Corrosive Like Salt Water

Corrosive Like Salt Water gathers the work of Puerto Rican artists whose practices pose compelling formal propositions, politically charged imagery, and social commentary about the island’s social and geopolitical position. The artists use esoteric, sarcastic, and kinetic elements to unveil the mosaic of idiosyncrasies related to being born in a U.S. invaded territory. This fact is at the center of most of these artists’ work, yet with radical, acerbic critique they challenge historical narratives, social stagnation, and political myopia in relation to the island’s long colonial history.    

In Corrosive Like Salt Water, artists employ revisionist methods, cultural signifiers, and identity politics to meditate and comment on the complexity of Puerto Rico’s racial and economic legacies. Thematically, the exhibition pushes through allegorical projections of Caribbean kinship, island geography, and colonial identity giving the audience a considerate and embedded view into discursive and artistic manifestations in and outside Puerto Rico.

Corrosive Like Salt Water is curated by Sharmyn Cruz Rivera. 

Participating artists include: Ramón Miranda Beltrán, Jorge González, Sofía Gallisá Muriente, Josue Pellot, Guillermo Rodriguez, Monica Rodriguez, nibia pastrana santiago, Chemi Rosado-Seijo and Edra Soto

Chemi Rosado-Seijo lecture 
Wednesday, September 12, 6pm
623 S. Wabash Ave., Room 109

The Art and Art History Department at Columbia College Chicago is pleased to present a lecture by Chemi Rosado-Seijo in conjunction with the Corrosive Like Salt Water exhibition at the Glass Curtain Gallery. Born in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, Rosado-Seijo graduated from the painting department of the Puerto Rico School of Visual Arts in 1997. In 2000, Rosado-Seijo had his first solo show at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona. Rosado-Seijo has participated in numerous exhibitions and biennials, including the Whitney (2002), Prague (2005), Havana (2006), Pontevedra (2010) and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (2014). That same year he received the Creative Capital Grant for another ongoing community project in La Perla. In 2015, Rosado-Seijo was granted The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Artist as Activist Fellowship for El Cerro, honoring artists pursuing ambitious creative projects with a social purpose.

About the curator
Sharmyn Cruz Rivera is Assistant Curator at The Green Lantern Press based at Sector 2337 in Chicago, IL. Cruz Rivera holds an MA in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a dual BA in Art History and Modern Languages from the University of Puerto Rico.