About the Speaker: Edison Penafiel

Edison Peñafiel is a South Florida based artist whose work examines experiences about those on the underside of the world’s major conflicts: the migrant, the laborer, the surveilled. Clashing ideologies and the repetitive cycles of history produce the human catastrophes that his multimedia installations speak to. He draws the eye to odd angles that our world often intersects at—using sculpture, photography, animation, video, and space to create disturbing reflections of the realities we participate in and witness every day. These unnerving views break us out of the desensitized lull that an ongoing crisis creates.

Through visual references to German Expressionism and the surveillance state, Peñafiel keeps the work inside a long-term discussion about the turning gears of modernity and the alienation it continues to produce. This visual approach brims with anxiety illustrated in crooked lines, all informed by the dismal cruelties of bureaucracy, the policing of human movement, and empty rituals of labor. The hidden peril of these destructive cycles lends urgency to exploring the history of how we got here, how we perceive what is going on, and the hard truths of those who must face the darkest parts of the present.

Edison Peñafiel spent his youth in Ecuador and migrated to the United States in 2002. Since graduating from the Florida International University’s Fine Arts program in 2016, Peñafiel concentrated his practice on numerous large scale projects, site-specific, and immersive installations projects presented at The Bass Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, the Orlando Museum of Art, the Elsewhere Museum, the Contemporary Art Center New Orleans, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the USF Contemporary Art Museum, the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Atchugarry Art Center, among others. Notable awards include: the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Florida Prize in Contemporary Art, the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship, the Green Family Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

About the Art Salons

The Art Salons are a unique gathering place for artists from throughout the South Florida region. They offer thoughtful presentations by influential professional artists whose artwork is being shown in museums and galleries in South Florida, nationally and internationally. Presenters show their work and talk about their influences, followed by stimulating discussions between the artist and the audience. These discussions cover the gamut of contemporary conceptual art practices, including cultural, socio/political, environmental, scientific, race and gender focused and aesthetic practices, the materials and techniques used to convey these ideas, and how our own work relates to the world of contemporary art. Art Salons also offer the opportunity to explore the practical side of being an artist, enhance professional development, share useful resources, and network with other artists. Art Salons have been facilitated by Elle Schorr, in conjunction with the ARMORY ART CENTER in West Palm Beach, since 2012. All are welcome to join in these timely explorations.

The Art Salons will now be presented virtually on Zoom! Tuesdays, once a month, from October to May from 7pm to 9pm.
See the Armory calendar for dates or visit www.elleschorrphotography.com