591 Broad Street
Newark, NJ 07102-4403
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fx 973 622-6526
info@aljira.org
www.aljira.org
For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Victor Davson
Executive Director
973 622-1600
vdavson@aljira.org
superHUMAN curated by Jorge Rojas and David Hawkins
Newark, New Jersey—Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to present
superHUMAN, a group show curated by Jorge Rojas and David Hawkins.
About superHUMAN:
Over the course of history, speculative art has taken a number of shapes, from classic
Greek myths to graphic novels, from sci-fi literature to film. The fantastic qualities of this
work have made it extraordinarily popular among audiences, but it also has provided
artists with an important means for exploring serious cultural issues. This exhibition
features artists who pull freely from speculative models, working in various mediums to
help shape modern hybrid styles and bring new audiences into the conversation.
Artists include Blanka Amezkua, Edgar Arceneaux, Kevin Darmanie, Kurt Forman,
Chitra Ganesh, Fay Ku, Shaun El C. Leonardo, Kerry James Marshall, Wanda
Raimundi-Ortiz, Dulce Pinzón, William Pope.L, Robert Pruitt, Xaviera Simmons and
Saya Woolfalk.
Combining the mythical and fantastic, these artists compel audiences to look beyond
contemporary notions of race, gender, sexuality, cultural rituals, and even art itself. Like
the half-human subjects that have inspired them, these new speculative art forms may
well point the way to the future of art and culture, stepping across the threshold as either
an invitation or a warning. They resist easy categories, thwart the boundaries between
high and low, and present a new vision of a shared superhuman experience.
The innovative and influential artist Kerry James Marshall incorporates comic book
themes and style as well as African art in his “Rythm Mastr” series. In William Pope.L’s
video The Great White Way, the artist appears in a superman suit crawling the 22-mile
stretch of Broadway, raising questions about the great white superhero. Chitra Ganesh
blends fantastic elements from Greek myth, comic books, and classic Hindu and
Buddhist folklore.
Shaun El C. Leonardo has turned to the iconic imagery of superheroes and professional
wrestlers to explore masculinity and male stereotypes. Dulce Pinzón’s photographs of
migrant laborers costumed as American comic book idols challenge the negative public
perception of Hispanic immigration. In her dreamlike video, Empathetic Plant Alchemy,
Saya Woolfalk draws on the whimsical realm of “No Place” to explore ritual, identity, and
community. And Kevin Darmanie’s vibrant and playful works in comic format touch on
topics from sexuality to gentrification, while Blanka Amezkua’s work blends the
goddesses of ancient myth with the depictions of women in Mexican adult comics,
challenging traditional conceptions of female power.
Fairytales and folklore are also important sources of inspiration for many of these artists.
In her photograph Untitled (Pink), Xaviera Simmons invokes fables in which the heroine
must face mysterious monsters in an untamed wild. Taiwanese-born artist Fay Ku uses
elements from Chinese folktales and myths, provoking questions about childhood and
assimilation. Other artists examine equally intimate topics, grappling with issues of race
or mixed culture in a way that reflects a personal engagement. Robert Pruitt's animated
video Black Stuntman references comics and hip-hop while his drawing, Be of our Space
World, uses comic books and architecture to explore his own thinking about race. And
Wanda Ortiz’s graphic-novel-inspired series, “Wepa Woman,” centers on a Puerto Rican
heroine who faces sexual violence in an impoverished urban landscape.
Exhibition brochure is available for purchase at Aljira. An e-catalog is also available
online at www.aljira.org.
superHUMAN originated at and is sponsored in part by Central Utah Art Center (CUAC).
It will be on view at Aljira through March 30, 2013.
About the Curators
Jorge Rojas
Jorge Rojas is an artist, curator and art educator. He studied Art at the University of Utah
and at Bellas Artes- El Nigromante in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. His work and
curatorial projects have been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums
including Queens Museum of Art, New York; El Museo del Barrio, New York; New World
Museum, Houston; Ex Convento del Carmen, Guadalajara; Museum of Latin American
Art, Long Beach; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City; and Utah Museum of
Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City. He has received grants and fellowships including
National Performance Network’s VAN Residency, Experimental Television Center, West
Chicago City Museum Artist in Residency Program, Vermont Studio Center, Project Row
Houses, and The Creative Center: Hospital Artist in Residence Program. Rojas is the
Founding Director of Low Lives, an international multi-venue online performance festival
that was founded in 2009.
David Hawkins
David Hawkins’ is the author of the non-fiction chapbook, Lorraine Nelson: A Biography
in Post-it® Notes (The Cupboard Press, 2011). His writing has appeared or is
forthcoming in a number of journals and periodicals, including Barrow Street, Bat City
Review, Chelsea, DIAGRAM, and The Huffington Post, among others—and longer
works have appeared in At Length Magazine, The Seattle Review, and have been
nominated for The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. His poetry collection, Dark
Adaptations has been a finalist in a number of competitions, including the 2012 Emily
Dickinson prize. He is the recipient of three awards for writing from the Utah Arts Council
and is an Assistant Professor/Lecturer at the University of Utah where he was the Editorin-Chief of the literary magazine, Quarterly West from 2001-2005.
About Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art
Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art fosters excellence in the visual arts through
exhibitions and educational programs that serve as catalysts for inclusiveness and
diversity, promote cross-cultural dialog, and enable us to better understand the time in
which we live. Public understanding and support of the visual arts are strengthened
through collaboration and community-based educational programming. Aljira seeks out
the work of emerging and underrepresented artists and brings the work of more
established artists to our community. Through the visual arts Aljira bridges racial, cultural
and ethnic divides and enriches the lives of individuals.
Aljira's operations and programs are made possible, in part, by the New Jersey State
Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment
for the Arts, New Jersey Cultural Trust, The Kenneth Aidekman Family Foundation,
Berger Organization, Bank of America, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Edison
Properties, The Fidelco Group, Genova, Burns, Giantomasi and Webster Attorneys at
Law, Hyde and Watson Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation, Lambent Foundation,
MCJ Amelior Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Newark Downtown District,
PNC Bank, The Prudential Foundation, PSE&G Foundation, SGA Group, State Farm
Insurance, Tides Foundation, The Turrell Fund, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the
Visual Arts; and individual contributors to our Annual Fund.
Aljira is located at 591 Broad Street in downtown Newark. For directions visit our website
at www.aljira.org. The Center is open Wednesday through Friday, 12–6 pm and
Saturday, 11 am–4pm. Phone 973 622-1600, fax 973 622-6526, Website:
www.aljira.org.
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