-to-kundalini-the-yoga-of- awareness_b_6862914? guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH W68FRVSLPXGT75CfLBmvEPsUCphbqtrnaBKjHBJb5CNGGAN-0BiK8TnlQb7vKazjl9eijxU2yvLsOYvsEic VrbPsb0z8H7v-luHlCgPHBfmqL5BGBd7z6zozWBvBEFxzLVTT- oZLr7a3k9QsQ6rHq0xlXMxhqGGvQ0XKw3H0Az.
Sofía Maldonado concludes the Creating from a distance: Artists in quarantine capsules recounting her many murals. She seems to be inviting us to leave the studio in order to explore and appreciate the city’s least welcoming locations.
Sofía is constantly producing work, which, for the last few years, has been centered on abstraction. Music, nature and urban art have been essential elements in her artistic practice. Her interest in the urban landscape has inspired the creation of murals focused on the idea of neglect and disuse that aim to spark the spectator’s curiosity. Vivid color and energetic gestural marks are not meant to embellish, but rather indicate the abandonment of a structure or space. Sofía is particularly interested in creating work that motivates passers-by to explore the city’s painted areas, such as bridges and staircases. On occasion, she has arranged noise music performances to accompany her interventions, because this style is analogous to her visual expression and the gathering encourages a sense of community.
In Kalaña, Sofía produced an ephemeral piece in which she painted the interior of a deserted tobacco factory. This work was part of “Cromática: Caguas a Color” celebrated in 2016.1 The factory was open which allowed the audience to enter the work of art and participate in a series of workshops, lectures, musical performances and tours of the Savarona community.2 Traversing the space the spectator must concentrate on the formal qualities of the intervention and their sensory and internal experiences. Through the abstraction of color, Sofía can create respite from the city’s constant media onslaught and an environment where the viewer can reconsider the nonfunctional structures that surround them.
The Sala de Exposiciones del Plata (S.E.P.) was another intervention in the Kalaña series produced for “Dorado a Color”. The artist painted the interior of the exhibit hall which displayed a series of nature watercolors she produced during her Artist Residency at arte_FITS.Foundation in 2015.3 She complemented the hall and the exhibit with a mural painted under the bridge next to the S.E.P. This project generated opportunities for creating murals at the Museum of Latin American Art in Los Angeles, California and at urban art festivals in New Mexico and Massachusetts.
Bibliography
arte_FITS.Foundation. “Dorado a Color y Proyecto Kalaña.” Accessed April 22, 2020.
https://artefits.org/ephemeralart/index.php/dorado-a-color/.
Sofia Maldonado (@sofiamaldo). “BID x @museomapr.” Instagram photo. Accessed May 7, 2020.
https://www.picuki.com/media/2168290870183792802.
1 Sofía Maldonado (@sofiamaldo), “BID x @museomapr,” Instagram photo, accessed May 7, 2020,
https://www.picuki.com/media/2168290870183792802.
2 Maldonado, “BID x @museomapr.”
3 “Dorado a Color y Proyecto Kalaña,” arte_FITS.Foundation, accessed April 22, 2020,
http:// artefits.org/ephemeralart/index.php/dorado-a-color/.
Sofía Maldonado’s relationship with arte_FITS.Foundation began in 2015 with her participation in the Artist Residency. The following year, for “Dorado a Color” the Sala de Exposiciones del Plata exhibited the 19 watercolors Sofía produced during her residency.1 On that occasion the exhibit hall was converted by the artist into a work of art through a color intervention with a sprayer machine as part of her project “Kalaña”. She also painted a mural next to the exhibition hall under the Rio La Plata Bridge. In 2018, Sofía created Color Field for the 3rd Edition of the Art in Golf Triennial held by arte_FITS.Foundation.2 She applied vibrant colors with graffiti techniques to golf carts to represent the contrast between urban culture and the golf environment and encourage reflection on the effects of consumerism on the natural environment.3 Last year she collaborated with Venezuelan artist Mandy Porras and arte_FITS to paint a public urban intervention under the bridge along Antonio “Chi chi” Rodríguez Road (693) in Dorado. Sofía’s latest exhibition at the Sala de Exposiciones del Plata has been postponed due to the quarantine. “Las Chicas de Sofía: Una Mirada Introspectiva” is a retrospective representing ordinary women produced between 2010 and 2017. This exhibition will include her “42nd St. Mural” a controversial piece created by the Time Square Alliance, Cuban Artists Fund and the Rockefeller Brothers 4 and previously exhibited at the Ringling Museum and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rican Contemporary Art Museum).5
Sofía is an artist, designer and Professor who was born in Puerto Rico to a Cuban mother in 1984. She has a BFA from Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico and an MFA from the Pratt Institute.7 The artist lives and works between New York and Puerto Rico where her workshop is currently located in Miramar, and is constantly traveling and producing work.8 Her commitment to Puerto Rico’s cultural development has led to the establishment of HIELO, an artist residency, and Open Studio Project, an artist run space.9
The artist’s work consists of paintings on a variety of surfaces, which include paper, canvas, wood, and skateboards, with watercolor, acrylic, spray paint and her sprayer machine. Sofía also varies her scale greatly as she creates on traditional surfaces as well as vehicles and buildings, both inside and out. She combines her characteristic fluid brushwork and dripping with graffiti techniques and an electrifying palette to represent nature, women and the reggaeton and trap subcultures. Her color interventions within and on building exteriors refer to decay and abandonment.10
In this first installment of the FITS Capsules, “Creating from a distance”, Sofía Maldonado introduces herself and discusses her most prominent themes: nature and women. She expresses how color is both a source of inspiration and a devotion. She finds encouragement in Georgia O’Keefe’s work reflecting the relationship between humanity and nature, which was produced in the isolation of the New Mexico desert. Sofía comments on the importance of collaborating artistically in an honest way and shares her experiences with the Suarez Twins. The artist believes this process can bring life to what has been abandoned. In the following capsules we will hear about her observation exercises and contemplative explorations of decaying Cupey leaves.
Text by Irma Arzola & Marinelly Bello
Bibliography
arte_FITS.Foundation. “Dorado a Color y Proyecto Kalaña.” Accessed April 22, 2020. https://artefits.org/ephemeralart/index.php/dorado-a-color/.
arte_FITS.Foundation. “Sofía Maldonado: Color Field.” Published November 11, 2018. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://artefits.org/ephemeralart/index.php/project/ sofia-maldonado/.
Sala de Exposiciones del Plata (@sala_exposiciones_del_plata). “Mural de la Calle 42.” Instagram photo. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://www.picuki.com/media/ 2237172385894917199.
Sofía Maldonado. “Bio & CV.” Accessed April 23, 2020. http://sofiamaldonado.com/ #bio.
Sofia Maldonado (@sofiamaldo). “Extremely grateful that we are reinstalling the “42nd St. Mural”. This controversial piece was created by the Time Square Alliance (2010), exhibit at the Ringling Museum & @museomacpr. It will be featured publicly at @sala_exposiciones_del_plata as part of my next upcoming exhibition, thanks to @arte_fits.foundation @doradomunicipio. More information soon . Installed by @monomachete @stephanofong.” Instagram photo. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://www.picuki.com/media/2248150232208900265.
1 “Dorado a Color y Proyecto Kalaña,” arte_FITS.Foundation, accessed April 22, 2020, http:// artefits.org/ephemeralart/index.php/dorado-a-color/.
2 “Sofía Maldonado: Color Field,” arte_FITS.Foundation, published November 11, 2018, accessed April 22, 2020, https://artefits.org/ephemeralart/index.php/project/sofia-maldonado/.
3 “Sofía Maldonado: Color Field,” arte_FITS.Foundation, published November 11, 2018, accessed April 22, 2020, https://artefits.org/ephemeralart/index.php/project/sofia-maldonado/.
4 Sala de Exposiciones del Plata (@sala_exposiciones_del_plata), “Mural de la Calle 42,” Instagram photo, accessed April 22, 2020, https://www.picuki.com/media/ 2237172385894917199.
5 Sofía Maldonado (@sofiamaldo), “Extremely grateful that we are reinstalling the “42nd St. Mural”. This controversial piece was created by the Time Square Alliance (2010), exhibit at the Ringling Museum & @museomacpr. It will be featured publicly at @sala_exposiciones_del_plata as part of my next upcoming exhibition, thanks to @arte_fits.foundation @doradomunicipio.
More information soon . Installed by @monomachete @stephanofong,” Instagram photo, accessed April 22, 2020, https://www.picuki.com/media/2248150232208900265.
6 “Bio & CV,” Sofía Maldonado, accessed April 23, 2020, http://sofiamaldonado.com/#bio.
7 “Bio & CV,” Sofía Maldonado, accessed April 23, 2020, http://sofiamaldonado.com/#bio.
8 “Bio & CV,” Sofía Maldonado, accessed April 23, 2020, http://sofiamaldonado.com/#bio.
9 “Bio & CV,” Sofía Maldonado, accessed April 23, 2020, http://sofiamaldonado.com/#bio.
10 “Bio & CV,” Sofía Maldonado, accessed April 23, 2020, http://sofiamaldonado.com/#bio.