Bony Ramirez's Exhibition at Newark Museum of Art
Bony Ramirez, a self-taught artist from the Dominican Republic, is having his first solo museum exhibition, "Cattleya," at the Newark Museum of Art in New Jersey. The exhibition is a result of his yearlong residency at the museum and features a body of work that is in dialogue with the institution's permanent collection. Inspiration and Themes Ramirez's work is inspired by Martin Johnson Heade's Cattleya Orchid with Two Hummingbirds (ca. 1880s), which blurs the line between still life and landscape painting. Ramirez uses the Cattleya orchid as a metaphor for colonialism, exploring the legacies of colonialism, particularly through the lens of tourism. Works in the Exhibition The exhibition features several mixed-media paintings and installations that weave the story of Caribbean life from the start of colonialism to the present. Some notable works include: Sitting on a Bucket of Paint (Self-Portrait as a Calf) , an installation of a suspended taxidermy calf wra...