Carlos Rolon
Known for his multi-disciplinary practice whose work employs a wide range of media to explore themes of craft, ritual, beauty, spirituality, identity and its relationship to art history and the institution. Born to a Puerto-Rican family, Rolón’s background allows the artist to explore personal ideas which directly deal with questions of inclusion, aspiration and cultural identity.
Biography
Known for his multi-disciplinary practice whose work employs a wide range of media to explore themes of craft, ritual, beauty, spirituality, identity and its relationship to art history and the institution. Born to a Puerto-Rican family, Rolón’s background allows the artist to explore personal ideas which directly deal with questions of inclusion, aspiration and cultural identity. Often connecting childhood memories, the artist bore witness to the ways in which households have adapted to new American middle-class lifestyles with homes, walls and furniture adorned with ephemera of color, texture, patterns and items brought into the home to create a sense of longing. It is from here Rolón takes inspiration and transforms these vantage points producing a hybrid language of exuberant flora paintings, sculpture, social practice and site-specific installations composed of diverse materials that offer opportunities for self-reflection, rich symbolism and community engagement, bridging the divide between public and private. Rolón explores how cultivated settings and social barriers operate and its relationship to postcolonial spaces. The work is at once melancholic, excessive and exuberant, poised somewhere between celebration and regret. Inviting the viewer to engage in discourse and discussion.
Rolón has had solo exhibitions at The Dallas Contemporary, Dallas; Bass Museum of Art, Miami; Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK; Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Museo de Arte de Ponce, San Juan, Puerto Rico; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA and CAM Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis. His work has also been exhibited in group shows at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Marta Herford Museum, Herford, Germany; Museum Het Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Museo del Barrio, New York and Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Canary Islands; Oakland University Art Gallery, Michigan and Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico.
In 2007 Rolón represented Ukraine in the 52nd Venice Biennale. He is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation award for Painting and Sculpture. Rolón’s work is included in the following public collections: Bass Museum of Art, Miami; Brooklyn Museum, New York; City of Chicago Public Art Collection; Deagu Art Museum, Deagu; Museo del Barrio, New York; Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico; Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan; Museum Het Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City; New Orleans Museum of Art and Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, Ukraine, among others.
The artist continues to work and live in Chicago.
Exhibitions
2018
“Outside In”, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans
Lamyland at Selfridges, Selfridges, London
2017
50 GRAND, Tube Factory artspace, Indianapolis
Loiza Library Street Collective, Detroit, MI
2016
Ace of Fades, (on the wall) Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
I Tell You This Sincerely, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
Vintage Voyages and Atomic Memories, Mike Kelley’s Homestead, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit Michigan
Commonwealth, Oakland University Art gallery, Michigan (Curated by Dick Goody)
Forms of Imagination/Chicago Architectural Biennial (Curated by Paola Aguirre and Tempestt Hazel)
2015
Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, Illinois
Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan
“Mi Casa”, Pearl Lam Galleries, Singapore
2014
“Tunnel Vision”, Space K, Gwangju, South Korea
“Recent Works”, Walter Otero Contemporary Art, San Juan, Puerto Rico
“Trophy Room”, Invitational Sector, Art Cologne, Germany
“Dzine: Born, Carlos Rolon, 1970”, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
“Dzine: Born, Carlos Rolon, 1970”, Salon 94, New York
2013
“Victory”, The Dallas Contemporary, Dallas
“In God We Trust”, Zacheta, National Gallery of Art, Poland
“Homebodies”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
2012
Galerie Henrik Springmann, (Fall 2012), Dusseldorf
“Phenomenon”, Deptford X, London (Curated by Hew Locke and Indra Khanna)
La Pelanda – Centro Di Produzione Culturale, Installation and performance, Rome
2011
“Imperial Nail Salon”, Salon 94, New York City
“Get Nailed at the New Museum”, performance, window installation, New Museum, New York City
“Zeniths and Daytons”, Galerie Zidoun, Luxembourg
2010
“Voodoo”, Leo Koenig Projekte, New York City
“Voodoo”, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna
“Posse”, Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan
2009
Base Museum of Art, Miami
“Love & Loyalty”, Leeahn Gallery, Daegu, South Korea
2008
“The Beautiful Struggle”, Deitch Projects, New York City
Krinzinger Projects, Vienna
“The Beautiful Struggle”, Emily Murphy Contemporary, Madrid
“The Beautiful Struggle”, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
2007
“Bang!”, Contemporary Arts Society, Rome
Museum Het Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands
2006
“Stealing Dreams”, SCAI The Bathouse/Shiraishi Contemporary, Tokyo
“Somewhere over the Rainbow”, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
“Beautiful Otherness”, Museo del Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan (catalogue)
“Just Kidding”, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, United Kingdom
2005
“Punk Funk”, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (catalogue)
2004
“Staring at the Sun”, moniquemeloche, Chicago
“Gangster Boogie”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
“Beautiful Things”, SCAI The BathHouse/Shiraishi Contemporary, Tokyo
ARCO Project Spaces, Madrid (curated by Peter Doroshenko)
“Dzine”, Illinois State Museum Gallery, Chicago – Traveled to University of Missouri – Gallery 210, St. Louis & Illinois State Museum, Lockport, Illinois)
“Dzine”, Equal Gallery, Osaka, Japan (catalogue)
2003
“Alley Oop”, Institute of Visual Art Center (INOVA), Milwaukee
“Tokyo Boogie”, University of Alabama Visual Arts Gallery, Birmingham
Valerie Cueto, Paris
2002
Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
Cristinerose Gallery, New York City
Rome Arts, New York City
“Beat Junkie, Chop Shop”, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
“Sampler”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
2001
Galerie Porte 2a, Bordeaux, France
111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco