Carlos Rolón

Carlos Rolón (born 1970), also known professionally under the pseudonym Dzine, is an American contemporary visual artist of Puerto Rican descent.[1] Rolón's work has been shown at museums and galleries internationally, including the Bass Museum of Art, Miami, Marta Herford Museum, Germany, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico and the 2007 Venice Biennale.[2]

For the Paraguayan footballer, see Carlos Rolón (footballer).

Carlos Rolón
Born
Carlos Rolón

1970
Chicago, IL
NationalityAmerican
EducationColumbia College Chicago
Known forPainting, Drawing, and Sculpture
Home townChicago, Illinois U.S.
Websitecarlosrolon.com

Early life, education and career

Carlos Rolón was born and raised in Chicago, where he still lives and works.[2] Rolón attended Columbia College Chicago in 1989, with a concentration in painting and drawing.[3] His early career was heavily influenced by early New York City street, hip hop, disco and punk culture of the 1980s.[4] He abandoned creating work as a street artist for abstract paintings in his early twenties.[5] His travels to Europe in the early 1990s eventually led the artist to Paris's underground music and fashion worlds at artist space Hôpital éphémère (fr). A project for the now defunct French record label Yellow Productions brought the artist to Japan, where in 2003 he was introduced to Masami Shiraishi. The owner and director of Scai the Bathhouse, a contemporary art gallery known for introducing Japan's avant-garde artists to the world as well as for helping artists from abroad to establish a presence in Japan, he offered Rolón a solo exhibition, which sold out before the opening.[3]

In 2005, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis held a solo exhibition of Rolon's work, curated by Shannon Fitzgerald and Paul Ha, titled "Punk Funk." His most significant exhibition in the US up to that point, the show included several new works created for the show, including a 14 by 42 foot site-specific installation. The exhibition was accompanied by a full color publication with audio.[6]

Rolón was initially represented by Chicago gallerist Monique Meloche from 2001-2010 and his paintings appeared at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and Chicago Cultural Center during that time.[5] A significant advance in Rolón's career came in 2007 when Jeffrey Deitch, owner of Deitch Projects, took note of his work at the 52nd Venice Biennale and offered him a solo exhibition and began representing him.[7] Rolón has since had solo shows in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Puerto Rico.

Work

For the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale, where Rolón was one of four non-Ukrainian artists invited to take part, the artist transformed an 18-foot speedboat into a multimedia installation and sculpture called "Dnipro."[8] Following the success of Dnipro, Rolón continued to work with skilled fabricators to develop a fleet of customized vehicle and bicycle sculptures that drew on Kustom Kulture.[9]

Beginning in 2011, Rolón started exploring nail art with intricate custom nail designs, exhibitions, events, and a book.[10] In September 2011 in New York City, Rolón held a popup nail salon called "Get Nailed" at the New Museum, where visitors were invited to have elaborate designs painted on their nails by New York nail artists.[11] This ran alongside an exhibition titled "Imperial Nail Salon" at Salon 94 Freemans nearby.[12] To coincide with the exhibitions, Rolón published the book "Nailed: The History of Nail Culture," a geographically-organized extraordinary nail art and nail salon environments.[13][14] In February 2012, Rolón continued to elaborate the nail art theme with a site-specific installation called "Imperial Nail Salon" at The Standard Hotel in Miami as part of Art Basel Miami Beach.[15] The installation and interactive event, in which actress Tilda Swinton participated, was a recreation of the living room in the artist's childhood home where his mother operated a private nail salon.[16] In 2013, a new version of "Imperial Nail Salon (My parents' living room)" was installed as part of the Homebodies exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.[17]

While the exhibitions on nail art were inspired by his mother's home nail salon, Rolón's subsequent work was inspired by his father's love of boxing.[18] In 2014, Rolón released the book Boxed: A Visual History and the Art of Boxing, a survey of art related to the sport, which the artist describes as an homage to his father.[19][20] This coincided with a two-part exhibition titled "Born, Carlos Rolón, 1970" on view simultaneously in early 2014 at Paul Kasmin Gallery and Salon 94 in New York City.[4] The exhibition was a based on a recreation of his family's basement where Rolón's father and his friends watched boxing matches.[21] The show traveled to Art Cologne in Germany in April 2014 under the name "Trophy Room".[22]

Rolon's current studio practice, as noted by Dick Goody, director of the Oakland University Art Gallery and curator of the Oakland University Art Collection explains..... "Rolón operates as his own protagonist and is the author and conductor of various trajectories that result in art objects and environments that allow us to enter (and be welcomed) into his world. A quantum of his practice is deeply informed by a postcolonial vantage point, his sense of and relationship with the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, and a distinctive autobiography ... Rolón's promiscuous use of art history, personal connections and intimate histories, along with the materials and textures from periods of influence (often from the artist's own life). He is committed to re-imagining and aligning ideas and cultures to a level of timeless luxury available to everyone ... Rolón's multidisciplinary art is, by its nature, figurative and specific ... He modifies objects, at times showy rococo platforms of taste, via an extreme longing made manifest in his enthusiasm for childhood recollections, remembrances of (faux) luxury and a frank, unironic affectionate retelling of what it was like, for him, growing up." [23]

Additionally, noted by artist and professor Theaster Gates, Jr.: "Carlos brings us to attention and focus – a lightning rod to the true art in this cruel world. Channeling ordinary materials into intricate constructions, he seeks hope and abundance in overlooked cultures, in the carts, the nail salons, in the everyday hustle." [23]

Exhibitions

Rolón has held the following solo exhibitions:

  • "Punk Funk," Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2005)
  • "Beautiful Otherness," Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2006)
  • "Just Kidding," Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2006)
  • Bass Museum of Art, Miami (2009)
  • La Pelanda - Centro di produzione culturale, Rome (2012)
  • "Victory," The Dallas Contemporary, Dallas (2013)
  • "Now and Then," Rockford Art Museum, Illinois (2015)
  • "Commonwealth," Oakland University Art Gallery, Michigan (2016)
  • "Vintage Voyages and Atomic Memories," Mike Kelley's Mobile Homestead, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Michigan (2016)
  • "I Tell You This Sincerely," Chicago Cultural Center, Illinois (2016)
  • "Tropicalizia," Museo de Arte de Ponce, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2016)
  • "50 Grand," Tube Factory artspace, Indianapolis, Indiana (2017)

His work has also been exhibited in group shows at:

Awards and residencies

Rolón received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painting and Sculpture in 2006[24] and was awarded an artist residency in New Orleans in 2017.[25] Rolón has been involved in many artist residencies including Instituto Buena Bista, Curacao Centre for Contemporary Art, Netherlands Antilles; Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK; and the City of Chicago's Sister Cities Program with The National Museum in Nairobi, Kenya.[2]

Collections

Rolón's work is included in the following public collections:

Publications
  • Commonwealth: 2016 (Oakland University Art Gallery) Foreword by Dick Goody, essay by Theaster Gates. ISBN 978-0-925859-69-3.
  • BOXED: 2014 (Damiani Editore) Foreword by Franklin Sirmans, text by Christopher Bedford, Brittany Reilly and Zoe Larkins. ISBN 978-88-6208-354-6 .
  • NAILED (The History of Nail Culture and Dzine): 2011 (Damiani Editore), text by Brittany Reilly. ISBN 978-88-6208-205-1.
  • Punk Funk: 2005 (Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis) Text by Paul Ha and Shannon Fitzgerald. ISBN 0-9712195-7-5.
  • Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art: 2007 (Brooklyn Museum of Art/Philip Wilson Publishers) Foreword by Tumelo Mosaka. ISBN 978-0-87273-158-5.
  • None of the Above, Contemporary Work by Puerto Rican Artists: 2004 (Real Art Ways in collaboration with Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico) Text by Silvia Karman Cubiña, Deborah Cullen and Stephen Holmes. ISBN 9780971785915.
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gollark: I think it's about 1 prize per 4 breedings.
gollark: Oh? How?
gollark: *can't tell if terrible internet connection or DC*
gollark: Great, my fort's been ruined overnight again.

References
  1. "An Interview with Carlos Rolon | artnet News". artnet News. February 21, 2014. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
  2. "Carlos Rolon (aka Dzine) on Making Art Inspired by the Blue-Collar Baroque". Artspace. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
  3. "Dzine, artist". Time Out Chicago. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  4. ""Born, Carlos Rolon, 1970" at Salon 94 and Paul Kasmin Gallery | Architectural Digest". Architectural Digest. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  5. "You Should Know … Dzine". Chicago magazine. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  6. "Punk Funk | Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis". camstl.org. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  7. "Jeffrey Deitch | The Beautiful Struggle". www.deitch.com. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  8. "Ukrainian Pavilion". ukrainianpavilion2007.org. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  9. Inc., Behance (October 27, 2011). "Dzine: "Listen, I Have This Crazy Idea…"". 99U by Behance. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  10. "Museum Worthy: Artist Dzine". NAILS Magazine. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  11. "Manicures at the Museum - artnet Magazine". www.artnet.com. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  12. "Free Nail Art by Dzine at the New Museum". www.artcaste.com. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  13. "Craziest Nail Art Ever: 'Nailed,'(PHOTOS)". The Daily Beast. January 30, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  14. "Nailed: Dzine's Elaborate Manicures". The New Yorker. January 20, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  15. "Tilda Swinton gets an Art Basel manicure". Miami.com. December 3, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  16. Ferla, Ruth La (December 9, 2011). "Custom Nail Treatments as Art". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  17. "Homebodies". Wall Street International. July 16, 2013. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  18. Meter, William Van. "Gallery | Dzine Offers an Artistic History of Boxing, From the Greeks to Pay-Per-View". T Magazine. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  19. "'Boxed': Peek inside this boxing-themed art book". USA TODAY. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  20. "6 Sumptuous Gift Books to Splurge on This Summer | ARTnews". www.artnews.com. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  21. Life+Times. ""Boxed" Looks At The Visual History of the Art of Boxing | Life+Times". lifeandtimes.com. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  22. on, Enrico. "VernissageTV Art TV - Trophy Room by Dzine at Galerie Henrik Springmann and Salon 94, Art Cologne 2014". Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  23. {{Commonwealth: 2016 (Oakland University Art Gallery) Foreword by Dick Goody, essay by Theaster Gates. ISBN 978-0-925859-69-3}}
  24. Foundation, Joan Mitchell. "Joan Mitchell Foundation » Artist Programs » Artist Grants". joanmitchellfoundation.org. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  25. Foundation, Joan Mitchell. "Joan Mitchell Foundation » News & Events » Announcing the Joan Mitchell Center 2017 Artists-in-Residence". joanmitchellfoundation.org. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
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