Andria Morales

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What is your work about?

My work is a type of visual anthropology in which I explore perceptions of identity through images, performances, and objects.  I think of the objects I make as cultural artifacts; customized personal belongings which integrate decoration, technology, and sound to assert a presence.  Being an artist, the process is not so scientific.  There’s an empathetic yearning, a desire to communicate and understand differences which drives the work and often compels me to collaborate with others. My collaborations help bring the work into the social sphere, provoking viewers and participants into a confrontation and analysis of their own preconceptions.

 

Artist Statement

My artistic practice has developed in response to the question, “What are you?” It seems that people always want to be able to to identify one another according to some category of race, nationality or gender, but these definitions become harder to pin down as we evolve. I am interested in both the desire to define others, and the desire to define oneself through cultural affinity and personal relationships. I am inspired when I see people loudly expressing their individuality through fashion, customized possessions and music. Likewise, I am even more fascinated by ambiguity and contradiction; the people and things that exist in a liminal state of mixture. Thinking through identity issues conceptually, I work on many ideas simultaneously, allowing projects to develop at different rates over time.

For the past six years, I have been making customized personal objects embedded with amplified sound systems. I am drawn to this work out of a reverence for the power these objects have to disrupt public space, like when someone blasts music from inside their car, or from their cell phone while riding the subway. It’s an aggressive move on behalf of the ego to express an attitude and assert a presence. The current series of amplified backpacks and necklaces are wearable and portable, suggesting their ability to imbue an individual with this type of power even without making any noise at all. As objects that I design and construct, I am interested in the visual language of the cords which connect the various components and connect them to one another in order to function. In recent improvizations with dancers and a DJ who provides the sound, the “Beatpacks” have been activated in social settings where they have evoked a range of reactions from enthusiasm to hostility.

Several years ago when I got married, I changed my last name from Bibiloni to Morales. Even though my parents are both Puerto Rican, it wasn’t until I adopted this new name that people were able to easily identify my ethnicity. The documents required to officially verify my “new” identity became of interest to me because of the relative ease with which they can be changed. As an object, the U.S. Social Security card is loaded because it bears the number by which all important financial transactions are linked to an individual, and the privilege it grants one to work in this country. Yet it’s just a piece of paper, the image of which can be so easily altered using modern technology. The “Identity Documents/ Objects” series is an exploration of all the different identities I can invent by manipulating the text and signature on my official government documents. When translating this concept into three dimensions, the “objecthood” and falseness of the document becomes more apparent.

Since 2010, I have been collaborating over the internet with Chicago based artist Maya Escobar as “Escobar-Morales.” Out of an affinity for performance based work that deals with identity, we started AMerican MEdia Output, an online marketing agency which focuses on travel and tourism. Acting as designers, distributors and promo models, we initially produced a series of ad campaigns for the state of Arizona in order to engage people in a dialogue about U.S. immigration reform. Currently, we are producing a re-branding campaign for the “Golden Block,” an economically depressed commercial corridor in Philadelphia’s predominantly Latino neighborhood. The “Yo Soy Oro” campaign consists of an online presence, a series of ads for local businesses which will appear on trash receptacles along the block, and a live marketing event at the annual “Feria del Barrio” street fair this September. Using the language of advertising, this intervention opens a dialogue about how the community represents itself, and how it envisions itself in the future as the possibility of gentrification looms.

 

CV

Education

2008 MFA, Sculpture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

2004 BA, Fine Arts, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Solo and Two Person Exhibitions

2014

Yo Soy Oro, Taller Puertorriqueño, Philadelphia, PA (with Maya Escobar)

2011

Last Ride, The Rotunda, Philadelphia, PA (with Beth Beverly)

2008

I’m Real, Temple Gallery, Philadelphia PA

Descend, The Lighthouse, Philadelphia, PA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2012

PAPELES: Are We What We Sign? The Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA

2009

About to Surface, curated by Julien Robson, The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia, PA

The Joan Mitchell Foundation 2008 MFA Grant Recipients, CUE Art Foundation, New York, NY (catalogue)

2008

Casa de Venezuela’s Diálogo 365, The Ice Box at Crane Arts, Philadelphia, PA

ID, curated by Libby Rosof and Roberta Fallon, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2007

68th Annual Juried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA

From One State to Another, curated by Gregory Volk, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

Von Heiner Bis Mueller, Labor K1, Berlin, Germany

Badge of Honor: The Project, curated by Pepon Osorio, The Lighthouse, Philadelphia, PA

Residencies

2013-14 Visiting Scholar, NYU Steinhardt School, Department of Art & Art Professions

2013-14 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Residency, New York, NY

2010-11 40th Street Artist in Residence Program, Philadelphia, PA

Awards

2008 Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant

2006-7 Temple University Future Faculty Fellowship, Temple Rome Summer Scholarship

Bibliography

Benjamin Sutton, “10 Must-Visit Studios, 10 Must-See Exhibitions and More at Bushwick Open Studios 2013,” Artinfo.com, May 20, 2013.

Libby Rosof, “Last Ride of Andria Morales with Stuffing by Beth Beverly,” www.theartblog.org, May 27, 2011.

Marc Londo, “‘Last Ride’ Signals New Start for Temple Performance Artist,” www.examiner.com, March 31, 2011.

Eric Schuman, “Last Ride,” Philadelphia City Paper, March 24, 2011.

Tyler Coburn, “The Work of Amanda Nelsen, Matthias Pliessnig, Andria Bibiloni and Susan Kirby,” CUE Presents: 2008 Joan Mitchell MFA Grant Recipients, June 2009.

John Vettese, “Movable Stereotype,” Philadelphia City Paper, March 18, 2009.

Edith Newhall, “Young Artists Pick Up Pen and Paper Again,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 20, 2008.

Libby Rosof, “Descend to the Lighthouse- Andria Bibiloni in the Pool,” www.theartblog.org, April 26, 2008.

Vernon Clark, “Prison Time: A Latino Lament,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 25, 2007.

Publications

“Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, and Home,” Res: A Journal of Undergraduate Research, vol.1 no.1, 2004, 161-177.

Conferences

Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association Conference, 2011, San Antonio, TX, “Negotiating Latina Identity through Performance Art on the Web”, Panel: Latino/a Identities Online: Internet Culture and Performances (with Maya Escobar)

Work Experience

2011-present Studio Assistant, Ursula von Rydingsvard Studio, Brooklyn, NY

2008-2011 Instructor, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Beatpack Hall Pass (Bodies in Motion) at Cutlog NYC 2014

 

Beatpack Hall Pass (Bodies in Motion) at Cutlog NY 2014 Pt. 2

 

Necklace Test Track