Sofia Maldonado
Encyclopedia
Sofia Maldonado is a Puerto Rican
visual artist who lives and works in New York City
. She is especially well known for her dramatic graffiti
-inspired mural
s of women, which are closely associated to a feminist Caribbean
hip hop
aesthetic. Her work has garnered enormous controversy due to its sexually provocative nature. Maldonado is a leading contemporary artist and can be seen as part of the Nuyorican Movement
.
; she received a BFA from the Escuela de Artes Plásticas
(2006) in San Juan, a Master of Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute
in 2008, and was a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center
. In 2008, Maldonado exhibited at Queens Museum. In 2009 Maldonado created a large scale public art work with Real Art Ways
in Hartford, Connecticut
.
The artist was selected by the Times Square
Alliance to create a mural on 42nd Street
in Manhattan
in 2010; her mural was criticized by viewers who felt she was representing women too sexually. Her works are held in the collections of the Museo de Bellas Artes in Cuba; the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Rockefeller Brothers, New York, among others.
Maldonado has painted an expansive body of work including skatepark
s, murals, live painting performances, mix media, and video. Her work is inspired by dilapidated structures of the Caribbean, the Latina female character, and urban subcultures. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions internationally, including Magnan Emrich, New York (2008), Witzenhausen Gallery, Amsterdam (2010), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Puerto Rico (2010), Magnan Metz Gallery, NY (2010), Ringling Museum, Sarasota (2011), and the University of Wisconsin, Madison (2011).
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
visual artist who lives and works in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She is especially well known for her dramatic graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
-inspired mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s of women, which are closely associated to a feminist Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
aesthetic. Her work has garnered enormous controversy due to its sexually provocative nature. Maldonado is a leading contemporary artist and can be seen as part of the Nuyorican Movement
Nuyorican Movement
The Nuyorican Movement is a cultural and intellectual movement involving poets, writers, musicians and artists who are Puerto Rican or of Puerto Rican descent, who live in or near New York City, and either call themselves or are known as Nuyoricans...
.
Career and mural work
Sofia Maldonado was born in San Juan, Puerto RicoSan Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
; she received a BFA from the Escuela de Artes Plásticas
School of Plastic Arts of Puerto Rico
The School of Plastic Arts of Puerto Rico is a state university and a school of art in Old San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico. The school was originally founded in 1966 as part of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture...
(2006) in San Juan, a Master of Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
in 2008, and was a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center
Vermont Studio Center
The Vermont Studio Center is a non-profit organization located in the town of Johnson in the U.S. state of Vermont. VSC conducts the largest fine arts and writing residency program in the U.S., with a significant population of international artists in residency...
. In 2008, Maldonado exhibited at Queens Museum. In 2009 Maldonado created a large scale public art work with Real Art Ways
Real Art Ways
Real Art Ways is a non-profit art space established in 1975. Located at 56 Arbor Street in the Parkville neighborhood of Hartford, Connecticut, Real Art Ways exhibits visual art, houses an independent cinema and presents live music, theater, and literary and community events.It has shown such...
in Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
.
The artist was selected by the Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
Alliance to create a mural on 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in 2010; her mural was criticized by viewers who felt she was representing women too sexually. Her works are held in the collections of the Museo de Bellas Artes in Cuba; the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Rockefeller Brothers, New York, among others.
Maldonado has painted an expansive body of work including skatepark
Skatepark
A skatepark is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, aggressive inline skating and scooters. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, quarter pipes, spine transfers, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs stairsets,...
s, murals, live painting performances, mix media, and video. Her work is inspired by dilapidated structures of the Caribbean, the Latina female character, and urban subcultures. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions internationally, including Magnan Emrich, New York (2008), Witzenhausen Gallery, Amsterdam (2010), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Puerto Rico (2010), Magnan Metz Gallery, NY (2010), Ringling Museum, Sarasota (2011), and the University of Wisconsin, Madison (2011).
Book chapters and articles
- "Arts Innovator: Sofia Maldonado, Puerto Rico." Americas Quarterly (Fall 2009).
- Daley, Anna. "That's Not Us." Art21 Blog, April 5, 2010.
- Delgado, Cindy. "Sofia Maldonado: Beauty In Naughtiness." Rubyhornet April 29, 2010.
- McLendon, Matthew. Beyond Bling: Voices of Hip Hop in Art. Scala Publishers, 2011. ISBN 1857596978
- Morrison, Sarah. "Sofia Maldonado Gets Pretty/Hood in Times Square." (video and article) 80sPurple.
- Nogueras, Celina. Frescos: 50 Puerto Rican Artists under 35. Actar, 2011. ISBN 098152558X
- Rivera, Raquel Z. "Sofia's Gatas / Las gatas de Sofía." Reggaetonica July 8, 2009.
- "Tropical Storm: Gowanus – Sofia Maldonado and Cre8tive YouTH*ink." (video) cre8tive YouTH*ink. June 13, 2011.
- "Vigoroso Letargo: Sofía Maldonado y Darren Brass hablarán hoy, a las 7:00 p.m., de historia y memoria en el MAC." El Nuevo Día, July 28, 2010.
External links
- Official Website
- Sofia Maldonado on FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...